RANGELEY – Two men have died in the woods in northern Franklin and Oxford counties since Sunday.

On Tuesday, Rangeley police responded to an emergency call after a 76-year-old Robert Nelson of Rangeley Plantation suffered an apparent heart attack while hunting with a friend, said Rangeley police Chief Phil Weymouth on Wednesday.

The men were hiking up Round Top Mountain to hunt along the 45th parallel and had probably gone 350 yards to 400 yards when Nelson started experiencing shortness of breath, Weymouth said.

The friend told him to rest on a rock for a bit while he hiked ahead. He had just turned around to leave when he heard Nelson drop to the ground, the chief said.

The friend said he had noticed Nelson experiencing shortness of breath previously, especially after he had cut and stacked 8 cords of wood, Weymouth said.

The chief also said Rangeley officer Brian Hughes responded to an emergency call Sunday after hearing that state police and a warden were not in the area and would take some time to arrive.

It was unclear where the emergency caller was at first, Weymouth said, but Hughes knew that a man appeared to be dead and that there was a very upset woman in the background.

David Holland, 27, of Livermore Falls, had been out collecting pine boughs for wreaths with his girlfriend when he somehow fell and crushed his throat, Weymouth said.

Holland was thought to be in Rangeley when the accident happened but it turned out it was on Morton Cut-Off Road off Route 16 in Lower Cupsuptic Township in Oxford County, Weymouth said.

Hughes arrived first followed by Warden Patrick Eagen. They turned the case over to Maine State Police to determine what happened, Weymouth said.

“There is no foul play suspected,” Maine Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said Wednesday.

An autopsy was done Tuesday and police are awaiting the Medical Examiner’s Office determination of the cause of death after some additional tests are run, McCausland said.

A spokeswoman at that office said the cause of death is pending.