Published October 22, 2026
For 39-year-old Korin Pusillo, a portion of her very first elk hunt in the rugged wilderness of northwest Colorado involved clawing her way up a steep mountainside on her hands and knees, searching desperately for a foothold in the freezing mud.
It was October 14, and Pusillo was navigating the remote landscape of Bears Ears, a high-elevation expanse near Steamboat Springs. Hours earlier, a persistent rain had soaked the terrain before aggressively transitioning into heavy snow, leaving behind a treacherous layer of slick mud buried beneath a rapidly accumulating blanket of fresh powder. Every determined step forward seemed to instantly undo itself, sending her sliding backward down the incline as the wilderness transformed into a labyrinth of white.
"Everything changed so fast. It was hard to get our bearings, and I think even experienced hunters would have been surprised by how quickly the weather turned," Pusillo recalled of the harrowing afternoon.
Pusillo had been tracking elk alongside her boyfriend, his brother, and their father, a seasoned outdoorsman who had hunted the exact same region for decades. But as thick snow and low-hanging fog rapidly obscured the familiar landscape, and fallen trees blocked established routes, even the veterans of the group began to struggle with their orientation, finding it increasingly difficult to navigate a safe path back to their camp.
"These guys were so confident because they’d hunted the area for years, but when they started losing that confidence, that’s when it got really scary," Pusillo said. "If these guys are getting worried, I’m getting worried."
Three Hunter Emergencies in 14 Hours
Pusillo and her hunting party were far from alone in their ordeal. Their alarming close call unfolded during an exceptionally grueling and relentless 14-hour stretch for Routt County Search and Rescue, the dedicated volunteer squad responsible for patrolling the expansive alpine territory. According to an official statement published on social media by the rescue organization, local teams were forced to respond to three distinct SOS calls involving distressed hunters between October 14 and 15.
The emergency surge coincided precisely with the opening morning of Colorado’s first rifle elk season, a high-stakes period that drew numerous hunters into the backcountry just as the region’s first major, disruptive snowstorm of the season slammed into the mountains.
The first emergency call was logged at 2:59 P.M. on October 14, prompting local rescue units to mobilize in search of an overdue hunter reported missing near Dunckley Pass, a high-altitude mountain crossing situated at roughly 9,800 feet southwest of Steamboat Springs. By the time search efforts were underway, more than six inches of fresh snow had already accumulated on the ground. Personnel from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, alongside local sheriff’s deputies, managed to locate the overdue hunter shortly after nightfall, fortunately preventing a more tragic outcome.
Just hours later, at 7:43 P.M., a second emergency distress call echoed through the dispatch center. Another hunter had become completely separated from their companions near the Bears Ears area, located roughly 20 miles north of the town of Hayden. The disoriented hunter managed to place a frantic 911 call relaying their general coordinates just moments before their cellular phone battery died entirely, plunging them into communication darkness.
Incident commander John Williams detailed the grueling nature of the subsequent rescue operation in an email, noting that snow-covered, unplowed roads transformed the drive to the primary staging area into a grueling three-hour endeavor. Once on-site, rescue crews were forced to hike downhill through the punishing elements to reach the stranded hunter, who had grown so profoundly cold that they were physically incapable of walking uphill under their own power. Rescuers meticulously wrapped the shivering individual in a specialized hypothermia blanket. With the critical assistance of bystanders on the scene, personnel hauled the hunter nearly 1,500 feet uphill through eight inches of dense snow utilizing a wheeled rescue stretcher. Williams noted that a combination of wet clothing, bitter temperatures, and profound exhaustion ultimately contributed to the hunter becoming separated and incapacitated.
The emergency response cycle did not end with the night operations. In the early morning hours of October 15, a third serious hunter emergency unfolded in the same Bears Ears sector when a participant suffered severe injuries in a freak tree strike. According to a spokesperson for the search-and-rescue team who spoke with local media, a heavy tree branch or trunk had reportedly fallen onto the hunter while they were resting inside their tent, necessitating a swift mobilization by auxiliary responders to safely transport the injured individual out of the backcountry for urgent medical treatment.
How Pusillo’s Group Made It Back
For Pusillo and her companions, the afternoon could have easily turned toward a similar rescue scenario had circumstances aligned differently. The group had initially discussed packing up and returning to their base camp before the atmospheric conditions deteriorated further. However, those plans shifted when her boyfriend’s father successfully shot a bull elk, which subsequently ran downhill into a deep valley before expiring. Dedicated to processing their harvest, the family remained on-site to handle the physical labor.
Working beneath the shelter of a stretched tarp to escape the elements, the hunters watched as steady rain gave way to enormous, heavy snowflakes. Pusillo estimated that at least four inches of snow had blanketed the ground by the time they finally packed their gear and began the grueling trek back toward camp.
"Our boots were fine and we had ponchos, but we didn’t have waterproof gloves, which would have been good to have, because in some parts, it was so slick that we literally had to crawl up on our hands and knees," Pusillo explained.
The combination of slick mud hidden beneath a fresh layer of snow made vertical climbing an exhausting challenge, while fallen trees effectively disguised and blocked familiar trails. Compounding their navigational hurdles, her boyfriend’s GPS device appeared to malfunction after becoming thoroughly saturated with moisture, and the freezing dampness severely impaired his brother’s phone screen, rendering digital maps difficult to read. Disoriented and facing diminishing visibility, the group briefly lost their intended path and was forced to retrace their steps through the deepening drifts.
Ultimately, salvation came in the form of digital breadcrumbs and traditional forestry markers. They managed to successfully navigate back by following a camp-location pin that Pusillo had proactively shared from her own smartphone earlier in the trip, alongside spotting reflective markers affixed to trees by sweeping their headlamps across the forest canopy. The arduous return journey consumed roughly four hours of relentless physical effort.
Despite the punishing elements and equipment failures, all four members of the party successfully returned to the safety of their camp without needing to trigger an emergency rescue beacon or place a distress call.
Reflecting on the margin between safety and disaster, Pusillo acknowledged the precariousness of their situation. "I’m glad my phone didn’t die, because if it had, we might have been the fourth rescue call that night," she said.
Preparing for October Hunting Conditions
The severe weather system that caught so many sportsmen off guard was not entirely unannounced. Meteorological forecasters had explicitly warned of incoming winter weather across northwestern Colorado days in advance. On October 13, the National Weather Service issued targeted winter weather advisories warning of four to eight inches of heavy snow accumulation above 9,500 feet elevation, accompanied by disruptive wind gusts reaching up to 35 miles per hour across several prominent western Colorado mountain ranges.
Pusillo admitted that her hunting party had checked local weather forecasts for the nearby town of Craig, which indicated rain, but they had fundamentally failed to anticipate that the freezing temperatures would translate into heavy snow at their specific, higher-elevation hunting grounds.
"We weren’t prepared for snow because we didn’t think it was going to get cold enough to snow," she said.
In the wake of the intense 14-hour operational window, Routt County Search and Rescue issued a firm reminder to hunters, campers, and all backcountry recreationists emphasizing the absolute necessity of maintaining vigilance and preparedness for sudden shifts in high-altitude weather patterns during the autumn transition.
"Being prepared in weather conditions like these can be a matter of life or death, and help can be many hours away," the rescue organization stressed in their public advisory.
State wildlife and safety authorities continue to reiterate those warnings for anyone heading into the mountains. Colorado Parks and Wildlife actively advises hunters to continuously monitor regional mountain weather forecasts, carefully plan and communicate reliable exit routes, and always carry adequate survival equipment capable of sustaining an unexpected overnight stay in freezing conditions. Furthermore, the Colorado Search and Rescue Association recommends that backcountry travelers pack redundant backup navigation tools, carry extra batteries for all electronic devices, and establish strict, pre-agreed check-in plans with contacts outside the wilderness before setting out.
