Super Cub Pilot saves the day!!!!

[Alex Clark]

Illinois hunter found safe

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -

The Alaska Air National Guard says an Illinois hunter was been found alive and well after being missing for four days.

Fifty-year-old Joe Leidner of Mulberry Grove, Illinois was spotted on the western side of the Swan River by a private pilot.

The rescue followed an extensive air and ground search throughout the weekend by Alaska State Troopers, the Air National Guard and the Civil Air Patrol.

Leidner was part of a three-person hunting party.

He killed a caribou and then became separated from the other hunters.

They found his gun and a freshly killed caribou, but no sign of Leidner.

The pilot of a Super Cub, Tom Atkins of Anchorage, decided to look for Leidner on his own.

He spotted him and flew him to the Iliamna airstrip, where Leidner was flown to Anchorage by Iliamna Air Taxi.

Leidner was reported to be exhausted but in good health overall.

Searchers say Leidner is lucky to have survived for that long without survival gear.


xxx

 

[hottshot]

Way to go Tom!!

 

[Alex Clark]

Makes me wonder if the rescuing Super Cub was on floats or wheels.

The Anchorage Paper (Anchorage Dailey News,, AKA the Peoples Daily Worker ) has an article but I can't get it to come up on my computer.

 

[dpearce]

Lost hunter found alive 4 days later
UNPREPARED: Pilot spots visitor near Mulchatna River, six miles from caribou kill.

By MEGAN HOLLAND
Anchorage Daily News

Published: September 13, 2005
Last Modified: September 13, 2005 at 02:22 AM


An Illinois hunter missing for four days in a remote area of Southcentral Alaska was found Monday morning alive but exhausted, the Alaska National Guard said.


Joe Leidner, 50, lost with no survival gear, lived on blueberries while he endured cold and wet weather in the hills north of Iliamna Lake, said Tom Atkins, a commercial pilot who rescued him.

Leidner was caribou hunting Thursday with two others when the hunting party killed a caribou about 50 miles northwest of Iliamna and decided to leave Leidner there. When his partners returned a short while later, Leidner was gone but his gun and gear were still near the carcass. They searched that night in vain and called Alaska State Troopers early Friday.

Alaska National Guard Lt. Col. Steve Politsch said Leidner was an experienced hunter, but not in Alaska.

Troopers called the Alaska National Guard and an extensive air and ground search began, including using trained dogs to track Leidner's scent.

Enduring bad winds, pounding rain and low nightly temperatures, Leidner was not prepared to spend the night in the Bush. He wore wool pants and a thin jacket, Atkins said.

In the end, Leidner wandered six miles from the kill site, over terrain thick with brush on the hills and swampy in the valleys. After four days, searchers still had not found him.

On Monday morning, Atkins, who frequently drops off and picks up hunters in the area, spotted Leidner standing on top of a rock, waving his arms near the Mulchatna River.

When Atkins got the lost man in his Piper Super Cub, Leidner was shivery and tired. Atkins gave him his coat, candy bars, water and blasted the heat in the plane, he said.

"He was so cold and miserable," Atkins said. "He didn't say much."

Politsch said: "Usually your probability of living goes down considerably after 72 hours. He's extremely lucky to be alive."