'He's a survivor': Family worried but hopeful after avid outdoorsman goes missing

RCMP are searching for a  well-loved trapper and outdoorsman after he set off into the woods in northern Manitoba nearly a month ago and hasn't been seen since.

Stanley Bighetty, 73, was last seen walking from Leaf Rapids to Pukatawagan on April 30, a trek of about 115 kilometres. There are no roads between the two communities and the travel over water is especially treacherous in the summer.

"He's a survivor. I know my uncle very, very well. And he goes out to hunt or fish, he always comes back after a couple of days," said his niece, Sue Caribou.

"And this is not like my uncle. So I'm very worried, very stressed, emotional. It's too much for my family," she said.

"I don't know what to think, I just know that my uncle's a survivor and he lives in the bush."

On May 21, 2019, Pukatawagan RCMP said they received a report of the missing 73-year-old male from the community. They are now searching for him by ground and air.  

Caribou said the avid outdoorsman, who's lived in the woods his whole life, lives alone in a log cabin in Highrock, a sparsely populated hunting settlement between Leaf Rapids and Pukatawagan, as his spouse recently passed away.

Bighetty has always lived there, she said, and hunts, traps, fishes and tends to the traplines in the area. He has no children.

'No such thing as being lost'

"He's a very outgoing person, like he's friendly and he would give anything to anybody. Very kind-hearted," she said.

His cousin Ken Bighetty, who lives in Pukatawagan, said Stanley visits the community about three times a year for supplies and travels back by snowmobile in the winter. This is the time of year he would head out fishing, he said, adding Bighetty would never be without his gun in the woods.

"He's told us quite a few stories where he fought a bear and chased off a wolf and killed weasels. There's so much food out there," he said.

"For him there is no such thing as being lost in the forest."

Caribou said ​​​​​​Bighetty's neighbours who regularly check on him haven't heard from him. He has no medical conditions that she's aware of.

The stress of the disappearance is difficult and triggering for her, she said. Her own parents were murdered in 1978, as well as her niece, Tanya Nepinak, Thirteen other family members have been murdered, she said, and now three are missing.

Caribou said she plans to travel to Highrock to be with family and pray for a positive outcome.

RCMP are continuing to investigate.