SUMTER COUNTY, FL (352today.com) – A hunter missing for over 24 hours was found by authorities in the Green Swamp East Wildlife Management Area (WMA).
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) says their K-9 team responded to the WMA on Friday, March 29, to search for the hunter.
The FWC says the hunter was dropped off on a road inside the WMA for a turkey hunt during the early hours of March 28. They say around 2:30 p.m., he was reported missing by his party after he didn’t show up to their specified meeting spot.
According to a release from the FWC, they say multiple agencies included K-9 units from Polk County and the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) immediately began searching Thursday afternoon for the man.
“Five K-9 teams from various agencies including two FDC bloodhounds searched all afternoon and into the early morning hours of the next day,” stated the release.
At 7 a.m. on Friday, the FWC says K-9 Officer Malachi Wilkins deployed K-9 Havoc and began to search the last known area of the missing hunter. They say K-9 Havoc “tracked for approximately half of a mile” before finding the man sitting on a fallen tree around 9:30 a.m.
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Authorities say the man was brought back to the check station where he received a medical evaluation. They say no major medical issues were found.