Posted on 09/23/2025 9:10:30 AM PDT by Red Badger
The bodies of two elk hunters — Andrew Porter of Asheville, North Carolina, and Ian Stasko of Salt Lake City, Utah — who went missing in southern Colorado on Sept. 11 were found Thursday. Some Wyoming hunters say it’s a grim reminder of the dangers weather and other backcountry hazards pose. (Saguache County Sheriff's Office) A lightning strike killed two elk hunters who went missing Sept. 11 in southern Colorado were found dead on Thursday, the coroner who investigated the case confirmed Monday afternoon.
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Lightning might have stuck a tree that Andrew Porter of Asheville, North Carolina, and Ian Stasko of Salt Lake City, Utah, both 25, were standing under, Conejos County, Colorado Coroner Richard Martin told Cowboy State Daily.
The bodies were found fully clothed and didn’t show any outward signs of trauma, Martin said.
He said determining the cause of death was “a pretty tough case,” because in most instances of fatal lightning strikes, there are entry and/or exit wounds from a massive bolt of electricity.
The tree that Porter and Stasko were apparently standing under also didn’t show any signs of a strike.
Martin said there’s no way of knowing for certain what transpired, but he surmised that the electricity from the bolt that struck the tree likely traveled through the tree, and into the ground.
And then the conductivity through the ground is probably what killed the two men, he said.
It’s likely that the fatal effect was that “all electrical functions” in their bodies were stopped instantly by the massive jolt coming from the lightning, he said.
Lightning A Serious Hazard
Lightning can be extremely dangerous, meteorologist Jan Curtis told Cowboy State Daily.
It doesn’t have to strike people directly to cause serious injury of death, he said.
If the ground is wet, in can conduct electricity from a nearby strike, said Curtis, who spent his career did meteorology and climatology for the U.S. Navy, the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. He also was the Wyoming State Climatologist from 2001 to 2005.
Meteorologist Don Day of Cheyenne agreed that lightning should be taken seriously.
“Personally I think lightning danger is something people don't think enough about, especially the amount of thunderstorms we get in this region and how people like to be outside; mountains, lakes, golfing, etc.,” he said.
“Lightning does not follow many rules, you should have deep respect for its dangers and its unpredictability,” he added.
“While the odds of being struck by lightning is 1 in 1,222,000, the USA averages 43 deaths per year from lightning strikes. The four states with the most lightning related fatalities are Florida, Texas, Colorado, North Carolina and Alabama. A lot of these happen on golf courses,” Day said.
Storms were reported last week in the region of the Rio Grande National Forest in Colorado where Porter and Stasko were hunting.
‘Pray For Their Families’
Like countless other hunters throughout the region, Olin Machen of Cody has been following Porter and Stasko’s story closely.
He said he was saddened to learn about the official cause of their deaths. He urged hunters to be mindful about lightning, and to show respect and compassion for the men’s families.
“In general, lightning safety for hunters would be to stay below tree line when afternoon storms pop up. Drop down off the tops of ridges even if it’s only a short distance, stay away from big rock formations that lightning may travel horizontally across, and don’t have the metallic objects like a rifle or trekking poles on your body,” he said.
“For me, and as a result of this tragedy, I’ll add, stay as far away from my hunting buddy, but still in view, as possible. Perhaps we can all take a lesson away from this and take a moment to pray for their families,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
In August 1968, while (Virginia) Governor Godwin was attending the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, Becky and her mother were vacationing at the Oceanfront area of Virginia Beach when Becky was killed in a lightning accident.[6]The cause of death was given by hospital authorities as “complications arising from severe electrical burns of the lungs.”
I will never forget it. A person can sense a pending lightning strike because of the ionization of air molecules and the hair standing on end. I have told myself over and over to hold my breath if it ever happens to me.
I once was caught in the thunderstorm while I was kayaking on a small river. It took every ounce of effort to remain in my kayak in the middle of the river with my body down and my paddle flat. The other option was to cower under a tree. Later that summer a young couple was killed doing exactly that (in another area).
GORT on low power mode?
Very sorry to hear this.
We were wondering what had happened to them.
Wow, that’s astonishing. Was your wife hurt? Just amazed? I can’t imagine seeing or experiencing that.
I remember once when I was a kid, sitting in the living room watching a thunderstorm. There was an instantaneous FLASH BOOM when lightning struck a tree about 500 to 700 feet away from me. The tree was a huge 5 or 6 trunk oak and it knocked down several main trunks, but what I remember most was the ozone smell and the taste in my mouth. Just like licking the terminals of a nine volt battery.
Can't these people count??
Hey! Mark Heinz out yonder in Wyomin lost a toe in a dadgum huntin' accident years back, OK? He just fergot to count on his other foot, is all.
A storm snuck up on me while I was on a fishing trip in Canada many years ago. There were 4 of us in 2 boats. We got to shore before the storm and lightning fireworks hit. We spread out on a beach well away from the boats and each other. We just toughed it out in rain suits. It rained so hard, it put out a forest fire that was smoldering in that part of the lake.
These days there are weather apps that show lightning in the area, but if you are an outdoorsman with no to spotty cell service, a lightning detector can be extremely useful.
In the mid-80s, I assembled a Sears storage house at my new property, digging a drainage trench from the back and around the sides. During a hard rain I was out there observing the draining of the runoff and standing under an umbrella when FLASHBANG! I ran for the house.
I don’t know if your basic small umbrella will attract a lightning bolt; don’t want to test it again.
I noticed that. I live in N Alabama.
Down here in Florida where I have a flock of wild turkeys regularly roaming through my place, I notice that whenever thunder storms come up they get away from the trees, even in pounding rain, and stick to an open meadow with just a little low scrub across the road until it is over.
People used to laugh about turkeys getting soaked like that as if that meant they are stupid, but they have more sense than most people.
30 years ago I was a geologist and was friends with the drilling crew. A South Texas storm blew up and the crew left the area well ahead of the storm. A great guy I knew only as “Animal” was opening the gate when lightning struck the barbed wire fence about a quarter of a mile away or farther. To everyone’s shock, Animal died on the spot.
She was just frightened by it fortunately. A small zap like touching a door knob.
Shocking.
Wow, interesting observation!
Here in Idaho, the flock of wild turkeys will stand in the road blocking all the traffic. I got out of my car once to shoo them off the road! All those cars would probably STILL be waiting for them to move it I hadn’t done that.
So, the lightning strike is dead too.
In previous threads I don’t remember anyone predicting this as the cause of death. Most thought it was exposure. Just goes to show that you never know until you know.
Lightning does not have to hit what it destroys. The unbelievably intense magnetic field that surrounds a lightning bolt will induce electrical current flow in any conductive material withing that magnetic field. It is entirely possible that the deadly charge was induced directly in their bodies.
They were in the wilderness with vast stretches of trees...
and Hypothermia is so boring
I wonder if the vax leaves young otherwise healthy people more succeptable to hypothermia
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