It was way easier than finding a needle in a haystack when RCMP went searching for a suspected car thief in southern Alberta last week.
Mounties say they had received a report Friday that a Jeep stolen from the Olds area had been sighted in a ditch along a rural highway near Bowden, about 20 kilometres away.
Officers from the Olds and Innisfail detachments, as well as two sheriffs, went to check it out and found footprints in snow leading away from the Jeep.
After searching for about an hour on foot, police found a suspect hiding under hay in a barn about three kilometres northwest of Bowden.
A 20-year-old man from Calgary was charged with possession of stolen property.
He was released from custody and is to appear in Didsbury provincial court in February.