Ira Munn Boardman III

ELLENBURG CENTER, N.Y. — Officials in northern New York say the remains of Ira Munn Boardman III, Vermont businessman and hunter who was last seen leaving his campsite in Ellenburg center last Saturday were located this morning. 

The exact cause of death was not immediately apparent and an autopsy would be needed, according to Clinton County, New York Coroner David Donah. 

Law enforcement crews in northern New York have been searching all week for Boardman.

Boardman, 58, was supposed to meet up with friends that afternoon, but when he didn’t arrive or contact them they became worried and contacted law enforcement, said State Police Sgt. Fred Atkinson.

The weather conditions turned from late-fall to winter temperatures that day, and law enforcement worried Boardman may not have been properly dressed for the cold. Boardman also suffers from diabetes and other health conditions Atkinson said.

Capt. John Streiff of the Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers said that at the end of the day on Saturday, the teams of searchers were coming out of the woods before dark and being debriefed.

“We’re finding out where he’s not, that’s for sure,” Streiff said.

Reports indicated that someone owning a red car had also been hunting in the area last Saturday, and officials would like to contact the driver to find out “what did they see, what did they hear that afternoon.”

Streiff said that law enforcement personnel will also be setting up a courtesy stop in the area to local residents and hunters. Such conversations are a potential source of information — “sometimes productive, sometimes not,” Streiff said.

Niles said that weather conditions on Saturday, starting with light rain and snow flurries, affected the search operation.

“I call it good snowman snow — dense, packy” and, unfortunately, “difficult to trudge through,” Niles said.

In some areas, however, had “opened up to green grass.”

Much of the ground being searched was wet and muddy, and some of the areas that were part of Saturday’s search were swampy in nature.

At times, it was “tough going” for the searchers.

Nevertheless, they pressed on until dark — and planned to be back at it the next day.

Fasolino writes for the Plattsburgh, New York Press Republican.