Elk Hunters Killed by Lightning in Colorado Backcountry

iSportsman Staff

Two 25-year-old elk hunters, Andrew Porter of Asheville, North Carolina, and Ian Stasko of Salt Lake City, Utah, were found dead Sept. 18 in the South San Juan Wilderness after a multi-day search in Conejos County, Colorado. They had gone missing while hunting elk near the Rio de los Pinos trailhead during storms that rolled through the area around Sept. 11, according to various news reports. Conejos County Coroner Richard Martin confirmed the cause of death saying the hunters were killed by lightning.

The men were discovered beneath a tree with minor burn marks consistent with a ground strike. Martin told The Colorado Sun deaths of this type are typically instantaneous.

“That kind of death is just instant. It’s like you’re alive and now you’re not,” Martin told the Sun. “Just that quick. Split second.”

Search teams located the men roughly two miles from the trail. They were clothed in light-weather camouflage with a single small daypack and had not established a camp. One of the men had a bow; neither had a gun, according to authorities.

Conejos County Sheriff Garth Crowther told the Sun the clothing the men were wearing was “not the warmest.” There were no signs of foul play or injuries on their bodies other than a few slight burn marks consistent with a lightning strike.

Family updates and officials’ statements indicate the pair were experienced outdoorsmen and familiar with Western terrain with Stasko being from Utah and Porter, originally from Montana, but living in the mountains of North Carolina most recently. The two spent a month in the rugged mountains of Montana hunting last year, Porter’s fiancé, Bridget Murphy, told The Colorado Sun. She believes the two were possibly trying to return to their vehicle as weather worsened, but there is no confirmation of that.

She said that authorities found wet clothing in the pair’s vehicle parked at the trailhead, as well as an absence of hunting gear such as his bow, binoculars, butchering knives or game bags, suggesting they had gone back out to hunt, but likely not to stay out past night since their camping gear and backpacks were in the car.

Murphy told news reporters that Porter had been keeping her updated on his location using a Garmin InReach satellite communication device and his last update pinged her around 2:45 p.m. Sept. 11. No emergency SOS was ever sent or received.

Murphy told the Sun the two were resourceful outdoorsmen “who’ve been building shelters in the woods since they were 12 for fun.”

The Conejos County Sheriff’s Office coordinated an extensive search operation before the recovery and identification that included teams from New Mexico and La Plata County, the nearby Rainbow Trout Ranch and volunteer hikers, hunters and horseback riders, the Sun reported. Planes, horses, drones and dog teams were all used to help search for the men.

Colorado averages about two lightning fatalities and a dozen injuries per year, according to long-term National Weather Service data referenced in The Colorado Sun’s report.

“It is with a broken heart and through tears that I give you this update. Andrew and Ian have both been found deceased,” Lynne Runkle, Porter’s aunt, wrote in an update on a GoFundMe page she created to help fund search and rescue efforts. After the discovery, funds raised for the search effort will now go toward the men’s memorial services as well as to help support their families “during this difficult time.”

Hunters are susceptible to lightning strikes and being caught in inclement weather by the very nature of their activities, and often outdoors, away from cover. Should a storm occur quickly while out, remember to stay low, get down from ridges or mountain tops, don’t take shelter under a lone tree, and if taking shelter under a group of trees, make sure you are beneath the lowest ones and not lying, but sitting on the ground, with minimal contact with the ground.