From the Calgary Herald:
A search team has been dispatched to Kananaskis Country to look for a Calgary hunter who has been reported overdue by his family.
The man apparently went hunting near the Picklejar Creek Trail on Saturday morning and didn’t return home as expected.
“We had an overdue hunter reported (Sunday) morning,” Const. Virgil Bitz of the Kananaskis RCMP said Monday. “We began with a ground search and eventually, by 1 p.m. yesterday afternoon, we brought out a helicopter.
“We did not locate him and search crews are still out there.”
Bitz couldn’t immediately confirm the man’s condition, but he said there’s a grizzly bear with a cub in the area.
As a result, he said there are officers from Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation — as well as the provincial bear team — helping with the search.
“We have conservation officers and public safety officers out there,” confirmed department spokeswoman Jill Sawyer, noting there are eight officers helping the Mounties.
They searched until dark Sunday, but called it off when it got dark due to the presence of the bear and her cub.
In addition, there are now bear closure signs and yellow tape marking off the area.
Picklejar Lakes is in one of Kananaskis Country’s 39 provincial recreation areas, where hunting big game such as deer, elk and black bears is allowed. It’s illegal to hunt grizzly bears in Alberta due to their threatened status.
More details on the missing hunter are expected to be released by RCMP later this afternoon.