Canadian Hunter Stranded for Three Weeks Drank Melted Snow to Survive
OutdoorHub Reporters 12.10.12
A Winnipeg family is happy to have their family member back after he went out into the bush for a day hunting trip and didn’t return for weeks. A search party had even been officially called off when there was no sign of Brad Lambert after helicopters and foot search and rescuers could not locate him.
Lambert, 46, was hunting deer in southeast Manitoba when he took a “wrong turn on the wrong trail,” according to the Canadian Press, who spoke to Lambert. The last time anyone saw him was on November 15 when he stopped to buy supplies just southeast of his home in Winnipeg.
His truck later became stuck and soon became his only shelter from harsh weather. With no compass and an unusable cell phone, he placed all bets on being found by a passerby.
“I slept nightly in my vehicle, which was completely stuck, immobilized, out of fuel after five days, battery dead,” Lambert told Global Winnipeg. “Daily spent time trying to be noticed, building some smokey signal fires. Nothing to eat just, plenty of fresh water from snowmelt to ground water.”
His efforts to draw rescuers’ attention to him were futile so eventually he set out on foot through the thick forest until he came to a trail. He followed it to a road and began following it. A passerby later stopped for him and he was taken to a hospital and to see his family, 24 days after he had set out to hunt. Lambert credits thoughts of his wife and son were what kept him going.
