September 30, 2018
From DeseretNews.com
A 19-year-old man who had gone missing a day earlier while hunting for dear was found in good shape Sunday morning by a fellow hunter.
“He’s great. He’s doing really good. He’s just hungry, very very hungry,” Albert Bakker said of his son, Mason, in the hours after he was found.
The younger Bakker was located “cold and wet but otherwise in great shape,” according to a tweet from the Davis County Sheriff’s Office. Bakker separated from his dad while deer hunting around 10 a.m. Saturday and was last heard from at noon.
He sounded agitated when he called his dad at midday, reporting that he had just seen water and was going to go get some, Albert Bakker recalled.
Searchers looked for Bakker Saturday night and Sunday morning in the Parrish Flats area of Centerville. A search crew was within a half-mile of Bakker and eventually heard his cries for help, but a fellow hunter reached him first.
“I was a great sigh of relief” when officers learned he had been found, said Davis County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Ty Berger.
Albert Bakker said his son has some scratches from bush-whacking his way to safety. And despite the ordeal, his son told him he’s not done with hunting, but it may be a couple of weeks before he goes back out.
The Utah County Sheriff’s Office was still searching Sunday for Jacob Warner Routt, 36, who went missing while hiking on Mount Timpanogos Sept. 16.