UPDATE: Missing Mesa County Hunter Found Dead
The missing hunter in Mesa County has been found dead.
The search for the missing hunter ended at approximately 11 a.m. Thursday, when spotters in the Black Hawk helicopter flying in the area of Mosquito Lake spotted who they thought was the missing hunter. At about the same time, searchers on horseback also saw the missing hunter, who was found deceased.
The helicopter and crew recovered the body.
On Thursday morning, the Colorado Army National Guard joined the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office in the search for a lost hunter.
Authorities say they were looking for Jim McCarthy, who is believed to be between 35 and 40 years old. They focused their search in the area of Mosquito Lake and 79 Road/West Divide Creek, which is about 16-miles south of Silt.
Another hunter, Jose Rodriguez was found during the early hours of the search that began on Tuesday night. He was not injured, but volunteer rescuers say he was exhausted. The two hunters were reported missing by campers from a neighboring hunting camp around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.
A National Guard helicopter left it’s base near Gypsum Thursday morning at 7:00 a.m. to head the continued search efforts.
Rescue efforts are coordinated through the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, which notifies the Colorado National Guard’s Joint Operations Center in Centennial, Colo. AFRCC ties into the Federal Aviation Administration’s alerting system and the U.S. Mission Control Center.
