Trad Gang

I have to be honest, I have gotten REALLY lost 2 different times didn't spend the night but it was extremely late (wee hours in the morning)before I got back home;

You?

 :campfire:

no   :campfire:

No, but we have picked people up in the Atchafalaya Basin, 15 miles from their landing and STILL going the wrong way!   :biglaugh:

I've also been "fogged in" in the marsh and just physically had to shut down the motor and wait for the sun to come up.

Never!!! But I was confused as all get out for two days once.   :D

I got turned around once or twice. The one that immediately comes to mind is a squirrel hunt/scouting trip into unknown territory. There was about 4" of snow on the ground and I just wanted to explore. I hiked out from camp down a run into a river bottom (still just a little river, or run) and poked around. I took the general direction toward camp at around 3 PM, hunting squirrels. I ran into a mosh pit of them, and after shooting at them two or three times I settled down and put two of them on my belt. I then continued toward camp, no trail but in the general direction.

The mountains there are very old and wrinkled, and I could not find the tag end of the logging trail I was looking for. It started getting dark, and I was looking for a good place to get a fire going. I had a poncho, water bottle, two squirrels and a huge bar of chocolate. I would be OK.

At the last minute, I stumbled onto a spur of the trail, and followed it uphill until I saw the trail that was on the map. It was well after dark when I finally got to camp. I guess I was three hours out from camp when I gained solid bearings.

I was glad to have had just a small adventure, and slept well that night.
Killdeer

No, Just geographicaly misplaced.
I missed a sidetrail I was supposed to take.  It was dark and it took me quite awhile to figure out what I did wrong.  The bad thing was that I took the girl who was to one day be my wife.  Not a good date.

Made me laugh Charlie!

Been lost several times close to panic. Blew a whistle for hours once. Didn't help find my way out. Just gave me a mad headache.

Just once in WY, took about 3 hr. to figure it out.

Hap

Just once while elk hunting in Wyoming.  Heavy fog rolled in and we couldn't see 10 ft.  I navigate by landmarks and a compass mostly, not using gps.  I didn't have a compass that day because I thought I knew where I was going.  Only good option was to hunker down and shiver for about three hours till I could get my bearings again.

We wandered around for half a day looking for a boned out elk one year.  Tried to take a short cut over the mountain by dead reckoning and like to never found the kill site.  I wouldn't call myself lost that time but my elk was temporarily misplaced.

just once when I forgot to repack my compass......had to sit quiet in the woods a bit and listen for the "jake-brakes"  of the semis on the highway, it gave me "north" so I walked "east" to the road my truck was on..........only 2 hrs late that night........

No, but as Charlie elequently stated. . . I was a might confused for a period of time.  I did figure it out using compass and map and saved myself.  No overnights out yet for this boy.

Since an early "oops" in an area I thought I was very familiar with,  I NEVER go out in the woods, includig out in my lil acreage, without a compass.  They are just too easy to carry and use to not carry one.
ChuckC

Never for more than about half a day. It's not so much that I get lost, but that I get pretty far from camp.  In new country, it sometimes takes me a long time to get back, and I don't always know exactly where I am while doing so.  Always carry a compass and usually a map as well so usually don't worry too much about getting lost. I always carry enough in my pack to stay overnight in the woods if I have to.  Never have had to.  Do arrive back at camp a little late sometimes though.   :dunno:

Have always carried a compass, to easy to get turned around in Florida swamps.

When I was small my father took me in to the hills around our farm in WV. Made sure I was good and confused, then told me to get us "home". His only bit of advice "Son, your not lost, you're directly over the center of the Earth....... you just need to sit down and figure out where to go from there."

I got smart and decided to follow our beagle home. Fortunately he didn't take any side tracks.

I've carried a compass ever since.

Lost one time (that I remember). Walked a perfect circle. Only reason I knew I walked a circle is that I marked a tree, walked about an hour and came right back to that tree. That's when I got a little worried. Took me a little while but I finally figured it out!

Jason

Nothing overnight but the New York isn't Montana or Alaska    :archer2:

Turned around badly for about 45 minutes, twice. Both times in Colorado.  I found my way to my camp or truck both times but it was an unbelivably uncomfortable (to put it mildly) position to be in.  

Also, BOTH times I had dropped my pack and all my emergency stuff because I had only a short jaunt to go.

Not completely lost, yet, but turned around a few times.

I could have been in Colorado after following elk tracks in the snow till just about dark I headed back to where I knew there was a logging road. Long and short of it I found the very end of it another 20 yards I would have missed it. 1.1 million acres is a big place to be lost in. Now I carry a compass!

I was lost in  the national forest. Bad, bad experience! Lost 15/17 hours and was fixin to spend the night. Had luckily ran into a gentleman baiting bears. We had nothing on us, I was young and thought I was invincible, I'm much wiser now, and am prepared with a few more gray hairs

Ever get caught in a sneaky patch of thick fog without a compass when exploring new territory?

You know exactly where you were a few moments ago, so you may not be "lost," but you will probably stumble around trying to get back to your entry point.

I most always know where I am at.
It's just sometimes I am not sure where I started.

John

bewildred a couple times
lost once

got drug into an unfamilar area by a couple buddies on a so called for sure short blood trail
no compass
wandered around for a couple hours till we came to the road and then walked a mile back to the truck

Not personally but one of the most entertaining things Ive ever seen was one of my cousinns running frantically down an Adirondack Mt. (Sawyer Mt.) scared out of his wits.  The look on his face after I laughed out loud as he passed me was priceless. That sucker still hasnt forgiven me 25 years later but its worth the laughs to this day. Then theres the story of my other cousin in the South Carolina swamps that I aint telling, he'd be crushed right out his woodsman persona.   :biglaugh:    :biglaugh:    :biglaugh:

Got turned around quite a few times while walking in the mountains of Afghanistan. landmarks, terrain features and a compass solved the problem.

With a little extra motivation from the Taliban... we were home by dark.

Craig

yep!

A good mountaineer never gets lost, however, from time to time, they may get confused.  You should always be prepared for LONG PERIODS OF CONFUSION!

I've been confused twice for a couple of hours each. Never for an extended time.  God bless

Turned around for a while a couple of times but nothing serious.

Not lost, but sometimes I couldn't see either. I got caught in heavy fog, once, in the Blue Mountains (SE WA) hunting elk. It was impossible to see more than a couple feet, but I was on a trail headed down a ridge and back to camp. Walking slowly through a group of trees, I found myself in the middle of a dozen or so elk, bedded along the same trail. They couldn't see either and obviously were caught on the trail when the fog hit the valley. When they got up and started running, they left a trail of broken limbs and small trees in their wake. Several ran by close enought to touch.  

I have been caught out after dark, and in heavy snow fall, and each time I knew, how to find my way back to camp, or the truck. If I am in unfamiliar area, I make a point of getting back early, and always take a flash light, head lamb, and batteries. Emergency items are always with me, if I am far from camp.

Turned around. . . stranded for the night in CO rockies elk hunting.  Found my way out in AM.

I spent a WEEK, ONE NIGHT, in the woods!  :scared:    :knothead:    :laughing:

Two times in blizzard white outs. God delivered me safely. Once many years ago in the Blue Mountains of Oregon in am area I had never hunted before. Again God delivered me when I crossed an old trail and recognized a rock in the trail that I had seen when I walked in in the morning. that was a bad one because I was soaked to the skin and it turned off cold. My matches were soaked and I was getting hypothermic.

At that time I was not used to hunting in the west with such large areas with no roads. I was used to hunting by landmarks and did not carry a compass. From that time foreward I do not leave the truck without a survival pack and a good compass and fire making materials.

God bless you all, Steve

QuoteOriginally posted by Converml:
Nothing overnight but the New York isn't Montana or Alaska     :archer2:  

I have not been lost...confused maybe. But don't you think for one minute that you can't get lost in the Adirondacks of New York. Behind my camp to the north it's 30 miles to the next road. I have bumped into guys that have been walking the wrong way for 2 days, had to help them out to the road and then give them a ride back to their car.

Yep, coon hunting.

I was chin deep in a slough with water hyacinths bumping my nose, off the St. John's River on a new moon night. Sliding one foot ahead of the other to try and find shallow water and a way out.

Couldn't see my hand in front of my face. If that counts as lost, I have been once.

Been temporarily misplaced a couple of times.  But, thankfully, never truly lost.
Ken

Got turned around on some new property I was scouting. Didn't take a compass or light!!!( big mistake) I felt like Gillian on a small tour turned into late into the night. I couldn't see the sun due to tree canopy. Got worried and had my buddy come & honk his horn at the road to get a general direction. Finally popped out on the road LATE that night about 1/2 mile from the truck. I'll have to admit I was pretty worried the whole time!

I spent the night in the swamp one night coon hunting. I wasn't really lost, but my truck was. The truck with the bag on the hood that had my compass in it.

Twice.
Once a group of us searched all over the Ontario woods for a bear that had been arrowed, when we finally located it we had several different ideas on which way the road was located. We finally hit the road and only had to walk a couple miles to find or vehicles.

Second time.  I shot a nice bear in Ontario, could see it fall from my treestand and heard the death moan. While taking pictures and admiring the bear it got dark and I thought I would just cut over to hit the trail I had entered on and save some backtracking to the stand sight. Well, several hundred yards later I realized I hadn't hit the trail. So I decided the smart thing to do would be to just wait for my fellow bear hunters to check out why I hadn't shown up. I sat on a log for an hour or so, until they arrived and I could see there flashlights.
I knew if I  couldn't find the road there were no other roads. So setting down was spooky, but the safest thing to do.

Many years ago as a boy of about 8 years of age, my dad started teaching me to use a compass.  We would go into the Hatchee Bottoms in West Tennessee at night, and then navigate with the compass.  He told me many times that it was a temtation sometimes to not trust the thing, but I should always believe in it.

Many years later out on the high Plains of Kansas in a white-out, I was tempted to mistrust my compass but thankfully I remember my dad's warning.  It delivered me safely to the road and my vehicle although I truly believed saftey was in the opposite direction.

I've been "turned around" numerous times over the years but my faithful old compass kept me from straying.

Joe

Once upon a time, we were hunting some seriously steep country on the Oregon coast for elk and had a very long night. it was an evening hunt into a small meadow surrounded by shear cliffs on 3 sides. There were game trails coming into the small clearing from all 3 sides, but if you got off those trails you were toast.

The meadow was only about a half mile from the logging road where we left our quads. We had spotted elk coming and going through this meadow right before dark for 3 day in a row from a look out across the canyon. So we decided to go into the area in the late afternoon and set up an ambush.

There were two of us set up way out on the point near the edge of the cliff, and as the sun started dropping over the ridge, we could hear the elk coming a long way off making their way up those rocky goat trails ..... unfortunately we had a fog bank come in ahead of the elk herd. I'm talking about fog so thick you couldn't see 10 feet ahead of you in daylight. right about dark i saw about 6 elk pass in front of me at 20 yards, and could barely see their hoofs. it was pretty exciting until it got full dark. A flash light in thick fog blinds you worse than not using one at all sometimes, so it was slow moving as i back tracked the way i thought I'd come in. one minute the trail was at my feet, and the next it was gone completely.... i could hear my partner cussing and stumbling around not far off saying he couldn't find the dad burn trail. We finally met up in the meadow where it flattened out and built a small fire. 38 degrees and fog can get you in trouble in a hurry, but falling off a cliff at night will get you dead.

It was a long night trying to stay warm, but we stayed put. The fog didn't lift till 10 am the next morning before we could make our way back to the trail we came in on.

So i guess were weren't lost in a sense.... but it certainly feels like it, when the world disappears on you.   kirk

Back in college I was tracking a poorly hit deer in Georgia and tracked it a few hundred yards before realizing that I should find my buddy to help.  I hung up my orange hat and started backtracking.  20 minutes later I walked back up on my hat.  I started to backtrack again and came back up on my hat again 40 minutes later.  Panic set in and I did exactly what you shouldn't do and starting running.  I finally settled down and lined up trees to walk a straight line out.  I ended up coming out in the clear opposite direction of where I'd gone in.  What a crazy experience.

A buddy and I got turned around down in New Mexico quail hunting where everything looks the same.  We were "lost" for about two hours.  Of course, the GPS was in the truck!  I discovered the hard way that a compass on my bird hunting vest is worthless since there are some magnet closures on lower pockets.

I pay a lot more attention now and don't rely on the GPS or compass except in extreme circumstances.

never been lost in the "woods" but i believe i would rather have been; check this out:

fishing in a kayak in an open harbor at 2a.m. in cape cod. started out clear as could be, striper fishing by moonlight and marking our position by two lighthouses. in less than 5 min it went from crystal clear to fog so thick that i could not see my feet right in front of me!! we could hear the houses but got turned around and the combination of outgoing tide and really poor decision making almost took us out to the open ocean which is full of rips and sharks that come to feed on the local seals. the only thing that prevented complete disaster was a large sailboat was moored just at the mouth of the harbor and he heard us yelling to each other in the fog and told us to tie off to his boat untill the fog lifted 5 hrs later. great trip!went and bought a full fishfinder/g.p.s that week.
lost in the woods is one thing but imagine sitting on a 12' kayak surrounded by NOTHING but fog and water! not going to happen again!

My buddy and I got "directionally challenged" once in Colorado chasing mule deer around. Wasn't pretty...   :pray:

I got lost one time when I was about 15 or 16.  I got down from a ladder stand after dark and overshot the trail out of the woods.  Instead of stopping to wait for help or orient myself I just kept walking looking for the way out.  My problem was that I knew my dad, who I was hunting with, would be worried sick.  He has a real fear of being lost himself and I knew that would cause him to be really upset if I didnt show up where and when I was supposed to.  

I ended up coming out of the woods about two miles from where I was supposed to be.  I convinced a group of hunters to give me a ride back to the parking area, but by the time I got there it was several hours after I was supposed to be out of the woods.  As suspected, my dad was in a bit of a panic.  He and our hunting partner were in the woods calling me and firing guns in the air.  

I did everything that you aren't supposed to do.  I never was in a panic about my personal situation, but I was in a panic about what might be going through my dad's mind. That caused me to make bad decisions that caused stress and anxiety for both of us.  If I had just stayed put when I first realized I was turned around I would have been "found" in short order.

I jumped into a fire many years ago in the Gila Wilderness of New Mexico.    Because of being "young and stupid", I was VERY Confused for a couple days.  I have gotten over the young part, still have the "stupid" rear it ugly head every now and again.   :bigsmyl:

I got turned around in a dogwood swamp one night tracking a deer. If the local school didn't have a pole light on it would have been a long walk or a cold night. Not a good feeling for sure.

Not entirely... In CT, if you walk a straight line you'll hit a road eventually...

Great thread! Funny stuff! Thanks for honest! Don't feel so dumb but for the 5 or 6 times lost.

Thick pine trees 60-70 feet block out sun, moon, & stars. Jailhouse underbrush. Walked in a circle many times. One foots is flat?

Nope

no but i have come up on a lady one time that was turned around in the woods. it was pouring rain and she had been helping her husband track a deer she got turned around and paniced. looked like she saw a ghost when i came up on her.. pretty scarry how people can act when they are paniced

Constantly. I have the worst sense of direction west of the Rockies. Consequently, I have so much practice at it, I'm getting kind of good at getting unlost.

Three weeks ago, somewhere southeast of Polepick mountain and southwest of the Loup Loup summit  I'm turkey hunting. Actually I'm hiking with a diaphram call in my mouth, making squeaky noises every once in while. Not a turkey within miles of me. My cell phone rings. It's my sister. She says, "Whaddya doin" I said, "Be vewwy vewwy quiet." She asks me where I am. I said, "hell if I know." She says that's not good. I say, "No, that's not really a problem I am surrounded by roads, theoretically, and my truck is on one of them." She says, "Where's the truck?" I said, "THAT'S the problem." She wants to call my wife. I said, "Nope. Not yet. Helicopters scare the turkeys." So we argue for about 20 minutes and I look up and ... there's the truck. Happens all the time.  

.

No

Right, Danny.
You're on an island. Like, how big is Guam?   :rolleyes:

Killdeer  

Being a former pilot, I've been temporarily disoriented a few times, but NEVER lost. Always knew where I was, just wasn't sure which direction to go to get to where I wanted to be.

  :saywhat:

Good stories.  I haven't really been lost.  I trust my compasses, and I carry two.  But after reading all these stories, I think I might start carrying some fire starting equipment in my pack, and maybe some extra jerky and candy bars.  And one of those small emergency blankets.  Just in case...  Thanks everyone.

Went hunting in Colorado..got turned around,so i just started hiking.. figgured id hit a road or a town or sumptn..I was right! and i really like it here in Arizona..
Cochise

"Been might confused for a time, but never lost" D. Boone.  Your gonna laugh, I spent 10 years in the Marine Corps 03 and master of land nav.  in jungles (3) deserts (3) all over.  Well few years after I got out was over at a wildlife area bowhunting with buddy.  We hunted all day and went to walk in and set up for evening.  We was walking in and chatting (he hunted it alot).  We stopped and he said there is a field down there and stay over this way.  We walked from the truck across a picked bean field.  I said okay he went his way, I stalked down, found a tree, set up, sat there, had 10 deer around me and two nice bucks.  So I waited and froze enjoying them hoping for a shot.  They finally moved off out of range, and it was getting dark.  I took down stand and by time walked out was overcast and black.  I hit the picked bean field.  turned and was walking toward the truck.  then I hit a hedgerow.  I stopped and said wow, there wasn't one there.  then I laugh and said dummy went wrong way, turned around started walking and my gut said hey something isn't right.  I reached down in my pocket to get my Maglite (longtime ago) and guess what batteries dead, (lol).  So, I stood there no star's to nav by, no roads nothing, I just started to remember the wind direction walking in and heard something.  It was my buddy, with light looking for me.  He was about to walk by few hundred yards away, and with wind couldn'g hear me, so I reached up to my watch, and started flashing it (indiglo technology).  he stopped and I flashed some morse code and walked to him.  He was relieved as he thought I had and accident.  Come to find out the field was in a bowl of timber and I walked up and into another one, ha-ha.  Funniest part was he knew of my past and hunted in some rough timber with me.  He said,"I seen you find a tree in a thicket, and a car in the middle of no where, guess the only thing that gets you confused is a flat field".  He then asked, what was all the flashing, I said morse code he laughed like he knew what it was.  Good memories.

Have you ever been lost in the woods? Before I was married, I was notorious for falling asleep in tree stands. I would wake up at 2-3 in the morning only to find that other hunters were lost trying to find their vehicles. I still laugh about it to this day. I've been married for 10 years now, and I still fall asleep in tree stands only to find the deer standing right in front of me!I'll probably still fall asleep in tree stands because it's so relaxing!

Tracked a deer into catfish lake wilderness area. Those that know it, like broketooth prolly does knows it is vast. I hate giving up on a deer and I followed this one to the devils place.
Compass back at truck - forgot it was out of my pack - dang! I cant see for ten yards in any direction - dang - it is over cast cant make out sun for east or west. I had a lighter and so I had fire, and knew I could get help by burning the woods down.

I got spooked there a bit - but then stowed that foolishness and eventually made my way out. Not where I came in but  ahunting club rd where a dog hunter picked me up as he was lookin his dogs.

Most places I hunt have fire trails that I know well and really no need for a compass as I have hunted them since I was a kid. But I have several compasses these days.

J

Have used GPS, not lately, but even catfish lake area is like bermuda triangle, GPS dont work or is unreliable. I can take you to an area right now where the GPS will get you lost, no joke, seriously a spooky bottom I got tagged up with surveyors tape. Maybe the nearby military bases mess with em.

I have prayed my way out of the woods more than times than most.  I am a master of map and compass.  Problem is I will be just walking around in the wood not paying attention with no terrain features visable.  Hard to do resection with in replanted fir forest.

Don't you love walking out on a road and taking that 50/50 gamble on which way the truck is?    :smileystooges:

QuoteOriginally posted by Charlie Lamb:
Never!!! But I was confused as all get out for two days once.    :D  

:biglaugh:

Good thread...I enjoyed reading it.  I never have gotten lost in Missouri.  Once at the Paradise club when I was a rookie I was to stay put while Tom moved a stand.  I got bored...and wandered.  I was in a a sort of dry swamp area on the  other side of a maiden cane field. I thought I only went about 30 yards but all the higher spots looked the same.  I could hear Tom as he came back and almost made it back without getting caught.  I got a good scolding but to tell the truth the hogs I heard had convinced me not to venture out alone.

Missouri has more land marks and you can hear traffic on the road etc.  I once wound up on the wrong side of a ditch and had to figure out to cross it.  You can... stand semis on end in the Missouri ditches, they are incredibly deep and very wide.

QuoteOriginally posted by gregg dudley:
Don't you love walking out on a road and taking that 50/50 gamble on which way the truck is?     :smileystooges:  

boy I've done that one a few times Gregg.   :rolleyes:

i had another experience on a late season hunt up in the Cascade mountains. We drove up to the snow line and kept going till it was about 6-8" deep and parked at some gated off logging roads. my partner took the road to the north and i took the south road. the weather was dicey and we knew more snow was coming, so we decided to just do an in and out road hunt. of course the road was nothing more than a winding path though the trees. it was a dry powder snow coming down like mist at first. you could ease along real slow without making a bit of noise, and lordy, it was beautiful up there.

i suppose I'd hiked a mile or so in a couple hours time. I had some fun flinging arrows at some rabbits but hadn't cut a fresh elk trail yet, when the light snow became seriously heavy snow. i continued on for another half hour after spotting some black tail deer not worrying about back tracking at all in 6" of snow.... it was only about 11 am when we left the main roads, so i knew i had 3-4 hours left till sun down.

then the wind started blowing and the temp dropped rapidly. it was kind of weird. The big snow flakes got smaller but it was coming down harder now and at about 45 degrees. Something told me i better reverse my travel and start back early. so i swapped ends and started back tracking. as an hour went by, visability got down to about 20 yards, and i noticed my tracks i made coming in were filling up rapidly. after another hour the snow was over a foot deep and there were no tracks at all. the wind was sending this stuff sideways so hard the drifts we over knee high across the road in spots too.

Then i got off the road somehow.... THAT made me nervous..... as the clouds thickend up and it snowed harder yet, it gave a false sundown effect that made viability even tougher. i had come into a big clearing and couldn't find the road out of it till i went chest deep in the snow in the ditch.... The wind had shifted a couple times already when the storm blew in, so i had to dig out my compass to figure out which end of the clearing had the road out..... my only comforting thought was that 30 pound pack on my back with everything but the kitchen sink in it for survival. I'm one of those guys everyone makes fun of for carrying such a heavy day pack. i keep a pack stove and lantern with me and enough freeze dried food to last 3 days. i also keep a water filter, first aid. a small tarp, AND an emergency blanket. i also keep a small road flair among other fire starting material and a quart of water in dry weather.... and i NEVER leave the road without my pack. No exceptions....

Even though having all this stuff can save your life, it's not all that fun trying to keep from freezing to death in what was closely resembling a blizzard. i've spent a few nights of primitive camping chasing elk before in the rain. you don't get much sleep, I'll tell you that.

Was i lost? Noooooooo.... i knew exactly where i was. Was i getting concerned about finding my way back to the truck? Most definitely.

I finally located the road i came in on as the wind let up a bit, and i was really glad to get back in the timber that provided some giude to where the road was. my problem now was the depth of the snow was well over my knees. i don't think I've ever seen snow pile up that fast before in my whole life. The snow drifts were part of it though. i was getting seriously tired and knew i still had a mile to go, so i fashioned a set of primitive snow shoes out of vine maple to help me stay on top of the snow better. i alway keep a hand full of plastic zip ties in my pack for building a quick structure or a primitive sled to drag game out on. these came in handy building snow shoes in a hurry.

i ended up getting out to the main road right at dark, totally exhausted. my hunting partner was sleeping in the truck with the heater going. Boy that sure felt good climbing into that cab.

That was one of those trips where a guy could vanish without a trace just walking on an old gravel road....

Nope, never been lost, I can't say the same for my truck-it's been lost a couple of times.  But it was smart enough to stay put and let me find it.  Lesson learned, don't go into starnge woods and leave a trail of bright eyes-unless you're sure no one else has done the same thing.  So many of them, I thought I was surrounded by a pack of wolves!!

QuoteOriginally posted by gregg dudley:
Don't you love walking out on a road and taking that 50/50 gamble on which way the truck is?     :smileystooges:  

I've done that twice and went the wrong way both times. Also have seen the same country a couple of times more than I wanted.

QuoteOriginally posted by Bear Heart:
I have prayed my way out of the woods more than times than most.  I am a master of map and compass.  Problem is I will be just walking around in the wood not paying attention with no terrain features visable.  Hard to do resection with in replanted fir forest.

Same here, land so flat there are no terrain features period. You just have to know which directions you need to get back to the road. I know about nav and pace ropes as my Dad taught me but that is really not practical outside the military.

In most of where I live if you climb up you should be able to figure out where you are.  However, I've seen a lot of videos of woodlands back east or in Canada with little topographic relief and those places scare the jeebers out of me.

I have never been lost (yet), but this morning I tried to find my GPS and IT is lost!

Was on the ocean once and a heavy fog rolled in.  I had no clue which way shore was when before I was able to see it. swells were picking up and our 16 foot aluminum was getting pretty small.

Good thing my buddy and guide knew what he was doing   :thumbsup:

an I thought I knew myself. Igot lost about 20 years ago.MY BODY broke out in a sweat like I have never expearanced before. I have not been lost since,A little turned around but not lost.My clothes were wet in less then 5 mins.Iam talking sox an all I was scared.all ended well after about 6 hrs I made it to a road an a pickup stopped an asked if I were lost, an I said yes how did you know he replyied I can tell by the look on your face.DONT panic like I DID iT COULD BE THE DIFFERANCE OF LIKE AN DEATH.when hunting in remote areas to this day I take a 1500yds ball of twine it weights less then 8 oz,when I shoot a deer I tie it to the base of my tree an start folling the blood trail.when I find my deer I tie it to the deer.calm down an regroup.I dont like or trust a GPS It dose not always work where I am.this method has NEVER let me down.P.S if your deer runs longer then 1500 yds you aint getting him anyhow.ED

I re-read the title of the thread so I would add to my previous statement:

NO.

disoriented due to heat exhaustion, yes but lost, no!    :cool:

Now NYC, well let's not go there..... ever....

Once in Wisconsin, I was sitting on a rock outcropping glassing across a wide bottom and saw a bear feeding.  The next day I went to that spot and found fences with tons of blackberries. I did not realize that I had crossed on to some American Indians land.  Three very polite guys with guns walked from behind me and asked what I was doing on their land, I apologized between mouthfuls of the blackberries and told them about the bear. One asked if the blackberries were good and I said "perfect". They said they were doing the same thing, looking for the berry stealing bear.  they wished me luck and spread out on the other side of the large patch. Later I saw the bear, leaving, I followed him.  He kept about 60 to 100 yards out for a long time. First it got cloudy and then the wind died and then it got dark, so dark I walked head first into trees.  Hours later I heard a truck engine breaking in the distance and headed for the sound, I finally found a road and started walking down it for a few miles.  
A guy stopped and I told him my story and he asked what was I driving. I told him a little green Courier pickup, he said that he passed it 5 miles back.  I must have hit the road within a hundred yards of where I parked and walked the wrong way.

some threads just get better...up

Not yet, but not because I am a particularly good woodsman.  I've been lucky, and or limited myself to known areas with major landmarks.  It's too easy to carry a gps these days, just in case.

Hi!

My job is to teach people to find their way out in the woods, so usually I get around guite well - but once me and my buddy went out to do some bowfishing with lights (at night, that is  :)  ) and the place is sooo familiar to us - been there 100 + times... but this time there were guite a lot fog on the river and when we began to paddle to the hot spots ( some 500 meters from shore) our headlights just made all look like we were in this foggy bowl ( newer experienced nothing like it before, it was like this grayish wall all over where tou looked ) well - this did not slow us at all (we knew this place and we ARE the outdoorsmen, right ?) we paddle and paddle ( straight line away from our starting point, we assume) ... and finally out from the fog we can see ... the place we just left ... full circle - no glue how we did it - nice lesson: carry your compass ALLWAYS  with you!
It (mishap with your location)happens to you sooner or later and you just have to be cool with it - no panic - settle it down and think - when you figure it down - carry on.

Never really LOST but I have been turned around a few times to the point that I was convinced my compass was wrong   :knot head: in any big mountain country it is easy to take a ridge down into a drainage and then catch another one to return on only to find out it ends up no where near where you came from. I did that once Mt goat hunting and it was a LONG day. Never had to spend the night out in the woods, but the older I get it seems that I have a diminished sense of direction  so I have to pay more attention of the direction and surroundings.

QuoteOriginally posted by Plumber:
an I thought I knew myself. Igot lost about 20 years ago.MY BODY broke out in a sweat like I have never expearanced before. I have not been lost since,A little turned around but not lost.My clothes were wet in less then 5 mins.Iam talking sox an all I was scared.all ended well after about 6 hrs I made it to a road an a pickup stopped an asked if I were lost, an I said yes how did you know he replyied I can tell by the look on your face.DONT panic like I DID iT COULD BE THE DIFFERANCE OF LIKE AN DEATH.when hunting in remote areas to this day I take a 1500yds ball of twine it weights less then 8 oz,when I shoot a deer I tie it to the base of my tree an start folling the blood trail.when I find my deer I tie it to the deer.calm down an regroup.I dont like or trust a GPS It dose not always work where I am.this method has NEVER let me down.P.S if your deer runs longer then 1500 yds you aint getting him anyhow.ED

Thats a good idea on the thread

Never really lost but I do a ton of scouting, have maps, compass, gps. Still been turned around a few times, all the pine trees look the same and there is some big country where I hunt. I always have several ways to make fire and a bit of food. I also know if I ever really get lost in the mountains of CO if you follow a drainage down you will hit civilization eventually, might have to walk a little further than you planed but just keep going down and you will get out. I have stayed out overnight several times by choice because I got on elk and didnt want to go miles back to camp and have to start looking for them again the next day. (squirrell is mighty tasty cooked over a fire when your hungry)

Never totally  lost, I once got turned around but I new the road was to the south. unfortunately I was 2 miles from the truck when I got back to the road.

Got to spend the night in Greens Swamp down east in NC.  Shot a doe in the evening, followed the trail by flashlight, mostly on my belly in the poccosins.  (Poccisins is a word for brush so dense you can stick your hand into it and can't see your hand.) I finally found the doe and started back but just couldn't break thru the poccosins.  Map and compass of course pointed the right way but I just couldn't get through.

I built a small fire and roasted a hunk of backstrap and had a nice evening.  In the morning I found myself within 15 yards of open savanna, I had come within 15 yds of the end of the poccosin run.

Next time I bring salt, pepper, coffee and more water.

Never been truely lost myself but my Dad was before I was born. He got turned around in the White River bottoms of southeast Arkansas. He ended up spending the night out there and was found the next morning by the search party. He had been hunting with his brother-in-law and I can tell you my Mom was pretty pissed at my Uncle. I really believed my Dad paniced and started trying to walk out. If he would have just sit still my Uncle could have probably found him. My Dad lost his eyeglasses that night and the next afternoon they went out and found them. Dad said he was surprized that he was never that far out in the bottoms. This episode really messed my Dad up for the rest of his life and he would never hunt a area unless he was very familiar with it.

Ross

Never. I carry a compass, but only for following topo maps in unfamiliar territory. You can keep your GPS.