NATCHEZ — Travis Todd’s death was tragic, but he died doing what he loved best, family members said.

Todd, 34, was discovered dead Wednesday on a hilltop near a creek at Natchez State Park, three days after he walked into the woods. He would have been 35 Dec. 8.

Official autopsy reports are pending, but officials speculated Wednesday he succumbed to hypothermia after a Sunday evening rainstorm that ushered in near-freezing temperatures.

Todd’s mother, Connie Krischke, said she was shocked that he apparently got lost in the woods.

“At the age of 5 he was hunting, and at 8 he was killing squirrels, putting them in the crock pot and eating them himself,” she said.

“He couldn’t see without his glasses, and during the search for him his glasses were never found, so I am thinking that during the storm he lost his glasses, got disoriented and got lost.”

Todd was an avid outdoorsman his entire life, Krischke said, but an at-work incident in which he sustained a serious electrical shock from a powerline a couple of years ago had limited how much he could get out and left him in a sometimes confused state.

But as much as he was an outdoorsman, Todd was a man of faith who loved his family fiercely and chose them above all else, Krischke said.

“He always put us first and was always there for us,” Todd’s sister Miranda Price said. “He was such a sweet, genuine person who just loved everybody and loved to help.

“He was always taking care of everybody and being the big man of the family.”

Larry Todd, Travis’ father, said his son was a hard worker who always stood for what he believed, and wherever he worked he moved to the top.

“He was always the first one to jump in to help if someone needed help,” Larry Todd said. “He stood behind his family, and a man couldn’t ask for a better son.”

Krischke said Travis Todd “never broke my heart, even when he was little,” and said she wanted to express gratitude to all of the volunteers who helped with the search for her son.

Knowing he had been found helps the family have some closure, she said.

“The last time I spent with him was a couple of weeks ago in our woods, and as he and I went on our 40 acres, we walked on the creek and reminisced and laid back and looked at the sky, that is the kind of son he was,” Krischke said. “Time and memories were more important to him than material things.

“I know my son is in Heaven with Jesus. He was hurting ever since he was electrocuted — he was mentally different, physically different, he was in pain constantly — so I have the comfort of knowing he was a Christian man and is in Heaven and that he died in the woods he loved. That’s how he would have wanted to go.”

Todd is also survived by his wife, Tracy, a daughter and two stepdaughters and three grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete at this time, but an account to help the family defray funeral costs has been set up online at gofundme.com/hji5hw.