Survival situations

[duckhunt]

Sitting here drinking coffee watching survivor man on tv. The wheels started turning in my head, what would I do in a survival situation.

Here in Iowa im never more than a couple miles from a road. About the only bad case scenario would be an injury or a health issue. Im getting into western hunting so things might change.

I work with a guy that archery hunts colorado elk every year. He got lost in a snow storm once and was out for about 24 hours. By the time he got back to camp his dad and uncles were going to give him another hour or 2 before they called search and rescue. They have a deal that they meet back at camp every night so they were getting pretty worried. Everything turned out ok for him.

So im wondering if anybody has found themselves in a survival situation. I would love to here your story.

 

[Scrappy]

I don't have a survival story. But I can walk a perfect circle in the woods and walk right back up to the truck and swear that can't be my truck due to the fact that I walked a straight line away from it. So glad I have a GPS and compass. Oh ya don't follow me cause I almost failed land nav in the army and marine corps.

 

[duckhunt]

I don't have a survival story. But I can walk a perfect circle in the woods and walk right back up to the truck and swear that can't be my truck due to the fact that I walked a straight line away from it. So glad I have a GPS and compass. Oh ya don't follow me cause I almost failed land nav in the army and marine corps.

Duck hunting with my dad we pulled out of a back water channel with the boat in the fog about 4 in the morning. All we had to do was go straight across the main channel on the Mississippi river to get to where we beach the boat to hunt potholes on an island. After about a half hour in the fog we pulled into another back water channel. I told dad that the only back water is the channel we just came out of. Yeah we just did a big circle and was heading back the way we just came from. By the time we figured everything out and got to our spot and set decoys it was starting to get light and the ducks were flying. We did manage a few wood ducks that morning.

 

[Rzrbck918]

I don’t have a western story but when I was 13, my dad and I were whitetail hunting in southern Arkansas and I shot two deer a few minutes before dark. It was back in the woods about a half mile with no benefit of logging roads or established trails. My dad got the four wheeler and started snaking back through and woods with a terrible headlight and a good old Rayovac dcell flashlight you had to hit against your palm every minute or so for illumination.

We loaded a deer on the front of the atv and one on the back and my dad decided to take a shortcut back to the main road. Going across a fairly new clear cut, Dad flipped the atv and the rack caught his ankle, shattering his tibia and fibula just above the talus. I wasn’t big enough to flip the atv and it was already dark so we spent the better part of that night huddled around a small fire waiting for someone to look for us. This was prior to the advent of Mountain House, so we had a pretty good stash of Vienna sausages, Mountian Dew, and oatmeal creme pies assuring our long term survival. It was cold but thankfully not wet so we weren’t in imminent danger.

We were finally rescued a couple hours before daylight by friends from the hunting camp. From this I learned a few things. First, someone needs to know where you intend to be. I hunt with a the same guys and we know each other’s styles and strategies. If someone doesn’t make it back by 8:30 or 9 pm. We know where to generally go to find them. Second, I also carry enough to spend the night on every hunt, even if it’s close to home. Fire and food calms. Third, shortcuts are rarely that. Most of the time, established roads and trails took advantage of the most passable route. Finally, be calm and wait. Maybe not for rescue but at least until daylight. I have a good sense of direction but strange woods in the dark is no place to test that out.

 

[Rancho Loco]

I married a redhead.

 

[Ben Long]

I married a redhead, too. Live dangerous.
All of my "near misses" have involved either hypothermic weather, small boats in big water, power tools, falls/slides in cliffy areas and motor vehicles. And redheads.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

I married once never again.Spent the night in a small cave,fire and
no wife saved me!

 

[OzzyDave]

Spent about 6 hours “disorientated” in the aussie bush in the midst of summer. This cattle station is a smaller block but still at 360 thousand acres, it’s a big back yard. I jumped out of the car for a “quick hunt” in a dry creek system that has produced a few good hogs in the past.I spotted a wild dog and the hunt was one. I followed it along the creek for miles and he just wouldn’t give me a shot. I’d been walking into the wind beside the dried creek the whole time. I figured back track and stay along the creek BUT hadn’t noticed the creek had split. After a few hours trudging I knew something wasn’t right - things didn’t look right. The temps were up in 38C mark and high humidity. My water was gone. I dug in the wet sand on the corner of the dry creek and found water about 2 feet down. It was warm and filthy but it was like finding gold. I had to stay hydrated. Dehydration will kill you quickly in these type of conditions. I sat in the shade, collecting my thoughts, deciding were I would sleep the night. As long as I was off the grounds so the pigs wouldn’t see me as a free feed. I managed to scoop about half a litre of water into water bladder. I figured I still had half hour of light left so continued along the creek bed. Just on dark, I found boot prints of the others in our group and certain trees started looking familiar. Another hour and I was back at the car. The other boys were back there already deciding who should get what of my gear - nice mates. We made a plan after that in case it might happen again. I made a promise to not get out of the vehicle again without my radio and my GPS. Talking with the station owner a few days later, he said they had people lost out there before and at times they were only 500 metres from the homestead - it can all look the same and it can happen to anyone.

 

[LousyResident]

Spent about 6 hours “disorientated” in the aussie bush in the midst of summer. This cattle station is a smaller block but still at 360 thousand acres, it’s a big back yard. I jumped out of the car for a “quick hunt” in a dry creek system that has produced a few good hogs in the past.I spotted a wild dog and the hunt was one. I followed it along the creek for miles and he just wouldn’t give me a shot. I’d been walking into the wind beside the dried creek the whole time. I figured back track and stay along the creek BUT hadn’t noticed the creek had split. After a few hours trudging I knew something wasn’t right - things didn’t look right. The temps were up in 38C mark and high humidity. My water was gone. I dug in the wet sand on the corner of the dry creek and found water about 2 feet down. It was warm and filthy but it was like finding gold. I had to stay hydrated. Dehydration will kill you quickly in these type of conditions. I sat in the shade, collecting my thoughts, deciding were I would sleep the night. As long as I was off the grounds so the pigs wouldn’t see me as a free feed. I managed to scoop about half a litre of water into water bladder. I figured I still had half hour of light left so continued along the creek bed. Just on dark, I found boot prints of the others in our group and certain trees started looking familiar. Another hour and I was back at the car. The other boys were back there already deciding who should get what of my gear - nice mates. We made a plan after that in case it might happen again. I made a promise to not get out of the vehicle again without my radio and my GPS. Talking with the station owner a few days later, he said they had people lost out there before and at times they were only 500 metres from the homestead - it can all look the same and it can happen to anyone.

I had a similar situation as this down here in S. Florida. Everything is flat so there are no landmarks to orient yourself quickly and I was POSITIVE I knew which slough was hunting along. Turns out I had taken a wrong turn was and headed a completely different direction than I thought. Thankfully I know the roads in the area and always keep a compass in my pack and was able to get myself back out without stressing too much. But that moment when you realize you don't know where you're headed or where you are exactly is always worrisome.

Another time my dad and I got turned around looking for elk in central Washington. It was the first time in years that we disagreed on which direction we needed to go to head towards the truck. We had already decided that we needed to head downhill and out to follow water and eventually find a lake we knew was in the area when dad had us stop and pray. He eventually felt like we should hike uphill just about 50-100 yards to what looked like an open area. We popped out into a small clearing and an old logging road. We basically flipped a coin and chose a direction to head on the road and ran into someone else walking in for a late evening hunt. We made it to the main road around dark and had to hitch hike with fellow hunters for a ride back to our truck. It turns out that we had a semi circle around the end of a large knob to the tune of +/- 5 miles as the crow flies and if we'd have kept heading down and out we'd have definitely been staying at least one night in the woods, maybe more before someone found us. It was a 45 minute truck ride back to our truck.

 

[JTHOMP]

I don't have a survival story. But I can walk a perfect circle in the woods and walk right back up to the truck and swear that can't be my truck due to the fact that I walked a straight line away from it. So glad I have a GPS and compass. Oh ya don't follow me cause I almost failed land nav in the army and marine corps.

For this reason I carry a compass around my neck and it's in my hand when walking through the woods. If not and not following any distinct landmarks I will veer left. Sometimes at a great enough degree to make a full circle. GPS and onX help too but a compass keeps me from having to making a correction.

 

[PrairieHunter]

If it weren't for the GPS I would have been powerfully turned around (aka lost) a few times in the sandhills of Nebraska. So easy to get turned around out there.


My wife and daughter have started watching the program "naked and afraid". So I decided we should spend a night out in the woods this summer with no supplies. Should be interesting.

 

[bushman13]

I lived off of Ponce in Atlanta for a couple of years.

 

[Mallardsx2]

I sunk a 18 foot long 6 foot wide aluminum boat in the Patuxent River river one time. A set of Rogue waves came out of nowhere. That sucker disappeared right out from under me like a lead pebble...

There were bullsharks everywhere that year and my boat had 15 bloody stingray carcasses in it. lol

I consider that a success story.

 

[Europe]

Rancho Loco, Ben Long, Dirtclod------------Great responses, LOL And in reverse perhaps my most agonizing moments were in high school and college when all the well built redheads were dating all the cute boys (-:

Back to the initial question

I can't say we were ever in "total survival mode" , but I married an adventurer

Together, I think going on a hunt via dog sled, learning to build an igloo and staying in one while in Canada. The canoe trip down the Mackenzie River, The fly-in and drop off to the Alaska interior, the fly in and drop off to a VERY small island on the barrier reef--were all out of the norm --but loved it.

Hunting wise, I think spike camps were at times a bit scary ( weather wise ), the mountain lion hunt in Old Mexico was terrifying, but not survival--well maybe. Waking up in the morning and going out of your tent in Africa and finding elephant tracks around the tent was a bit unhinging in the night's that followed.

But by far my most terrifying moments were while sailing. The weather and faulty equipment created "survival moments" , mainly fear of running out of water, boat damage or even sinking due to sudden weather changes---BUT, I can not say I was ever in the same situation that Tom Hanks was in, in Castaway---but I was worried--no wait, I was scared and was praying --a lot!

Mallardsx2-------You have every right to consider surviving that a success story

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Fog without a compass or GPS can lead to big circles.

We had 3 college students dies when I was working on my grad degree.
One was struck by lightning mountain biking down in Canyonlands, one fell off a cliff,
the other died of hyperthermia when his sea kayak overturned at the Great Salt Lake.
In Alaska one of our college graduates was killed when he handed his firearm to his sister in a tree stand
back in Wisconsin and it discharged.
Sad to see young people who enjoyed the outdoors so much perish.

 

[MT Bound]

So far the hairiest situation I've gotten into has been when we shook hands with a sow Grizz... 3 times, she didn't like us around and got closer on each charge to let us know that, she was cranky!

Bring chains even in spring, muddy access roads can get slippery and if I didn't have all 4 chains last spring my truck mighta went for a slide down the deep side of the the road into a canyon.

I've only been a MT resident for 2 years & have gotten into more situations than hunting here as a Non-resident for 15 yrs, I hope the years to come are a little more tame than the last ones!!

 

[NoWiser]

I was ice fishing with 3 friends on Leech Lake in northern Minnesota in January about 12 years ago. It was after dark and I got slightly disorientated and ended up driving the ATV into a channel with thin ice. It went down and we all made it off the machine and trailer I was pulling, but then myself and two others went through again. We struggled to stay above water but, with much effort, were able to get back onto the ice. I then realized which way we needed to go to get to safe ice and, as I shouted to let my friends know, I went down again. I would not let them come back to get me and did not have the strength to get back up myself. Luckily it was quite cold and after a few minutes of clinging to the edge of the ice my gloves froze down enough where I was barely able to pull myself up and out of the water one last time. We then had a 2 mile walk across the ice to get to the nearest home. It was extremely hard for me to walk and talk by the time we got to shore. I was stumbling and falling every few steps the last couple hundred yards. When we banged on the door of a house with lights on, the first thing the guy said to me was "you need some peppermint schnapps!" I spent the night wrapped in every blanket I could find with the heat cranked, and was no worse for wear by the next morning. Voluntarily going back into the lake the next morning to retrieve the ATV was no picnic. I now wear a flotation suit every time I am on ice and I always have a set of ice picks in the front breast pocket. No exceptions.

Hunting I've been turned around often for various lengths of time, but definitely never even close to long enough to consider it a survival situation.

 

[duckhunt]

I was ice fishing with 3 friends on Leech Lake in northern Minnesota in January about 12 years ago. It was after dark and I got slightly disorientated and ended up driving the ATV into a channel with thin ice. It went down and we all made it off the machine and trailer I was pulling, but then myself and two others went through again. We struggled to stay above water but, with much effort, were able to get back onto the ice. I then realized which way we needed to go to get to safe ice and, as I shouted to let my friends know, I went down again. I would not let them come back to get me and did not have the strength to get back up myself. Luckily it was quite cold and after a few minutes of clinging to the edge of the ice my gloves froze down enough where I was barely able to pull myself up and out of the water one last time. We then had a 2 mile walk across the ice to get to the nearest home. It was extremely hard for me to walk and talk by the time we got to shore. I was stumbling and falling every few steps the last couple hundred yards. When we banged on the door of a house with lights on, the first thing the guy said to me was "you need some peppermint schnapps!" I spent the night wrapped in every blanket I could find with the heat cranked, and was no worse for wear by the next morning. Voluntarily going back into the lake the next morning to retrieve the ATV was no picnic. I now wear a flotation suit every time I am on ice and I always have a set of ice picks in the front breast pocket. No exceptions.

Hunting I've been turned around often for various lengths of time, but definitely never even close to long enough to consider it a survival situation.

Thats a scary deal. Im always nervous when out on the ice.