How many times if any have you been lost in the woods ?

[Hunter007]

I have only been lost 1 time  to find my way out  I went  down hill  the place I was at happen to be the highest point around  with roads on all sides  down below so I was fairly confident I would find my way out eventually,   I came out down the road about half mile from my car .  This was before smartphones came out . And I  forgot to bring a compass that day . 

 

 

[ApexerER]

I got pretty lost when I was 16 or 17. One of my first years deer hunting. Would have been 1989 or 1990 so way before smart phones. I couldn't sit still when I was young so my deer hunting was basically walking through the woods spooking deer. My plan was to head out what we called the East ridge,  cut down into what we called the gully, cut up the west ridge and circle back to camp. Well I walked so far out the east ridge that when I cut down, I never ran into the west ridge. I just kept going down. I kept telling myself it didn't make sense. I finally came to an old logging trail that has a stream running along side it that I was sure I was familiar with. The stream was on the opposite side of the trail than it should have been though which made me walk the wrong direction. ( I can't believe I was this stupid ) I followed the logging trail/stream all the way down the mountain until I hit a dirt road. I didn't realize I had gone the wrong direction until that point. I turned around and walked the logging trail all the way back up, (by now it was getting dark) found where the stream crossed the logging trail, probably a 1/4 mile from there I knew exactly where I was but still had a pretty good hike to get back to camp. I took the logging trail all the way back to the dirt road that camp was on and walked down the dirt road to camp. I am not sure what time it was but I thought my father was going to kill me. I was shocked to find the old timers (and my Dad) drinking and playing cards, apparently they weren't worried about me. They did save me some dinner which I ate while being picked on for getting lost. I did pretty much everything wrong, made choices because of terrain etc but I never really panicked. I know when it got dark I was damn glad to have my 12 ga with me....It was a good learning experience. I would love to know how many miles I walked that day....I wouldn't make it today....lol

[Uncle Nicky]

Define lost....

I've gotten sidetracked and confused many times, but always made it back, never had to sleep in the woods. But had a few times when I thought I may have to....

Today with a working phone or GPS device it is much easier to keep ahold of your bearings, but at this point in my life I try not to bushwack alone.

[Hunter007]

4 minutes ago, Uncle Nicky said:

Define lost....

I've gotten sidetracked and confused many times, but always made it back, never had to sleep in the woods. But had a few times when I thought I may have to....

Today with a working phone or GPS device it is much easier to keep ahold of your bearings, but at this point in my life I try not to bushwack alone.

I don't know I guess walking in the woods to where you think your car is but not knowing for sure I guess or just coming out on the road far away from where you expected.  These days it's really hard to get that lost because every smartphone has GPS on it now . But before  there was a uncertainty when you went in the woods off trail  hard to explain unless it has happened  to you . You go bushwacking  and are fairly certain you are walking in the right direction but the walk seems longer then expected and you start to  second guess yourself kinda of thing . 

For me it  only happened once that I can remember. 

[Elmo]

Twice.  Once hiking near an airport, under estimated how much time I had.  Use my GPS and it was out of wack due to the airport.  Ended up zig zagging my way out instead of a straight line so it got dark before I could completely make my way out.

Second time I scouted a spot a bunch of times.  It time I followed this dry creek bed that ran near another running creek and various other natural markers to my spot.  Went in the morning of bow opener.  There was torrential downpour 2 straight days including the morning of the opener.  Needless to say the one dry creek bed didn't look any different from the other creeks and many of the other natural markers looked the same.  Ended up getting turned around.  Had to wait till day break to then find my way back to my car to regroup.

[ny hunter]

I got lost one time ....Took me all day to get to a road I came out about a mile from our car.... Friends were getting ready to come look for me ... 

[ATbuckhunter]

I havent got`lost but I have been turned around for a bit. Like I came out somewhere a little further down than I thought I would be. Its a scary feeling when even that happens. Good thing I don't hunt anywhere that I could be lost for more than a few hours with out hitting a house or road. 

[The_Real_TCIII]

I got quite lost and quite worried tracking a buck in deep snow on state land years ago. I took off my outer layers and hung them on a tree because I was sweating so much. Then once I was lost I was absolutely freezing. Luckily I stumbled right back into my coat and got out. It really was an eye opener for me. Zero cell service


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[Red]

Back in 97 I was 16 yrs old showed up to my fathers friends hunting camp well before day light. It was my first time there I waited until the sun started to come up and stalked my way in to the woods I lt didn't take long to sneak up on a few deer in the distance I never caught up to them but kept tracking them in the snow. After a couple hours or so of walking around I had no idea where I was. I eventually found a road and luckily hitched a ride with my 12 gauge on my shoulder I'm sure i wouldn't be so lucky these days. The guy have me a ride about 10 miles away to another one of my dads friends camps its. Me and him hunted the rest of the day and he dropped me off to the original camp in the evening. All of the guys there where happy to see me come through the door before they sent out to look for me.

[The_Real_TCIII]

My buddy was hunting bear on a fly in hunt, you take a little boat out to your stand each night. The one night a winter storm rolled in (September!) and he couldn’t get the outboard started. He gave up and tried to make camp and couldn’t get a fire started. So he flipped the boat over and crawled under literally expecting to freeze to death, he even wrote notes to his kids! He made it through the night and was able to get the motor started in the AM. Since then I bring a kit on those hunts


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[Nomad]

If you don’t care where you are, you can never be lost .

[greensider]

Twice once when i was under ten and once when I first started hunting on my own first time on that land 

[airedale]

Back when I did a lot of big woods Coon hunting much of the time I guess I could say I was lost because following my dogs in the dark sometimes for miles there would be many times I would not know exactly where the heck I was. Finding your way through the woods after dark is quite a bit different than traveling through them in the daylight. Really did not care because what I did know from  topo maps was the lay of the land what direction and approximate distances all the waters, roads and trails were pertaining to that block of woods along with my confidence in being able to use a compass. I would take an initial compass reading where I entered the woods and from that point on it was all about hunting but I would take readings on my compass at regular intervals. When it was time to head back to my vehicle between a lot of educated guessing and my compass I would always make it back out with not too much problem.

Al

Edited July 4, 2019 by airedale

[crappyice]

I admittedly have a terrible sense of direction so I pay really careful attention whenever walking in new places (and even old familiar places) since I get turned around so easily. Thankfully I rarely hunt in places that are far from roads/civilization. Mushroom hunting in new woods is the worst since I often forget to look at the big picture and just get so focused on bases of trees, etc.


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[G-Man]

Never been lost in woods, have had some.long dark walks out in new Brunswick.  But not.lost 

[Chef]

Never truly been lost in the woods, however one morning I did overshoot my tree stand in the dark, kind of knew where I was but wasn’t really sure. Stayed out till it was light enough to see, started back up the hill to the road and realized I was about 50 yards from my stand the whole time



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[grampy]

The one thing I was blessed to be born with, is a VERY strong sense of direction. To the point where it kinda freaks people out sometimes. Yes, I'm very good at reading a map and compass. But they mostly confirm what my sense of direction tells me. For instance, I most always do Deer Search sorties at night. With the woods free of hunters. I'll pull up to the hunters property, take a compass bearing, and head into woods I've never seen in daylight. After sometimes going in circles through thick brush for a mile or more, we recover the deer or not. Then the hunter who lives on this property says I'm not sure which way is out? I just seem to know, and point, that way. How do you know that, he'll say? I don't know, I just do. Sometimes I'll confirm it with my compass, sometimes not. But I always head straight for my truck. And it leaves the hunter scratching his head. "How in the heck did you know that"? I just shrug????

Oh I've been turned around many times in the woods since I started roaming them, on my own, as a young lad. But always found my way out, without too much trouble.

My maternal grandmother was full blood native American. And I was brought to the reservation in NC many times, when I was a young boy. My great uncles taught me some of the ways. I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not. But I like to think so.......? 

[Northcountryman]

When you spend slot of time in the woods it’s bound to happen . I’ve been temporarily lost at most maybe a few hours but always have made it back . From those experiences , I’ve learned to become much more aware of my surroundings and pay attention to detail more effectively . Still not foolproof though. ALWAYS make a point to check your direction when. First entering the woods and plan which direction you need to get out . You’d be surprised at the guys that don’t do even that 

[Robhuntandfish]

My brother got real lost up in McKeever hunting with my Dad years ago. He didn't come in for lunch so Dad went looking for him and heard him fire 2-1 a long ways away.  Finally they find each other and my brother is standing on the other side of the river.  

My Dad says..."where did you cross the river?  It's too fast here". 

My brother says ...." I never crossed the river...". Lol

Holy confused....  It had made a big horseshoe and that's why he got lost.  Dad handed him his compass and told him never go out without one again.  

[Nytracker]

Lost once turned around once .

18 years old  I hunted into Connecticut  hills state forest fresh snow on the ground . A good 6 inches .  Light snow . 

Half a mile in I cut  fresh deer tracks and the game was on .  Followed tracks for 100 yds  sneaking .   Buck started half loops and watching back trail . Started looping on his tracks  and  sighted him 2 times with no shots. He picked up a couple does. Worked him for a long while . Snow coming down hard . Finally worked into a stand of pines and spotted a deer bedded . Couple more steps and spot 2 more deer. Doe with a fawn and big doe .  Looked hard and no horns .  Picked biggest doe out . Whisled and  as she stood up I flattened her with a 12 guage brennecki  out of my ithica deer slayer. Up jumped big buck the other side of a thicket  no shot . 

Dressed doe in a hurry  slapped a drag rope on and started dragging.  Up hill and to the west  looking to cut a road I had parked on .  Up one ridge down a gully and up another. Should have hit road by now .

I'm lost .

 Hear a vehicle off to my east a long ways away  strike out in that direction down a gully  up and down again ... back to the top and a hear multiple vehicles down hill .  Drag another 200yds and hit a dirt rd going down hill. Stash doe in brush mark the spot with two branches opposite side of rd and mark with red handkerchief.  Walked for 20 minutes  into the dark and a truck pulls up. Guy asks if I wanted a ride . Hopped in  told the guy where I parked . He laughed  and says son you must be lost ... your a long ways from where you parked . He turned the truck around   stopped  picked up my deer and drove me to my car .   I must have been  3 or 4 miles from where I parked the opposite  direction . Glad the guy picked up my deer .. snow was so deep  I don't think I could have reached the stash spot. 

 Snowed so hard you couldn't see the tracks from my truck   or tracks from leaving in the morning. I look at the map now and  l am amazed how far I tracked and dragged that doe . Bought a compass and learned how to use it  that following  year . Also keep a toppo map of Connecticut  hill .

Edited July 4, 2019 by Nytracker

[Rattler]

Nathan Wyeth:
Haven't you ever been lost?

Henry Frapp:
Hmmm... been fearsome confused for a month or two, but I ain't never been lost!

[Dinsdale]

“Half the fun of the travel is the esthetic of lostness.”

Ray Bradbury.

[cas]

Only been confused once because I was being stupid. I knew exact;ly where I was in the big picture, just not which way I was going. No sun, no visual indicators. My problem came BECAUSE I was trying to use GPS. My GPS wouldn't get a signal an the battery on my phone was about to die. Instead of using my brain, I kept trying to get to a spot where my GPS could get satellites. After far too long of that game, the idiot light came on. "Hey stupid... you have a map and a compass!"  Solved my "problem" in about 15 seconds.  

[Jdubs]

Not lost, but I was casting around for nearly an hour trying to find a hard path in the Santanoni's that I was certain should be nearby.  And it was - it was just submerged due to some aggressive beaver action flooding the area.  

[The_Real_TCIII]

Never been lost in woods, have had some.long dark walks out in new Brunswick.  But not.lost 

I dont know if you remember Tony Gonello but he hunted with us along with his wife Val. Val hunted the stand I hunted the prior year and killed a bear. Walked all the way back to camp vs waiting, seven miles. She was badass!