AK AK - Steve Keel, 61, missing from hunting trip, from TN - Aug 27, 2022

[RickshawFan]

For sure. I’m not sure the of the specific diagnosis obviously, but something that had some warning signs from the day before and was sudden enough for him to not to be able to request help by gunshot or otherwise.

He could even have eaten bad meat, and suddenly become incapacitated.

It's suspicious to me that SK doesn't seem to have eaten breakfast. I believe we only heard he had coffee before he took off.

IMO lack of a gunshot maybe shouldn't be relied on as evidence. For instance, his hunting buddy could just not have heard it. No telling what the acoustics are in that environment.

 

[RickshawFan]

This is not an MSM. I hope it is allowed
I hope they did a lot of studying in I preparation for this trip
Dead horse outfitters.spells it out as what to expect while on your hunting trip. It is not for the faint of heart.

CARIBOU | Deadhorse Outfitters

www.deadhorseoutfitters.com

It's kinda fascinating what's in the kit that you rent from them. These hunters live LUXE! I guess if you're dropped by boat, many goodies are possible....

Those are great tents they rent as far as design. Wind-shedding. Compare with SK's 2 tents, which make me shudder, they're so inadequate for conditions.

You'd see so much wildlife if you were camped near the river(s).

I wonder how SK and buddy provisioned themselves.... They would have had to spend time in Fairbanks loading up with food, etc...Hotel costs, food costs... They also probably had to pay for extra baggage, so as to bring gear.
I still can't figure out how they schlepped everything over the tundra.... It would have been so much easier and safer to get dropped by boat. It must have taken days.

In the scheme of things, outfitter costs don't seem high to me. It would be so penny-wise, pound foolish, not to use one. IMO. Even if the trip cost $1k more going with the outfitter, think of all the extras you'd be paying for, e.g. hotels and food while you get supplies orchestrated. You'd have to buy camp fuel and all that kind of stuff. And going DIY meant SK and buddy had to have equipment for 2 camps, not just one.

 

[acutename]

It's kinda fascinating what's in the kit that you rent from them. These hunters live LUXE! I guess if you're dropped by boat, many goodies are possible....

Those are great tents they rent as far as design. Wind-shedding. Compare with SK's 2 tents, which make me shudder, they're so inadequate for conditions.

You'd see so much wildlife if you were camped near the river(s).

I wonder how SK and buddy provisioned themselves.... They would have had to spend time in Fairbanks loading up with food, etc...Hotel costs, food costs... They also probably had to pay for extra baggage, so as to bring gear.
I still can't figure out how they schlepped everything over the tundra.... It would have been so much easier and safer to get dropped by boat. It must have taken days.

In the scheme of things, outfitter costs don't seem high to me. It would be so penny-wise, pound foolish, not to use one. IMO. Even if the trip cost $1k more going with the outfitter, think of all the extras you'd be paying for, e.g. hotels and food while you get supplies orchestrated. You'd have to buy camp fuel and all that kind of stuff. And going DIY meant SK and buddy had to have equipment for 2 camps, not just one.

there is a Costco and a Walmart Supercenter in Fairbanks... they might have just purchased gear in Fairbanks insead of flying everything from TN. personally, as not-a-hunter, paying $650 for a cariboo tag and doing all that butchering and de-boning-
ug, no thanks. sounds just exhausting, but I guess if you are a hunter, it is a matter of pride. I do wonder if SK was just worn out by the end of his trip- not a lot of darkness so reduced sleep; relatively cold; lots of physical labor... does anyone know how many days they were out?

 

[RickshawFan]

there is a Costco and a Walmart Supercenter in Fairbanks... they might have just purchased gear in Fairbanks insead of flying everything from TN. personally, as not-a-hunter, paying $650 for a cariboo tag and doing all that butchering and de-boning-
ug, no thanks. sounds just exhausting, but I guess if you are a hunter, it is a matter of pride. I do wonder if SK was just worn out by the end of his trip- not a lot of darkness so reduced sleep; relatively cold; lots of physical labor... does anyone know how many days they were out?

Gear in Fairbanks would be super expensive compared with the lower-48, correct? I just can't imagine that DIY would end up cheaper than going with an outfitter and using rental equipment. You could fly right to Prudhoe Bay and get picked up by the outfitter, and not have to linger in Fairbanks, paying for hotels, eating out.... A hotel would be, like, $150/night?
So much riskier going DIY, too.

 

[charminglane]

Could they have possibly had their equipment dropped by helicopter at a certain determined spot?
Later to be picked up?
Is that a thing?

 

[White_Mountains]

Since we have a momentary lull....
This missing person event is why I recommend learning backcountry skills from old timers, and not your buddy. If you and your buddy learn from each other (and maybe even egg each other on), you may find yourself in an echo chamber of experience, falsely believe you are skilled, and become complacent when high risk is in the wings. You may have mutually reinforced poor skills, and at some point, you will likely end up blind to danger.
Old timers often have information that is contrary to what you learned from your buddy. You are likely to learn that you over-estimated your skill. This matters.
We really shouldn't be looking at Backcountry 101 shortfalls in this case, because these two buddies were "experienced" and had hunted together many times, friends are saying. Red flag for missing Backcountry 101 skills!
This happens often in WS wilderness cases, IME, especially the ones that puzzle us intensely and involve fatalities. Examples are: Dingley (Spanish LE faulted lack of experience and inadequate footwear), Gerrish & Chung (elementary miscalculations), Matrosova (elementary miscalculations), and Clements (missing at Clingman's Dome returning from a hike almost at the parking lot; it started to cold-drizzle, and she only had a cheap poncho on her instead of rain gear, so she would have got soaked very fast; the result was hypothermia and not found for a year).
I love it when I read news article where SAR (or State Fish and Game) comments on how the person they rescued "did everything right". What the rescuee experienced is an accident, pure and simple despite their skill. These must be very satisfying events to SAR.
So, yeah, learn skills from old timers you maybe aren't friends with, go out with experienced local clubs, or take a trip with a rough-it organization, like the Sierra Club.
Sierra Club has a trip to North Slope Alaska. Anyone?

You speak the truth, RickshawFan. In my neck of the woods (White Mountains), we frequently have visitors hiking in the area who underestimate the terrain (flip flops on Mount Wash!), aren’t prepared for rapid, severe weather shifts, and require rescue. IMO, it can be taxing when local volunteer SAR has already been doing carry outs for several hours. This story, Hiker dies of hypothermia in June is a read you may find interesting.

I’ve been reading the posts in this thread since SK went missing and keep checking back hoping to see that he has been located. Sad for his family and friends either way but not knowing must be so hard on them.

 

[Gumbeaux]

The North Slope Borough Search and Rescue team formally announced Monday night the decision to formally suspend the search for 61-year-old Steve Keel. Keel, of Dover, Tennessee, was officially reported missing Aug. 28 during a hunting trip in Alaska.3

Alaskan officials end formal search for missing Tennessee man

Keel, of Dover, Tennessee, was officially reported missing Aug. 28 during a hunting trip in Alaska.

www.wsmv.com

Sad to hear the search has ended unsuccessfully, but to be expected. The snow will fly very soon in interior Alaska. Termination dust has already appeared in South Central. I lived in Alaska for several years, and there are so many stories like this. Unforgettable adventure carries substantial risk. My thoughts are with his loved ones.

 

[WingsOverTX]

Could they have possibly had their equipment dropped by helicopter at a certain determined spot?
Later to be picked up?
Is that a thing?

Yes. That is a service outfitters provide. A link to one outfitter's services was posted in this thread recently if you want to learn more or you can google them.

It is probably the best way to hunt on the North Slope since your cache of meat, antlers & gear are taken care of including getting your frozen meat mailed to your home. And if you are taken to a location where caribou are expected but not seen/hunting unsuccessful, they can fly you to another spot. But even with the assistance of an outfitter, risk is high.

Guided hunts are most expensive but likely the safest option. For some hunters, a guided hunt probably diminishes the experience due to a general desire to experience the wildness of the unique tundra environment more firsthand. At least from my viewpoint it would.

My opinions only. I am not a hunter & have never visited any part of Alaska!

 

[charminglane]

Yes. That is a service outfitters provide. A link to one outfitter's services was posted in this thread recently if you want to learn more or you can google them.

It is probably the best way to hunt on the North Slope since your cache of meat, antlers & gear are taken care of including getting your frozen meat mailed to your home. And if you are taken to a location where caribou are expected but not seen/hunting unsuccessful, they can fly you to another spot. But even with the assistance of an outfitter, risk is high.

Guided hunts are most expensive but likely the safest option. For some hunters, a guided experience probably diminishes the experience due to a general desire to experience the wildness of the unique tundra environment. At least from my viewpoint it would.

My opinions only. I am not a hunter & have never visited any part of Alaska!

Thanks.
I read the Deadhorse Outfitters helpful hints posted upthread.
I guess I am not comprehending too well tonight!

 

[Snoopster]

You speak the truth, RickshawFan. In my neck of the woods (White Mountains), we frequently have visitors hiking in the area who underestimate the terrain (flip flops on Mount Wash!), aren’t prepared for rapid, severe weather shifts, and require rescue. IMO, it can be taxing when local volunteer SAR has already been doing carry outs for several hours. This story, Hiker dies of hypothermia in June is a read you may find interesting.

I’ve been reading the posts in this thread since SK went missing and keep checking back hoping to see that he has been located. Sad for his family and friends either way but not knowing must be so hard on them.

Thanks for posting that link. It just goes to show that we neophytes cause all kinds of problems with our naivety.

Conservation Officers were already immersed in the carry out of an injured hiker from the Centennial Trail in Shelburne when this call came in. This was not the only call received this day. Beginning at around 2:00 p.m., Fish and Game Officers received multiple calls from hikers who were cold, wet, and calling for rescues, most of whom were on the high elevation summits and ridgelines of the Presidential Range.

However, due to the dire nature of this call, an immediate rescue attempt was initiated, and additional resources had to be called in to respond to include Conservation Officers from around the state and MRS personnel. The conditions in the high peaks were treacherous: freezing temperatures, rain, sleet, snow, and winds gusting over 80 mph. Only those with the experience, training, and adequate gear were utilized for this rescue.

 

[acutename]

Gear in Fairbanks would be super expensive compared with the lower-48, correct? I just can't imagine that DIY would end up cheaper than going with an outfitter and using rental equipment. You could fly right to Prudhoe Bay and get picked up by the outfitter, and not have to linger in Fairbanks, paying for hotels, eating out.... A hotel would be, like, $150/night?
So much riskier going DIY, too.

there are Air B&Bs and camp sites that are not expensive, and they had a truck they rented? not sure an outfitter would have saved SK because they still would have been out tromping through the muskeg, IMO. Ther Deadhouse Outfitters site you referenced says plan on 5-15mi/day and just 1m/hr, so they expect you to be high stepping through that terrain. They also say the cariboo are out in the rain so you may as well be too; be prepared to get wet. SK made it to this site, he and his partner both shot cariboo and it seems that they were 95% done when something hapened to him and it was not that his tent broke or that their truck broke down, IMO.

 

[WingsOverTX]

Thanks for posting that link. It just goes to show that we neophytes cause all kinds of problems with our naivety.

I wouldn't call the emergencies discussed in that story as being caused by neophytes. I would say they were caused by hubris. Each person rescued seriously endangered the lives of the SAR teams working at night in very dire weather conditions.

Don't start a hike anywhere unless you are willing to swallow your pride when your intuition says turn back and do exactly that. Hubris kills.

Anyone hiking above treeline not fully prepared to avoid easily foreseeable consequences is extremely fortunate SAR risks so much to try to keep them alive!

MOO

 

[WingsOverTX]

there are Air B&Bs and camp sites that are not expensive, and they had a truck they rented? not sure an outfitter would have saved SK because they still would have been out tromping through the muskeg, IMO. Ther Deadhouse Outfitters site you referenced says plan on 5-15mi/day and just 1m/hr, so they expect you to be high stepping through that terrain. They also say the cariboo are out in the rain so you may as well be too; be prepared to get wet. SK made it to this site, he and his partner both shot cariboo and it seems that they were 95% done when something hapened to him and it was not that his tent broke or that their truck broke down, IMO.

@RickshawFan has done an excellent job in this thread of analyzing how the hunt by SK & BC went off the rails causing loss of a life. I hope you have had a chance to read those posts.

What Air B&B / campsites are you referencing?

The hunt discussed in this thread was entirely self-planned & self-guided AFAIK. We have not been given any details about their prep or expectations; we have limited info from MSM & social media regarding their equipment & what transpired.

We have had a lot of excellent analysis in this thread regarding the obvious and not-so-obvious failures that created a deadly scenario. Anyone planning a hunt on tundra would be wise to read this as a primer & not rely solely on the claims of videos that say you can "do it yourself." Of course you can, but risk increases exponentially!

JMO

 

[RickshawFan]

Could they have possibly had their equipment dropped by helicopter at a certain determined spot?
Later to be picked up?
Is that a thing?

That would be prohibitive, but not impossible I suppose; more likely might be sea plane. But most likely, is by boat. Thus, in the last few weeks several local moose hunters went missing on boat trips to camps. Caribou, like many animals frequents rivers and other waters.
If you look at the link ^^^^. evidently, the set up is that you use an "outfitter". The outfitter picks you up at the airport, organizes the boat to take you to your camp drop (4-5 hour boat ride), provides all rental gear you might need, organizes the packing and freezing of your meat, takes you to get supplies..... It seems to be turnkey all the way to your campsite and back to the plane.
The only thing the outfitters appears not to do is manually lift all your stuff in and out of the boat. You pack it in, you pack it out, all however many tons of it you're hauling....
You bring your own food.

Camping by a river this way is not only more practical—you can simply boat there and hunt from there, no walking to a campsite—but would be much prettier, as well as offer a fresh source of water. Also, much safer and more effective use of time, since you aren't carrying stuff back and forth across vast areas of tundra. Nor are you consuming days of your precious vacation driving and schlepping and spending money in AK.

 

[RickshawFan]

You speak the truth, RickshawFan. In my neck of the woods (White Mountains), we frequently have visitors hiking in the area who underestimate the terrain (flip flops on Mount Wash!), aren’t prepared for rapid, severe weather shifts, and require rescue. IMO, it can be taxing when local volunteer SAR has already been doing carry outs for several hours. This story, Hiker dies of hypothermia in June is a read you may find interesting.

I’ve been reading the posts in this thread since SK went missing and keep checking back hoping to see that he has been located. Sad for his family and friends either way but not knowing must be so hard on them.

I was familiar with that case, and had it in mind. NH is very good at evaluating the relative preparedness (aka stupidity) of hikers they rescue, and publishing it in the media. I’ve seen them scold for wearing jeans, not carrying enough water, making impetuous decisions, taking “shortcuts”, not having the 10 Essentials. Matrosova and the two unprepared AT thru hikers were great examples.
SAR risks their lives going after some of these people.

I’m not sure how unprepared or inexperienced this hiker was who died in June, but he probably should have gone down the mountain ASAP if he got into weather he didn’t expect, especially since he was hiking solo. Instead, he kept going upwards, and soon it was too late. As far as I can tell.

 

[RickshawFan]

there are Air B&Bs and camp sites that are not expensive, and they had a truck they rented? not sure an outfitter would have saved SK because they still would have been out tromping through the muskeg, IMO. Ther Deadhouse Outfitters site you referenced says plan on 5-15mi/day and just 1m/hr, so they expect you to be high stepping through that terrain. They also say the cariboo are out in the rain so you may as well be too; be prepared to get wet. SK made it to this site, he and his partner both shot cariboo and it seems that they were 95% done when something hapened to him and it was not that his tent broke or that their truck broke down, IMO.

I’m not sure where you’re referring to inexpensive Air BNB’s and campsites. The tundra is vast and empty.

SK and his buddy, I would guess, would have likely been hiking the 5-15 miles in addition to their laborious journey to camp. The clients of Deadhorse didn’t have a slog to camp; that’s a huge energy saver.

And yes, their luck ran out towards the end of their trip. That doesn’t mean their planning was wise or cost effective. The corners that were cut were likely the entire margin for error, and lady luck finally caught up with them.

 

[5W's]

I haven't been on Steve's thread in a little while now but I'm surprised he hasn't been found. Without saying the other hiker's name he went missing on August 23 and was found on September 22. He was found in another state of course in another terrain, but found. He was still identifiable. Its almost the same time frame and Steve hasn't been found yet. Scavengers could have scattered that hiker's remains but it doesn't appear as though they did. The other hiker went missing in Nevada.

 

[Armchair63]

Anchorage Daily News

www.thearcticsounder.com

An avid hunter, Keel, came to Alaska for a dream trip to hunt caribou and was reported missing on Aug. 28 close to Pump Station 2 and Happy Valley along the Dalton Highway, his wife Elizabeth Keel said.

You know ,there is a lot to be said about being able To have a life long dream come true.
Most people in this world never achieve that.
Steve keel struck when the Iron was hot. It is sad that it has turned out the way that it has and that he will not be able to share his experience with his family and friends.
AKA Smiley

 

[RickshawFan]

I haven't been on Steve's thread in a little while now but I'm surprised he hasn't been found. Without saying the other hiker's name he went missing on August 23 and was found on September 22. He was found in another state of course in another terrain, but found. He was still identifiable. Its almost the same time frame and Steve hasn't been found yet. Scavengers could have scattered that hiker's remains but it doesn't appear as though they did. The other hiker went missing in Nevada.

It’s not at all unusual for folks missing in the wild NEVER to be found, and when they are, it’s often an accidental find by random hikers a long time later.
This location in vast, empty tundra, makes it unlikely SK’s remains will ever be found. There was the added disadvantage, too, that he was dressed in camo and easily concealed. He could have been just a hummock away from a searcher’s foot, and the searcher wouldn’t know.
IMO

Here is a NPS compilation of featured missing, just for National Parks. These would have had thousands of search hours from Park personnel and SAR (sometimes LE, too).

Cold Cases - Investigative Services (U.S. National Park Service)

Please scroll through this roster of cold cases, which include missing persons, accidents or crimes in the National Parks that have yet to be solved and have no active leads.

www.nps.gov

 

[LauraAnne]

Is there some reason they’re not disclosing how this pair got their campsite set up? For all of us following this thread it seems impossible that these two men packed all their gear in themselves, including guns, tent and that huge ice chest. Are there permits outfitters need to obtain that are sometimes skirted around? So much if this mystery revolves, IMHO on the baffling questions of how these two men got there, and how they intended to get back out. There are definitely pieces not being told.