Survival Instructor Explains How to Find Your Way out of the Woods if you are Lost: New Technique

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and as always....
Stay in the Woods,

Dan

[Hogheadsforbreakfast]

I'm 40 and I've been hunting all my life, one thing that I've noticed is that when you realize that you aren't where you thought you were, a sense of un-needed urgency kicks in. You walk faster, you panic to some extent whether you realize it or not. I think your advice to sit down and take a few minutes to compose yourself is definitely sound advice, thinking clearly is step one.

[oxyfee]

I’ll just take a bottle of Jack with me, my wife always seems to find me when I’m drinking.

[stephend]

My wife’s Grandpa spent many years as a surveyor in northern Canada. He always said the most important thing you could carry was a deck of cards. If you were ever lost you should sit down and deal a hand of solitaire, After a few minutes someone will pop over your shoulder and tell you the red 6 can go on the black 7. And when they do you pack up your cards and follow them out.

[croatiancroissant]

Always look backward as you hike, especially where one geographical feature meets another.(You should be doing this anyways. It’s how I caught a mountain lion stalking me, and it probably saved my life). A WW2 Paratrooper taught me this trick. People think they’ll recognize terrain on their way back, but it’s a completely different view. It’s like looking at multiple faces just one time, and expecting to recognize them the next time you see the backs of their heads. Try to take mental snapshots every time you turn around and look at where you’ve been. I’ve been 20 miles off trail, into the Sierras, and never been lost or questioned myself. It worked when I was 16 and it still works at 45.

And never panic.

[crymars]

My dad was a bit of a freak IMO. He could go out hunting (never use an actual “trail”) in the middle of the night. It would be pitch black with only a flashlight and after you had been in the woods for several hours you could ask him where the truck was and he could not only tell you the direction but also how many miles away it was. And to top it off he could also tell you if you were near a National park etc. He never carried and map or a compass. It was amazing. RIP dad.

[corablue]

I will never go camping without 2 different colors of yarn- like orange and yellow. They would make great markers for going into a forest, and it would alert searchers you had been on a particular path. As well as a reminder to me where I had traveled. Yarn is bright, biodegradable, and birds will use it later to line their nests. It’s also very light weight and super easy to pack. I got lost in a small forest I own, but when I saw the yarn I knew I was headed back in the same direction. I’d definitely do this if I stepped off a trail to use the bathroom. Might seem silly, but I know first hand it works.

[MinutestoRouletteFortune]

I was lost for 3 days in the woods of Oregon. As a former Marine I knew the basics of survival and the hardest thing was admitting I was lost. I used my shoe laces and belt to build a lean-to, found some dry wood as it was raining, as a smoker I was able to build a fire with my lighter and was good for the night. I was deep in the canyon by some water and nobody could hear me screaming. The next morning I heard chainsaws and started hiking to the sound of the saws. I finally found a logging road in the process. 4 hours later from hiking I realized I was hearing the echo of the chain saws and they were the other direction. I headed back the other direction but was still hearing an echo and found a place to hang out for the night. The next morning I tried again and finally found the loggers 5 hours later. His truck was open and I was so hungry I ate his lunch and drank almost all of his water. I found them on the hill and they gave me a ride to a camp that was being set up my a sheriff search party. It was a Monday and asked the Sheriff if I could call work to let them know I wouldn't be coming in to work. My employer didn't believe I was lost in the woods until the Sheriff took the phone and explained I was. My new nickname at work was Euell natural hippy dude from the 70s that ate bark and grape nuts or something. I still use it to this day.

[medicalmisinformation]

The moss always grows on the OUTSIDE of the tree. Ergo, if you see moss, you are not IN a tree.

[ajrowe]

One thing that has helped me so much while traveling through the woods on trails or not, is always turn around and look behind you. It's easy to recognize a trail going one way. But they always look completely different walking the opposite direction. I always just turn and view the trail or path I'm taking from both directions so when I see it again it will look familiar.

[viasevenvai]

The most disturbing thing about getting lost is the “180” your head takes. It’s a tough transition to go from internal thoughts of ‘fun, thank god im not at work, this is beautiful’ to suddenly ‘where am i, how much water do i have….’

[Lyralope]

My son, who was 5 years old at the time, got himself lost while we were visiting friends at their cabin. The adults were inside chatting and the 6 children were outside playing together. My son started following a butterfly. Because of trees and high grass and shrubs he could see the cabin anymore. He did exactly what you said. We went in one direction then went back to where he was then took another direct. So he kept going back and forth always going back to where he started from. When he went in one of the directions he saw a church steeple. He remembered seeing this church on our way to my friends so he now know which direction to go and he found the cabin. If he would have kept walking in the wrong direction he could have gotten himself lost in a huge forest. I was very proud of him for keeping a level head and figured out what was the best way for him to find his way back. It broke my heart when he said he kept calling out for me but nobody heard him.

[davidpbcivil]

You’re so right in your first piece of advice. Gather your composure. I grew up in the country and got lost in the woods behind our house when I was a kid. Still remember it 40 years later. I started to feel that panic but calmed myself down and gathered my wits. Sat there for 10 minutes listening intently and heard a car on a distant road. Headed in that direction and made it out of the woods before dark. I was pretty proud of myself.

[sandstorm]

I went off the trail with my family a few summers ago. They used the “Get pissed and start screaming at each other” method. Rule of thumb: If it doesn’t work at family holidays, it probably isn’t a good idea in the woods. On the bright side, politics didn’t come up.. I hike with friends now.

[theSinisterBend]

I grew up in the woods of northern PA. The best advice I was ever given in regards to getting lost in the woods came from my father. He always told me to find a creek or a stream and follow it. You'll eventually find people/ civilization.

[meself]

Not a hunter myself but have done a fair amount of hiking and backpacking. And with all due respect, there's a much simpler way. I read about this somewhere, I've used it and it works. You use a SPIRAL pattern. Start from where you're standing, choose whether you want to go clockwise or counterclockwise, whichever you're more comfortable with and you simply walk in ever-widening circles from where you're standing.. An ever-widening spiral in other words. That way you're covering all the compass points at once and you will hit the trail eventually. Much more efficient and less time-consuming than walking in straight lines and then having to retrace if you choose the wrong direction which is an inherent flaw in the ray technique which otherwise has some logic to it. But the spiral method is much faster. And if if darkness and/or dropping temps are closing in on you really don't want to be messing around. But thanks for the video.

[eugenethaden]

As I'm traveling in strange areas I have a habit of looking behind me to see where I've been. This has helped me numerous times to get back to where I've started out as I have "memorized" the images of what it looks like to go back the other way. This works when walking around big cities too.

[outbackeddie]

I was on a hunting trip about 20 years ago and I used a GPS to mark my camp location. I took off looking for a herd of caribou that had passed through the night before and about 3 hours later I decided to return to camp. I checked my GPS to get a bearing on the return route and much to my horror I discovered it was dead. The below-freezing temperature had killed the alkaline batteries in the GPS. I knew I was 3 hours from camp but that's a long way to take a chance walking with no markers or clear trail. So, I ended up warming up the batteries in my pocket, reinstalled them, and the GPS became functional again. I now use lithium batteries in the GPS. This is just another tip from someone who screwed up and learned the hard way.

[NDFlyFisher]

“I've never been lost, but I was mighty turned around for three days once.” - Daniel Boone

Great video! Thanks for sharing this method. I’ll have to try it next time I get “mighty turned around.” 😀

[benyandell]

Very useful technique. Two thoughts: 1. It helps to mark your path with a direction (arrow, etc.). I've encountered my own marks and not known whether to go right or left. 2. The biggest problem can be a trail that doesn't look much different from the surrounding terrain. I've crossed the trail without realizing it. Especially true with trails that fork along the way.

[Hate-Crime]

A nice side effect of this strategy is that searchers will be able to follow your blazes back to your base camp from many different directions.