UPDATED 25 JULY, 2019 - Sadly, Mr Boyden's body was located close to the Upper Dargo Road. Police do not believe that there are suspicious circumstances.
Emergency services will hand flyers to deer hunters arriving in the Dargo area to aid in the search for missing 23 year old Ferntree Gully man Jeremy Boyden.
The Dargo area in Victoria’s East is a very popular destination for deer hunters with abundant deer and large tracts of accessible State Forest nearby. There are now around 40,000 licenced deer hunters in Victoria. Authorities see both the widespread nature of deer hunting and the unique way in which hunters use the bush as potentially very valuable assets in the search. Deer hunters with extensive knowledge of remote huts and tracks will be asked to help police in the search for a man missing in the Victorian high country since Friday.
Police believe it is still possible that the 23-year-old Ferntree Gully man is alive and has sufficient survival skills to be living out of hunting huts. They are usually stocked with some supplies in case of emergency.
Victoria Police however do become more concerned as the search goes on
“Given that the weather today is starting to turn sour, going into night five, it is starting to become quite concerning,” Sergeant Anthony Dessent said.“We’ve searched a lot of huts, hutches and buildings. There’s a lot on the huts that aren’t on maps … so we’ve utilised local people here.”
The missing man’s dog was spotted on a remote stretch of road between Dargo and the historic Grant township on Sunday.A man saw the white and brown jack russell about 4pm near High Plains Rd.He did not stop to pick up Rocky because he was unaware of the ongoing search.
Mr Boyden went missing on Friday but was smiling and talking to business owners in Dargo the day before.His car broke down on Wednesday and he spent a night on the porch of the town hall before walking to the General Store for a jerry can of diesel on Thursday morning. Kerrie and Pete Leemon arrived to open the store said the young man was friendly and did not seem upset.
