I have been turned around lots of times but truly lost only once.

We were hunting elk in eastern Oregon on a November hunt, as we drove to the top of the ridge there were fresh tracks heading into the canyon. With some where between 12 to 14 inches of snow on the ground and a gentle snow falling it was easy to tell they were just there.

I was 14 years old at the time and it took some convincing but dad finally let me take in after them. So I bailed for the canyon hot on the trail of what i thought were probably 15 elk. With that many tracks there had to be a bull in the bunch.

I spent the next two hours looking down and forward never thinking to look back. Well I finally caught up to them and there were 18 cows not a bull in the bunch. I sat down to eat a granola bar and drink some water, thats when the fog rolled in.
When i say fog i mean i couldn' t see much more than 15 feet in front of you.

This is when i started to get really worried considering it had been snowing the whole time and i figured if i tried to backtrack the tracks would be filled in by now.

At this point i figure that im lost but there is no way i' m gonna freeze to death so I found one of those pitch stumps, the kind that were logged in the early 1900' s, the stump was close to 8 feet tall. Well i set it ablaze and soon had bare ground in close to 12 feet around that stump.

I still rember that fire you know the kind where when your looking at it your front side is almost too hot to stand while your back side still has ice forming on it.

Any way about an hour and a half after i started that fire dad walked up stood there for a while warming himself and finally said " ya ready to head for the truck?" . I followed dad to the truck never to this day telling him i had no idea where i was at, although i have a feeling he knew.

I never thought to think that he knew where those elk were heading I was full of energy and couldnt contain myself. Dad on the other hand drove around the ridge walked into the canyon and had all those cows single file right in front of him, then he backtracked to where i was at. Boy was I glad for that.

I pay alot more attention to where i am at and where i am going, I carry a topo map of the area that im hunting and a compass, I purchased a gps last year but havent gotten a chance to use it much yet.

Good luck and stay safe