This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

A man looking for antlers in the Oquirrh Mountains found plenty of deer and elk sheds but search and rescue crews had a hard time finding him Wednesday night.

Mike Talbot, 47, of Magna, was reported missing by his family on Wednesday after he was overdue from a trip up the Oquirrh Mountains. He was last heard from on Tuesday. Searchers combed the mountain through heavy rain and sleet and found Talbot's ATV. They eventually located Talbot after he had walked down the mountain to his truck with a bunch of antlers and called his family. The police staging area was a mile south of Talbot's truck.

Talbot parked his truck at the base of the Oquirrh Mountains near 4100 South and 8400 West in Magna early Tuesday morning to search for antlers that had been shed by game this spring, according to Unified Police Department Lt. Justin Hoyal. Talbot called his son from his cell phone at about 3 p.m. from the mountain and said he had hurt his knee, but was OK and planned to keep going.

Wednesday morning Talbot was supposed to check in with family, but never did. Concerned, the family contacted police and reported the man was overdue at 5 p.m.

Police found Talbot's truck at the base of the mountain and brought in a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter to search the area from above, but as the weather continued to get worse they had to call off the helicopter. Several members of search and rescue searched the mountain from about 7 p.m., until 9 p.m., when they found Talbot's ATV several miles up the mountain.

At about 9:30 p.m. Talbot said he reached his truck. The first thing he did was fire up his truck to get warm and then charged his phone to call his family to tell them he was safe.

Talbot told The Tribune he left the ATV up on the mountain because of a dead battery.

"It wouldn't take me out, so I had to walk out," he said.

A word of advice from Talbot, "I don't recommend spending the night up in the mountains without a bedroll," he joked.

As for the antlers he found.

"I found some really nice antlers up there. I found some nice sheds," Talbot said. "It's kind of a funny thing to do, but I enjoy it."

Twitter: @CimCity