I got Lost in the woods staring at my coil for too long!!!!!

[Helix]

I must be getting old... I have never been lost in my life !! No sun to use as guidance!! Kind had me worried for about 10 seconds...

 

[LifeNRA]

Time to buy a GPS!

 

[Old Silver]

As Tom Massie says, you're never lost if don't care where you are. LOL
Glad you found your way.

 

[Night Owl]

cellphone gps
Glad your fine!

 

[BosnMate]

That's when the legend starts, you find the gold, then can't find your way back.

 

[austin]

Move to Jersey, solve the problem...

 

[BosnMate]

Don't know where your from, but in some areas out west we have large areas of lodge pole pines, and once in them, they look exactly the same in every direction. I was deer hunting in the lodge poles, trying to travel north by keeping the morning sun on my right. The map showed a trail, and that's where I was trying to go. Every time I'd think about it, the sun would be behind me, I was really trying to travel in a circle, and finally gave up and followed my tracks back to where I started. It's really easy to get turned around in the woods where there is nothing to relate direction.

 

[gleaner1]

I must be getting old... I have never been lost in my life !! No sun to use as guidance!! Kind had me worried for about 10 seconds...

Dont worry Helix it gets worser every year.

 

[goldnrelics]

I too got carried away too and got lost. ended up loosing both my battery packs made it back though after 3 hours. stuff happens lol

 

[pa plateau hiker]

Been there and done that. Like when you're out hiking and come to a creek and it's going the opposite direction then what you expected. Then you know you're lost.

 

[Joe hunter]

Move to Jersey, solve the problem...

I don't know, every time someone gets lost in upstate ny seems there from Jersy

 

[huntsman53]

My solution is if you are not taller than the trees, then stay out of the woods.


Frank

 

[jeff of pa]

I must be getting old... I have never been lost in my life !! No sun to use as guidance!! Kind had me worried for about 10 seconds...

Happened to me once Pushed my way through too many briar bushes,
while twisting & turning. Eventually making the return trip Impossible.

Lucky for me there was an Interstate highway for Sound,
So I followed that & walked the wrong direction at least
for a quarter mile, to circle the Briars.

always thought about buying colored (Cherry) Smoke Bombs,
in case i'd ever need to Call someone & perhaps signal a Chopper or Ground search crew, But I avoid most places that a creek, or Road can't be reached within a mile no matter what direction I may have unknowlingly pointed myself.

 

[discn]

I love my compass especially when my GPS fails.

 

[HutSiteDigger]

Got lost once in about 5,000 acres while MD... took a wrong trail back to the gate this was about 3pm in the winter!! so i thought the trail i missed all i had to do was take a right and into the woods about 200 or so yards and i would hit the trail leading out... i could have taken the trail i was on and walk that over to the right trail but i wanted to get some last minute detecting in so i decided to hit the woods and hopefully pop @ out at the right trail..

I got caught up digging some signals and then decided to call it a quits and make a bolt for the trail leading me out before the sun went down. Well and and and .. no trail so i decided to turn around & try to get on the trail i was on... then booom the sun went down :/ and i could not find the other trail i was on for the life of me. All I had was my md and a cell phone, shovel and lemonade,lighter and some beef jerky. Mother nature thought it would be nice to not give me a moon that night, but full darkness and light sleet/rain. I could barley see the hand in front of my face.. I had to battle my way through thickets, hills, streams... i was so lost and my feet were soaking wet from jumping into the stream and water getting into my boots!! I almost decided to call it a quits and just spend the night in the woods. I could have called for help on the cell-phone but i was not dyer dyer need of it. I finally got out after about 3 hours of non-stop battle with the woods. If you do get lost you just gotta keep calm and that is what is gonna save you. I can only image what people who have gotten lost for days had to go through...

I know there was a MD in Virginia who died years ago while getting lost and it was not the lost part that got him. Him and his buddy took wrong trail back and got lost and a bad storm came and dumped sleet and mixture of snow pretty bad for hours he ended up getting out but died of pneumonia a few days later.

Getting lost in the woods truly suxs! I have also been lost in a low marsh/swamp area when it was night time too and managed to get out. Keep calm and be collective and dang on it...... always tell someone where U are and bring a cell phone.

 

[Nickleanddime]

First if you get lost don't travel at night. Expecially since you couldn't see very far. It's easy to go through a thicket and fall into a ravine or down a hill side. Also try I know it's hard but try not to panic. If your out in that big of country a compass is a great investment. Get a good one not a dollar store find. It could mean life and death, also use it in your hand get a bearing. Then set it down on a stump and step back and see what it says at least one time. The steel and iron could give a false reading close to your body. With what you had you could have hunkered down for the night and started again in the morning. It would have been uncomfortable but do able. But glad you made it out safe though.

 

[roadrunner]

If you are going out in the remotes, an easy item to carry is a very small back pack.
In the pack put these.
Poncho.
poncho liner.
Emergency blanket,for a tent,or warmth.
Compass.
couple small bottled waters.
couple jerkys or a small bag of trail mix.
compass
bic lighter

Cell phone you should have on you.
And as suggested,a few smoke bombs.
These small items could be rolled up or folded and put in a fanny pck almost.
You wouldn't even know it was on you hardly.

 

[Number9]

I have a friend who I've hunted with and have known since high school. He is "wood wise" except when it comes to navigation, in heavy woods he has been known to get "turned-around" more than a few times. Even after showing him many times how simple navigation is, he still forgets the simple things.
Yesterday, he brought over his new "toy" to show me. The only problem is he couldn't understand how it worked!
His toy was a new Backtrack by Bushnell. A regular GPS can do the same thing but the Backtrack is a very simple tool for anyone who wants to return to a certain point... like your vehicle...besides, it only has two buttons!
I tested it out to see if it would be any good for anyone to find their way back to a point... the distance and direction to make a return walk to a marked point was very accurate!
So, if you're not a navigator this might be a good tool to have?

 

[songdog]

Like Mark Twain said, " I have never been lost, but mighty confused for a couple of days!".

We had a father and two sons that died this past spring as they went on a "short" hike.
The weather was beautiful......that morning!
They got turned around on a well known hiking path, and then lost, and it started to rain. The temperature dropped and the rest is history. A sad story for sure. What was worse is that the wife, and mother, was at a cabin waiting for their return, and a man said he had stopped and offered them a ride, but they refused as the father said they could make their way back as he was going to cut across to the "trail"!
Be careful anytime you are out and about.