How not to get lost hunting, and what to do if you do

[Koda]

Salmon Huckleberry wilderness. If you're lost, walk uphill!

interesting that this is true for most places in the PNW. Most forest roads are built on ridgetops as its easiest to construct there.

Agree on the map and compass but they are nearly useless unless you are trained to use them.

Im amazed by how many people hunt, hike etc that do not know how to use a GPS or map and compass or carry them.

 

[RVTECH]

From the attached article Stuff like this just makes me shake my head:

"There is a mystery here," says Dutton's mother, Cynthia Boucher, 66, of Vancouver, Wash. "Both Jake and the professor were experienced hikers on wilderness trails. Two grown men can't simply disappear from the mountains five years apart."

Many people have no clue to the woods and mountains. I am sure many of us know of places in Oregon we could take a person in a 1/4 mile or less and they would think they are in primal world.

She is right about one thing however - they most likely didn't 'disappear' from the mountains and are probably still there - partially.

 

[Koda]

I am sure many of us know of places in Oregon we could take a person in a 1/4 mile or less and they would think they are in primal world.

So true. Off trail in the coast range. If someone got stuck here it wouldn't be until next year when maybe I walk thru hunting again...

 

[Marine Airedale]

Map and compass and you should never get lost.

And know how to use them.

 

[41mag]

Getting lost has to do with panic as much as not knowing where you are with no navigation aids.

I was part of an expedition of 3 college-educated 'adult-couples' making, in theory, a pleasant mid-day jaunt in a given 'small loop' on Larch Mtn. above the area near the head of Multnomah Falls. We had all looked at various maps etc and deemed it unnecessary to be burdened by extra stuff. According to the Official Trail Map, it was 'only' a couple miles following the route markers, turning left at the intersections. We would make a loop & come out at the other end of the parking lot our rides were located.

We were all rather familiar with the actual road system up there, and the USFS trail maps seemed easy enough.

After hours & hours, most of which qualified as 'hey-we're LOST' near panic phase (still on decent enough trails to actually walk mostly unimpeded by undergrowth) we eventually emerged a couple miles from our parking lot. Nearing dusk. Another lesson learned.

 

[41mag]

Note on above "End of Trail" adventure:

We discussed our concerns with the local trail-management authority subletting for the actual "Forest SERVICE".....

They agreed that 'several' of the permanent trail-markersign posts, had been moved to point in the wrong direction, or removed, either by mistake or vandalized. In that long ago Age of Aquarius, none of us ever considered vandalism as a viable

 

[Geardo]

I think the biggest thing is just recognizing your limitations.

I love hunting drainages, and also fishing creeks, because if you start off on a creek and never leave earshot of it its just about impossible to get truly lost.

My sense of direction sucks, but I carry a GPS/locator beacon, a phone, and batter bank, along with map and compass. I have never been "lost" but I have walked in a circle a few times. I try to take a good knowledgable partner when exploring a new area.

I carry enough gear for an almost comfortable night sleep. (Or 3)

 

[RVTECH]

"I have never been lost but I was bewildered once for three days."
― Daniel Boone

 

[Flopsweat]

I got lost in the woods on a quad once. We were exploring new (to us) trails in a very large ORV park with just a paper map from the park service. It wasn't very good. Out in the middle of nowhere a few miles down one "new" trail the trail was blocked off and marked closed. When we got back to where we turned onto that trail, my buddy says hey let's go this way. I wanted to go back the way we came because I wasn't sure where we were anymore. I should have persisted. It turned out he had a terrible sense of direction but a lot of determination. By the time it started getting dark and cold, we were well and truly lost. At least I had a jacket, water and food with me. Finally we crossed a road and I decided it was my turn to be stubborn. I insisted we take the road until we could find a street sign. Mr. Imnotlost wanted to take another trail, and I knew the nearest road to where we were supposed to be was at least 30 minutes from our trailhead, even if we knew where we were. It took a little convincing. I nearly rode off and left him to try his own way. We came across a sign in just a few hundred yards. I recognized the name of the road and I knew there was another trailhead on this very road. I decided we needed to ride 5 minutes in one direction and if that didn't work, 10 minutes the other way. We could do 50 on the road where we may have averaged 10 on the trails. Two minutes down the road we found the trailhead and hooked up with a group that was headed from there to our trailhead. Half an hour later we were back at the truck. The next week he bought a fancy GPS for his bike. And a knapsack. With a water bladder.

 

[bbbass]

Back at West Birch Creek, my group was fetching up an elk that one of the two brothers had downed just before dusk. He led us in there in the dark, and we found the animal near some logging tape that he had hung from a branch. We quartered the elk, then in the late hours headed back to the trucks. But some of our group was walking faster than others and didn't want to wait up. Grrrrr. Not good to get separated. We entered a section of reprod and the group slowed and eventually halted. Some discussion was had of which way to go. Signal shots were fired and the other group caught up with us. More discussion and disagreement. I could see damn headlights moving on a road up above and suggested we go on up. Noooooooo. Did any of us know what compass heading to take to get out of there??? Noooooooooo! I had trusted my buddies that had hunted there for years to know what was what..... Nooooooo. One group wanted to go one way, the other another way. The patriarch said we weren't splitting up... more arguing. We all took a break. Patriarch led us in a straight line out of the brush and back to the trucks. Not the direction I'd have gone as I could see the headlights on the road to the side, and not the shortest route, but we made it out. I HATE such events!!! And I started HATING shooting elk at dusk and tracking in the dark.

 

[41mag]

Another example of 'how the terrain can change': in the mid-1960s SW Idaho was just beginning the 'trail bike' phase with Hondas & small 2 strokes of many designs. Me & my buddy had spent much of our daylight hours for a couple years, combing the hills and back country in the "Boise Foothills" and surrounding ever-wilder countryside up towards Idaho City. There were ample roads, trails and goat washes to keep us from wasting our time with chores at home.

One trip was after a positively huge rain storm. Up the city side of the hills was rough enough, but going down a set of our well traveled trails on the far side proved something else. What normally was a pleasant 30 minute ride on old stage road, turned into a hell we should have been able to avoid by just turning around.

No....we had to go down. Ever down. And suddenly the road disappeared on ever longer stretches and more corners. In a couple places we had to wade in the stream edge and push the bikes along the side bank. Granted, we knew were we were. It took till nearly dark (from lunch) to make it down the actual surviving roadbed. And as Big Help, was the official sign we came upon, from the rear side. If only we had that to guide us hours before: 'Road Closed'. It took a couple years for the county to restore the road back to 'driveable' condition. So even KNOWING where you are, is not in itself enough to keep you out of a jam.

 

[bbbass]

Did anybody mention? .... Always, always, ALWAYS tell somebody or several somebodies where you are going to be. And if you change plans, let those people know you did and where the new location is.... too many times around here SAR is focused in the wrong place.

 

[bbbass]

Note on above "End of Trail" adventure:

We discussed our concerns with the local trail-management authority subletting for the actual "Forest SERVICE".....

They agreed that 'several' of the permanent trail-markersign posts, had been moved to point in the wrong direction, or removed, either by mistake or vandalized. In that long ago Age of Aquarius, none of us ever considered vandalism as a viable

Wow! I have depended on trail markers many times when backpacking... would not even think of people around here messing with those!!!! In the Eagle Caps or Elkhorns that'd be some serious schlit...

 

[orygun]

One trip was after a positively huge rain storm. Up the city side of the hills was rough enough, but going down a set of our well traveled trails on the far side proved something else. What normally was a pleasant 30 minute ride on old stage road, turned into a hell we should have been able to avoid by just turning around.

No....we had to go down. Ever down.

Dad would NEVER drive downhill on a muddy road. His son, however, has 4wheel drive, a winch and different skillset developed in a different time. Still, I've heeded his advice on this subject many times and have never regretted it.

Did anybody mention? .... Always, always, ALWAYS tell somebody or several somebodies where you are going to be. And if you change plans, let those people know you did and where the new location is.... too many times around here SAR is focused in the wrong place.

Excellent advice!
My wife always has a very good idea where I am going. I would show her on the map and would make notes about my plan.

Except for that one dirt bike ride....

 

[bbbass]

Dad would NEVER drive downhill on a muddy road. His son, however, has 4wheel drive, a winch and different skillset developed in a different time. till, I've heeded his advice on this subject many times and have never regretted it.

"4wd is a mechanical traction advantage that enables you to drive to a much worse place to get stuck".

Being in the field of radio tower work, I've had to use a winch to get to the tower in some pretty deep snow. As it used to be, in 1980, that the heavy double track single ski Bombardier snowmobiles towing equip sleds didn't do too well in powder snow. We had a good ol fashioned Blazer that we chained up all four and plenty of trees. Man, moving that cable to the next tree while chest deep in snow was a hell of a workout. But the last 1/4 mile... no trees. Later on in the winter we would borrow a small snowcat to take propane for the generators. When I went back to work there in 2006 we had better, long track, powder machines with powder bars and I learned to ride powder. We'd drop the sleds and cut trail, then go back and pick up the equip. Not a bad way to spend a workday...

(ETA: Thank God for global warming or thermal cycles... we used to have to dig 20' thru the snow to get down to the bottom of the door frame so we could enter the radio tower building.)

 

[tac]

what3words: Navigation & Maps – Apps on Google Play

Find any exact location with a what3words address - for easy navigation and more

play.google.com

End to your 'where the **** are we?' problem for ever - look it up on Youtube.

The entire planet has been divided up into 3m squares - each with an individual three-word ID. Call up, read 'em out, and they've got your location within that 3m square. s'easy.

I'll let you read the rest.

 

[Retread Ted]

Win - Win situation! If there actually is NOT a pack of chipmunks, I make it back alive. If those bastardly chipmunks are actually eating my bread crumbs, I have helped them through another winter. Always look at the bright side.

 

[bbbass]

Win - Win situation! If there actually is NOT a pack of chipmunks, I make it back alive. If those bastardly chipmunks are actually eating my bread crumbs, I have helped them through another winter. Always look at the bright side.

If get too lost, you can have Chimpmuck for dinner!!

 

[orygun]

"4wd is a mechanical traction advantage that enables you to drive to a much worse place to get stuck".

We had a saying that was worded differently, but the same end result.
For many years I worked in 4x4 shops and we would spend many weekends out where no sane person would be, let alone in their truck (Jeep, Blazer, Bronco, etc.).
The right rig with a seasoned driver can make short work of many difficult situations. Deep snow is always a b!tch. I was out by myself near Bachelor sometime in the late 80's driving a Toyota 4x4 with fat tires. The snow was crusted over and the Toy was cruising along on top. Got to a place where the sun had come through the trees and we sank. I walked out many miles. A friend of a friend tried to take me back out that night in his Suburban and we couldn't make it. Tried again the next day, winching here and there, finally making it to my truck. We plucked the Toyota out of the snow and my trip out was easy. His was not. Eventually we left his truck and I took him home. He went out after it later with another guy.

I said somewhere else that most of my lessons were learned the hard way.

 

[Ura-Ki]

We always joked that the idiots in the 4 wheel

We had a saying that was worded differently, but the same end result.
For many years I worked in 4x4 shops and we would spend many weekends out where no sane person would be, let alone in their truck (Jeep, Blazer, Bronco, etc.).
The right rig with a seasoned driver can make short work of many difficult situations. Deep snow is always a b!tch. I was out by myself near Bachelor sometime in the late 80's driving a Toyota 4x4 with fat tires. The snow was crusted over and the Toy was cruising along on top. Got to a place where the sun had come through the trees and we sank. I walked out many miles. A friend of a friend tried to take me back out that night in his Suburban and we couldn't make it. Tried again the next day, winching here and there, finally making it to my truck. We plucked the Toyota out of the snow and my trip out was easy. His was not. Eventually we left his truck and I took him home. He went out after it later with another guy.

I said somewhere else that most of my lessons were learned the hard way.

We always joke that the idiots in their 4 wheel drives are the first ones stuck, and usually the furthest off the road! Grew up snow boarding on the mountains back when it was just starting, and we would always laugh at the dumb idiots in their 4 wheel drives crashed all over the place as we motored on by in out 49 chevy 2 wheel drive pickup!
Didn't get into the 4 wheel drive thing until well into my 30s and even then, it wasn't until much later that I got serious about it!