BARING – A search for three lost hunters ended happily late Wednesday when wardens located the trio in the wilderness area of the Moosehorn Wildlife Refuge.

Warden Jim Martin said Perley Tucker, 78, and his grandsons – Zach Gibney, 14, and Nick Lablanc, 12, – entered the woods early Wednesday morning, leaving Tucker’s vehicle parked on the side of Route 191 in Baring.

The three had packed a lunch, but it was still in the truck when wardens arrived on the scene in response to a 6:30 p.m. report that the group was overdue, Martin said.

Martin said he and Wardens Joe McBrine, Wade Carter and Phil White began the search with some concern for Tucker, who is a diabetic and has trouble with his knees.

Tim Krug, a paramedic from the Calais area, accompanied them, he said.

Volunteers from the Meddybemps and Calais fire departments assisted with the search, which yielded results sometime after 8 p.m. when wardens fired a shot and heard a faint response.

Martin said the three had gone quite a distance and ended up on the southern tip of Bearce Lake. As the crow flies, that part of he lake is two miles from where the three entered the woods, but the distance on the ground is much farther than that, Martin said.

Wardens built a fire to warm Tucker and the boys and gave Tucker a candy bar because he was beginning to get shaky from lack of food. Martin said Tucker had gotten shaky from lack of food earlier in the day, but his grandsons had given him some wild berries.

Because of Tucker’s knee problems, McBrine canoed across the lake to pick him up at the site. Martin said McBrine had to break rim ice, but the middle of the lake was clear.

The boys were able to walk out of the woods, Martin said.