Lost Hunter Rescued

WEEKI WACHEE - A lost hunter was rescued Sunday from the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area.

Robert Pianta, 48, of Palm Harbor, was not injured, "just extremely thirsty and tired," a report states.

Authorities were led to Pianta after a regular hunter at the park that borders Commercial Way in northern Hernando County heard three successive shots, the national distress call for a lost or injured hunter.

That hunter, Ricky Leach, had noticed an unfamiliar red Chevy Silverado parked inside the preserve earlier that day, but paid little attention to it. After hearing the shots, Leach went back to see if the pickup was still there. It was.

Leach decided to call the sheriff's office at that point suspecting a hunter was lost. Deputies agreed after hearing his story and called on the sheriff's helicopter and the Florida Wildlife Commission's resources to begin their search.

Rescuers set out near midnight Saturday and about an hour later, the sheriff's helicopter spotted a campfire about two miles southwest of Pianta's pickup.

The helicopter locked in the coordinates, then left to refuel. Deputies drove as far as they could into the woods, then hopped on all-terrain vehicles when the forest got too thick.

They located an "extremely grateful" Pianta around 3:20 a.m.