A Deschutes County Search and Rescue team saved a La Pine man late Tuesday from a freezing night in the woods west of town.

“I’m just glad there were people looking for me because it was cold and wet,” Albert Reisert said Wednesday.

Reisert, 51, set out to hunt for morel mushrooms with friends Kenneth Wagner, 60, and James Wagner, 62, a pair of brothers from La Pine, around 2 p.m. Tuesday close to the intersection of forest roads 4040 and 4250 near Round Mountain, according to the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. The men split up and planned to meet back at the starting spot after about two hours of mushroom hunting.

After Reisert failed to show at the rendezvous, the Wagner brothers searched for him about four hours without finding him. They then called 911 just before 8 p.m. By 10 p.m. Deschutes County Search and Rescue assembled a team of 26 to look for Reisert, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The team included all-terrain vehicle riders, trackers and a Bend Police Department dog.

The dog led searchers to Reisert, who they found just after 11:30 p.m. warming himself by a fire along a forest road about a mile northwest from where he had started.

Reisert said he slipped and hurt his hip. He said he also has ongoing lung issues, so once he was injured he decided to move downhill to the road rather than try to cross over downed trees while moving uphill back to where he started.

Snow began falling so, Reisert said, he crumpled up a traffic ticket he happened to be carrying, added some pine needles and used a lighter to start the warming fire.

“I had that fire, that is what saved (me),” he said.

Reisert built the fire around 7 p.m., before it became dark, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Temperatures during the search were in the low 30s and about an inch of snow piled up on the ground, said Lt. Scott Shelton, who heads up Deschutes County Search and Rescue for the Sheriff’s Office. He said the search is a reminder of how quickly weather can change in Central Oregon this time of year.

“Folks need to be prepared in these shoulder seasons for any type of weather …,” he said.

Reisert said he has hunted for mushrooms for about seven years and is familiar with the woods near La Pine. He did find a morel Tuesday.

“One lousy mushroom for all that effort,” he said.