Back in the 70s when I first started bowhunting I was walking a path to where I planned to hunt before daylight and got hit by a pain. I shed my treestand, leaned my bow against a tree and walked a few feet off the trail to take care of business. After completing the task I went back for my bow and stand and couldn't find them in the dark. I had only gone about 20 ft off the trail but my gear was nowhere to be found.
I looked for an hour or so, as it was getting light I walked back to my truck and followed the path back to my gear that was right where I had left it. I had turned right on my way out of the bushes when I should have turned left.
Another time I killed a deer on the side of a mountain, I was dragging it off the mountain and hit a section of vertical bluffs. I left the deer above the bluffs and went looking for a way through the rocks to the valley below. I found a way down and went back for my deer but couldn't find it, I looked high and low and couldn't find it.
In desperation I ended up going backup the mountain to the gut pile and following the drag marks back to my deer, another turned right when I should have turned left episode.