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An experienced hunter who was lost in the California wilderness for nearly 20 days was found alive by another group of hunters, according to local authorities and his family, with officials calling his return "nothing short of a miracle." "They saved my life," the missing hunter, Ron Dailey, said in a recording obtained by ABC News from his family. Dailey, a resident of Selma, California, was found along the Swamp Lake trail -- located in the Sierra National Forest -- on Saturday, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office said in a statement over the weekend. Dailey had been missing since Oct. 13 when he "did not return from a hunting trip" near Shaver Lake, triggering a massive search-and-rescue operation, officials said. Throughout the ongoing search efforts, rescuers had traveled through "tough terrain," scanned the forest and spent "countless hours seeking Ron," the Fresno County Search and Rescue Mounted Sheriff's Posse said in a statement. "And then, the incredible news: he was found alive," rescue officials said. At the beginning of his hunting trip, Dailey said he traveled up the Swamp Lake trail in his truck, reached the top and then stopped to eat several pieces of jerky and a few nuts. Then, as he traveled down a "jeep road," he said he tried to turn around but couldn't get back out -- so he proceeded to travel down even farther. "I don't know why, but I did," Dailey said in the recording. Dailey then ended up on a "rocky plateau," where he remained for several days, he said. Despite following trail signs, the terrain tore his truck up, he said. After reaching another flat part of the trail, Dailey said he "backed up there and jacked my truck up and made it level" and proceeded to remove the passenger seat of his vehicle so he had a place to rest, which was "very uncomfortable." Several days later, he realized he needed to abandon his truck and start walking down the trail. "This is it, Ron, you either try to get out or you sit here and die," Dailey said he told himself in that moment, according to the recording. Dailey said the journey -- which was at an altitude of over 10,000 feet -- was the "toughest walk I've ever done in my life" and that he had to stop every hundred yards to catch his breath. During this trek, Dailey said he fell twice and eventually lost his cellphone, unsure of where he had last placed it. At one point, Dailey stopped and began to pray. "You gotta send somebody up here to me. I can hardly walk anymore," Dailey said in the recording, holding back tears. Then, he said he saw the headlights of a car and raised his hands in the air. After the hunters recognized Dailey, he said he "started hugging them and praying." The hunters gave Dailey food and water after he told them it had been six days since he had last eaten, he said. Ron Dailey's wife, Glenda Dailey, thanked the community for the "love and support that we received while patiently waiting for Ron." "To the men who went down that road and found him, I am eternally grateful for you; I cannot wait to see you," Glenda Dailey said in a statement on Sunday. Officials said Ron Dailey's safe return should "remind us of the value of every life, the strength of unity and the calling to serve our neighbors in their greatest hour of need."
