Mendocino County search teams spent Saturday combing the Eel River canyon east of Covelo for signs of a hunter who went missing during a flood more than four years ago, the Sheriff’s Office said. 

The Sheriff’s Office said it no confirmed findings to release from the search as of Saturday afternoon. 

The investigation covered a rugged stretch along state Highway 162 from the 8-Mile Bridge to the Dos Rios Bridge and beyond, the Sheriff’s Office said. 

The search for John Davis dates to October 2021 when he was camping with his son on gravel bar along the river near the 8-Mile Bridge, authorities said.  

An overnight storm flooded their tent. Davis’ son made it to their vehicle, but the father is believed to have been swept into the rising river. His dog turned up the next day, but their tent and belongings were never found. 

Davis, then 48, was described as 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighing 220 pounds. 

He was last seen in a camouflage rain jacket and neon-green pants with a reflective stripe, according to the California Department of Justice. 

The disappearance set off a large search. More than 200 people covered some 22 miles of river over several days, with help from at least seven counties and helicopters from the California Air National Guard and the California Highway Patrol.  

A CHP helicopter spotted clothing and what appeared to be raft material 15 to 20 miles downstream that November. By December, the Sheriff’s Office had changed the case from a rescue to a recovery. Davis’ family, led by his sister Jenny Lawrence, ran their own searches after official crews stopped. 

Why deputies returned to the same canyon Saturday was not immediately clear.  

The search area is among the harshest terrain in the county: roughly six miles of Class III whitewater between the 8-Mile and Dos Rios bridges, dropping through bedrock chutes and boulder fields, with brush and timber to the banks and almost no road shoulder.  

Below Dos Rios, the Eel enters a roadless wilderness canyon. That is part of why aircraft have been used in each search. 

Anyone with information about Davis was asked to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office at 707-463-4095.