MINOT (AP) - The Ward County sheriff says Richard McNair, a convicted murderer who escaped from a Louisiana prison in April, may be in Canada. But McNair has surprised authorities before.

Sheriff Vern Erck said McNair recently was reported in the Flin Flon-Cranberry Portage area of Manitoba, a popular fishing area in the northern part of the Canadian province.

"I'm sure he has a plan," Erck said. "I would guess it's better than his last plan, where he stayed in the United States and was doing petty burglaries and ended up getting caught. If he is in northern Canada, he's probably looking at living off the land, stealing and that type of thing, and staying in a real remote area. That would be my best guess. Of course, with him, it wouldn't surprise me if he jumped a freighter to Europe or Asia."

McNair was sentenced to life in prison for the 1987 killing of trucker Jerome Theis, of Circle Pines, Minn., at a Minot grain elevator and the wounding of Richard Kitzman, an elevator employee who survived after pretending he was dead.

Authorities in Pollock, La., said McNair smuggled himself out of the federal prison there in a pile of mailbags in April. He had escaped twice after his arrest in North Dakota years before, once from the state penitentiary.

Erck said McNair may feel some kind of a thrill in eluding authorities.

"However, I think he's older and smarter and knows this time he might end up in a maximum-security prison. So I think he's going to play it a little more low-key this time and try to stay out," the sheriff said. "His goal is probably to try to stay out the rest of his life. So this remote-area stuff fits that aspect."

Staff Sgt. Steve Saunders, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police division in Manitoba, said that area's terrain and isolation is a challenge for law enforcement officials, as is McNair's survivalist training.

"On the other hand, though, due to that remoteness, should he need to come into town to resupply, he'll also be recognizable," Saunders said.

The RCMP issued a press release last Friday, saying police are asking the public to be aware of a recent unconfirmed sighting of McNair.

Earlier, Erck said, McNair had been spotted in a video store in Alberta and pictures of him were found in a stolen car in British Columbia.

Erck said the North Dakota Highway Patrol chased a vehicle in the Rugby area with a British Columbia license plate, but the occupant was not McNair. Another reported sighting, from the Portland, Ore., area, also turned up nothing, he said.

"If I had to guess," Erck said, "I'd guess he's still in Canada."

Erck said revenge would likely be the only reason for McNair to return to the Minot area, yet he is not known to have made any specific threats against anyone there.

"His case has come and gone," Erck said.

The case has drawn national media attention. Federal marshals have listed McNair among 15 of the nation's most wanted criminals and a $25,000 reward is being offered for his capture.