Survival in the wilderness

[Europe]

I just found out that Cheyenne teaches wilderness and Arctic survival

Since none of us live in Nunavut, lets stick to wilderness. Alaska, Montana, British Columbia, type places.

If you hiked into the mountains with only your backpack and rifle, without any of todays electronic toys and got turned around, how long could you survive

a week, a month, forever. ?

Has anyone here got turned around and had to find their way back ? If so please share your stories with us.

 

[DrMike]

I've never been lost in my life, April. I've been confused once or twice for a day or two, but I've never been lost. I believe I might have once been able to survive for weeks, but I'm addicted to the Nosler Forum nowadays. :shock: Makes it hard to forego my fix each day.

In truth, for many years I carried only a couple of compasses and some staples in the knowledge that I wouldn't be out more than a week or so even in the event of an emergency. I usually had a map of the area I was exploring, though these maps were sometimes notoriously out of date. Also, I always informed my wife of where I would be hunting and gave her an approximation of my time out. I still don't own a GPS, though I do believe they can be a real life-saver. I never had any particular problems. However, I don't do that much any more. I would still be comfortable with my rifle, some ammunition, a few knives and my survival pack for a day or two.

Do I think I could survive for longer than a week? Yes, I believe I still have the mental toughness, though I have some doubts about the physical abilities any more.

 

[c. schutte]

I've never been lost either. No matter what I go there I am!

 

[Europe]

I have the same problem Dr Mike. The mind and heart is willing but not the body.

My husband and I trailered four horses to the Grand Mesa area of Colorado one summer. In our first ride out from our base camp we got turned around and ended up spending a night "lost". We made camp and roughed it a bit that night but found our way back to base camp the next afternoon.

To this day that is one of the favorite stories our children ( who are grown with children ) like to tell. The day (and night) we got lost in the Colorado Rockies.

 

[truck driver]

To be honest on my own I have never been lost and my Dad use to drop me off at 05 dark 30 and tell me to meet him back at the drop off point at sun down. This was in Green Ridge state forest which is one of the largest and roughest areas in the state I live in. No compass no map just using dead reckoning with a bag lunch and a thermos of coffee. He started doing this when I was 12 and use to free range the country side around my home when I was 10.

Now for the rest of the story.
While in the military I was out with my platoon doing night navigation training. The second luey platoon leader had a radio, map and compass and got us lost for 4 hrs.
Lost the only radio we had and to make it even worse the company was ready to send out a search party to find us which we learned about later.
It was a dark moonless night and we were in heavy forest cover with know view of the sky.
The luey went nuts because he would have to pay for the radio and wanted volunteers to help find it. Everyone refused to help him since they were all mad and it was only supposed to be an hour exercise for his benefit not ours since most of us were avid hunters and knew our way around in the woods.
I finally conceded to help him and back tracked to where we had taken a brake for him to check the map and compass with out the use of a light since it was against the rules of night navigation but ok for him to use to read the map and compass, I found the radio beside a large birch tree where he had set it down and picked it up and threw it at him telling him not to put down again.
When we got back to the rest of the guys I took the map and read where we were from remembering the terrain we had traveled over and head for the pickup point no more then a mile away and came right out to where the trucks were waiting to take us back to camp.
Needless to say he flunked the course and never lead us on another night adventure.

With my present age and physical condition I'm not sure how long I could survive without some type of shelter or equipment other then a knife, the mind and knowledge is there for living off the land but the body would probably let me down.

 

[Guy Miner]

I've gotten a mite turned around in the deep woods.

Matter of fact, it was my USMC officer training in the woods of Quantico Virginia that built my land-navigation skills. I thought I was pretty good, after all I'd been backpacking and hiking "out west" since I was a little kid. But... I hadn't reckoned on the thick woods and gentle terrain of Virginia... One batch of trees and tiny elevation change looks just like another... I got real good at using map & compass, but I had to work at it!

Just a few years ago, 2014, I got real turned around in a densely wooded valley I was hunting in Wyoming. Went in a danged circle! So... knowing that the wooded area was surrounded by higher, barren ground, I just hiked uphill until I got out of the woods and got myself oriented to the terrain again. Had no map or compass on me during that hunt. I've rectified that!

Normally while hunting I'll have a light backpack with enough food, water, and extra clothes to deal with a night away from camp. That's been useful several times when I've simply pushed too hard, too far, and was unable to get back to camp in the dark. So, I'd stop, build a little fire, and hang out until morning. Much easier to navigate back when I can see where I'm going. Important to have confidence, and to be prepared.

My wife has NOT been amused when I've had to bivouac and haven't been able to get home or back to camp... She gets kinda worried that her ol' hubby might finally meet his match out there in the hills. Someday, that's real likely. Good a way to go as any.

Good subject. Thanks!

Guy

 

[hunter24605]

I've got turned around a few times, but the worst was when I was around 16, I shot a buck around 3:00 and it wasn't a perfect shot..I started following the little drips off blood and kept my eyes focused on the ground and wasn't paying any attention to where I was going..He headed down a long steep hollow and after about an hour I found him dead. After I got him gutted I started to look around and I had no idea where I was or which way I came in..I thought I'd keep going down and I'd hit the road sooner or later.To top things off my flashlight died so I had to stumble my way along in the dark .About 3 hours later I saw a dim light in the distance and headed for it. Turns out it was a lantern outside a tent..The guys in the tent asked where we were camped and gave me and my deer a ride back..The lessons I learned was don't get tunnel vision on a blood trail and always keep up with where I'm at, and keep spare batteries, or even better, a backup flashlight. And I try to keep a little spare food and water, one of those Mylar emergency blankets and something to start a fire with.

 

[truck driver]

Hey Guy it was in those Va woods not far from Quantico at Ft AP Hill that the second luey got us lost while training.
Laurel thickets can be some real bad areas to get turned around in if not careful here on the east coast in the Allegheny Mts.

 

[hunter24605]

Hey Guy it was in those Va woods not far from Quantico at Ft AP Hill that the second luey got us lost while training.
Laurel thickets can be some real bad areas to get turned around in if not careful here on the east coast in the Allegheny Mts.

We stomp some of the sound ground..And yes laurel thickets are bad news..More than once I've been down on hands and knees trying to get through one .It's real easy to loose your bearings in one....And for whatever reason, those darn green-brier patches love to grow smack in the middle of laurel...Usually come out the other side looking I tried to castrate a bobcat in a phone booth.

 

[5shot]

Always have a compass and a small day pack with me...knife, rope, fire starter, water purification tabs, signalling devices, etc. Don't know that I want to spend a week in the woods in a shelter I built, but I think I could still do it.

 

[hunternyny]

I dont have a story to share about being lost but I will tell you that my wife and I were more than a little impressed with how well our friends in Montana and Cheyenne in the Northwest Territories of Canada can "read" the wilderness, the weather, and the animals. I am sure their are several on this forum, Dr Mike, Gil, Gerry, Hodgeman, Bear78, Salmonchaser, 35Whelen, Guy, Elkman, etc etc etc, and my compliments to you all.

And thanks for the stories posted I have enjoyed reading them.

Do all you fellows from the far North know how to cross country ski and do you ever do that when on a hunting trip or just snowshoes ?

 

[sask boy]

I have hunted some pretty thick bush and timber always thinking I was as good as anyone but about 25 years ago I got turned around on a Moose hunt when I missed a creek that I was using as a boundary. By the time I accepted I was lost it was noon so I sat on a stump and was eating a sandwich when another hunter came by and gave me a idea where I was :wink:.
I now carry a compass in my pack and even took a course on how to use it :mrgreen:.
Now with our electronics and my supply of batteries I think that my getting lost days are over :shock:.

Blessings,
Dan

 

[Guy Miner]

Do all you fellows from the far North know how to cross country ski and do you ever do that when on a hunting trip or just snowshoes ?

I cross-country ski a lot! Learned as a teen, and still at it in my 60's!

Nordic skis and some good snow transform man from the slowest, most clumsy large mammal in the hills to the fastest and most quiet predator... Love it!

Last winter I was out mostly on snowshoes, but still did some X-C skiing. Hunted only from snowshoes though, not from skis last winter.

Last winter, on a snowshoe hike for coyotes:

Guy

 

[Africa Huntress]

Like Guy, I love to cross country ski hunt and do it every year in Sweden.

Best Regards

Jamila

 

[c. schutte]

I always noticed it was too hard to cross country ski and drink at the same time so I gave it up...............

 

[Europe]

I always noticed it was too hard to cross country ski and drink at the same time so I gave it up...............

That would make it harder Charles, so glad you gave up---drinking!

Our family did a lot of cross country skiing together, but never hunted when doing so.

Guy, have you ever been flown in via helicopter for cross country skiing ?

 

[Elkman]

I have tried cross country skiing, but never did well with it. However, I have covered many, many miles on snowshoes for both work and play, and have found them a challenge on very steep ground. My hunting now is primarily early season where significant snow is seldom encountered.

 

[Anonymous]

I've gotten turned around a couple of times. Not lost, since I new exactly where I was and where I needed to go...but in the dark couldn't make out the route between. We spent the night on the tundra in a drizzle. We chopped up a dead spruce and started a fire and got some rest around it until daybreak arrived...made it back to camp next morning none the worse for wear.

I could make it a couple of days out of my daypack without a lot of hassle.

 

[Anonymous]

I
Do all you fellows from the far North know how to cross country ski and do you ever do that when on a hunting trip or just snowshoes ?

I vastly prefer cross country skis to snowshoes. I love hunting in winter and spring on skis- typically for ptarmigan but sometimes for caribou. Actually- pulling out a caribou on a pulk sled and skis is easier than packing them in the summer in some places.

 

[Thankful Otter]

I
Do all you fellows from the far North know how to cross country ski and do you ever do that when on a hunting trip or just snowshoes ?

I vastly prefer cross country skis to snowshoes. I love hunting in winter and spring on skis- typically for ptarmigan but sometimes for caribou. Actually- pulling out a caribou on a pulk sled and skis is easier than packing them in the summer in some places.

Hodgeman I agree with every point you made.

John thank you, we are taught at a very early age

To go a step further we also carry our ice skates with us and when and where possible we ice skate.

Do you also ice skate the rivers and lakes Hodgeman ?

As an aside When I was in college I showed up at the hockey arena and they ask if I was there to try out for the cheer team and I said no I wanted play hockey. Unfortunately, no girls allowed, so I had to settle for pond hockey

oops forgot---April, We have never been lost in the mountains but when your out on the ice and get caught in a storm, it can be real tricky. We have at times just simply built an igloo and set it out rather than chance it.