On the Sage Creek Forums, a number of hunters from Idaho are members.  It stands to reason since the Forums are run by Scott Whitehurst of Athol, a small town in the Panhandle of Idaho.  A llittle more than a week ago, there was a post that caught my attention:

Mon Jun 23, 2008

First post here all. I’m in the position of having found a GPS out on a hillside, and I’d hate to lose one of those, so I’m trying to locate the owner. The GPS was found somewhere on the South Fork of the Clearwater River, somewhere above Harpster.

While I don’t know much about GPS’s, and neither did those that were with me, I’m told that most have an “Owner” screen that comes up when the unit is turned on, with address, phone number, etc. This one didn’t, at least it didn’t when we figured out how to turn it on and somewhat navigate through it. I guess one of us could have messed up and deleted something we shouldn’t have.

I have found a “Home” waypoint, which (with the help of others) plugged the coordinates into Google Earth. This took me to a screen shot of a place somewhat outside of Harpster. I’m a 7-hr drive away from this location….otherwise, I’d drive to the place myself and inquire. If any of you know of anyone that has lost a GPS, and can provide the model number and likely location that it was lost, and other waypoints that are entered, I’d gladly mail the GPS back.

Failing that, next time I’m up that way, I’ll make the drive to the place myself. Thx for the help.

Now I don’t know about you but there are probably a number of people out there who might consider finding a GPS lost on a hillside, in a remote river canyon to be their good fortune.  The temptation to keep it would cross the mind of nearly anyone…  But this guy was determined to find the owner.

The suggestions rolled in , see if the local sporting goods store knew anyone who lost a GPS, Local LEO’s, A lost and found ad, etc.

 Tue Jun 24, 2008

A member on another forum who visits this forum suggested I try here. I even emailed (and got a reply!) from the GPS manufacturer when I provided the GPS serial number, hoping the owner had registered it for warranty. It hadn’t been, so I’ll run out my search options as best as I can.

Sat Jun 28, 2008

I called Rae Bros and they had no reports of lost GPS’s. I left a Lost & Found ad with the Free Press, and, sent an email to Grangeville law enforcement to see if they had any Lost reports of GPS’s. We’ll see what happens, if anything!

Then I checked in this morning, and I saw that all his hard work had paid off.

Wed Jul 02, 2008

A successful day for me! I found the GPS owner (a Mr. *******). I placed a ‘Lost & Found’ ad in the Idaho County Free Press in Grangeville and got a call today on it. I returned the call and the Owner was able to name off the ‘Home’ N & W coordinates, and several other waypoint names that were entered in the unit. He gave me his mailing address, so it will be off to him shortly.

Turns out someone borrowed the GPS from him to go find a specific tree, then lost the unit on his way out.

Thx everyone for your helpful suggestions

Folks, this is a great example of modern technology meets the “Code of the West” .  Good things still happen to good people.  Even when people aren’t looking. So the next time you have a chance to help out your fellow outdoorsman, even if you don’t HAVE to, remember this example.  We all could be on either end of this situation, and I think we can all agree that in this case it was definately a WIN-WIN outcome.

Here’s to more Happy Endings…