doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com In The Big Woods

Like I said before: Dersu Uzala --- the scene where he and Arseniev get lost in a blizard at nightfall. Best scene I've ever seen in a film. On the Turner Classic Movie channel, March 30th. Chops

Jerry V Lapes' orienteering tips are very good ones. The topo maps, for those who have not used them, are fantastic and open a whole new world of new hunting areas to you. Many times, I picked out a new hunting spot on a topo map and went in blind in the dark, hunted all day, and was able to come out in the dark 12 hours later and be within a few hundred yards of my truck. This did not require constant map and compass checking. That one time that had me doubting my compass was a time I felt sure I knew my way out.

Someone mentioned the folly of hunting alone. For years, my work gave me days off in mid-week when my hunting buddies were all working. It was hunt alone or stay home. I came to enjoy the solitude of hunting all day and often not seeing another hunter. I tried to leave an itinerary or xerox copy of a topo of the section I planned to hunt. But sometimes I got halfway to my destination, and decided to hit another spot which often would have sent searchers to the wrong county. Not smart. Once when I had told my buddies where I was hunting, I arrived back at camp four hours after dark, having shot a buck way back in right at quitting time. They were quite worried, but were so drunk they couldn't have found their ass with both hands.

I always carry some basic survival gear in my fanny pack. Matches, lighter, hexamine tablets or bars for easy fire starting, space blanket, water, jerky or candy bars, small led flashlight with fresh batteries, whistle, cell phone, FRS/GMRS radio even if hunting alone (leave channel to moniter in your itinerary), and one of those thin light plastic 9'x12' dropcloths which weighs next to nothing, but can provide dry, windproof shelter. All of this stuff is less than a couple pounds. I add chemical handwarmers and spare gloves, ski mask, etc. for very cold weather. I think the knowledge that you have a few basics that can keep you dry and warm if you had to spend a night in the woods will do a lot to stave off the panic that will only make matters worse.

I still frequently hunt alone, mostly in flintlock season when it is often near zero and no one else is out. Mainly, I worry about slipping and breaking a leg or something that would prevent me from building a fire or shelter.

Keith's back pack sounds like mine except mine has no radio and does have a pretty complete first aid kit and a Grayman 7" Maxipounder survival knife (in case getting lost is so embarrassing that I have to fall on my sword....),

The only other place besides the big woods that I have ever gotten lost is the Centro Storico (old town) of Florence, Italy late at night, somewhat drink taken. Sobered up fast but took about an hour to get oriented and back to my hotel. A LOUSY feeling. Looked into my tourist backpack back at the hotel and found....a compass!

Ever since then I have always just pretended I was in the Big Woods when in a Big City. Map and compass all the way. So people stare when you pull out a compass on a street corner in Mexico DF or Paris to be sure you are on course; so what? (They all assume we are crazy anyway. The young ones assume it's some kinda electronic gadget--"look, Grampa's checking out the Internet!" I actually heard that in Guadalajara....) It took me a couple of times to figure out that a compass DOESN'T work in a cab----DUUUUHHHHH!).

I TRY not to hunt alone any more (I'm near 67). But I'd rather die hunting alone than almost any other way.

Never been really lost in the woods or even in the Everglades National Park, where I've fished for 30 years; sometimes I have come out where I did not expect to though. Once on a trip to Canada goose hunting, I had a several hour lay-over at the Minneapolis airport, and decided to take a bus over to the Mall of the Americas to kill time looking at the fish. I got lost in there, but was able to use my compass to get back to the side of the Mall where the bus stop was...Geo

Whew!, close call...almost had to ask directions.

Yea Geo. I am with you. Never been lost in "Big Woods" of North America, Southeast Asia, Europe, Central or South America or jungle islands of the western Pacific. Probably because I had woods for my playground from very early age and developed a different set of observational skills than city kids. However subway systems are places of terror where direction, and distance are warped. And I know to never enter a mall without a professional mall guide(i.e. a female). Your suggestion about using a compass inside a mall gives me hope - assuming I ever am forced to enter one again. The limited number of times I have been in a mall I didn't find any gun shops and males my age seemed to be required to sit on benchs in small groups placed around the central corridor for that purpose. Perhaps they were lost too or is that a location used to drop off older men like unwanted cats?

Shopping Mall Rules:
If in the unlikely reason you are ever required to enter one of these behemoths keep the following in mind:
1. Write down the aisle where you parked your car as this is just like parking at an airport.
2. As soon as you enter a mall find a "You Are Here" sign and write down the names of the stores around you as you will probably be unfamiliar with most. This is essential for finding your way back out. If you have a GPS take a reading at this point.
3. You have probably accurately assessed that there are few if any middle aged males present. This is due to the fact that most males will only enter one of these when in tow of a female.
4. You will quickly discover that there is virtually nothing of interest for sale in any of the stores so you might as well take up a spot on one of the benches until it's time to leave(Unless the dreaded Step 5 applies).
5. If you have been coerced into going there by your other half to buy some "decent cloths so we can go out" let her pick them out,don't argue,try them on and get out as quickly as possible.
6. Upon returning home pour yourself a healthy dollop of "Old Stump Puller" and shortly your blood pressure will return to normal.
7' Get out you favorite double and run a few patches thru the barrels and soon all will be forgotten.
Jim