http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2009/12/arizona-elk-hunters-trapped-in-deep-freeze-are-subject-of-massive-search.htmlA massive search is underway for 25 to 30 hunters stranded in the northern Arizona wilderness by a major snowstorm and in sub-freezing conditions.
Rescue teams from the Coconino County Sheriff's Department and other agencies have fanned out in hopes of finding the hunters, some of whom were reached by cellphone and reported to be OK. Authorities were trying to access known elk-hunting camps in an area now covered with up to 3 feet of snow.
Jim Driscol, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, told the Associated Press that priority will be to retrieve hunters who are low on food and heating fuel, and to get to them before the next storm system hits, possibly this weekend.
It has not been a good week for elk hunters in the region. In high winds Monday night, Arizona hunter Skylar Stock was killed when the top of a 70-foot pine tree fell on the tent in which he was sleeping.
