A pair of University of Alberta researchers found a lost hunter over the weekend in a remote B.C. mountain valley, just north of the U.S. border.
Jonathan Ruppert and Tyana Rudolfsen, with the university's fisheries and conservation program, were doing field work deep in the Flathead River Valley as part of a three-day trip.
On Saturday, they spotted Garth McDonald standing in the middle of the road, frantically trying to signal for help.
"He had no idea what road he was on or what river he was camped next to," Rudolfsen said.
The Fernie, B.C., man was trying to get the attention of a search-and-rescue plane using a foil emergency blanket at the time.
According to Rudolfsen, the plane was "quite a ways away" and McDonald appeared to be in distress.
McDonald told the researchers he had been on a hunting trip for his birthday, when he somehow got separated from his group one day earlier.
"He said, 'I'm lost and I don't have food and I don't have water,'" Ruppert said.
McDonald explained he had been own his own for more than 24 hours and didn't have his diabetes medication with him.
"He said, 'I'm having a really tough go. Do you have any juice?'" Ruppert said, adding he offered McDonald some Gatorade.
Rudolfsen said the drink appeared to help McDonald come out of his "sugar low" and he was able to communicate more.
Ruppert and Rudolfsen then drove the 67-year-old to his home in Fernie, where they stayed with him until he appeared to be OK. They also notified police, who were looking for him.
Rudolfsen says Saturday's rescue was a chance encounter that could have ended very differently.
"We would have been at the site, changing out temperature loggers, for five minutes maximum and turning around and leaving," she said.
McDonald declined CTV Edmonton's request for an interview, but told both Ruppert and Rudolfsen being rescued was a "great birthday present."
With a report from CTV Edmonton's Ashley Molnar
