How many of you have actually needed to survive?

[squirrelsniper]

I was just thinking (which is usually a bad thing;)), I always hear reports that hunters are the highest risk group for getting lost and needing rescue. And hence, survive until that rescue, whether hours or days.

So, how many of you have gotten lost, injured, or whatever and either survived and found your way out or had to be rescued. It doesn't have to be some dramatic 2 week long survival story, I'm sure being lost for a couple hours in bad weather is more than enough to frighten most people.

As for me, I've been lucky and since I've always been like a Boy Scout and carry everything you can imagine, nothing too bad has cropped up yet.

[Dennis]

I have been in the woods and gone in circle several times. Usually the sun's position will get me out.

Now in the technogoly world, my GPS is always very close by! I have actually had more trouble in the swamps getting lost as every part of the flat's look the same! Spare batteries are always carried with my GPS, if it went out, I would be in trouble.

South Louisiana is pretty easy to get around. I have been in the mountains several times and I can see getting lost there would be a "big" problem.

Dennis

[fgw_in_fla]

For the past few weekends the lil' woman & I take a few of the grandkids out into the swamps. When we're about a mile from "home plate" we set up our camp area, set up tents, make fire without a Bic, read a compass, tell direction from sun & stars, even simulate injuries & first aid. Imagine a couple of 10 year olds dragging my 200lb butt by my pack straps & making a splint from sticks & rope....

A great time had by all.

To answer your question about actually getting lost, I make it a point to NOT get lost. Although I did once which was enough to convince me to not do it again. 1976 - Long Island, NY. Walked around for hours before I realized I truly was going in a circle. Did I feel like a gold plated butt nugget when the conservation officer found me & led me to a road - 8 minutes away.
The objective with the grandkids is to teach them to not be stoopid & get lost (like pappy did)...

PS - Has this thread always been here?...

[john800]

I used to bow hunt a management area an hour from my house, the stand I was sitting in was about 1/4 mile from the parking lot about 100 yds in the woods from the edge of a feild, I realy was not worried about getting lost with such an easy path in and out of the woods. well, in the bluff country I was in on this night the fog rolled in so thick I could barely see 5 or ten feet, I could not see far enouggh in the woods to go in a straight line in any direction, ended up lost for sevral hours, could have been worse but I stumbled on another hunters empty stand I happened to see on my way in, then I knew where I was and I was going the complete wrong direction

[blackbart338-06]

I've been a fearsome confused for a month or two but never lost!

kelly

[wbm]

One of the main reasons people get lost is when they are moving forward they never stop, turn around and look at what things will look like on the way out. Believe me it helps!

[thomae]

Being a Boy Scout and a Scout leader, and priding myself on being prepared, the only time I really got lost was when I took my kids and 2 nephews on a hike up a local mountain. It's an easy walk, uphill for a half hour, then a circular path around the top and then back down. The only problem was that i started down on the opposite side of the mountain. We walked and walked, and I knew we couldn't be too far from civilization, but I soon realized that we were not where we (I) thought we were supposed to be. Finally we came upon a house and knocked and asked for some water and asked where we were. The owner was kind and didn't laugh too hard, and when he explained where we were, I called my wife to come and get us and drive us back to where my car was parked. All in all, not the dangerous kind of being lost, but as one of my bosses used to say, "How embarrassing!"

[rjtfroggy]

Thomae when I was a scout there was an old saying " You are never lost, you are always somewhere." I guess it is not used anymore.

[thomae]

Well, I have certainly taken my share of wrong turns when driving, but other than my story, I have never been lost. Even as a airplane navigator, even though I was not always "where I wanted to be," I was never lost. Walking through the woods with the children, I knew that I was no more than a few miles from where I wanted to be, but I really had no idea where I was until the guy in the house told me. If I had brought a compass, it would not have happened. That experience really reinforced my "be prepared" mentality and my not taking anything for granted.

[LoneWolf]

I've been "misplaced" a few times, but never lost!

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[fgw_in_fla]

I've been "misplaced" a few times, but never lost!

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That was good.

Almost spit coffee on the laptop.

[LoneWolf]

That was good.

Almost spit coffee on the laptop.

I try! My wife is terrified of getting lost, so whenever we are off the beaten path I've told her that we were just misplaced. If you know which way you're facing, have a map, have gas in the tank, and food, water and what not... You're not lost... Just misplaced!

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[foxx]

October 24th, 1992.

9:00 PM

30 degrees. Rain.

I and my best hunting hunting buddy headed into a large, dark cedar swamp in northwest Michigan to find and retrieve my bow-shot doe...

I knew exactly where I was going and where the deer was (at most, it was 300 yards into the swamp along a spotty trail), so I did not even think to bring a compass, or a decent jacket. Our plan was to get the deer, gut her and drag her outta the woods, and be back to camp within the hour.

40 minutes later we were soaking wet, cold and lost. All we knew for sure was that if we walked in any direction but east, we would be headed for miles of nothing but more tangled dead-fall, water and trouble. Fortunately, we had a lighter and a Coleman lantern with about a half tank of fuel. We had all we could do to find a small patch of dry highland and start a fire. To keep it burning, it had to be pretty big, 'cuz we were literally pulling logs out of standing water and laying them across the fire so they might dry and eventually burn.

Didn't get a lot of sleep that night, but we were plenty warm, if not dry, as we huddled around it, listening to the coyotes yipping and whining as they feasted on my deer carcass somewhere way beyond us in the pitch-black darkness of the swamp.

Once the sun came up, we headed east and were back to camp in about 20 minutes. :)

Oh, well.

That Christmas, my stocking was packed-full of cheap, $2 compasses from Walmart!

One smart-a** brother-in-law has gotten me a new compass every year since. :)

[J.Baker]

I live in the flat-lands of NW Ohio and most woodlots around here are under 200 acres in size so it's kinda hard to get lost in them. Only times I've ever really gotten confused or felt lost was when riding around in the mountains on roads that constantly twist and turn back around until I have no clue which direction I'm headed anymore. I have to admit though, those usually end up being my most memorable days on the motorcycle - unless it involves running out of gas as a result, that just sucks!

[Balljoint]

Not myself or family,BUT several years ago my fanily were hunting in a new area and a 10 year old kid walked up to me and asked if i had a cell phone as he had lost track of his Grandfather's tree stand was cold and wet so used the cell phone to call his father at home to come and get him.
Come to find out that his Grandfather had had a heart problem and if his father hadn't been called as he knew were the grandfathers tree stand was it could have been much worse for him.

[fgw_in_fla]

I try! My wife is terrified of getting lost, so whenever we are off the beaten path I've told her that we were just misplaced. If you know which way you're facing, have a map, have gas in the tank, and food, water and what not... You're not lost... Just misplaced!

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Gotta love the redneck woman I'm married to. She will usually take point when we hike/ hunt. Always knows which direction we're headed & where we came from. I was pretty impressed when she was showing one of the grandkids how to navigate by the sun & stars.
One of these days I hope to teach her about wearing shoes.

[stangfish]

I survived 30 years of insane backwoods in-laws. Aggregate IQ of 71 between the three of them. There can be no misadventure like that experience. There is no way my wife came from their loins.

[fgw_in_fla]

Sounds like my 'ol lady's family. If I didn't know better I'd swear they're a bunch of inbreeds.

My brother-in-law has his own language. They understand him fine. I have no idea what he's saying 2/3's of the time.

[snowgetter1]

Me and a buddy did a 4 day three night "survival" trip a long time ago. It was squirrel season and we thought we would catch enough fish and shoot squirrels to eat. Caught like two fish and got 2-3 squirrels per day. We were very hungry and to make it more realistic we didn't even bring beer. Big mistake!

I have lived like an animal for long periods of time in the Army, but only about twice did it get close to where we thought we would really be in trouble with supplies.

[Navigation]

Many years ago, I was lost while hunting in northern Maine. I was 16, and decided to hike out about 6 miles from camp. I had a compass, and a map (not a topo) of the few roads up that way...and headed into the logging country, with a knife, map and compass, canteen and Winchester 30-30 and a box of shells, and a Smith a Wesson model 15 loaded with no extra 38s on me.
I had been taught to dead recon by my Step Dad who was a Ranger in the Army, and thought I would be OK. It didn't really dawn on me, that I had walked to a few to many clear cuts that all looked the same, and that I had gotten turned around. In my defense, I saw a small herd of deer, at a distance to far for my open sights, and got really excited.
Well, I had to walk due east for the rest of the day, I eventually came out on a small highway, 12 miles from hunting camp, and was picked up by another hunter, given a ride home...he said I did good for just being a kid, and that if I had walked the other way, I would had never been found...LOL. I was pretty mad at myself, and started studying land navigation after that...but I never got as good as I should have been until I went into the Army myself. I love topo maps...and nice warm days in the woods..good stuff.