gettin turned around! lost if you will

[beau6hunter]

can i hear some stories of being temporarily lost i got lost today in some thick fog right at dark with no flashlight or way to start a fire or anything just me my bow and arrows oh ya and i had a girl friend with me it below freezing we were both sweating from the hike out by the time we were really lost! so scary

[Machias]

I've been turned around twice, both times in heavy fog.  I'm not lecturing you, but I hope you learned a very good lesson.  Don't go out there without being prepared.  Getting sweaty and lost on a freezing night could really turn out bad.  Always take something to start a fire.  Glad you were both ok!!

[Button Nubbs]

A couple years ago we were tracking a poorly hit deer. It was pitch black 12 midnight in bear country when we all realized we hadn't been paying attention to which way we were going. (Last time I make that mistake.) Anyway one buddy starts saying "this is how people die!" And the other is feeding off of him freaking out also. I was trying to stay calm and think of a way out when it occured to me climb up this hill and listen for the river. Well we heard it and we got back to camp. Funny thing is we were probably only 1/2 mile away from camp it was just pitch black and we got turned around. It is a terrible feeling getting lost.

[Instinct]

Last year I was between cascade n the lt at the obsuvatory.  First time being out there rainy, went into a gully searchin for deer. Came back the same way n poped out I didn't reconize the area n my tracks were being washed away.

[MIKEXRAY]

I have only had moments of feeling lost & sat down for ten minutes & figured it out, not fun. I had 2 buddies get stuck in the dark last year chasing a bull & they said it got pitch dark. They had no light & they described it as a pretty hairy experience. Almost spent the night, popped out on a road late in the night.    When I take my wife or kids I definitely pack a lot more safety gear and I am way more diligent about knowing where I am at. It would kill me to have someone else get hurt because of my stupidity. Glad you made it out OK, as stated lesson learned. Mike

[ICEMAN]

On foot, I have been turned around for a few minutes before and only imagine it would not feel good to be truly lost. My brother and uncle were once really lost and just kept hiking down the mountain (wrong side) until they found a cooperative farmer that would drive them to camp....12 mile trip by vehicle...

I must be afraid of the dark, because I always have a pocket flashlight on my person. If I step out of the truck or head off on a trail, I always have a basic survival kit on me... Light, firestarters, compass, flagging tape, etc...

[rasbo]

I get turned around a lot in the crap I hunt,the compass will show me the way and its hard to believe it sometimes...Now I have a gps so that doesn't happen anymore,BUT I still take a reading with the compass in case the gps fails...Its a humbling experience to get lost

[boneaddict]

People preach about always having a sidearm etc.      ALWAYS have the means and the ability to start a fire or don't be on the mountain.  Sooner or later you will become a statistic.

Flashlites are optional but certainly an item that should be on the top of the list.   (rates right up there with TP)


I'm glad it turned out ok.  

[gotshot]

I was hunting west of Packwood one day and the hunting was slow so I started picking mushrooms. I thought I knew the way back so I kept picking. Before I knew it I was Down in a creek drainage and it was uphill every way out. All I had was a bow and basic hunting stuff. As it was getting dark I just started fighting my way uphill. Right at dark I came upon a road, after about 1/2 mile I recognized where I was and made it to the truck in the dark somehow. After that like most other people I started carrying a kit with fire starter and flashlight etc. To this day I still am cautous when pcking mushrooms even though I tell my wife that is the way it will end for me, some old guy goes mushroom picking never to return.

[PolarBear]

Like Bone said, ALWAYS carry some way to start a fire!  I got turned around in a whiteout and luckily was able to backtrack most of my way back in the snow.  The rest of the way my tracks were covered over and I had to use a compass.  I did get turned around in some dog hair several miles in right at dark and decided to spend the night and find my way out in the morning.  I'm glad that I had a good fire starter because it got down into the low teens and all I had was the clothes on my back.

[boneaddict]

I had one of those adventures in Packwood.  Fogged in, two inches of snow on the ground COMPASS IN HAND.   Came upon a set of tracks.   Wow, those look like mine.  Dang I think I recognoze this spot.    Whoever this is is going the same direction I am going.  Compass still pointing the way.   Pretty soon, there are two sets of tracks.....

MAGNETIC ROCK!    I found the boulder about the size of my house.  Compass would point to it all the way around it.   Now that is encouraging.

[high country]

I had a buddy who went hypothermic not 10 miles from our house in some tough country. I heard his last gunshot from a LONG way off. he was sitting on a stump when I finally found him. he believed he was stuck on a cliff......no such cliff around. it was dark, snowing and foggy with no moon.....about as bad as it gets. he heard my whistle for a long time, but could not whistle himself and did not have his own. when I got to him he was a mess. I gave him my warm dry clothes and he held on to me on the way out. my headlight puked on the way, so I tried to tell myself to go right every time I go left and vice versa.....tough in the blackness and steep country. we hiked for about one solid hour, when I turned to him and said.....I will give it 10 more minutes and we are going to need to setup a shelter because I am getting cold now. my next step put me flat on my face. I had fallen down the road cut. my truck was 1/4 mile away and we chose the right direcetion on the road...thank god. it was now 11pm.....it was dark at 4pm.

I WILL NOT be out in the woods without a bottle of vaseline soaked cottonballs and a flint stick. my pard would have died within eyesight of town.

[Todd_ID]

I've been in that same position.  My mistake was not taking the stuff with me as well as not wearing the proper clothes for what should have been a quick hunt.  I had grabbed my pack and put it in the truck.  It was only a section (640 acres) that I'd be hunting, so I wasn't too concerned and left my pack in the truck.  I should have been.  Do you know how cold it gets in Dayton in January?  Cold enough that tennis shoes become blocks of ice and I quit trusting my GPS.  Once I had gone about 2 miles inside this section in the dark I sat down and started convincing myself that I had to trust the GPS.  I stumbled to a road at 9 pm and made it to the truck to find that my buddy wasn't there.  I pointed the headlights off into the fog and started shooting my pistol for him to go by.  He was just as cold and just as lost.  He heard my pistol shots and still managed to walk the wrong way; he finally saw the headlights and walked out at about 10:30.  We didn't tell our wives for a long time just how close they came to being widows that night.  Lesson learned: now the stuff always goes with me.

[boneaddict]

Great stories.   Once you are that cold your brain shuts down.   Do it outside sometime with good supervision.   It will freak you out.  Kind of why I came off the mountain this fall.   It was getting hard to get a fire going (and I am damn good at it), the conditions were deadly, and I was by myself.   Instead of hunting I was surviving.   Kinda fun but kinda not.   One part of solo hunting you need to pay attention too.  There is no one to bail you out once you cross that line.

[high country]

the best thing  I ever did was start bivy hunting. it is very comforting knowing that you have what you need to get by. I strongly advise my buddies to go out in the yard and give your gear a go. I spend a night or two every winter on my inlaws ground outside republic. very reasureing knowing the house is close by, but still gives a great survival test as it is raw forest. I also suggest that cold weather hunters carry a couple ounces of methanol and a supercat or popcan stove with a small cup....nothing helps more then something warm to drink.....and you can have it for a 2 ounce weight penaly and the size of a small cup.