Lion hunters track hounds into Glacier Park

Two Flathead hunters were located in Glacier National Park on Jan. 6 after the men pursued their hounds across the North Fork of the Flathead River into the Park. The men, however, were never actually lost.

Bill Sapa, 39, of Columbia Falls, and Lawrence Bedford, 34, of Martin City, had snowmobiled off the North Fork Road toward the Park late in the morning in search of two missing hunting dogs, the Park reported.

The dogs wore GPS collars and had been chasing a mountain lion. The last known location of the dogs was inside the Park near Winona Lake, about 1 1/2 miles east of where the hunters’ truck was parked and about five miles south of the Polebridge Ranger Station.

Searchers found the hunters’ snowmobiles about 200 yards from their truck after they bogged down due to snow conditions and terrain. Weather conditions consisted of heavy, wet snow, falling on four feet of unconsolidated snow, and Bedford and Sapa were not equipped with skis or snowshoes.

After the hunters were reported overdue, two North Fork Search and Rescue team members set off on skis about 8:30 p.m. following the hunters’ tracks. Shortly after midnight, rangers encountered the two dogs and eventually both hunters, still tracking the dogs.

Bedford and Sapa had built a fire after retrieving one dog and intended to stay the night. They told rangers they had pursued the dogs into the Park for fear the dogs might be killed by wolves if left overnight. They said they expected to reach their vehicle via the Polebridge Ranger Station by 3 a.m. the next morning.

Both hunters and dogs were transported out of the backcountry and back to the Polebridge Ranger Station. Twelve North Valley Search and Rescue team members and three Park rangers were involved in the search.

Bedford, who owned the dogs, was cited under federal regulations for having dogs in a closed area.