Found Deceased MT - Aaron Hedges, 38, Park County, 7 Sept 2014

Search crews are looking for Aaron Joseph Hedges, 38, who last spoke with two friends by radio Sept 7. Hedges' friends told Park County officials the hunter became separated from his party. By radio, Hedges told his hunting partners he probably wouldn't make it back to camp that night because he wasn't sure where he was.

Hedges' friends had shot an elk, which they packed out by horse before calling the missing hunter's wife.

The Park County Sheriff's Office was notified Wednesday by Hedges' wife about the disappearance. By that time, the area was receiving heavy snowfall and a search had to be postponed.

Click to expand...

Park County Search and Rescue was paged and two horse teams of riders were sent out Thursday morning. One team is searching from the Cottonwood Trailhead up the Trespass Creek Trail, and the other is searching from Sunlight Road to and up the Sunlight Trail.

Officials said detectives attempted to "ping" Hedges' cell phone in an attempt to pinpoint his location, but were not successful...

Hedges reportedly has minimal supplies, but he is familiar with the area and friends call him an avid outdoorsman.

Click to expand...

Other Deputies from Park and Sweet Grass Counties, Forest Service Officers and Rural Firefighters have been staged at trailheads to watch for Hedges and to interview people they encounter.

Detectives are following up with Hedges two friends to gather more information to help with the search.

Click to expand...

The search continued Friday with the addition of search dogs and members of the Sweet Grass County search and rescue team.

Hamilton said in a statement Friday that community members have volunteered to help in the search, but snowy, slippery trail conditions have led him to so far reject those offers due to safety concerns.

Click to expand...

Search crews continued their effort to find a lost hunter in the Crazy Mountains throughout the day on Friday without success.

Undersheriff Scott Hamilton said there was nothing new to report by late afternoon.

Hamilton forwarded several photos of the search area, two of which show the winter-like conditions on the mountain where crews have concentrated their efforts.

Click to expand...

The search for a hunter missing in the Crazy Mountains has been scaled back, according to officials.

Several items believed to belong to Aaron J. Hedges were found late last week and identified by family members. Officials say very few other clues to the man's whereabouts have been found.

A wide range of high tech resources including aircraft such as military and civilian helicopters equipped with infrared and night vision cameras and spotlights, 20 dog teams, seven horse teams, more than 50 ground searchers, and a technically specialized high elevation team, who have exhaustively searched the Crazy Mountains east of Wilsall, have been used in the 12-day search.

Click to expand...

Beslanowitch found a bow, backpack, field gear and a hunting license with Hedges’ name on it. He made the find around 3 p.m. June 19, about 30-40 miles north of Big Timber, Montana.

His son-in-law, Charlie Rein, was fixing a section of fence along the mountainside and suggested Beslanowitch check out the view from the ridge. While heading back, he found a backpack sitting against a tree, clothes against another — most of which had been chewed on by rodents...

Search efforts for Hedges last fall were on the Livingston, Montana, side of the mountain, and Beslanowitch’s discovery was on the opposite side. The location was several miles away and outside of where Hedges was permitted to hunt, and it was on private property. Some items were found in the fall, but nowhere near where Beslanowitch found more equipment.

Click to expand...

Officials in Montana say human remains found last week west of Melville may be those of a 38-year-old Bozeman hunter who went missing during an elk hunt two years ago.

Sweet Grass County Undersheriff Alan Ronneberg says a positive identification by a state medical examiner is pending, but personal items located with the remains suggest they were those of Aaron Hedges.

The Big Timber Pioneer reported that the remains were found Friday on private land by the landowner.

Click to expand...

Human remains found last week in south-central Montana are those of a 38-year-old Bozeman man who went missing during an elk hunt two years ago, Sweet Grass County officials said Tuesday.

Dental records confirmed that the skeletal remains a rancher found Friday west of Melville were those of Aaron Joseph Hedges, Undersheriff Alan Ronneberg said.

The cause of death is still under investigation. But initial indications are that he died of hypothermia and exposure, Ronneberg said.

Click to expand...