I've never been lost, just didn't know where I was Seriously though, the reason I carry the stuff I do is because I have been "lost" before. Not a great feeling.
How not to get lost in the bush
- Thread starter John Y Cannuck
- Start date
I've never been lost, just didn't know where I was Seriously though, the reason I carry the stuff I do is because I have been "lost" before. Not a great feeling.
Just a tip, while living in the North and older native told me they carry long sticks on their shoulders in thick cover to help them walk in a straight line....keeps one from walking in a circle.Inuit and Tuareg follow the ridge lines in the sand and snow as the wind almost always blows in the same direction creating those little ridges which become very reliable direction markers...
Way back when I was pretty much starting out hunting on my own. I was away back in a huge swamp and I decided to head back to my truck. I coulda swore that my compass was wrong and was taking me the wrong direction. Then I got lost. After awhile I started using it again and it took me out.
I've been using a compass without maps since I was a kid in the bush. Until last year I found it very reliable. I usually just track the sun in familiar territory but always carry a compass for reference.
While moose hunting last fall I followed a set of tracks into a block and got completely turned around. There was some kind of ?mineral deposit? that had the compass needle doing a 360 every 15 feet. It was overcast with the wind changing direction as I sat considering what to do. Luckily I had an old gps in the pack that got me straightened out. I would recommend taking both.
While moose hunting last fall I followed a set of tracks into a block and got completely turned around. There was some kind of ?mineral deposit? that had the compass needle doing a 360 every 15 feet. It was overcast with the wind changing direction as I sat considering what to do. Luckily I had an old gps in the pack that got me straightened out. I would recommend taking both.
I definitely plan on taking both this year. It's only my second year hunting, but I got 'turned around' last year.
I thought I had brought my compass with me when I went out with a friend, but it wasn't there when I checked during the hunt. Everything was fine off the start, I was paying attention to landmarks and looking back. The path back to the truck seemed pretty easy to spot. Well, don't those valleys look smaller when you're on the ridge
I kept moving down and the ridge just kept getting bigger and the trees more dense. Afer a while of trying to cut back up had me still deep in the bush. Every time I tried to get to what looked like a clear spot, it was just more trees! I then realised that I was at least a 'bit lost'.
It's amazing how quiet everything is with snow on the ground and you're surrounded by trees. A bit of panic settled in and I started to earnestly get back to the truck - after all it as ~-10 and the sun was starting to fall.
I blazed trail for another while, puffing and swearing most of the time, before I came out to a different valley. I didn't know it at the time, but I'd gone right past my friend in the bush, he thought I was hot on the trail of a deer so he didn't say anything. I took another 20 steps and decided to stop moving and try to call my friend - it took a bit to convince myself that I was fully lost.
I called and left a message on his phone (surprised I had cell reception), but he didn't have it with him I guess. I was glad that I had 10 rounds on me to make noise.
In the end I had to fire off 2 signal rounds, calling out in between, before he found me. He wasn't that far away, but didn't hear the first shot at all
It was fine to laugh about it in the truck, but I was a little shaken - It was going down to -25 that night and around here you could walk for days without hitting a road or finding another person.
So this year it's going to be compass & map with GPS. I think I'll bring 20 rounds with me too, just in case
I thought I had brought my compass with me when I went out with a friend, but it wasn't there when I checked during the hunt. Everything was fine off the start, I was paying attention to landmarks and looking back. The path back to the truck seemed pretty easy to spot. Well, don't those valleys look smaller when you're on the ridge
I kept moving down and the ridge just kept getting bigger and the trees more dense. Afer a while of trying to cut back up had me still deep in the bush. Every time I tried to get to what looked like a clear spot, it was just more trees! I then realised that I was at least a 'bit lost'.
It's amazing how quiet everything is with snow on the ground and you're surrounded by trees. A bit of panic settled in and I started to earnestly get back to the truck - after all it as ~-10 and the sun was starting to fall.
I blazed trail for another while, puffing and swearing most of the time, before I came out to a different valley
. I didn't know it at the time, but I'd gone right past my friend in the bush, he thought I was hot on the trail of a deer so he didn't say anything. I took another 20 steps and decided to stop moving and try to call my friend - it took a bit to convince myself that I was fully lost. I called and left a message on his phone (surprised I had cell reception), but he didn't have it with him I guess. I was glad that I had 10 rounds on me to make noise.
In the end I had to fire off 2 signal rounds, calling out in between, before he found me. He wasn't that far away, but didn't hear the first shot at all
It was fine to laugh about it in the truck, but I was a little shaken - It was going down to -25 that night and around here you could walk for days without hitting a road or finding another person.
So this year it's going to be compass & map with GPS. I think I'll bring 20 rounds with me too, just in case
rustysdream
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Estevan, Saskatchewan
Just a quick side note...
If anyone is interested, brand new plastic Acme Thunderers are available on eBay for less than CDN$6.00/ea shipped (item # 120552867218). I just bought one.
If anyone is interested, brand new plastic Acme Thunderers are available on eBay for less than CDN$6.00/ea shipped (item # 120552867218). I just bought one.
- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
Well, I'll give no guarantees on the plastic. Mine is nickle plated brass.Just a quick side note...
If anyone is interested, brand new plastic Acme Thunderers are available on eBay for less than CDN$6.00/ea shipped (item # 120552867218). I just bought one.
As I read this post I get a lot ot mixed feelings. It seems to be advised to take maps, a compass and a gps with you. All well and good, but I grew up in the hinterlands, flat treed, swamps and sand ridges of bushland Saskatchewan. Of course, it would be a great many years before gps came on the scene and as far as I knew, no one in the whole country had a map that would help a person in the bush. I was the youngest of a large family and my older brother had the only compass in the family. As a young, barely teen ager, I would go out hunting in the morning and not see another person, or maybe not another persons tracks in the snow, until I got home at night. I seldom had the compass with me.
When I was 14 I went out on a December morning to shoot squirrels (for their hides). It was a beautiful sunny morning, but around noon it clouded over. In early afternoon I started for home, but soon realized I didn't know which way home was! Then, Oh boy, what luck. Came onto a fresh man track, even going about the right way. What a relief. I could follow him out and now I knew I was not alone in the bush. Then, the track went around a fallen tree, that I had gone around some time earlier! I knew I was following my own track.
I have always been proud of the fact that I fought off all indications of panic. I started to reason things out. I knew I had to go east, and would eventually come out to a north south trail. I looked around the sky, and sure enough, one part was lighter than the rest. That would be south west. So I walked with that part of sky behind my right shoulder. Eventually it got so dark that I could barely see trees in front of me. I kept lining up the trees in front to try and stay straight. Ahead of me it looked a little lighter and I entered an area of less spruce trees. Then, I stumbled right on to the trail! Follow the trail for a mile and I was home.
During those same years, a school chum, 14 years old, went moose hunting with his Dad, in a really remote area. He went off by himself, got lost and didn't make it out of the bush. He spent a cold December night in the bush of northern Saskatchewan, all by himself. At school we teased him about not being a very good bushman, or he wouldn't have got lost!
Compare this to when a hiker is over due now. Even in good weather, it is widely shown on the news, about the effort to find and rescue him.
I think if a person is going to call themselves a hunter, they should have enough bush experience that spending an unexpected night in the bush is no big deal. In the years since that early experience I have spent unplanned nights in the bush, but never suffered any misery. In fact I was able to sleep quite a bit, between having to keep the fire up.
In short, all this modern equipment is good, and a person will surely take advantage of it. But you could still not get out of the bush when you thought you could and a person should be prepared for it, depending on the time of year and weather expected.
When I was 14 I went out on a December morning to shoot squirrels (for their hides). It was a beautiful sunny morning, but around noon it clouded over. In early afternoon I started for home, but soon realized I didn't know which way home was! Then, Oh boy, what luck. Came onto a fresh man track, even going about the right way. What a relief. I could follow him out and now I knew I was not alone in the bush. Then, the track went around a fallen tree, that I had gone around some time earlier! I knew I was following my own track.
I have always been proud of the fact that I fought off all indications of panic. I started to reason things out. I knew I had to go east, and would eventually come out to a north south trail. I looked around the sky, and sure enough, one part was lighter than the rest. That would be south west. So I walked with that part of sky behind my right shoulder. Eventually it got so dark that I could barely see trees in front of me. I kept lining up the trees in front to try and stay straight. Ahead of me it looked a little lighter and I entered an area of less spruce trees. Then, I stumbled right on to the trail! Follow the trail for a mile and I was home.
During those same years, a school chum, 14 years old, went moose hunting with his Dad, in a really remote area. He went off by himself, got lost and didn't make it out of the bush. He spent a cold December night in the bush of northern Saskatchewan, all by himself. At school we teased him about not being a very good bushman, or he wouldn't have got lost!
Compare this to when a hiker is over due now. Even in good weather, it is widely shown on the news, about the effort to find and rescue him.
I think if a person is going to call themselves a hunter, they should have enough bush experience that spending an unexpected night in the bush is no big deal. In the years since that early experience I have spent unplanned nights in the bush, but never suffered any misery. In fact I was able to sleep quite a bit, between having to keep the fire up.
In short, all this modern equipment is good, and a person will surely take advantage of it. But you could still not get out of the bush when you thought you could and a person should be prepared for it, depending on the time of year and weather expected.
- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
Well H4831 you about summed up the reasons for posting this thread in the first place.
I've sent new guys into the bush, and watched from concealment as they tried to avoid running into trees because they were staring at either the compass, or GPS.
The device alone is just an aid. Learn to use it as an aid to your own wits.
One poor bugger saw me, and I pointed him off in the right direction. But before he was out of sight, he was retracing his own steps, and cursing his compass a mile a minute.
Competency in the bush, with, or without modern tools is not a given. It must be learned.
Like you, I've paid my dues. Hopefully, we can instill into the new hunter some of what we learned in that process.
I've sent new guys into the bush, and watched from concealment as they tried to avoid running into trees because they were staring at either the compass, or GPS.
The device alone is just an aid. Learn to use it as an aid to your own wits.
One poor bugger saw me, and I pointed him off in the right direction. But before he was out of sight, he was retracing his own steps, and cursing his compass a mile a minute.
Competency in the bush, with, or without modern tools is not a given. It must be learned.
Like you, I've paid my dues. Hopefully, we can instill into the new hunter some of what we learned in that process.
rustysdream
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Estevan, Saskatchewan
rustysdream
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Estevan, Saskatchewan
@ H4831
The problem with many of us is that we're city folks. I don't want to speak for others but the amount of time we can spend in the bush is ridiculously small compared to what people up North can have.
I'm sure, there are people who can find their way in the wilderness much easier than others even if they live and work in big cities. However, I wouldn't want to try "exploring" without a survival kit, compass and GPS (most of the time topo map as well). I've been lost too and all these gadgets have been used to the point of greatly appreciating their sales price...
The problem with many of us is that we're city folks. I don't want to speak for others but the amount of time we can spend in the bush is ridiculously small compared to what people up North can have.
I'm sure, there are people who can find their way in the wilderness much easier than others even if they live and work in big cities. However, I wouldn't want to try "exploring" without a survival kit, compass and GPS (most of the time topo map as well). I've been lost too and all these gadgets have been used to the point of greatly appreciating their sales price...
- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
Don't give them any ideas, the sales price has been "appreciating" enough as it is.
Truth told, I've long been a fan of the compass. I do own, and use two GPS, however, I find them to be big and heavy, even the smaller Garmins, compared to a simple compass.
They are most useful to me, when plotting out a new area, or when I want to come out exactly at a certain spot, without fussing with exact bearings.
For hunting use, simply knowing that I need to go, north east, for example, is all I need.
Once that direction is figured, check the position of the sun, or my shadow, or the ground slope, ridge direction, water course, or whatever, and use that, rather than the compass or the gps, to direct my walk.
I still have both the compass and GPS as backup.
I've truthfully forgotten the whole works, as lately as last year, and come through just fine. It's a matter of thinking it through, staying calm, and knowing your options.
But just to add a warning. I had a fellow two years back, lost, firing shots, sweating like a pig, and scared white, in an area of bush 300 yards wide, and half a mile long.
He had taken an orienteering course. They gave him a compass with degrees, and no north south, east or west. The guy that started him of said go northeast. He didn't take the time to figure out that north is zero, or 360, and south is 180. He just blundered on in circles. At one point he had to have been withing 50 feet of the road, but the bush is thick there, and he never knew.
When I went in to get him, he was standing by a beaver dam, and refused to move, until I came right to him.
Take your time, sit down, and think it through. Being lost is no fun.
This thread is to help you avoid it.
I've been lost a couple of times, but managed to find myself.
I am a bit of a wuss when it comes to getting lost. I bring a compass with me, flashlight, matches in baggy, rope, water, usually kashi bars, and then I hunt in one direction off a straight road that runs north/south or East/West.
I know I start west and get lost if I head East I will always hit the artery road etc.
I am a bit of a wuss when it comes to getting lost. I bring a compass with me, flashlight, matches in baggy, rope, water, usually kashi bars, and then I hunt in one direction off a straight road that runs north/south or East/West.
I know I start west and get lost if I head East I will always hit the artery road etc.
Northman999
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Yukon
Always make a point of regularly stopping and looking back at where you have just been.
Things do not look the same going in as coming out.
(Insert crude joke here...)
Things do not look the same going in as coming out.
(Insert crude joke here...)
- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
And then you shoot a deer, and it goes a bit out of sight of that truck.
You find it, gut it, and stand up.
Now which way was that truck again?
Sh*t happens in the woods. Years ago, I was out bird hunting by myself. Put one up off a logging trail. Decided to follow it in a couple of hundred yards. As there was cloud cover I took a quick compass bearing. Went in, flushed the bird, and managed to score! Went to look at my compass and found the needle was frozen - I suspect the compass had gotten under the buttpad of the shotgun.
Anyway, after the slight anxiety attack passed, I did a "spoke" search with flagging tape. Turned out I was twice as far in the woods as I thought, and the direction I thought was home was way off.
Anyway, after the slight anxiety attack passed, I did a "spoke" search with flagging tape. Turned out I was twice as far in the woods as I thought, and the direction I thought was home was way off.
