HAVE YOU EVER BEEN LOST?

[RC]

I thought my compass was telling me a lie once. I was in a big swamp and had been following the river I had never looked at the river on the map or payed attention to the bends in it. Well as it got near dark I decided to get a bearing and cut through the middle of the swamp back to the road. I looked at the compass and it said I had to cross the river to get to the truck. Talk about a sick feeling in the stomach. I always carry water and a snack along with some way to start a fire and three flashlights. I thought the compass was telling a lie and I had plenty of flashlights so I followed the river back out the way I came in. When I got back to camp I went to the check station and got a map. I had gotten inside a loop in the river ..the compass was telling the truth. But to keep confidence now I carry two in case I think ones telling a lie I got another to back it up...lol

  The reason I carry two or three flashlights is because I was once a mile in the swamp setting on a persimmon that was hot. I sat till black dark and then lowered my bow to the ground. While I was doing this my only flashlight fell to the ground and busted on a cypress knee.I came out with a compass and a lighter.Only fell twice.RC

[bowslinger]

Got lost in big timber in Michigan UP years ago.  Luckily, I took a bearing along the road I parked with a compass before heading into the woods.  I tried to walk out based on sense of direction.  After  awhile, I checked my bearing, switched to perpendicular to the bearing I took of the road, and ended up about 1/2 mile from my rental vehicle.  I made it out because I trusted my compass and the bearing of the road.  It is sometimes hard to trust yourself and the equipment when you are disoriented, but it saved me a night in the woods.

[Terry Riley]

.....what's that line from Jerimiah Johnson... "Ain't never been lost. A might confused for a month or two but I ain't never been lost".  Cracks me up every time probably because it hits so close to home.


Terry

[twitchstick]

I have friends that call me GPS Jim after hiking out in the dark with me,after pin pionting a quads and trucks with not headlamp on many occation. But that just because they haven't been with me when I've misplaced my truck. I think that one reaon I can genrally navagate good is because of somthing my father taught to me very young. We were taught(beat in) as kids to always stop and look at our back trail and study the terrain. We always looked maps over before going into new areas. I think a compass is the best tool if used. I learned that after hunting some flat timber country. I got entralled in a blood trial and didn't pay attention were I was,thank god for the north star that time. I thought south was north and north was south I realised this after it was taking way to long to "get the truck". If I had a compass it would have saved an hour or so trying to see the stars through thick trees. I once got fogged in on a open peak and had to go to lower elevation for saftey(lighting/weather). The fog was so thick I couldn't see my feet,really. I was getting vertigo from not knowing what was up or down and would fall to the ground. I had heard of fog like that but I didn't think it was possible. It was a weird feeling to have, none like I had ever felt before. I knew were I was on the mountian but yet I had no idea were I was ether.  When I thought I was half way down I seen(stubbled on)a marker that put me much higher up than I thought and way for course. It made me question were I truely was until it came to me were I had seen that marker. I didnt feel very comfortable about it because it was a very easy route down and I could do it blind folded most days. If that is what being truely lost is like I don't want to ever do it.

[joevan125]

I went on a elk hunt in New Mexico back in 1995 and one afternoon i shot a nice 5-5 with my guide sitting next to me.

After taking care of the animal my guide gets on his 4-wheeler and tells me and my buddy he will see us back at camp.

Going in we drove 3 miles and there was a trail but it wasnt marked and i had never even been to the place where i shot my elk.

On the way back i made a wrong turn and headed 3 miles in the wrong direction with my buddy on the back with me, i was pissed that this guy left us.

Long story short we were lost for 4 hours when i finally saw a flashlight way off in the distance. When we got to where the guide was he started in on me like i was a red headed step child.

When i got off the 4-wheeler and started toward him he changed his tune really quick, i was furious.

We followed him on the way out but we had 200lbs of meat and a huge set of antlers and would you believe he went off and left us and we got lost for another 2 hours.

When we finally got back to camp the outfitter was really letting our guide have it and he sure deserved it.

[ch1ch2]

Got lost on the back twenty acres once.  Heavily wooded, snakes, fire ants, misquotes, 100 degrees, heavy cloud cover, no water, feeling weak, walked around in circles three times before I found my way out.

[Caddo]

Nope, never. One of the lessons that my Dad instilled in all of us kids was always have a compass and know how to use it. When we were young we spent the day out and about, when it was time to head back to the truck he'd always pick one of ua and say "OK, which way do we go" and let us figure it out.

Now, I have found myself in a few places that I didn't expect to be, but always new how to get out. Sometimes that meant spending a night out, but I was ready for it, so it was no big deal. Took awhile to get "She who must be obeyed" comfortable with it, but she learned.

LD

LD

[NightHawk]

As I get oldr it seems like everytime I blink it's a new day..what was I saying oh hey since I've been getting older it seems like everytime I blink it's a diffeent day so yea I get lost some times uh what was I saying???      

[toolmaker]

Me never lost; sometime misplace wigwam though.

[bawana bowman]

Never been lost myself. Always carry a compass, and map if in an unfamiliar area. Recently began carrying GPS but mostly for marking stand locations and getting back to truck quickly after dark.

Did come across a foolish trail hiker once that lost track of blaze marks on a trail through a swamp. He didn't have map, compass, light or anything and it was about 2 hours before total darkness with no moon.
 Asked him if he was lost, He simply replied "I know exactly where I am, just not sure how to get where I'm going."
 That's when I made the mistake of asking him where he was. (I should have seen it coming, his answer was straight out of a comic strip about 3 hippies in High Times Magazine from the 70's.)
 What was it? "Directly over the center of the Earth."  
 Yep, I'd say that tree hugger was LOST.

[OkKeith]

Was it Jim Bridger that said,
     
     "I've never been lost, a might confused for a few months, but never lost."

Can't say as I've been lost either. I misplaced the truck a few times and didn't pay attention to where I was going several times.

I believe being lost is as much a mental thing as a geographic thing.

OkKeith

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Terry Riley .....what's that line from Jerimiah Johnson... "Ain't never been lost. A might confused for a month or two but I ain't never been lost". Cracks me up every time probably because it hits so close to home.


That line is from the movie "The Mountain Men" with Brien Keith and Charlton Heston, Awesome movie I think I will get it out and watch it again it's been a while.      

Tracy

[Eugene Slagle]

I've been turned around before, & I've been stuck by myself in the woods before I thank God that my Grandfather & Father had taught me how to use a compass, read a map & how to survive in the woods if need be.

I'll never forget this, my 7 pointer in 93' I had traveled really deep into the Amherst co. mountain side, it was late when I made my shot & by the time I recovered my Buck night time had creeped in.
Instead of me trying to make it out that night, I hung my deer, built a fire & camped right there.
Someone that lived in another area spoted my fire & called the forestry service.
Well around 07:00 a game warden was at my sight wondering why I was there...  

[Marty]

Ha! Biggie bought a new GPS and we rode around my lease all day marking roads and landmarks and he said- "Know try and confuse me"! Well I shot a hog near a big cypress head and I usually leave the buggy running with the lights on to trail after dark so that we can find it in a hurry. Well we started trailing the hog and it went a little farther than expected-once we found it I said pull out that GPS and get us back. He said it was on the buggy which I shut off since he had the GPS. Took us an hour to find our way out. 2 dummies!

[mrpenguin]

Luckily, in CT, it takes a little talent to get truly lost.  You can chase your tail for a bit, but... if you don't know where you are, take your compass and head straight.  You will hit a road, river, stream, backyard, something that will get you home... now that said I have been in some interesting situations and certainly experienced the after-dark vertigo of 'every tree looks the same' and 'where the hell is that swamp'... the worst situation I've been in was actually snow shoeing in Feb.  I went into the woods 2 hrs before dark and was having a blast going off trail to follow deer tracks.  I never lost the trail (almost once) but did notice something I did not account for as the sun was setting... it was getting very cold, like well below freezing and I was drenched in sweat, no lights, no survival stuff because I was going to be on clear marked trails... yeah.  The reality of hypothermia began to set in as I started feeling the very initial stages of it.  Anyway, after consulting one of the maps that periodically spring up on the trails, I figured out how to get out but only had about 10-15 mins of usable light left in the day... the trick was if I took a wrong turn I could find myself heading several (like 5-10) miles in the wrong direction towards a neighboring town, in the dark, if I even got that far.  I had some words with the Lord and He was merciful.  Found my way out and felt pretty good to be in the warm car on the way home.  The beer that evening was extra fine!

I still snow shoe when I can, but I take the basics in with me and make sure I KNOW my trails and about how long it'll take me.

[Orion]

"to be lost you gotta care where you are at"  I like that Bornagain.  By that criterion, I've never been lost.  On a few occasions though, I've been confused enough to wonder where I was.

[joe ashton]

A good out doors man NEVER gets lost, only confused.  But we should be prepared for 'long periods of confusion'.

Joe.

PS  YES I have been "confused" three times.  All in areas I thought I knew well.  Just got on the other side of a small ridge or narrow patch of aspens that rattled me......

[Tox Collector]

Once when my kids were 8 and 10, I decided to do a bushwhack with map and compass through a state forest and a game refuge here in northern CT during the kids' XMAS vacation.  I figured that the terrain would be flatter than it turned out to be, and we encountered a number of hills, streams and other obstacles like heavy laurel bush thickets we had to go around.  

It took a lot longer than I had anticipated, my son got wet feet in a stream [I gave him my socks], and we started to run out of daylight.  The temperature dropped, and it started to get very cold.  Guess what I hadn't thought to bring?  A flashlight!  Fortunately, my compass bearing was right on the mark and in the last vestiges of light, we made it to the jeep.  

A couple of years back, there was thread on "what do you carry in your pack" when you are out bowhunting?  I went through my fanny pack and found that I had seven flashlights.  I guess I learned my lesson.

Another time at Elk Lake in the Adirondacks, my son [he was 12] and I climbed Dix Mt.  We lost the trail coming back at night [why are blaze marks usually a dark color?].  I said "let's not panic" -- so we sat down for about 15 - 20 minutes, had a snack and were able to relocate the trail after searching for it for some 20 to 30 minutes.  We had been expected back at 6:00 p.m. but didn't make it back until 10:00 p.m.

Now I carry a Garmin 76CSx loaded with maps that I use in addition to my compass and topomaps.  I also use a headlamp and have backup flashlights.  

In addition, I have Gramin maps as well as "TOPO - Outdoor Recreation Mapping Software" by National Geographic on my computer and usually print out in advance maps of areas I am going to visit as well as down load to my GPS.

Now when I get lost [temporarily misplaced], it doesn't take as long to find my way out.  I still love to bushwhack and explore new country.

[getstonedprimitivebowhunt]

A few times ..I wanted to be ..That way I didn't have to go home ...Hmmmm!

[La. bowhunter]

I have never been lost completely and had to spend the night in the woods but I have been seriously confused a time or two. My first trip to Idaho deer hunting somehow I changed drainages without realizing I did and it got a little scary before I figured out what I had done and got back on the right track. But just in case I always carry the essentials to spend a night or two in the woods.