TAYLOR, Wis. — A fugitive who shot at a deputy sheriff late Thursday may still have been in the area Saturday morning, Sheriff Duane Waldera said. A resident on Taylor Road reported spotting someone looking like Gary Hughes on their property about 9 a.m. The man then disappeared in the woods, the resident said. This was just a half mile over a hill from Kelly Road, where Hughes had resisted arrest in his sister’s house for 15 hours. Meanwhile, the sheriff urged people east of Taylor to be vigilant and keep their doors locked. The sheriff called Hughes desperate, violent and assumed to be armed.
Escape routes
Law enforcement officers, all carrying rifles, rotated shifts for a third day in a barricade around a wooded area where they suspect fugitive Gary Hughes is hiding and living off the land. Although the immediate area is rural and remote, there is nearby access to the outer world. The easily floatable Trempealeau River, less than a mile away, flows seven miles to Blair and on to Whitehall, Independence and Arcadia. Just across the river is the Green Bay & Western Railroad, whose regular frac-sand trains can be hopped eight miles to Hixton and points east. Parallel to the railroad is busy State Highway 95 with an Interstate 94 interchange eight miles away. Although hilly, heavily wooded and not much populated, the area is laced with farm roads.
Cold nights in the woods
Temperatures around Taylor were in the 20s for the second night in a row. How long could Hughes survive out there? Water is aplenty. Pine Creek flows through the woods that police have barricaded off. The upper reaches of the Trempealeau River are nearby. Patches of snow remain. Food? Almost every rural house has outbuildings, some with animal feed for livestock and pets. Small wildlife is plentiful. Nature poses hazards, however. Wolves have been sighted in Jackson County in recent months. There are occasional bears. Skies are clear with daytime highs in the upper 40s.