Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko were no strangers to hunting or the outdoor lifestyle. The friends were lifelong outdoorsmen, so when they lost contact with friends and family one day during an archery elk hunt, they knew something was wrong. A massive search ensued, involving numerous community members. The results of that search yielded the tragic truth behind what happened to the missing elk hunters in Colorado.
Missing Elk Hunters In Colorado
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Outdoor Life shares the details of this tragic event. Proter and Stasko traveled cross-country to meet up in Colorado for this elk hunt. The pair was described as "physically fit, well-prepared, and experienced in the backcountry." All of which are things you would expect to yield positive hunting outcomes. They had planned an eight-day hunt in the Rio Grande National Forest.
Porter's fiancée shared that he was always perfect about checking in with her at least once a day. On the fourth day of their hunt, when his check-in did not come, she knew something was wrong. His mother, Lisa, confirmed this to the outlet. She stated, "The agreement Andrew has with us and Bridget (his fiancée) had always been that if we didn't hear from him after twenty-four hours, I was going to assume he was in trouble and start calling people." After those 24 hours passed, she did exactly that.
Lisa called the Conejos County Sheriff's Office and asked them to begin the search for her son. The search for the two missing elk hunters in Colorado lasted over a week and had an incredible turnout. The effort was led by the county's search-and-rescue team but also consisted of firefighters and other volunteers from the community. Additionally, there were "hundreds of more people involved from at least 15 states."
The Truth Behind Their Disappearance
Officers found the bodies of the missing elk hunters just "a short 1.5-mile hike" from where they parked. OutdoorLife shares that in a strip of pine trees, "a piece of flagging marks the last place the two young men had stood." Both bodies had burn marks on them; however, they found no burnt tree trunks or other signs of a lightning strike.
Later, the country coroner Richard Martin "determined their cause of death was an indirect lightning strike." Additionally, Martin shared that the burn marks on their bodies were caused by electrocution. One silver lining of this tragic ordeal is that both hunters "would have died instantly, without any pain." While the two missing elk hunters were eventually found in Colorado, and their bodies returned to their loved ones, the entire event is tragic.
Furthermore, it just seems like a case of purely unfortunate luck. The two knew the outdoors well; they had the experience, and they followed the right protocol when it came to a storm. Martin shared that "the spot itself, at just under 11,000 feet of elevation, is exactly the sort of place a hunter would have sought shelter during a high-country lightning storm."
