Think About Spending an Unplanned Night Out

[jusputtn]

http://outdoorsafe.com/read/about/

I had the opportunity to hear Peter Kummerfeldt talk yesterday. He was a career survival instructor for the Navy. The focus was on spending a night or two out while waiting for rescue, which means that you left a trip plan of your intentions so that someone knows where you are and when you are expected back.

I was very impressed with what he had to say. No b.s. or gizmos. I will be able to give better instruction to my hunter ed students.

[biggamefish]

I alwats carry some extra stuff. ALways have a first aid kit (hiking type) matches and a compass (old school kind no batteries). The only thing that I don't carry in my everyday hunts in the woods is a mirror wich i am trying to find a good one. I might just spend 25 dollars and get one of the nice compasses with a mirror on it.

[Paulie]

Down here in Dutchess where I hunt it's pretty hard to get lost. I mean you could be in what some would consider "the middle of nowhere" and if you walked a 1/2 mile (max a mile) you would hit a road or a house.....At a hunting camp I have been going to for 18 years...we had a guy from Long Island come up a few years ago. (no offense to the LI guys). We called this cat inspector gadget cause he had all the latest trinkets and it was his first year in the woods. (LI is very different the Dutchess the same way Dutchess is very different from the Dacks!!) Well he had the latest GPS gadget that was on the market (i think he spent $500 on it)...when i heard that I just laughed and started busting his chops. He went out for the afternoon hunt around 2 and we expect him back shortly after dark.....after all he was about 200 yards from the house down a quad trail that you could drive a truck. Darkness came and he was nowhere to be found...we new where he was sitting and went to look for him..nothing. Getting worried we started searching for him (it's not big woods, we were searching and calling for him covering maybe 50 acres...and ther were about 10 of us). Well about 8:30 - 9 we see some headlights coming down the road. Here he comes as he hitched a ride from a neighbor that was about 500 Yards from the house. He was following his hand held GPs and was going in circles (mind you he was right off a trail Helen Keller could follow and only 200 yards from the house...he could see the lights on in the house). Needless to say we gave him some crap for that....and told him to save his money and get an old fashion compass. He called the GOS company and the said that the compass went haywire due to alot of Iron (i think) in the gorund.....i thought those thing work off of satallites, no? I just found there response strange....either way you slice it i would rather have a good old fashion compass with me.

I work in NYC with guys that have lived in cities all of there lives and they think i am a mountain man. I can hold my own when it comes to survival but it amazes me how many people would have no clue what to do.....I will be ready for 2012! hahah

[cbx46]

Long Island has some patches of woods just as big as the ones you guys in westch/put/dutch hunt, most people who do get lost in the woods are found a few hundred yards from road/truck etc... They say one of the most important things to do is make sure someone knows where you are going, and when you will be back. If you get lost stay still and build a shelter, because the further you walk when lost the further you will be from where the people who know where you went, know where to look for you.

[Paulie]

I hear ya, and trust me I'm not knockin LI guys (only some of them...haha).......but seriousely, if you get lost where I hunt you have issues....Unless you are crippled...i.e break a leg or something, can't make it to a road and nobody nows where u are. thats an entirely differently story. When ever I hunt someone always know where I am........

[cbx46]

Everyone has def had that moment when you sat all day didnt pay complete attention on your walk and on your way out its pitch black and you look around for a min. and start second guessing where you are headed. Or a snowfall blankets the area etc... That is why carry a back up to your brain compass, gps, and a back for your back up. i think you would be suprised how you say walk a mile and ahalf in one direction and you hit a road but add a very slight curve to your trail, walk around a blow down etc and you are making a gigantic circle.

[adirondackbushwhack]

Many times my camp has been miles from any road or trail and my expected time of return is weeks away. I always make my camp near a water source and near a prominent feature of some type so it is easier to find camp at the end of the day. I don't figure there is a man alive who can't get turned around a bit in the right conditions and I've had to rely on compass and map to find where I was on more then one occasion after a day of tracking. I carry at least two compasses and at least two topo maps of the area as part of my possibles. I never head into the woods without my possibles. I had a time where I was on a day hunt and when I came out I found that the river had swelled and I couldn't cross it to get out of the woods. I hiked up stream a couple of miles and found a spot I could get across but I was pretty sure I was going to end up spending the night. It was a good reminder as to why I carry all of those possibles all of the time.