Lost in the Woods?

Many times. I’ll just list the times that we lost all electronic directional aids and had to shift to magnetic compasses and our hard copy maps. In each situation we would have died if we’d not had both compass and paper map. Listed by location, weather condition and flora/fauna:

1. White out ice storm in NE Iowa. 2mi by 2 mi corn field pheasant field. 3′ of snow fell in 24 hours. 9′ drifts. WO lasted 36 hours. We slept in snow cave first nite, next two nites in truck before county plow came thru. Plastic fold up sleep bags and candles saved our lives. And of course our snow shoes we went in on.

2. 9mi x 9mi deer swamp east of thief lake. temp dropped to -10f; snow again, but we got soaked as we did not have our wandering trail in and went thru the ice several times. Got to truck and got into sleep bags together to revers hypthermia (it was ok as i was hunting with my GF; no relations that nite, but we did warm and she did believe me that we were in a life threatening environment after that. Let 4′ of snow blow around truck and dug out of drifts in the morning after eggs and bacon on the coleman (with and air vent: used PVC pipe after IA experience)

3. 48 hour fog in, Lake Michigan, 12 miles out; freshly tuned engines failed in fog and boat batteries and backup batteries and 2x back up batteries failed, i.e. VHF hail calls to CG unanswered. We had food and water for 10 days and of course fresh fish, so we put on our stowed survival suits and ate like kings: no harrassing calls from FWs or GFs, what more can a guy ask for???

There are several more but those are the interesting ones. the one where i drowned only took 15 minutes and we knew EXACTLY where we were, literally and figuratively: wrong lace at wrong time: doesn’t matter what the long/lat is…

In all of these cases the training and experience i got from being in the Boy Scouts eagle and OA and Sommers canoe and outdoor challenge and survival scuba and alaska wilderness survival training all came in handy. Carry a compass, strike stick and ‘tin’ suit any time i’m farther than a mile from the truck now.

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I once got plowed in a lost corn field. Does that count

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Ah, to be in high school again

Thank you D-Train for the recommendation, I picked up the book Lost in the Woods and enjoyed it very much. Now if I could just stop dreaming about looking for trails and stumbling around aimlessly in the woods I would get some better sleep at night

Good read, thanks again

Lost?

Hmm… Been fearsome confused for a month or two, but I ain’t never been lost.

I was lost for a while out in North Dakota,I took a hike around a slough we were duck hunting. IT looked like it would be no problem when I started out, as I was walking it just turned from one slough to another to another, all of a sudden I had no Idea where I was.
I didn’t get out of there until right at sunset when I finaly spotted a cloud of dust from a car going down the road off in the distance.
That large open praire really distorts your view of distance.

I got lost on a 10,000 acre lake during a white-out years back. I had a compass but must’a dropped it when I stopped to fish a hole I came across. The forecast was for light flurries,not 4 hours of heavy wet snow.

I figured I knew which way the access was in relation to the wind,so I kept the wind slightly behind my left shoulder… I didn’t figure on the wind direction switching when (I believe) I got close. I walked halfway across the lake ALMOST to my destination,then halfway across AWAY from my destination. I was soaked from the inside from sweat,and the outside from the wet snow. It was getting dark by the time the storm stopped. I was more than a little worried.

I bought my first GPS the next day but I still always carry a compass.

GPS was still relatively rare for inland lake anglers. The next spring a dense fog settled on the lake I was fishing – at night – and I ended up “guiding” two different boats back to the landing. It felt good knowing there’d be no more “gettin’ turned around” in the fog.

A couple times when ice fishing smaller lakes I’ve ended up a mile away from my truck when pulling gear by hand across foggy ice. The tendency is to veer slightly when pulling wth one hand…I’ve ended up on the N end of a long skinny 900 acre lake when I headed south from a midlake hump…Get near shore and recognize where you’re at…”Awww,crap.”…No more,with GPS (H20c AND and an etrex),spare batteries,compass…and a cellphone so I can call my wife and tell her I’m running late

When it comes to getting lost, every outdoorsman (and woman) has either been there–or more precisely, been there but didn’t know exactly where there is–or is going to be there.

The last time I was seriously lost was in the late 1980s when deer hunting near Ely. Classic situation, I didn’t know the terrain or the area, had only a vague idea of where I was going, lost the “trail” and got hopelessy turned around. Luckily, I stumbled across my own tracks in the soft moss (there was no snow), and I was able to piece together enough of my own trail to get back.

Mike, I would certainly make a point of advising those scouts that Bear Grills and Survivorboy are best used as examples of what NOT to do. Unless you want to die.

Grills in particular takes absolutely stupid risks. I remember one episode where he jumps in a freezing mountain stream and grabs some logs to float down a fast, unknown river. In the process he violates every cardinal rule of survival, which include staying warm, staying dry, staying put, and staying alive until found.

I’ve told my wife on numerous occasions that if I’m ever reported lost, tell the rescuers to simply go up in an airplane and look for the big fire. I’ll be standing next to it. If they can’t find the fire, then they KNOW I’m in trouble and get out the dogs and the groud searchers quickly because I’m likely hurt.

Grouse

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All a guy needs to survive the outdoors will fit in an altoids tin. At least that is what F&S article said. Some cotton balls, chlorine tablets, fire striker, whistle and one other item I can’t recall.

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In my case that would be a molbile home.

My wife says I get lost from the house to the garage.

Once went to a buddy’s place in Big Fork deer hunting, after a bit of sitting in a tree stand I got down and started to wander a bit…..couple hours later I was lost, no compass (not that it would have helped) and tree’s so thick you could see 50 yards.

I finally built a fire to warm up and about that time I heard a voice telling me instead of a fire why don’t I come to the cabin..which was about 60 yards away.

Seems he seen the smoke and was wondering what was going on.

The GPS units on my boat have saved countless hours of wandering trying to find the launch on more than one lake.

Daniel Boone I am not.

Al