anyone been lost in the woods?

[cabage]

I've been in the woods for my whole life, but last night it happened. I had a long walk out after dark in a place i've never hunted before. Low and behold I had to sneak out through a swamp. The sky was cloudy and raining so I couldn't see the horrizon lights or stars or anything. I only had to go through about 200 yards coming off a hill to find the easement road, but after about 200 more yards than I thought I should have gone. I suddenly realized I didn't know what way was facing. Now I know why i've been carrying a compass for all these years. Pulled it out of my pack and sure enough i was 90 degrees off in my heading. I paniced for a minuet since that swamp was like 1200 acers. Luckily i was only 10 minuets off course so I took a deep breath and turned east. I poked out about 200 yards south of where I wanted to come out but i was out. I actually wasn't lost, but I could have been in there all night if i hadn't had my compass. I'm glad I had my compass. Anyone else ever had this problem?

[HuntingEd]

last year i got lost in the hoback mountain range outside of jackson hole, WY, after dark. Thankfully it was only for a few hours... but i started to go into shock and hypothermia, the backcountry woulda killed me.... Probably the scariest moment in my life....The hardest thing for me was controling the panic... i was able to keep my head and back track enough to get w/in 300 yrds of my buddy, who could barely hear the yelling....

[Gut Check]

Yes...I understand the feeling that you had. I was hunting ona conservationarea in northern MO and got lost. I scouted it briefly with my cousin and friend the day before and hung my stand that evening. I usually stay very late in my stand and got down and started heading for camp, so I thought. I made a wrong turn at some point and was lost for about an hour. I called my cousin on the 2 way as he was very familiar with the layout of the land b/c he had hunted it the previous 5 seasons or so. We ended up finding each other by communicating with each other. Needless to say, I heard about it from everyone the rest of theweek we were there.

I had always carried reflective twisties and put them at anypoint I change major direction that doesn't have a landmark that stands out. I failed to do so on this trip.

My first purchase was a Lowrance iFinder when I got home! I haven't been lost since

[GR8atta2d]

Not lately, but as a youngster, if I wasn't lost, I wasn't hunting.

[MichaelT.]

I was lost, or as I say locationally challenged once, then I bought a garmin gps 45 the year it came out. About 11 or so years ago. Since then I have replaced it with a garmin gps 72. I always carry my gps and a package of at least 8 extra AA batteries. I have never been lost since and I can safely say I never will be again.

[Planter]

I now use a cheap GPS. Mark my parking spot and all my stands and love it. I can walkto my stands without a second thought. The neat thing about it is I can hunt deeper in and just stroll to the truck. That way I can use every bit of shooting light. I can go back to the truck when it is darker than my wifes heart out there in the woods. Still carry a compass and drop a couple of extra batteries in my already overweight pack just in case. >>>>>>>>>>>>&g t;Whack!

[justhunt]

I prefer to call it, turned around.

[G2 Shooter]

I have never been lost because in the areas I hunt, if you walk 30 minutes in one direction, you will hit a road. I have been turned around several times. Opening day this year was one of them. My buddy and I had put up several ladder stands on his property. The one that I went to was surrounded by small saplings about 5-7 feet high. Well, at 5:30am with a overcast sky, those saplings looked like something out of Blair Witch Project. I walked around for 15 minutes all within 40 yards of that damn ladder stand. Finally came out 30 yards from it and found it. [:@]
It's funny looking back on it though. I do have a GPS which I would carry with me if I ever went to larger areas.

[Rod1210]

My brother and I got turned around our second year hunting in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The area we were in is one of the most remote areas in the state with nothing but over grown logging roads for many miles. Anyhow, I had shot a deer and after we tracked and field dressed it starting dragging it out. We only had about a hundred yards to go but knew something wasn't right after we went about 300. Took us about half an hour to find we had somehow made a complete U-turn and were heading further from the road. We learned a quick lesson and have always carried a compass since.

[passthrough24]

I got lost chasing my Beagle around after dark....i wasnt paying attention to where i was and when i found the dog i hadnt a clue where i was...