Ever Been Lost ?

Stepped off trail maybe 50meters to smoke a joint near a decent sized boulder in thick woods. I knew the area well but all of a sudden I was lost to where I came in from. Ended up climbing a tree to get over the canopy. That started with me scratching the #### out of myself getting up there.

Found the sun and knew the road was semi south/west. Followed the west sun through a swamp as the crow flies and hit the road 6 kms farther south then I expected and 5 hours later. Stayed calm but that was scary as hell.

Edit, this was growing up in nova Scotia not in Alberta
 
I was exploring/hunting ... left the boat on the river bank and went into the woods and checked out an old abandoned cabin ... when I went to go back to the boat, I went the direction I thought I came and went further into the woods instead. Luckily, I took a general reading on my compass before this happened. I swore the compass was leading me back the wrong way, but my old dad always told me to trust the compass over my own judgement. It brought me back to the river and I walked along the bank until I found the boat. It was a very brief period lost, but if I didn’t have my compass, I would have continued in the wrong direction. I was so sure I had come from the other direction and it made me realize how easy it can be to get lost.

I always wear a compass around my neck on a string.
 
Embarrassing, but it happened...

Invited on a moose hunt with a couple buddies who got an LEH permit in region 6 Smithers area.

At the end of the second day traveling, we still hadn't got to their preferred camp so we just pulled off on a side spur of a logging road to spend the night. Completely flat featureless country. In the middle of pitching my tent I had to have a dump and walked away up the road, then up an overgrown skidder trial then into the second-growth pine trees and found a likely spot to scrape a hole in the ground. When I was done I looked around for the way out and didn't know which way that was.

It was just before dark and I panicked for a second thinking, Oh No, I'm going to end up spending the night out here or at least until Larry and Fred figure out I'm missing. I was only 100 or so yards away from camp, but my heart and adrenaline were pumping. I think I called out one of the guys' names but they didn't hear me.

I wish I could say that I had some magic method of figuring it out, but it was more blind luck than anything else that I struck out in what I estimated to be the right direction and came out on the road. I'm a little more cautious now and try to go straight in and straight out again now for those bush comfort moments.
 
Got thoroughly turned around in an Alder flat once many years ago.
Followed a muley buck into it, and failed to pay proper attention to where I was
headed. Fortunately, there was a big Fir tree in the flat. I climbed up it high
enough to determine where the lake was. From that point on, I was OK.
Darn overcast days make it tougher, too. Dave.
 
Ice fishing when the fog rolls in. I always carry a compass except once and my buddy and I were maybe 500 yards from shore and only missed my truck by 2 km. No snow to leave footprints. That was a bad day.
 
Never in the woods or mountains, but in my house yes, I mean walking around, not knowing what I'm doing or going, especially my bedroom 4 hours in the dark looking for a bed, I raised it to mid belly now , not gonna miss it again haha.
I don't sleep much sadly
 
Got turned around a time or two...ended up coming out quite aways from where I expected to be...can't normally get to far lost in the mountains, usually a peak on one side and a river on the other...:)
 
Not a 100% lost but missed our turn to the cabin on a large lake in northern Manitoba caribou hunting. As it was getting dark and we had no idea where we went wrong pulled up on shore for the night. Good job I had a couple of those crappy space blankets because it took an hour to find enough wood to burn for half an hour on the tundra! Was a great addition to our adventure:)
 
Lost no, I knew I was in Cayuga. But deffinately turned around. My inlaws farm had 100 acres of bus adjoining a couple thousand. I knew the bush like the back of my hand cause I had used it for about 12 years.
One week they had the bush logged. It was a whole new world. After tromping through areas that I did not recognize, I did indeed feel lost.
At this point I figured it was a good time to practice my bushcraft skills, which until now had only been book knowledge. I found a nice sunny spot to sit down. I proceeded to make a sun dial. Over the next couple hours, as I sat there enjoying nature in its splender among the logging carnage, marking the travel of the sun.
Having a partial arc and roughly knowing what time it was, I proceeded to plot a course with the sun in my left eye. I eventually emerged from the bush on the farm to the south of us.

It doesnt take much to get "turned around". But if you manage to do it in a safe place, theres not a better opertunity to practice your bush skills.
 
Donkin said:
Many years ago I was invited to a big 5 private game reserve bordering the kruger national park in South Africa. I arrived in my Toyota Corolla at dusk and was met by my buddies in an old open top land rover, and we proceeded to the camp, running into a pride of 30 lions on the way. The next morning one of the owners sons said I should take a walk with him, as he wanted to try shoot an impala for the camp staff. At one point he spotted a heard of impala and told me to wait for him under a tree, so he could make a stalk. After probably half an hour, I heard him whistle, and I looked over to where I heard the whistle, and I spotted him about 600m away on the other side of a shallow ravine, he was gesticulating that I should walk to his position, anyway, to cut a long story short, I lost my bearings and wondered off way off course. Un-armed, with no water, and poor footware, I wondered around with panic rising in my mind. Probably 2 hrs later by pure chance, I crossed a road and followed the fresh vehicle tracks back to the camp. I learnt a valuable lesson that day.
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Yes, Do Not leave home with out one.....
Rob
 
Once when I was about 9 or 10 years old while over at my cousin's place. We went out back into the brush behind his house and ended up getting turned around. Ended up walking about 4 1/2 kms through the thick NW Ontario brush until we got to a hay field that belonged to the fella down the road from him. Was easy enough to walk to the road back to his place, but I remember a bit of scolding for wandering off like that!

The closest after that was hunting with a friend of mine way up north of Dryden, ON by the SW end of Lac Seul. We were driving to the cuts we were going to go sit in for the evening hunt when we came across some tracks so fresh they were practically steaming in the snow still. There was an old cut road that run up in behind where it looked like the moose was headed, so we decided I'd get on the tracks and buddy would take the truck and try to head him off if I pushed it out. In the excitement of the moment, I bailed into the brush but didn't take the time to grab my pack with all my survival gear in it and more importantly, my gps and radio. About 2 km or so of tracking this thing, ended up finding a spot that was trampled down with tracks running all over the place in the snow. Well I got turned around and now with the light starting to dim, and the bush getting dark fast, I was having trouble telling my tracks from the moose tracks. I remembered back to a couple landmarks and trees I saw on the way and in and eventually found a spot where I could clearly see my big footprints to know I was on the right track. Made it back to road just as light gave way to darkness and a few minutes later my buddy pulled up and we called it a night.

After that experience, I started to wear a chest rig out hunting. I caught all kinds of sh!t because of it with all the typical jokes of being "super tactical" and "going to war" and the like. The reason I did it though is because I carry damn near everything I need if I have to spend a night in the brush, or better yet, prevent a night in the brush one me at all times. I can also throw it one and still sit in a truck seat, so if I bail into the brush again without my pack, I've got everything I need. Luckily, most the areas I hunt now I'm pretty familiar with and I'm more hyper aware of my path and direction so a similar issue hasn't come up again yet.
 
I am going back over 40 years. Jumped some deer on an old logging road and went in after them it was real early morning.
Little after dinner I sat down for a sandwich and realized I had no clue where I was. I knew the direction of the highway and had a compass so figured if I stayed on that I would hit the highway eventually. Well I did late into the night and in those days was walking with a rifle over my shoulder and flashlight and a guy pulls over in a truck and asks if I need a lift. Today they would call the swat team :(
We clocked where he picked me up and where my truck was parked and it was just shy of 10 miles away
I would have never figured I walked that much but did
take care
 
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Swami said:
Stepped off trail maybe 50meters to smoke a joint near a decent sized boulder in thick woods. I knew the area well but all of a sudden I was lost to where I came in from. Ended up climbing a tree to get over the canopy. That started with me scratching the #### out of myself getting up there.

Found the sun and knew the road was semi south/west. Followed the west sun through a swamp as the crow flies and hit the road 6 kms farther south then I expected and 5 hours later. Stayed calm but that was scary as hell.

Edit, this was growing up in nova Scotia not in Alberta
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I knew a guy who was a ranch manager out west in the days before cell phones. One day a fish cop showed up with two guys in hand cuffs, wanting to use the phone to call RCMP. three guesses what he caught them doing, first two don't count. :rolleyes:


Grizz
 
Doesn't really affect the discussion, but, it wasn't Crockett who made that remark about being lost... it was Daniel Boone.... :)

“I've never been lost, but I was mighty turned around for three days once.”

― Daniel Boone
 
alwrig said:
I had a compass reverse polarity when I started walking before day light. I got a real surprise when the sun came up in the West.
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This is more common than you think. In a pocket with something steel can do it. You can fix it with magnate.

Once on a fogey clouded day a dollar store compass I put on my jacket zipper saved me a lot of walking. Cheep don't mean it's not good.
 
I tracked a wounded moose one time with another guy late in the afternoon. We took flashlights just in case and then it got dark and the flashlights went dead. We had a compasses but no light so we just built a fire on a big rock and stayed put. We heard the three shots from camp and answered once. Fortunately the guys in camp didn't come looking for us but did shoot again. We responded immediately with a single shot to save our ammunition. Dawn came and we made our way back to the power line our camp was on. We weren't really lost but did not want to loose an eye or fall in a hole by stumbling around in the dark. It was nice though to have company and we sadly did not find the moose.
 
sk8r said:
Doesn't really affect the discussion, but, it wasn't Crockett who made that remark about being lost... it was Daniel Boone.... :)

“I've never been lost, but I was mighty turned around for three days once.”

― Daniel Boone
Click to expand...

I heard it was actually Churchill. :)

Grizz
 
Fifty years ago I was using a compass while hunting. Everything was great until I cut my own tracks. Had walked in a large circle. Compass had gone wonky. Cloudy, featureless day. Found that by tapping the compass, I could get it to point in one direction consistently. Knew that if I could go in a straight line I would hit either a hydro cut or a road. Got to the hydro cut; compass had settled down 180 degrees out. Had a long hike back to my car, but at least I knew exactly how to get there. Got a new compass after that - a Silva Prospector, which I still have.
 
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