As it grew darker and darker the afternoon of Jan. 15, Clint Sawicki decided the best place for him was next to the bison he'd just shot.

His two hunting partners hadn't yet arrived with the snowmachines. It was -35 C or colder.

Attempting to follow his tracks back to Taye Lake in the area north of Champagne, or to break new trail to the lakeshore a kilometre away, wasn't a wise thing to do in such frigid conditions, particularly in pitch black.

The 38-year-old administrator with the Northern Research Institute in Whitehorse hunkered in. He built a shelter and collected firewood for the night.

Sleeping was out of the question, lest he become hypothermic without even knowing it.

'I figured the best thing for me to do was to just stay were I was,' Sawicki said in an interview last Thursday.

'I figured what would happen is the guys would show up at some point, if not that night, the next morning (Jan. 16).'

Sawicki, T.J. Grantham and Gary Brown had been hunting bison for a week when they came across a herd on the lake. Despite an attempt to cut it off before it left the lake, they were unsuccessful.

It was decided Sawicki would track the animals on foot and the others would follow with the machines.

For what he estimates was 2 1/2 hours, Sawicki followed the rut-like trail made by the bison. He was finally in a position to shoot a large cow weighing in at approximately 585 to 630 kilograms (1,300 to 1,400 pounds).

He had to track the animals an additional 200 metres after he had shot her.

'I thought they would be coming in behind me so I just started preparing the animal, skinning and quartering it.

'By the time I got into that, before I knew it, with all the excitement of having the animal down and starting to work on it, it was after five o'clock.'

A director with the Yukon Fish and Game Association, Sawicki said he decided to prepare for the night by building a shelter to reflect radiant heat from the fire, for which he stockpiled wood.

He fired two shots from his rifle periodically, the two shots being the recognized signal that things are OK.

Unbeknownst to him, his hunting partners were doing the same thing.

Neither party heard the other.

Sawicki said he had done the work he could on the animal, and was then resigned to keeping the fire going and staying warm.

He did not sleep, except for a half-hour snooze. When he awoke, the fire was just smoldering, convincing him even more that to sleep was dangerous.

With no shortage of meat on hand, food was not an issue.

Water was.

Sawicki said he did not have a container with him to melt snow, as all the winter gear was with the snowmachines.

He did take snow in his mouth and swish it around a couple of times. But it was cold, and consuming something that cold will only help to bring the core body temperature down more quickly.

An experienced woodsman, Sawicki had the proper clothing, a knife and a GPS. He knew exactly where he was.

But that didn't take the thirst away.

From here on, said Sawicki, he'll be wearing a waist pack with something in it to melt snow.

As morning broke, the college administrator began the climb up a long hillside that separated the kill site from the north end of Taye Lake a kilometre or so away.

As he began his walk, he heard the drone of a fixed-winged aircraft. He could see the plane had spotted his fire, and was beginning a grid pattern to search for his whereabouts.

Sawicki said he dashed to the nearest clearing and began shaking a tree and waving his hands until the plane spotted him.

About 10 minutes later, as he continued his way toward the lake, he ran into territorial conservation officer Dan Drummond and others who were making their way up from the lake.

His fellow hunters had tried to follow his tracks. In hindsight, however, it was an impossible task, with so many bison trails criss-crossing through the area and his boots leaving no detectable trace on the hardened rut.

Sawicki said he had incorrectly assumed his partners could follow his trail.

They too had been firing two-shot vollies periodically. Though there was not a great deal of distance between them, it's likely the topography and several other factors like air density muffled the shots, he said.

It was at approximately 9:00 that night when Grantham and Brown notified the RCMP.

They did the right thing, Sawicki said of his hunting colleagues, noting they didn't know he was OK. If something had happened to him, it would be best to have the emergency response personnel there to assist in any case, he said.

Sawicki said he is grateful to not only Drummond, conservation offer Trevor Castagner and Haines Junction RCMP Const. Kirk Gale, the officers on the scene, but to all the personnel who were either actively involved or standing by.

He understands there were 60 personnel on the ground standing by, as well as another fixed-wing aircraft and a helicopter.

Nobody should ever go off in the hinterland without adequate preparation. However, Yukoners should take comfort knowing there are trained search and rescue personnel ready and able to answer the call immediately if and when it comes, Sawicki said.

'It was truly amazing.'