An Idaho bow hunter just discovered the remains of a man who has been missing for over 50 years. The hunter discovered the remains on September 17th when looking for a shortcut.
According to Yahoo!, The man who was missing was named Raymond Jones. Jones was only 39 when he went missing from Salmon Idaho in 1968. Jones was a hunter as well. He went missing when hunting mountain goats in the East fork of Hayden Creek in Lemhi County. While he was on a hunting trip with a group, he was reportedly alone at the time he went missing.
“There were some other hunters in camp but he was by himself when he disappeared,” Lemhi County Sheriff Steve Penner told EastIdahoNews. Lemhi county is located in northeast Idaho and is bordered by Montana. Like many spots in Idaho, the county has some fantastic hunting.
The day after Jones went missing, the Sherriff got called to the camp. A search was launched on September 9th, 1968. Unfortunately, they found no sign of Jones in the vast wilderness. Aircraft were even brought in for the search, but the whole search was called off due to a blizzard.
According to The Stanley Journal, the search was re-opened very briefly after footprints potentially linked to jones were found, but it was eventually closed again. Even so, about 70 searchers remained even after the Sherriff’s Ofice Withdrew.
The Case of the missing Bow Hunter Remained Unsolved Until This Friday
In a shocking turn of events, the Sherrif’s office received a call from a hunter on Friday. He was in the same area where Jones disappeared.
“The bow hunter was seeking a shortcut from one hunting area to another when he found human remains and then contacted the sheriff’s office,” Sherrif Steve Penner said. “Due to the lack of remaining daylight and ruggedness of the terrain, recovery efforts began on the morning of the 18.”
And unbelievably, it was incredibly easy to identify Jones despite his body being found in the rugged Idaho wilderness. Sherrif’s deputies found a wallet with Jones’s ID card inside. The wallet somehow survived any weather events and general wear and tear that would have occurred over the past 50 years.
“It’s pretty wild, ain’t it? You have another bowhunter looking for a shortcut who stumbled upon a bowhunter from 53 years ago,” Penner told the publication.
Whether someone went missing 50 years ago or 5 days ago, finding a missing person can bring closure to families. Jones’s wife is still alive, and she has been notified along with the rest of his surviving family members.
Jones would be 92 years old today.
