Mounted search and rescue

["philip easley" <easleyranch@foothill.net>]

Another consideration on response time is the speed of the searchers.  A
foot searcher travels at between 1/2 to 1 1/2 MPH.  Horses and Mules travel
at between 3 and 5 MPH at a walk.  If they are in a hurry, they jog at
speeds of up to 15 mph for miles without totally wiping our sign on the
trail (provided you do not sent more than two down each trail) as foot
searchers, ATVs and motorcycles do.  Often time MSAR will catch up with
other searchers that arrive and are deployed ahead of them.
Phil Easley
NCSSAR
Nevada City, Ca.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jorene Downs" <Jorene@CEOates.com>
To: "Mounted search and rescue" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2006 12:38 PM
Subject: Re: [MSAR] MSAR in TN


> From: "irvin lichtenstein" <ilichten1@verizon.net>
> > It also depends on how large the
> > area is. Generally more than 90 minutes travel time added to an hour or
> > more
> > to get on the road with horses makes for too long a response for many
> > local
> > agencies.
>
> Good info, Irv. I agree with all except for the travel estimate. We
> *commonly* respond with 3 hours of travel, sometimes more ... and still
> remain within our own county. And that is the Hasty Team traveling at
speed
> to set up the CP and send the first wave of SAR folks out into the
> backcountry. Mounted might haul 4 hours or longer to get to the CP. But
our
> county is the size of CT and climbs from valley floor to Mt Whitney, and
the
> vast majority of our SAR is steep mountain wilderness, so we're dealing
with
> twisting mountain roads for most of our call-outs.
>
> So, much depends on the terrain, type of road, and the size of the
agency's
> operational area. There is also the potential of Mutual Aid response to
> consider. Folks might be expected to travel your suggested 90 minutes, or
> several hours, depending on their local situation.
>
> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
> Jorene Downs
> Tulare Co SAR - Hasty Team ICP Team
>  www.ceoates.com/sar
> Tulare-Kings CERT
>  www.tk-cert.org
>
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