How to escape from pursuers in the woods (an evasion skill-building game)

Another fun game that also build skills -- in this case, a technique for evading pursuers in the woods. We use this technique (and variants of it) in capture-the-flag games with Forest Monks, and sometimes just for fun as a family.

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[ReWildUniversity]

Hi Friends! A few thoughts on some comments on this video. I try to answer as many comments as I can, but I get three recurring comments that I’d like to respond to here instead of doing it over and over below.

The first is the idea that it’s not safe for kids to go out into the woods. In my view, we live in a world where media is designed to trigger our fears and make us feel helpless. We shouldn’t cater to these fears – instead, we should teach children (and adults) skills that make them more competent in any situation life will give them. As we get more addicted to the comforts of our couches, the perceived safety of our smartphones, and continue to let fear-based media affect our mentality, we'll eventually all be cowering in our box houses, watching screens while others have adventures, but believing that we are too weak, too stupid, and too vulnerable to venture outside our walls. Games like these remind children (and adults) that they are capable, that nature is much less dangerous than our comfort-sculpted gilded cages, and help us remember that we'll have more fun actually getting dirty than we will sitting and staring at a screen as we intake yet another program that convinces us that we're totally inept at anything besides being good "consumers".

The second comes from people who talk about their guns and how they will just shoot and kill anyone pursuing them. As a fellow gun owner, I’d urge those of us who support gun ownership to be more responsible with our words. Our second amendment rights are not guaranteed, and there are countries, such as Finland, where you can’t even legally carry a puukko, let alone a handgun. We shouldn’t be complacent. In a situation where someone is chasing you through the woods, they might be a stranger running to tell you that, for instance, your car has just been broken into. Shoot first isn’t a competent option, and recent news stories of people shooting people who are delivering a package or trying to go get a kid’s ball that rolled into someone’s yard are examples of that level of hyper-reactivity and incompetence. This just adds evidence in the pockets of people who feel we should not have the right to own guns. If we’re so incompetent that we can’t assess a situation properly, we’re just telling them that they are correct. I realize that owning a gun gives us a certain sense of power, but brazenly saying we’d just shoot people (are those people even actually chasing you through the woods, or are they some teens playing tag who just happen to be running in your direction?) is the exact opposite of what any well-trained and competent gun owner would say or do. I live in a rural area where many people open or conceal carry all the time. Every one of those people I know is competent with their weapons and isn’t hyper-reactive. If any of them were as reactive as “if someone seems to be chasing me through the woods, I’d just shoot them”, the neighborhood would tell that person to leave their guns at home. Because that one person’s preschool-level reactivity is the exact kind of stupidity that will eventually mean we will lose the rights we cherish.

The third comment points out that the methods in this video won’t work for dogs/drones/robots or whatever else they imagine is going to be chasing after them. Hopefully everyone realizes that and we don’t need it pointed out. This skillset is meant to give children or adults a strategic edge over untrained pursuers. I did give an outline of advice regarding dogs in one of the comments if you care to search for it.

Finally, I’d like to give a big thanks to everyone who thumbs-ups, subscribes, and supports the main idea behind this video, which is that we will be a better society if we get out into nature, teach kids (and adults) skills besides just how to stare at screens, and develop competence in a wide range of skillsets that challenge our bodies and minds at all levels.

[largelarry]

I'm ex-military and have a tip. Think of your pursuers eyes as a bright light. If you were in the woods after dark and had one light bulb on and you looked around you would notice that the bulk of the woods would be covered by shadows. So as your running you need to be making ongoing mental evaluations of staying in the imaginary shadows, keeping the trees, large rocks and hills between you and them. Using the idea of the light and shadows helps you calculate all the angles in your head day or night. If you get lucky and can move along a ridge, hill or cliff out of sight, you need to move as fast as you can covering as much ground as possible. Your pursuers will also be making calculations as they hunt for you, and time vs distance is what will save your life. The longer it goes on the bigger their search area becomes, and they understand this. So you need to out run their calculation and get beyond their search area. If your pursuer is older, fat, out of shape or just stupid, you need to be using any or all of this to your advantage. I hope this helps.

[lucidstream]

As a kid I did exactly this once, as I was being chased by a policeman after popping some firecrackers! I ran as fast as I could, through a tunnel, and cut to the right so he lost sight of me. There was a long path there with a lot of curves so no clear line of sight. Right at the beginning of this path I threw myself off the path and rolled under some bushes and lied completely still. He came sprinting right past me, maybe 1 meter away from me, and he continued running until I didn't see him. If he had just used his eyes he would've certainly seen me but he was so intent that I've run this track and sure that I couldn't possibly just hide in plain sight. I ran straight back to the direction I came from and didn't see him again! I was 12 years old and felt like the king of the world. Now I'm 40 and I still enjoy thinking about it.

[shewho]

I had to learn this the hard way when I was 17 and had escaped my kidnapper. What he didn’t know was that I was used to running barefoot through the woods every day for fun. Excellent that you’re teaching this!

[tikitavi]

I recall encountering a wolf in the wild. There was a light snow and I tracked it for fun only to find that it had doubled back on my original track and was following me as I was following it.
I was well prepared and had no real fear, but it was a fascinating little game.

[Poisonedblade]

As kids, we used to hunt each other in this one forested area down the street. After a while, we got creative and learned how to quickly climb trees because nobody looks up. We could get 20 feet off of the ground in seconds. I think all of my childhood stories end with, "Amazingly, nobody got hurt."

[feyHiker]

I've done this. While out hiking on an old logging road which is popular with mountain bikers and horseback riders a couple of guys came whizzing by on dirt bikes. When they got to the end of the road, instead of going on up into the woods I heard their motors idling like they were deciding which way to go. Then I heard them coming back. I ran up a side trail and they came back past the trail I went up. Then they turned around again and went up the trail I was on, at this point I had found a large tree just feet from the trail and hid behind that inching around it as they went past. They flew past me and turned left on an upper trail. Like your rabbit in this video, I bolted straight out bushwhacking under brambles and brush and came out just a few yards from where I parked my car. I have been told that I'm too paranoid but ya know, being a woman hiking alone that paranoia has served me. I love that you're teaching your kids this skill.

[ronrampfel]

You sir, are a perfect example of an awesome dad. Teaching those girls while making it a game. You have my respect.

[domesticatedranger]

A tip we taught when I was an instructor in US Army Ranger School to move without being spotted was to carefully move either directly toward or directly away those you need to evade because lateral movement will draw the eye, but movement that is coming straight toward you or straight away from you is much harder to detect. Once you get terrain or thick vegetation between you and the pursuer, then you can move laterally to get off the same direction of travel and continue to evade.

[jeremylawson]

“no one is brave enough to hide close” is a good tip, almost like the more audacious the hiding spot the more powerful.

[jaramillolugo]

Not only she changed directions covering herself with the slope, but she chose to hide towards the sun rays to startle and blind her pursuer!
Clever lady she is!

[eleveneleven]

I live in France and have hunters around my house in season.
On a number of occasions I've watched them pass by, with their dogs, only to see a hare get up and walk away after they've passed on. 😁

[iloveit]

My dog will hide just his head behind something and think he’s disappeared…poof invisible 😂 it’s hilarious every single time

[kalikale]

Tip: A trained or knowledgeable pursuer will not scan to look for you. Scanning doesn't allow for you to see subtle movement. They will do an area and look at one object in the distance. This allows for the peripheral vision to pick up small movements. This also works if you're trying to see your pursuer and have lost track of them. Don't scan!

[NoctuaStrigiformes]

Super late to this video, but I have a few tips I've picked up in the military and by hunting. One, avoid trails. Two, take the hard way. Three, don't move in straight lines. The more time you can evade, the larger the search area becomes. Don't hide in obvious areas, but if in the open, use the vegetation to your advantage. Above all, don't panic. One of the most famous snipers in WWII hid in the open by simply sitting in front of a tree, obviously wearing clothing that blended in. Sometimes, being still is the best option. If they are using dogs, you have to move. If thermal, then use heavy vegetation to your advantage. Thermal can't see behind trees or through thick canopy. Don't be afraid to try and get behind those pursuing you. Just don't allow yourself to get boxed in by terrain. Thanks for an awesome video! And I'm proud of you passing on the knowledge to the little ones!

[earndoggy]

I'm an old lady now, but we used to do this when I was a kid. I got really good at it, once I actually almost panicked my family that I was lost. I used a hill and some underbrush. I went down, out of sight, then ran left and went under some ferns and found a hollow in them. Laid down in that and they went past me multiple times looking. I could see them but they couldn't see me. I never did tell them exactly where I was LOL

[davidr]

As a father myself, I got GREAT joy out of how you are interacting with you children. Way to set an example and showing father's are actually very intelligent and capable. Rather that the dad being the joke unable to survive on their own. Thank you for being a good man, father, and naturalist!

[jovenalasis]

Kudos to this dad for training his kids at a young age. 😊

[audryskelecius]

When I was a kid playing hide and seek tag in the woods with my friends I used this instinctively. I was at the bottom of a hill with a path that veered left and was spotted from the top of the hill. Knowing he’d be focused on his footing and since he couldnt see well in the darkness and through the trees, I decided to run into the woods off the path and lay down. He ran right past me, following the path just as I had hoped for.

It doesnt seem like anything special, but the fact that this memory has stuck with me for so long goes to show how primal of an experience evasion is.

[grinning_owl]

Just before you change directions, you can toss a rock or a stick in the other direction to deceive the pursuer into thinking you have gone in the direction of the landing rock or stick. However, when you toss it, it has to be a low lob, not a high one, lest the pursuer can see it.