Hunter and his dog missing in Northern BC ----> UPDATE: Dog Proved Not to be Murphy!

geologist said:
I always carry a compass in the bush and in the boat, even with GPS it is a smart thing to have and know how to use.

Part of my collection, I have others......

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Always have a compass when I'm out hunting and exploring. What kind of caught me up, was just stepping out of the truck to chase a grouse.

I suspect a lot of people just mean to step out of the truck or look at something "just over there" and get turned around shortly after losing sight of the road. Always hear about finding lost people, or their remains just a couple hundred yards from a road. Or just getting off a trail. Wasn't too long ago that they found the remains of the two women who went hiking and disappeared. If I remember right, they went on a fairly well known trail, and just took a fork off the main trail in bad weather. They weren't prepared for the changing weather, and were eventually found under kind of an outcrop.

Fairly often I mean to make a slight excursion and come back in a few minutes, and then getting back a few hours later. So that's where the idea of carrying a small compass all the time comes from. Need to pick up another. There's been a few compact compasses that were decent, but eventually they seem to go bad. Picked up an Ndur not too long ago, but managed to lose that one pretty quick.
 
This thread probably stirs up a few memories for many of us. And I'm starting to wonder if grouse kill more people than wolves 😉 ...I learned my lesson about following grouse and getting turned around years ago ...I didn't take anything other than my shotgun and a few shells because I was only going for an hour and sticking to an area I was somewhat familiar with...famous last words. 4 hours later I made it back to camp a little rattled and a LOT wiser.
 
As a person who did a lot of geochemistry traverses many years ago, you only need to get "turned around" once, and ones outlook on being in the bush changes dramatically. A compass can save your life, dont leave home without it. Ohh - And learn how to use it, along with establishing knowledge of the local roads and logging trails.
 
cosmic said:
As a person who did a lot of geochemistry traverses many years ago, you only need to get "turned around" once, and ones outlook on being in the bush changes dramatically. A compass can save your life, dont leave home without it. Ohh - And learn how to use it, along with establishing knowledge of the local roads and logging trails.
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this. know the area where you are operating. navigation by handrails (sun, rivers, contour, roads, old burn) works hand in hand with a compass if caught out.

and not to geek out, but i just got a garmin 67i - for $15/per month i can text message, plot tracks, load topos and aerials (lots of info in aerials that you can't get from topos, and visa versa) and have a 5 to 7 day battery life. the size of a pack of cigarettes. new iphones now send satellite texts as well (and can do all the gps stuff) but battery life and ability to handle the cold is the problem. while my phone and keys stay with the truck the inreach is ALWAYS on me.
 
Runningfool said:
This thread probably stirs up a few memories for many of us. And I'm starting to wonder if grouse kill more people than wolves 😉 ...I learned my lesson about following grouse and getting turned around years ago ...I didn't take anything other than my shotgun and a few shells because I was only going for an hour and sticking to an area I was somewhat familiar with...famous last words. 4 hours later I made it back to camp a little rattled and a LOT wiser.
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Had the same thought about grouse!
 
the radium king said:
this. know the area where you are operating. navigation by handrails (sun, rivers, contour, roads, old burn) works hand in hand with a compass if caught out.

and not to geek out, but i just got a garmin 67i - for $15/per month i can text message, plot tracks, load topos and aerials (lots of info in aerials that you can't get from topos, and visa versa) and have a 5 to 7 day battery life. the size of a pack of cigarettes. new iphones now send satellite texts as well (and can do all the gps stuff) but battery life and ability to handle the cold is the problem. while my phone and keys stay with the truck the inreach is ALWAYS on me.
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Handy tools to get you to and from places. I have one, but I don't put too much trust in electronics.
 
I like having maps in my day pack of areas I am new to.
Mostly screen shots of areas using google earth on standard printer sized sheets and I get them laminated. I use a highlight marker on the main trails and sites and then laminate the map. I've been making maps of my hunting areas for years as a hobby I guess. I also wear a gear belt that I put on when i get dressed to head out. It's low profile and I wear my outer garments over it. It is always on me when i leave the vehicle and has my gps/inreach, flash light, bic lighter, flint and striker, batteries, knife, spare ammo, compass and my rangefinder as well as my medication. Without fail.... those items will be on my person at all times.
 
45ACPKING said:
I like having maps in my day pack of areas I am new to.
Mostly screen shots of areas using google earth on standard printer sized sheets and I get them laminated. I use a highlight marker on the main trails and sites and then laminate the map. I've been making maps of my hunting areas for years as a hobby I guess. I also wear a gear belt that I put on when i get dressed to head out. It's low profile and I wear my outer garments over it. It is always on me when i leave the vehicle and has my gps/inreach, flash light, bic lighter, flint and striker, batteries, knife, spare ammo, compass and my rangefinder as well as my medication. Without fail.... those items will be on my person at all times.
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Tell us more about this medication. nah!
 
redryder said:
Tell us more about this medication. nah!
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just nerve blockers and muscle relaxers, nothing too exotic.
I had a friend who came fishing me with me on the chilliwack river years ago. It was a flat kilometer long hike thru forest to the river bank and fairly routine. We were there and fishing for a couple hours when my friend was suddenly not doing well. He was a diabetic and had lost an eye from it as a kid. Here was in his mid 20's having a diabetic meltdown on the river bank and he tells me he forgot his meds in my jeep. I stripped off my fishing gear as I ran, rod, vest everything and just got there and back as fast as I could. Two guys were there with him when i returned and I guess one of them had candies or something but my buddy was in very rough shape for a couple hours..... all because he forgot his meds in the vehicle. If he was by himself he might have died right there on the river. Diabetes eventually took him but he was never to good at taking care of himself and that disease kicked the sh!t out of him his whole short life (40's)
I'm on strong nerve blockers and I take them morning and night in order to be able to function without excrutiating pain. They are not narcotic or opiate related. Muscle relaxer is for bed time. I don't need alarm clocks as pain wakes me up somewhere around 5am most days.
I would be a cripple without them so I don't leave the house without them...... even more important on a hunting trip.

As a disabled person who still pushes himself to solo hunt I am admitedly taking huge risks to my personal safety in doing so. Drives my wife nuts with worry but over the years she gets it. Another thing I do before every trip and especially to areas she has not been with me too.... I put a pinpoint marker on Google earth on my laptop that marks exactly the area I will be adventuring in and I don't deviate from my destinations.
Lots a guy can do to ensure a safe return home but I guess one can't predict or plan for every scenario.
Thats why I carry an essentials load out on a gear belt so even if I am seperated from my pack, I have the basics on me at all times.
 
45ACPKING said:
I like having maps in my day pack of areas I am new to.
Mostly screen shots of areas using google earth on standard printer sized sheets and I get them laminated. I use a highlight marker on the main trails and sites and then laminate the map. I've been making maps of my hunting areas for years as a hobby I guess. I also wear a gear belt that I put on when i get dressed to head out. It's low profile and I wear my outer garments over it. It is always on me when i leave the vehicle and has my gps/inreach, flash light, bic lighter, flint and striker, batteries, knife, spare ammo, compass and my rangefinder as well as my medication. Without fail.... those items will be on my person at all times.
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Im the same.

Though I prefer 1:50k an 1:250k topo maps as they have NS and EW grid lines on them so you can plot Silva sighting compass shots directly from the compass and can extract bearings to objects directly from the map to the compass.

Transcribing ANYTHING can lead to errors.

If your location is unknown you can triangulate your position by shooting bearings to known topo features like mountain peaks, shorelines etc.

The maps are properly scaled so you can measure distances off of them.
 
geologist said:
As a field geologist who was trained in the pace and compass pre GPS era, I've always been confident of my orienteering skills in bush, tundra, desert, jungle, alpine, steppe, taiga, anywhere.

Once as a 5 year geologist, I left the minesite in NW Ont and went grouse hunting. I turned off the NS main logging road and went on an EW small logging road. I flushed a grouse and chased it N and then E. Eventually I decided to go back to the EW road by heading S. I was using my underground Brunton Pocket Transit to run the bearing.

I paced back the distance I'd gone N. No EW road. I paced S again, no EW road.

The sun was setting and even I felt a surge of panic so I did as I was trained. I sat down, smoked a cigarrete and thought it out.

I then deadheaded W as I knew the main NS logging road was there within 1.5 miles.

Brute force yes, but surefire.

I hit the NS road and back tracked to my truck in the dark. The next day I went back to figure it out. The EW road that I went N from after the grouse, ended less than 100 yards further east. That's why I didn't intersect it when I paced S.

So even experienced bush peoplekind can get turned around but being prepared and using your brain is the answer.
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I've had that sort of experience with forest roads here. Some of them curve off so gradually that you would need a theodolite to detect it.
 
45ACPKING said:
just nerve blockers and muscle relaxers, nothing too exotic.
I had a friend who came fishing me with me on the chilliwack river years ago. It was a flat kilometer long hike thru forest to the river bank and fairly routine. We were there and fishing for a couple hours when my friend was suddenly not doing well. He was a diabetic and had lost an eye from it as a kid. Here was in his mid 20's having a diabetic meltdown on the river bank and he tells me he forgot his meds in my jeep. I stripped off my fishing gear as I ran, rod, vest everything and just got there and back as fast as I could. Two guys were there with him when i returned and I guess one of them had candies or something but my buddy was in very rough shape for a couple hours..... all because he forgot his meds in the vehicle. If he was by himself he might have died right there on the river. Diabetes eventually took him but he was never to good at taking care of himself and that disease kicked the sh!t out of him his whole short life (40's)
I'm on strong nerve blockers and I take them morning and night in order to be able to function without excrutiating pain. They are not narcotic or opiate related. Muscle relaxer is for bed time. I don't need alarm clocks as pain wakes me up somewhere around 5am most days.
I would be a cripple without them so I don't leave the house without them...... even more important on a hunting trip.

As a disabled person who still pushes himself to solo hunt I am admitedly taking huge risks to my personal safety in doing so. Drives my wife nuts with worry but over the years she gets it. Another thing I do before every trip and especially to areas she has not been with me too.... I put a pinpoint marker on Google earth on my laptop that marks exactly the area I will be adventuring in and I don't deviate from my destinations.
Lots a guy can do to ensure a safe return home but I guess one can't predict or plan for every scenario.
Thats why I carry an essentials load out on a gear belt so even if I am seperated from my pack, I have the basics on me at all times.
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Maybe a Sat phone would be a good thing to pack!
 
Big Bad said:
I've had that sort of experience with forest roads here. Some of them curve off so gradually that you would need a theodolite to detect it.
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Even picket aligned lines curve due to systematic optical error.

We putting in a long 3 km baseline for a grid on the frozen NE arm of Larder Lake.

I had set up my transit and tripod on the south shore and my partner took the snow machine with pickets, chain, spray paint and glagging tape.

We installed pickets every 200' using the "gun".

He was out around a km from me when heat mirage (it was -20C) made it impossible to shoit the pickets with the transit. He started to align them by lining up with the pickets behind himself. Like traditional picket line in the bush.

After 30 minutes the mirage cleared and I could see him with the transit. I was amazed to see his optically aligned pickets had curved 2' to my right over 1000' of new, non transit line.

I called him on the radio (we had those big Radio Shack CB handheld radios) and tol him to go back and redo the bad stations and he told me to FO, the line was straight.

So I told him to get his a55 back to the gun and see for himself.

That's why when orienteering on a bearing it's better to locate a distant object to head to whenever you can. Short shots always result in more error.
 
redryder said:
Maybe a Sat phone would be a good thing to pack!
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I have a garmin inreach with the yearly subscription.
Was pondering getting a radio telephone but haven't researched it much. A friend up in babine lake country has one and when I base out of his cabin up the lake, he sends it with me. Pretty handy unit and beng able to actually make a phone call if needed is nice piece of mind though the Inreach also allows pretty quick communications and there is always that little red "rescue me" button hehe
 
45ACPKING said:
I have a garmin inreach with the yearly subscription.
Was pondering getting a radio telephone but haven't researched it much. A friend up in babine lake country has one and when I base out of his cabin up the lake, he sends it with me. Pretty handy unit and beng able to actually make a phone call if needed is nice piece of mind though the Inreach also allows pretty quick communications and there is always that little red "rescue me" button hehe
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LOL. the little red button!! I've got an InReach too. Pretty sure it would be my very last gasp before I push that little red button. Ha
 
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