Police in Ross River are looking for the public's help after a man who spends his winters in the bush failed to check in with friends as scheduled.

Missing is 50-year-old Jedidiah Booth, who winters at his cabin between Ross River and Faro.

Each year, Booth notifies friends in Whitehorse just before he goes out to his cabin between Grew Creek and the McGundy River, Const. Geoff Corbett of the Ross River RCMP said this morning.

'The deal is when he comes out, he's supposed to notify these same people that he's out,'Corbett said. 'This year, at the said notification date, he didn't notify anybody.'

When Booth didn't contact his friends during the first week of May, they called the RCMP on May 13.

Last week, the RCMP did a helicopter patrol over the area where Booth's cabin is thought to be and found a cabin, but weren't completely sure it was his. No one was around when they flew over, Corbett said.

Based on similar circumstances last year, the RCMP suspect Booth has just forgotten to notify friends he's out of the bush. The Faro RCMP were asked last spring to check into Booth's whereabouts when he didn't contact his friends.

In that case, it turned out Booth simply forgot to check in after he got out of the bush, Corbett said.

'So we're hoping that's what has happened this year too,' the constable said. 'At this point, all we're presuming is that he is missing and has just not checked in.'

Police officers can't get into the area on foot to check for Booth because the McGundy River and Grew Creek are still too high to cross.

Booth, a Caucasian man with blond hair and blue eyes, stands five feet, six inches and weighs about 165 pounds. He may have a beard and moustache.

It's not known how long Booth has been spending his winters in the Ross River area, but it appears he lives in Whitehorse the rest of the year.

Grew Creek, which flows under the Robert Campbell Highway, is about halfway between Ross River and Faro, and the man's cabin is believed to be about 19 to 24 kilometres south off the highway.

This year, he arrived in Ross River around Christmas time and hitched a snowmobile ride with some locals as far they could take him before making rest of the way alone to his spot, thought to be very close to the McGundy River and near a small lake.

Anyone with information about Booth's whereabouts is asked to contact the Ross River RCMP at (867) 969-2677.