RE: Ever been lost in the woods while Deer Hunting?
I always used to think that being lost meant that you didn' t know where you were. Nope. Being lost means thinking you know EXACTLY where you are.
When I got lost it wasn' t in the deep woods or on some strange and unfamiliar territory. I was in my pals back yard (35 acre back yard) on the edge of suburbia in a place I knew like the back of my hand. This fall I was tracking a deer with my daughter. We tracked slow through really thick cover to the NORTH (on hands and knees sometimes) for an hour and a half. We tracked a to the edge of this BEAUTIFUL field. It was so perfect for hunting I was afraid to come out into the field because I knew somebody had to be hunting it. Mary said, " Daddy, isn' t this the tree you hunt from?" " No," I told her. " That' s way back on the SOUTH side of these woods. " Oh," she said, not quite convinced. We tracked a bit more. " Mary? Do you hear that train? How come the whistle is coming fromd over there? Shouldn' t it be over here?" " I don' t know, Daddy." I kept admiring the field -- started thinking about asking the owner for permission to hunt it. 10 minutes later: " Hey, Mary. See this old logging road? I bet any money when we find the deer we' ll be able to drag the deer straight out this road to Greg' s field." " OK, Daddy." 10 minutes later. " Look, Mary -- another can of gas? That guy must have left a couple cans out. It looks just like the one he left by my hunting tr..." And suddenly my whole world spun around 180 degrees.
Anyway, you get the picture. That beautiful field I was admiring was the one I' d been hunting in for the past two seasons. I was so confident that I was in one particular place that I completely missed all sorts of landmarks (the tree, the field, the road, the train whistle, the gas can, etc). I could have found my way back -- I was using flagging tape as I tracked, but I will no longer trust my " dead reckoning."