Updated at 5:11 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The search for David Sherwood of Onalaska has ended with searchers locating his body about 11:30 a.m. today.
The elk hunter missing since Friday south of Randle was located by a private helicopter on the side of a steep ravine, according to the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office.
A second helicopter with the sheriff’s office recovered his body in an hour-long operation, Undersheriff Dave Cox said in a news release just after 1:30 p.m.
Sherwood was 56 years old.
“These past few days have been difficult for those involved in the search effort including the family and friends of Mr. Sherwood,” Skamania County Sheriff Dave Brown stated. “Our efforts were challenged by both the terrain and the weather.
We are grateful for all the assistance provided by the community of Onalaska the family of Mr. Sherwood and the volunteer search and rescue teams from the region.”
Today’s search effort included nearly 70 family and friends, according to the sheriff’s office.
Cox did not know how far from his truck Sherwood was found.
“I know it was quite a ways down the ravine from where his vehicle was,” he said this afternoon.
How and when Sherwood died aren’t questions Cox has the answers to today, he said.
The search base was located at the Ryan Lake Trailhead, at the junction of Forest Service Roads 26 and 2612, in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
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Read previous story on the search, here [1]