Authorities hope that reinforcement volunteers expected to arrive in Wisdom over the weekend will be able to help with a final push in the search for a missing Kalispell man who has not been heard from in more than a week.

“We are expecting a lot of volunteers to come this weekend,” Beaverhead County Undersheriff David Chase said. “We are expected to have some big searches.”

Rob Carter, 53, last had contact with his wife Barbara on Sept. 16. He was expected home from a bowhunting trip on Sunday, but his wife became worried about his silence and contacted Beaverhead County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday afternoon.

A massive search of a 40-square mile area was initiated near where Carter was last seen by other hunters near the Big Hold National Battlefield. At the peak of the search midweek, 65 people were searching, with aerial, canine, equine and motorized aids. Teams of skilled trackers were paired with untrained volunteers who came from Flathead Valley to help look for the popular Whitefish High School track coach and Plum Creek Timber Co. employee. Search numbers had fallen to around 40 people on Friday.

Beaverhead County Sheriff Franklin D. Kluesner II said he was unsure how long the teams could continue searching more than 15 hours per day. Though the searchers have covered 15 square miles of the original area identified, terrain has slowed progress.

“We are in a more rugged, heavily timbered area,” Kluesner said. “It’s just harder to search. Some of the areas that have been searched are spotty burned areas, meadows, things like that. Now we are getting into the more dangerous, dense part of the forest.”

The search was expected to continue through the weekend, but Kluesner was unsure what might happen after that.

If Carter is not found over the weekend, Kluesner said one option might be to clear the woods of searchers for a couple of days before sending in tracking dogs. Each person looking for Carter also has their own individual scent that could mask any faint trace Carter left behind.

“The area is hot right now with scent,” Kluesner said. “It doesn’t keep the dog from hitting, but it makes it much harder.”

Kluesner is still optimistic that Carter might be found alive.

Back in Kalispell, family friends organized a GoFundMe campaign on Thursday where 114 people had raised $8,666 in a 24-hour time span to help pay for travel expenses for Carter’s daughter and supplies for search teams.

The campaign is called #bringrobhome. Friends and family members also are using that hash tag for updates on Facebook and Twitter.

“The community is really rising up and embracing the Carters, which, I believe speaks to Rob’s character and the multitude of lives he has touched,” family friend Lisa Dale said in an email.  

Whitefish Schools Superintendent Heather Davis Schmidt said staff has been monitoring students who regularly work with Carter since the man’s initial disappearance. Carter is the school’s pole vault coach.

“We are certainly keeping a close eye out for our students,” Davis Schmidt said. “We are hopeful. And our thoughts are with him and his family, hoping for a safe return.”  

Reporter Megan Strickland may be reached at 758-4459 or by email at [email protected].