A hunter who spent nearly three weeks lost in the snowy California wilderness says he managed to get rescued after discerning “you either try to walk out or you’re going to sit here and die”.
The remarkable story of survival centers on Ron Dailey, whom authorities say went missing in the Sierra national forest in Fresno county after taking a solo hunting trip there on 13 October.
Investigators say Dailey, a resident of the California city of Selma, intended to return home that evening. But, in comments reported by KTLA, KFSN and CBS Los Angeles, he would later recall losing his bearings in his truck and ending up in a spot where off-road vehicles are needed to navigate.
Dailey’s pickup truck then broke down while he was at an elevation of more than 10,000ft, stranding him there with what he estimated to be about two weeks’ worth of food and water. Furthermore, an intense snowstorm hit the area on the first night he became lost, prompting Dailey to conclude: “Oh man – I’m in trouble.”
Rescue teams from several California counties began searching for Dailey when his family realized he did not make it home and reported to officials that he was missing. He took shelter in his truck, unsure whether he would live long enough for rescuers to find him.
Dailey said he relied on his religious faith to sustain him in moments of doubt, particularly when he ran out of food.
“It was me and God every night,” Dailey would later say on CBS.
As KFSN reported, Dailey said it eventually dawned on him that “you either try to walk out or you’re going to sit here and die”.
His subsequent march toward what he hoped would be salvation saw him lose his phone and fall several times. Dailey also recalled needing to sit down every 20 to 100 yards, given the thin air at that altitude.
After he had walked a dozen miles or so, on 1 November, a group of fellow hunters encountered Dailey on the trail they were on. They took him to safety and notified authorities that they had found the man who had been missing for 20 days.
Members of a search party located Dailey’s truck – with the rear window broken out – the next day. KTLA reported that the group was in disbelief that Dailey could survive as long as he did in the pickup.
In a statement confirming Dailey’s rescue, the local sheriff’s office said it could not release additional details about his ordeal until it interviewed him.
Yet, in a statement his daughter recorded while he was in the hospital and then shared with KFSN, Dailey said the walk he was on when he was saved proved to be “the toughest … in my life”.
“I’m still overwhelmed,” Dailey said on CBS. “If it wasn’t for the Lord, I wouldn’t be here.”
