Retrieved, almost lost

[Fantail]

Apparently I've reached my quota of positive votes for the day in the Harvest thread, so here goes a short story of my own.

Oct 1st opener I'm in my marsh stand late afternoon hunt its about 6:30 a nice doe pops out into a lane. Close, 15 yards - let a Magnus Stinger fly. So far so good 20 minutes later I climb down. Its starting to get dark so I decide to go back to camp and gear down, change and grab an extra light (Ryobi 18v). Get back to the stand, find the arrow, start the track. Good blood, some was frothy. Got to the other edge of the marsh trail started to thin out a little. There was still sign though, flashlight was the only light. Its dark out now, in plan words, friggin dark. No moon light at all. If you've ever been out in the woods in the Tug or ADK with no moon or 'new moon', you can't see 10 yards ahead without a light, no other explanation is needed. Still on the trail loosing blood sign. Some fresh stumble tracks keep me going. About another 1/2 hour into tracking I spot her. Gotta like that 18v spotlight. Watch is creeping up on 10pm. OK.

I look around and realize not only am I not on my property anymore but I'm not sure where I am. In my haste I also forgot my compass at camp, no phone with me either - brilliant. I start to back-track but didn't pick up on the sign again. I think, once I spotted the doe I just sort of bee-lined to it. Try not to keep track of the mistakes, there's more. I started walking in sort of half circles trying to pick up on any sign or anything that looked familiar. I was to far away from the swamp to hear any water moving, noise from frogs ect. As one side of the swamp borders the property. Thoughts start to creep into your mind at this point, you realize your turned around, still have to keep your whits together. Could pick a direction and walk, knowing it's not more than 3-4 miles to somewhere, bad choice through dark hard woods swamps, marsh etc. A few times I found an old logging trails but they would lead uphill, my jazz being mostly bottom land so I turned back knowing it was the wrong way. 

Now it's after midnight. My batteries arn't going to last forever, I'm sweating a bit from always looking & walking. It's time to think about being stuck in the woods all night and having to pick it up at dawn. Time to slow down and let my shirt dry off, yet keep going. Two or three trails later I walk upon something that seemed familiar. Just a few pallets together for a foot bridge of sorts. Thinking about it - thinking about it, I know where I am. Two years ago I tracked a doe into the same area and remembered these pallets. A few hundred yards away on this trail is yet another larger foot bridge of sorts, large enough to see from a satellite zoom in in fact. I'm on my neighbors place. Which I have permission to be btw. It's E or W just couldn't determine which at the moment. Picked one direction, slow and steady but I found it. Now I knew exactly where I was just had to get through a marsh to get back to my jazz. Once I found fresh logging sign and trails I was back to where the marsh stand is. Stopped there and relaxed for just a few minutes. I made it back to camp, watch says just after 1:30 am.

Cooked up some homemade sausage, had a few beers, shot or two of whiskey. I felt, tired, refreshed, absolved, exhilarated, and maybe a little somber. I have more then enough experience behind me where that, should not have happened. Yet it did. The next day I got up and retrieved my doe. Even managed to get back into a stand that evening, although I had a difficult time standing as my feet were - beat. I'd also like to say as humans, we are not visually acute for the woods at night.

Also the next friggin deer better be less taxing. To good hunting.

[Cabin Fever]

Glad all ended well for you! Damn, that must have been some pretty scary stuff! That's one of my big fears! Always keep that phone and compass on ya!!

[gfdeputy2]

Been there it Sucks but Congrats on the Doe

[bkln]

On the bright side, she is gonna taste soo good.... :-)

[landtracdeerhunter]

Good story! I'm getting survival gear together, for just this sort of possibility. Some nice dry matches, a good tracker knife, and some other handies can sure mean a positive outcome for an overnight stay in the woods.