Search for missing Colorado hunter complicated by specialized camouflage

Authorities fear a 27-year-old Salida man they've been searching for since Wednesday may have been wearing a ghillie suit.  

Kaden Sites went turkey hunting on Mount Shavano and failed to show up for a doctors appointment Wednesday afternoon, according to the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office. Family members found Sites's pickup truck at the Blanks Cabin Trailhead parking lot. His cell phone was inside the truck and the device's battery was dead. 

Family members called the sheriff's office at 7 p.m. to report Sites missing. 

Search crews began looking for Sites that night and have been every day since. Ground teams were joined by search dogs while drones, helicopters, and planes have flown overhead. 

Friday, the number of searchers numbered 130. Approximately 1,500 man/woman hours were spent that day alone, per the sheriff's office. 

"Please continue to keep the searchers and family members in your positive thoughts," Chaffee Sheriff Andy Rohrich stated on a Facebook post. "Our team is determined as ever and staying strong. Please continue to stay out of the area. Yesterday we did have a few citizens go up to the area to search on their own and our teams had to be diverted to them because they were not on our list. We appreciate all the community's support and willingness to jump in and help but we do not want our team's attention on anything other than finding Kaden."

Sites was initially thought to be wearing a green hoodie, ripped khaki pants and hiking boots - and also carrying a shotgun and binocular pack - when the search began. Thursday, the sheriff's office stated, "We have received some information that suggests Kaden may have put on a ghillie suit when he went into the forest."

A ghillie suit is a camouflage outfit used by hunters and snipers. It notably features a covering of what is supposed to resemble thick foliage. While advantageous to hunters who want to be hidden from their targets, such an outfit presents obvious difficulties for searchers trying to find someone who could be incapacitated.

Search and rescue teams recommend hikers, climbers and campers wear brightly colored clothing in the backcountry to assist in visibly locating them should an emergency occur.

The agencies involved in the search effort:

• Chaffee County Sheriff's Office
• Chaffee County Office of Emergency Management
• Chaffee County Search and Rescue (North and South)
• Colorado Search and Rescue
• Colorado Department of Corrections
• Colorado Parks and Wildlife
• Mesa County Search and Rescue
• Park County Search and Rescue
• Western Mountain Rescue (Gunnison County)
• Pueblo Search and Rescue
• Teller County Search and Rescue
• Lake County Search and Rescue
• Custer County Search and Rescue
• Summit County Search and Rescue
• Boulder Emergency Squad