woolybear Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 Wondering if any of you all have ever been in a sticky spot out there.Ever been forced to use that dead space between your ears to make it through a night or twelve?:eat: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 I guess I've been lost or turned around enough times over the years, but down here, even on timber co. tracts of several thousand acres, you'll always be close to an old log road. I think it would be hard to stay lost more than a few hours if you keep your head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybear Posted July 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 Sorry John Boy. Gettin' lost ain't what I'm gettin at here.:nono: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rookieee Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 several times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m gardner Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 You mean something like snowshoeing 8 miles alone and setting up a little camp and falling into the river in 10 degree weather when you go to get water for dinner and having to pull yourself out by letting your clothes freeze to the shore ice. Then starting a fire and wringing out your woolies sort of an adventure? I was dyed red from the new longhandles I had on that had never been washed before. It was pretty funny actually. Or the time I fell and bounced down a cliff into a pond and spent 12 days in the hospital and 3 months recovering after walking out and driving myself to the hospital? Those sort of dumba## things that nearly get you killed and should have been prevented? Is that what you want to hear about? As I get older I'm lots more careful now. I still do dangerous things but am prepared. I haven't had one of those trials in years. Thank God. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosierbuck Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 Like Mark said, most "survival stories" can easily be traced back to an error on the part of the survivor. If that error had not occurred, then no story. I don't have any real good ones. Either I don't do anything adventurous or I am careful enough not to need to bail my self out of a major jam. HB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimT Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 Never had a real problem. Got turned around once and was preparing to spend the night when I saw a streetlight during a break in the heavy snow. Walked to it and it turned out to be a barn on the side of a mountain. That was a weird afternoon. I was in a new area with a buddy and it started snowing hard. Should have zigged but I zagged way away from the truck. Tracks filled in quick. My buddy called the wardens around 9pm because of the weather and I heard the call on the scanner at the farmers house. Was kinda weird to hear that. I was the missing hunter... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybear Posted July 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 Like Mark said, most "survival stories" can easily be traced back to an error on the part of the survivor. If that error had not occurred, then no story. I don't have any real good ones. Either I don't do anything adventurous or I am careful enough not to need to bail my self out of a major jam. HB . You mean something like snowshoeing 8 miles alone and setting up a little camp and falling into the river in 10 degree weather when you go to get water for dinner and having to pull yourself out by letting your clothes freeze to the shore ice. Then starting a fire and wringing out your woolies sort of an adventure? I was dyed red from the new longhandles I had on that had never been washed before. It was pretty funny actually. Or the time I fell and bounced down a cliff into a pond and spent 12 days in the hospital and 3 months recovering after walking out and driving myself to the hospital? Those sort of dumba## things that nearly get you killed and should have been prevented? Is that what you want to hear about? As I get older I'm lots more careful now. I still do dangerous things but am prepared. I haven't had one of those trials in years. Thank God. Mark good answers by you and Mark, just building a case here for those in need. Yup... that's exactly what I'm talking about. I had a buddy one time kick his tackle box in a hot water discharge and felt the need to go in after it thinking the water was warm while steelhead fishing. Middle of January round here, ain't no such thing when you get out of 30 degree water. He got his box back before nearly freezing solid in the -10 below temps that awaited him on the outside. I made the trip back to the truck in my undies but forgot to grab his box in the midst of trying to get him warmed up once on shore. Darn near freezed to death. Another time, my sister who can't swim fell into a prop dig from a neighboring moared boat and went under for what felt like an eternity. Seeing that, and not a good swimmer myself, instinct took over and I jumped in after without a second thought. She's alive and kickin' to this day. fortunately so am I. One more time around a campfire, an old friend decided the fire needed fueling by means of a 2 1/2 gallon metal gas can 2 miles off the road. Got the fire cooking just fine. We ate hospital dinners that night while he was fed through an IV. BRILLIANT. BOOM! soon as he poured it on the red embers. Had to make a makeshift stretcher to haul him out when shock set in after that ,out of our clothes once again.:stretcher: Stupid decissions happen out there. Be prepared. My personal wosrt experience has been a fall from a tree and a long crawl home through ravines, creeks and fields. Enough to make 1 mile feel like 10 over the course of 12 hrs. Fire was my best friend that night, not to mention the big blue tarp that kept me dry that cold rainy night. Or it could go something like this... the day I was helpless to see my cousin drown tangled in weeds at the lake we fished so many times in the past due to our own stupidity. Who's ready for that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 I've had some bad experiences, but not so much in the field. A family member was shot with an '06 and killed on the lease south of us, but I wasn't there. Had buckshot rake the leaves in front of my feet once on a drive, but got lucky enough not to get hit. I could go on but like I said, I've always managed to be a step away from tragedy, mostly by making good decisions, but a lot is just plain luck/fate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 You mentioned the gas episode. This is one thing I stress to my kids more than anything.... DO NOT TOUCH MY GAS CANS!!!! My brother left on outside once after cutting the grass and the neighbor's kids decided to build a fire with it. They stayed in the hospital for the better part of a year. My kids re-learned this lesson this week when my four wheeler was out of gas and they wanted to go riding, so their cousin (12) brought some gas over and put in there thinking they could go riding....I had them in tears over that, and that's rare around my house, but like I said, that's a ZERO tolerance for that at their age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 My uncle got turned around in the woods once. That was a little scary. Just ended up being a long walk with my uncle one day. Haven't even been really close to a survival situation ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 One instance comes to mind. Many years ago I used to duck hunt out of Venice, LA. It was a 5 mile boat ride to get where we camped out back in the marsh on the opposite side of the Mississippi River from Venice. One evening it came a downpour and during high tide my boat was pulled out into deeper water with a lot of rainwater in it. When the tide fell we found my boat the next morning turned over on it's side with the motor half submerged. Needless to say it wouldn't crank when we finally got it turned back over and got the water out. The 3 of us ended up just spending the week in the marsh eating ducks, swamp rabbits, and rationing water before we manged or even bothered to get someone to tow us back to Venice. No biggy though. We didn't have any wives to worry about us. We just had an extended hunting experience. The funniest part was when we were towed back in. Can you picture what 3 guys in their early 20's might look like after spending a week in the marsh in January with no way to take a bath, nothing but muddy, nasty cloths to wear, along with a week's worth of not shaving to say the least? Long hair was the thing back in those days too. When we were untied from the crewboat that towed us in we paddled my boat up to the dock and a couple of clean cut looking guys were in the process of launching their boat. One look at us and one of the guys said "Excuse me while I get out of your way". I guess they feared we were local trappers or something that might give them some trouble. He pulled his boat out and stayed clear of us until we were loaded and leaving. I thanked them anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elkoholic Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 I have spent a night on the side of a mountain a couple of times that were not planned, but have always been prepared to do so. In steep, rugged country, the only advice I can give is that after dark it is not advisable to try to continue traveling unless on a trail in country you are familiar with. Even then the chances of injury increase tremendously as visibility decreases. It takes very little space and weight to carry an emergency pack that will allow you to survive a few nights in the outdoors. Hypothermia is probably the number one killer and throw in some shock from an injury and one can get into trouble in a big hurry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sskybnd Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 survival situations, to my opion is due to poor planning or judgment on ones part, and i'l put myself in this catagory, the only time i have every been in what i would call a life threating situation is when i was hutning the mountains of va by myself had no cell phone, no one know when my stand was, and i was on the side of a mountain that was steep on one side with alot of dead fall, the fog came in and as i was trying to pick my way down i fell down the side that had the dead fall, falling into the dead fall i broke my left knee, the pain was so bad i couldnt stand and had to crawl 7 hrs to get myself back to my truck. lonely, hurt and getting dark, never been so scared in my life and makes one think about being prepared when one goes out, took a year of therapy to beable to lift a 12lb sock of sand up using that leg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sskybnd Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 sorry one more time, in 04 i fell out of my deer stand i was up 20ft knew i was hurt pretty bad broke my wrist in 3 places and three ribs[didnt know the ribs were broke] just new i couldnt breath and the pain was bad, could see the wrist in curves, so knew it was broke, but i knew there was some people close to where i was hunting, and all i could do was lay there saying help, till some one found me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilmisswtnhunt Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 one time my dad got lost looking for a deer. He walked all the way to the highway then followed it back to the house now we use walkie-talkie radios Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerClay Posted July 31, 2009 Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 I got lost then dark set in. I was rattled but I plulled myself together and got out. This was before the age of cell phones or 2-way radios. I never leave for the woods without both now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly Posted July 31, 2009 Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 one time my dad got lost looking for a deer. He walked all the way to the highway then followed it back to the house now we use walkie-talkie radios No kidding! William you got yourself lost! I don't remember you telling us that one.:clown: I've never been in a survival situation. However, we are always just one mistake away from one. I'd say my worst experience (several years ago) came after shooting a deer at dusk with my bow. I was hunting a large area I wasn't very familiar with. I was so worried about the blood trail I followed it to the point of not knowing where I was and I'm pretty sure I was in an area I didn't have permission to be on. I decided to give up the trail and follow the blood trail back. Then my light battery started to fail. It didn't take long and I was in heavy timber in complete darkness and didn't know where I was at. People in IL don't take kindly to people trespassing at night. My concern was not to find a house, but to avoid them and the possibility of getting shot. After stumbling around in the dark for a while I finally found a road and the way back to my truck. The following morning I was back out looking and sure enough the blood trail did go into an adjacent property. I went to the house to ask permission but no one was there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted July 31, 2009 Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 Originally Posted by lilmisswtnhunt one time my dad got lost looking for a deer. He walked all the way to the highway then followed it back to the house now we use walkie-talkie radios No kidding! William you got yourself lost! I don't remember you telling us that one.:clown: Yep Frank, I got lost tracking a deer in the bottom in the dark. I have posted that story here a few times in threads like this one http://www.realtree.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57692. I had shot a decent 8 pointer with the ml'er, old sidelock carbine I no longer hunt with. The deer was bleeding good, I saw the hole on the exit side and would have sworn that the deer would not have made it far. I was wrong. I got down and followed blood in the fast fading light up to a point I figured I needed more light. A front was moving in and it was very overcast and figured my mini mag light was not enough so I went back to the house and got a 3 D mag light and pulled the truck back to our back field. Picked back up on the trail and followed blood until the blood got thin then began to follow tracks that I thought were from the deer I shot. Was pretty well crawling on my hands and knees following blood and the occasional speck of blood through the thick brush and willows in the bottom and got turned around and disoriented. It was pitch black by this time, did not have my watch on so no idea how long I had been crawling looking for that deer. I tried backtracking on the deer tracks but I was seeing so many tracks by that point that it was hard to tell which ones were the ones I had been following and I was no longer seeing any blood. I could not see the moon, could not see any hills or any identifying features of the land. I stopped for a few minutes and just listened, heard yotes and some dogs and also heard cars going down the highway off in the distance. Realizing chances of finding the deer and finding my way back to it in the morning with flooding rains on the way were not likely so I walked towards the sounds of cars and eventually made my way through the tangles out to the highway where I knew where I was at. By the time I got back to the house everyone was asleep. I take marking tape with me now and do also carry a radio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doe-ee Posted July 31, 2009 Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 (edited) An old friend of ours spends at least one night in the bush in northern Ontario almost every year! He's never prepared for it and doesn't seem to learn anything from it. He has absolutely no sense of direction and obviously lacks common sense too. We learned this first hand after he spent a little hunting vacation once with us. About 27 years ago Ricky came out to BC to visit and get a little hunt in too. Since he didn't have a license Steve gave him a slingshot with some ammo and off they went early one morning into the mountains. Ricky was supposed to be pushing bush that day and all he had to do was circle the edge of the logging slash and come back around to Steve at the logging road. It was only about a 15 acre area and 3 hours later he still wasn't back. Steve fired 3 shots into the air and waited another hour. Nothing. Steve then started looking for him, following what should have been his original path. Another hour wasted and Ricky was no where to be found. Then real worry set in. In a few different spots Steve drew huge arrows in the dirt roads to direct Ricky back to the main logging road if he should happen to stumble out of the weeds. It was going to be dark soon so Steve headed back to town to get some help. He got the Search and Rescue team together and back to the mountain they went with about 15 volunteers. While they were preparing to sweep the bush a truck came up the road, stopped and out popped Ricky! Steve was shocked and relieved to see him until Ricky opened his mouth and said "where were you?!" After calling off the rescue effort and talking to Ricky, it was established that he had crossed 3 roads and a number of streams and ended up at the logging sort 20 miles away. He was found at dusk by another hunter who had heard the call about a lost hunter on his CB. Ricky was preparing to spend a lonely night on the mountain by starting a fire beside yet another road. Ricky's reasoning for crossing all the roads instead of following one out was that he figured heading downhill to "civilization" was his only way to survive. LMBO This is another spot where Ricky lacks common sense because although he would eventually have found civilization given the direction he was going but he had absolutely no idea what side of the mountain he was on. If he had veered off ever so slightly he would have found that the other side of mountain would have left him walking for miles and miles with no civilization at all, all the way to the west coast. Needless to say Steve has not hunted with Ricky for 27 years. He still hears those 3 ridiculous words "WHERE WERE YOU" Edited July 31, 2009 by Doe-ee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebeilgard Posted August 1, 2009 Report Share Posted August 1, 2009 i've been pretty fortunate and not had any bad experiences in the woods. now, i've twice had to get down from above 15000 feet without an engine.... no problem, of course. i had gravity at work for me. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly Posted August 1, 2009 Report Share Posted August 1, 2009 Hey William sounds like we got lost in similar ways. My post wasn't meant to poke fun at you getting lost. More that your daughter is telling stories on you. Can't wait to see what stories mine tells on me when she'd old enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted August 1, 2009 Report Share Posted August 1, 2009 Hey William sounds like we got lost in similar ways. My post wasn't meant to poke fun at you getting lost. More that your daughter is telling stories on you. Can't wait to see what stories mine tells on me when she'd old enough. LOL. I got that Frank, the story is funny looking back. Yeah, 13 is a fun age, I think she picks on me more than I do her:clown::clown: and in case you haven't noticed she picks on her mother just a little too http://www.realtree.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88082 and http://www.realtree.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88360.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybear Posted August 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2009 This has been interesting reading for me. I will not quote anobody that has replied as I see all your encounters as beeing unique with their own set of circumstanses behind them,but I see the general concensus here is saying being put in a situation as such is due to impropper planning and poor judgement. To that I say you haven't traveled far enough from home, but don't rule it out on your own turf. To an extent, I agree, but I've also seen an innocent looking, well thought out WALK through the NY wild turn south in a heartbeat. Your next trip to the stand, you'r next climb up that tree, next time you step over a wet log, or that time you put a little extra uhhhmph in your cast in a swift current. Aint no prepperation for an accident less you've taken the course in to know how to react to one after it happens. Prevention and precaution yes. Incorporating into a hunting or fishing trip and thinking out the details beforehand of an accident? doubt many of us do that. But we should. Now who can warm themselves up on a cold rainy night stuck out in the middle of paradise with only a lighter in their pocket and nothing else before reaching civilization???? Phone a friend if you must:phone: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m gardner Posted August 1, 2009 Report Share Posted August 1, 2009 When I was growing up there was no course in survival. We learned it from the woodsman in our family when we were young. Learning to stop bleeding was one thing we were all taught becuase we used axes alot. Then chain saws and equipment. By the time we were 16 we were seasoned woodsman and so full of testosterone we were always in trouble somehow because we thought there was nothing we couldn't overcome. There wasn't. God made humans frightfully tough and most of us have never discovered that. I have never been lost and neither has my son. People say we have a compass up our a##. Both of us have spent months out and like it there and think it's home away from home. I thought he was lost once and went on a 26 mile hike tracking him (no snow) to find him while deer hunting. We both got to camp at dark and he just smiled at me. I asked why he hadn't met me at the prearrainged place. He just said he'd got sidetracked and when he realized where he was he explored it because he'd never been there before. I should've known better becuase he'd pulled the same stunt before at age 14. The little snot had wandered those big swamps for years. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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