AlpineSummit said:
How do you feel about the validity of a hiker or hunter simply stating that they feel that they are capable of getting themselves out of the woods w/out any help and making that known to you thru a spouse or whatever? Sort of a D.N.R. (do not rescue)
Have you ever rescued anyone who didn't need it and what was their reaction?
And lastly: Do you agree with me when I say that an individual may have the right to hike to any God-forsaken place he/she can get to but does NOT have the right to expect to be rescued from there?
What follows is strictly my own response and not to be attributed to someone else. First, the only time that members of our unit go searching for someone is after an official request from the agency responsible for SAR (NH = Fish & Game; VT = Vermont State Police; ME = Maine Warden Service.) That's the way it has been in every state that I've worked in. I have personally advised an aunt of a missing teenage girl to hang up the phone and call the sheriff (this was another state) if she wanted our dog team. And then I packed my gear and waited for the sheriff's call that came thirty minutes later.
This means that if a search has started
someone in your own circle of acquaintances has first cared enough about you to call the agency in charge (or some police department, etc.) when you were overdue. It's very rare in my experience for a SAR mission to start simply because someone didn't sign back in on a register. If you don't want to be rescued, either cut all ties with your family (ala Ted Kasczynski) or make them dislike you a lot before you leave.
I think many family members would have trouble honoring a "DNR" request.
I have been present when a missing person did not think that he (and it was always a "he") needed any help. (One time was when a guy was visiting a girlfriend out of town instead of meeting his wife at a trailhead as planned.
) I have also had the experience of chasing someone (again, a "him") through the woods most of a night, as he calls to us, we call to him, we move up, but now he has moved a little farther away. Repeat ad nauseam until daylight comes and he manages to stumble across a road, flag a ride, and then disclaim any need to be rescued. (Funny, but he never quite got out of voice range .....)
We don't inquire into the rescue preferences of missing people when we go out. I've looked on too many times as family members watched a body being carried out, to feel personally inclined to honor a "DNR" request. (Yeah, I know that this is a subject of particular interest in these parts, but I'm not gonna go any nearer that particular situation.) And yeah, I do personally favor the right to execute living wills and have them honored in case of illness. In my experience, a missing and never-to-be found person is a whole different situation for a family than the person whose autonomy is to be honored at life's end in a hospital or hospice. I've gone on lots of searches for suspected suicides, and I will continue to do so, both to save a life and to help a family at a very difficult time.
As for the existence of any "right" to be rescued, well, I leave that up to the Legislature and its authorization of SAR operations (and its fine-levying authority for the egregious cases of "reckless" conduct.) I just go when called. My wife has a much more laissez faire attitude toward backcountry adventurers.