Hunting stories, the lost man

[John Y Cannuck]

ok, lets meet Rambo.
Uber-confident young man in his early twenties. When asked, he'd comment "I don't need a compass, direction comes to me naturally"
This was before the advent of GPS.
So, this one day he determined that the usual guys were not pushing bush the way he thought was best, and decided to give it a go himself. He had never done this part of the bush before, and the walk is typically 2 hours.
It was 2pm when he headed in.
Now all out guys are by agreement going to stay on their watches until the guy pushing, the 'dogger' comes out. This is to prevent him walking right over the line and really getting lost.
So I was a tad surprised when I saw one of the guys coming up the path.
Geeze he said, it'll be dark in half an hour, you suppose he's lost?
We decided to wait it out, and he returned to his spot.
at the end of legal light, it was apparent the guy was lost.
None of us had a flashlight, we had intended on leaving that area before dark.
But, the skies were clear, and the stars were bright. I volunteered to walk the run backwards under star light, this run had a thick canopy, and the walking was the best we have, open hardwoods. I was the logical candidate, as I'd walked it more than anyone else, and knew what to look for along the way.
The rest of the guys went out near the end to holler, and blow whistles/honk horns.
The walk was uneventful, even beautiful, the star light throwing strange shadows about. I was blowing my whistle, and hollering as I walked.
As I approached The end I heard the guys holler he was out.
Punctuated by Rambo firing a few rapid fire from his M1 carbine to confirm the fact.
As I approached, I noted he was wet from the arm pits down. "Didn't you find the beaver dam" I asked.
He berated me, saying there was no F'n beaver dam. so I walked up closer, and he could see I was completely dry.
About the only time He shut up.
couldn't have heard him anyway, the rest of the camp was busting a gut.

 

[jjohnwm]

I love it!

 

[45ACPKING]

That is pretty funny. Lucky for us we've weeded out the "questionables" from our hunting crew. Although my closest friend and hunting buddy has managed to get himself lost more than once hehehe

 

[billdick]

One time I was out with a friend of a friend and I dropped him off at the north end of a big coulee and told him to walk south and I'd pick him up. I drove the several miles around and started my wait at the south end. He should have been no more than 2 hours with no luck maybe three if he had to gut something. I found him at 10 pm (dropped him off at 11 am) in a totally out of the way area a couple miles away. I asked why he just didn't keep walking south until he found me. He shrugged his shoulders and said he must have got turned around. I then asked why he didn't keep the sun on his right shoulder and he asked why. He didn't actually know the sun came out of the east and set in the west. Easy walk straight south in a coulee perfectly north and south in bald ass prairie. Best part was he was a know it all loud mouth in the morning and he seemed to be repaired for the rest of the week.

 

[nowarningshot]

If you have not sworn the compass was wrong, or had the sky obscured on a grey day in the thick stuff for no GPS signal then you are just not trying hard enough. I try to carry a compass, and a GPS, and have a idea of the boundaries of roads/watercourses. Even that does not always work, but if you sit down and reason it out.....which amounts to calming the panic and picking up the compass, then everything works out. Even being turned around for hour or two is unsettling.

 

[fratri]

Let me add, it can take seconds to get turned around and be in trouble. Once during a bear hunt, I left my stand (which was not more then 70 yds from the logging road) to explore just beyond the barrel. I maybe went 20 yds, looked over my right shoulder still seeing my barrel (didn't want to get lost) decided to take a few more steps to investigate what looked like a trail. I got distracted looking at bear prints and pooo, and when I turned to leave, I could not see the barrel, with everything looking the same in the Northern Ontario bush I didn't know which way to go, I was lost....
What I had going for me was I was knew I was only 125 yds from the logging road and had a couple of hours of daylight left. So I calmed myself down, (which took a few minutes-no cell coverage either) and made the best guest possible and started walking. Looking back I got really lucky and came across that logging trail (500 metres further away but on the trail). God only knows where I would have ended up if I went a little more left, than right..... Some scary sh-t and it can happen in a hurry....
A compass and GPS does little good sitting in the truck

 

[Bland]

Following your dog in the bush is an excellent way to get turned around especially in the 'Swamp' where everything looks the same. Just upgraded my GPS to an Etrex20. Spent two 'extra' hours in the bush last season 'looking' for that GD road that was just there. Ended up with the lighter and compass routine tripping/crawling through alder thickets until I came out of the bush about a mile and a half from the ATV. Picked the wrong compass line, realized it after a while but stuck with my line because I was boxed by logging roads and knew I would hit something soon enough. This was about two miles from home.

 

[John Y Cannuck]

Be aware that the maps on the GPS are based on topo maps from the 50's, with just population updates since for the most part.
As a result, the maps can be off a tad.
There is one spot near my old hunt camp where the GPS shows me to be on the opposite side of a road, considerably on the opposite side.
I carry both GPS and compass, but rely on the compass most of the time, it's faster, and doesn't eat batteries. The GPS gets a real workout on new areas, or when I want real accuracy on my location.