One word.
Booze.
My first thought also. Hunting for sasquatch is dumb enough, in freezing weather even dumber, and more dumb yet, all tanked up with guns.
One word.
“”Booze””
I was getting ready to post the same thing...It would appear that the rest of the party was deep in the alcohol fog also if the two guys left on Christmas Eve and hadn’t yet returned by 1 AM Christmas Day????? That didn’t allow them much time to locate Sasquatch.