Help Find a Lost Hunter: Russell H. Bussiere of Hooksett

[JellyFish]

If you are in the Bear Brook State Park area, please see the information below. There is a hunter lost there and NHF&G is looking for volunteers to help find him Tuesday morning.

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News from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department
December 3, 2007
Phone: (603) 271-3211
Email: info@wildlife.nh.gov
For information and online licenses, visit http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us

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CONTACT:
Col. Jeffrey Gray: (603) 271-3128
NHFG Dispatch: (603) 271-3361
Jane Vachon: (603) 271-3211 or (603) 271-5619
December 3, 2007


NO SIGN OF LOST HUNTER -- VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO SEARCH ON DECEMBER 4

CONCORD, N.H. - As daylight faded on Monday, searchers had not found any evidence of lost hunter, Russell H. Bussiere of Hooksett, age 70, who has been missing in Allenstown , N.H., since Sunday.New Hampshire Fish and Game Conservation Officers are asking for volunteers to aid in an expanded search effort tomorrow (Tuesday, December 4, 2007).

Volunteers who can help with the search effort should meet at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, December 4, at Bear Brook State Park; the meeting place is the first snowmobile parking lot located on Deerfield Road, a short distance from the main park entrance off Route 28 in Allenstown.Look for signs to the staging area. Volunteers should dress for walking through snow in the woods all day and be equipped with waterproof boots, rain gear, food, water and a headlamp or flashlight.Volunteers will not work alone; they will be teamed up and taken by bus to search areas.

"We did not find any clues to his whereabouts today, but we remain optimistic," said Major Tim Acerno of N.H Fish and Game Law Enforcement. "Bussiere was dressed for the weather, in wool clothing, and he has matches.He is an experienced hunter who knows the area.Hopefully he has found shelter for the night."

Today, (December 3, 2007) 100 searchers covered about half of the focus area of 7 square miles.Tomorrow, the search will work outward from the high-probability areas near where Bussiere was last thought to be located.Today's effort included N.H. Fish and Game Conservation Officers, Allenstown police and fire crew, Hooksett fire personnel, New England Canine Search and Rescue, and an Emergency Management command post and technician from the N.H. Department of Safety,.

Bussiere was last heard from when he communicated with his son by radio at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday while hunting off Dodge Road in Allenstown.He had planned to hunt until about noon, and was reported missing by his family at 2 p.m.

Bussiere has grey hair and is 5 foot, 4 inches tall and weighs 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing a camouflage jacket, green wool pants and an orange or red wool hat.

No further information is available at this time.

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For information on safe hiking, visit http://www.hikesafe.com.

[Kat Kanning]

Hope he's OK 

[JellyFish]

News from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department
December 4, 2007, 11:00 a.m.
Phone: (603) 271-3211
Email: info@wildlife.nh.gov
For information and online licenses, visit http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us

* * * * * * *

CONTACT:
Col. Jeffrey Gray: (603) 271-3128
NHFG Dispatch: (603) 271-3361
Jane Vachon: (603) 271-3211 or (603) 271-5619
December 4, 2007, 11:00 a.m.


NO PROGRESS YET IN SEARCH FOR LOST HUNTER

CONCORD, N.H. - The search has continued early this morning (Tuesday, December 4, 2007), for lost hunter, Russell H. Bussiere of Hooksett, age 70, who has been missing in Allenstown , N.H., since Sunday.New Hampshire Fish and Game Department Law Enforcement reported that today well over 200 organized search personnel are combing a large, heavily forested area in the vicinity of Pinkney Hill in Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, N.H.

Today's search includes New Hampshire Fish and Game Conservation Officers, state and local police and fire personnel and numerous volunteers, including air-scenting dogs from New England Canine Search and Rescue.In addition, an Army National Guard helicopter is actively conducting an aerial search.

The search effort will continue until dark.It is too late for additional volunteers to join the search today, however, please watch for updates later today regarding the potential continuation of the search and need for volunteers tomorrow (Wednesday, December 5, 2007).

Further updates should be available by 4 p.m. today.

No further information is available at this time.

[kola]

prolly had a heart attack...

Kola

[StaggerLee]

I saw this on the news last night. . . do they always stop at night when searching for people?  I know it's cold out and the like but it seems that nighttime is a prime time for someone to die in the woods. . .

[Lex]

I saw this on the news last night. . . do they always stop at night when searching for people?  I know it's cold out and the like but it seems that nighttime is a prime time for someone to die in the woods. . .

It's very dangerous to do a search and rescue operation at night, besides the fact that you can't see as well at night and the person you're looking for may be asleep.

Ultimately though the issue is that if anyone dies it will be the person lost and not a member of the search crew putting themselves in danger by trekking through the woods in the middle of the night.

In NH Search and Rescue operations are not particularly well funded, if at all. So in many cases all those hundreds of people out searching are volunteers taking time from their regular jobs.

[StaggerLee]

I saw this on the news last night. . . do they always stop at night when searching for people?  I know it's cold out and the like but it seems that nighttime is a prime time for someone to die in the woods. . .

It's very dangerous to do a search and rescue operation at night, besides the fact that you can't see as well at night and the person you're looking for may be asleep.

Ultimately though the issue is that if anyone dies it will be the person lost and not a member of the search crew putting themselves in danger by trekking through the woods in the middle of the night.

In NH Search and Rescue operations are not particularly well funded, if at all. So in many cases all those hundreds of people out searching are volunteers taking time from their regular jobs.

After I wrote this I think I came off wrong. . . didn't want to seem like I'm monday morning quarterbacking. . . what you say makes a lot of sense. . . and since I'm not one of the people volunteering to drive up there and search for the poor guy I should have probably just kept my mouth shut. lol

[John Edward Mercier]

Its within reason to ask questions about.

[Lloyd Danforth]

He's probably dead.  I can't figure out why they didn't use some heat reading thing.

[Lex]

He's probably dead.  I can't figure out why they didn't use some heat reading thing.

Several reasons I think. Fish and Game don't have helecopters for this purpose themselves, they actually request help from the national guard and possibly some other organizations. The national guard uses this opportunity for training (it's too expensive to justify flying around looking for someone, so to save money they do training at the same time.) So it's likely that either the helecopter does not even have an infrared imaging device or that due to the fact that the helecopters can only be out there for short periods of time and are probably doing training they aren't as effective as the ground crew, particularly the dogs. Dogs can pick up scent from pretty far away. NH forests are huge and even a helicopter can't cover everything. Also, the initial search area could be inaccurate, it's quite possible that the lost person is somewhere else completely. Although part of the Fish and Games desicion of starting such a search (they don't always search for people like this, they can just say tough luck) is that you have to be able to convince them that this person is in that area. Usually if the victims car is found near the area or some other article, they'll agree to do the search. If you just call them up and say so and so is lost in an area they're not going to immediately start the search, someone will actually come out and decide if the search is worth doing. It can take 4 hours or more from the time that the first call is made to the time when the decision is made to mobilize search parties.

[Lex]

Anyways, just don't get lost, okay? 

[kola]

hey..he could still be alive! lets think positive! 

Kola

[Lex]

hey..he could still be alive! lets think positive! 

If the guy is experienced and he's not too badly injured it's possible he still is allive. Main thing is staying warm, if he was able to start a fire and/or find another way to keep warm than he has a chance of surviving. Hypothermia is his biggest enemy, unless he's injured.

[Lex]

December 5, 2007, 4:30 p.m.       

Coordinated Search Effort for Missing Hunter Will Continue For One More Day

CONCORD, N.H. -- Fish and Game's Chief of Law Enforcement, Colonel Jeff Gray, has announced that the search for missing hunter Russell Bussiere will continue on a scaled-down basis early Thursday morning (December 6).  The continued search will rely on specially trained search and rescue teams and additional volunteers are not being requested at this time.

Today's coordinated search efforts for the missing 70 year-old hunter once again focused on a 10 square mile high-probability zone and adjacent areas within Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown and Hooksett.

Extreme weather conditions during the past four days make it increasing unlikely that Mr. Bussiere has survived.  In addition to coordinated ground search teams, aerial searching by an Army National Guard Blackhawk helicopter will also continue.

No further information is available at this time.

[Dave Ridley]

dang this would have made a good activity and also a good ridley report...but i just now noticed the thread