Don't go into the woods alone.

[prohuntersmind]

Searching is expected to continue Saturday for a missing elk hunter in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
With partly clear skies in the Saturday forecast, the air wing unit from the King County Sheriff's Office will participate in the search, Skamania County Sheriff Dave Brown said in a news release.
Joel Presler, 37, of Vancouver has not been heard from since Saturday, Nov. 11. Deputies found Presler's 2004 black Ford pickup on Wednesday off Forest Road 6035. The search began Wednesday. He had been on a hunting trip in the Forlorn Lakes area.

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-n...2017/11/search_continues_for_missing_h_1.html

 

[Barrelnut]

They did find the hunter, but it was not good news. Yes, be safe in the woods.
http://www.kgw.com/mobile/article/n...r-found-in-southwest-washington/283-492406005

 

[prohuntersmind]

OMG, R.I.P to him....i wish someone can start a Thread about hunting safe and precautions so we can all share ideas and learn new stuff.

 

[Mike 338]

I hunted that area before. We got turned around barely a 1/2 mile from the vehicle while chasing an elk. Without a map and compass we would have been pretty lost. Extremely wet and freezing conditions. Most of the hunters I ran into were wearing hip or chest waders.

 

[Deleted member 48126]

That's sad. I'm glad they found him and he passed doing something he loved. RIP.

Maybe a survival or safety thread on the forum is a good idea.

 

[Barrelnut]

Sadly, hunters getting lost in the NW is not an uncommon occurrence. There are not a lot of landmarks and visibility can be real poor at times.

 

[Mike 338]

Sadly, hunters getting lost in the NW is not an uncommon occurrence. There are not a lot of landmarks and visibility can be real poor at times.

Yup, it can be anywhere but the NW can get socked in with fog in what seems like minutes. I take fog very seriously. I've spend a night in the woods before because fog got me turned around. It was mighty cold and I don't think I got a wink of sleep. Fortunately for me, it wasn't fog with drizzling rain/sleet and freezing temps at night or I might have ended up like that poor fellow.

 

[prohuntersmind]

That's sad. I'm glad they found him and he passed doing something he loved. RIP.

Maybe a survival or safety thread on the forum is a good idea.

with new and young hunters springing out everyday, i think such thread is very necessary.

 

[26Reload]

I was relating this story in another thread...
Guy lost south of Rogue River in Oregon...
From what I remember being told........
Guy and dad and third guy went on day hike in from camp at a place called Agnes...dad made it back to camp before dark..son and other guy(younger men, not kids) still out...dad went out in search...son made it back...son went out searching for dad..apparently the other guy was lost...son searched and went back to camp...other guy is absolutely horrified from becoming lost for a night so he stayed in camp...son went back out looking for dad..no find...other guy sent to nearby restaurant/ grocery to call for help....storm came in...coast guard couldn't help...storm lasted two days....meanwhile people on foot couldn't see much because of low clouds and fog and reported freezing temps....
They never recovered dad....no ideas...may have fallen into or crawled into a hole in the rocky terrain....RIP...
I, while hiking in behind a gated mountain with my wife, developed a case of cold sweats...was this a case of odd hypothermia setting in...don't know...but when we got back to house I had a temperature of 102°....not one to worry about things much...I took a hot shower and put in a new linoleum floor....even went hunting the next couple days.....not too smart.......

 

[Dosh]

I know a few guys who should never go hunting without a GPS that they know how to use. I helped search for a hunter who was lost for a mere 12 hours. When found he was delirious, hyperventilating and his eyes looked like pie plates. We found him without his rifle, jacket and he was shredded from crashing through the brush. Please everyone, take a GPS and know how to use it!

 

[26Reload]

A GPS yes...knowing how to use it YES....once while hunting near Mt Hood in Oregon..elk season I saw some fresh tracks crossing the road....so I took a short time knowing dark is coming on very soon...
About three hundred yards out I came to a spot knowing I was going no further....checked the GPS and compass...both told me to go straight ahead to get back to the truck......ABSOLUTELY WRONG...
something had both of those pieces of equipment telling me to head in to the canyon further....I back tracked my way out...
Equipment is invaluable if it works correctly at all times...but that glitch could have made a bad situation....being out there requires many skills...electronics help..terrain knowledge helps, but you need to be woodsy.........if everything else fails...confidence in yourself may save your life....stay in the game...

 

[26Reload]

The gps is a rhino...and the compass just a standard camper clear acrylic plastic housing....
I knew they were wrong because I pretty much walked a straight line....very little diviation...reprod patch...very open between trees...
Only reasoning I have is that there was must have been a magnetic influence.....I turned around and walked straight back towards the truck....hit the road about 20 yards away....
I had been in he area before but from different directions....so my knowledge of the terrain saved me that time....
There are other places in the same area that render the GPS useless..under big timber canopies..
The only way to really get lost and stay lost in that area is to keep walking in circles....its a tough place to hunt because roads are allover...timber patches are getting fewer and fewer....and the elk bed down just far enough into the timbers to hear the traffic and stay hidden...brothers buddy killed one of the most massive antlers bulls I have ever seen just 75 yards from a paved road....body wise that bull was giant....I once saw, while bow hunting the same area, a bull that its mainbeam reached beyond its rump...10×50 REDFIELD binos at about 300 yards.....NO OTHER TINES...a 6' long spike...the guy that killed the massive bull hunted there rifle season..hiked out from his camper and 100 yards from his camper in the thickest brush was a bull elk....he didn't shoot because something looked really odd......it was that giant spike....it was not a young bull...

 

[Engineering101]

When I was about 12 years old I got separated from my dad in Washington dark timber. I started to walk faster and faster and at one point fell into the beginnings of panic and at that point you quit using your brain which is the only thing that will get you out of a mess in dark timber. After a few minutes of stumbling around uselessly I got my senses back and asked myself how I was going to get out of this fix. Then it occurred to me, head uphill high enough to see something. I did, spotted the Timber Mountain lookout which gave me and idea of which was North and which was South and I was able to fine my way back to the truck. I've been in tougher spots since then but once you realize panic will just get you killed it is pretty easy to stay level headed.

And yes I have had a GPS unit off by half a mile. That was a brain teaser until, once again, I figured I just had to locate a known landmark to compare to what it was telling me. That was a cheap Garmin that had worked fine for years. I upgraded soon after as I figured it just went bad - even the best electronics won't last forever. I always carry 7.5 minute topo maps and a good compass just in case all the electronics goes to hell and in this case they were helpful to say the least.

 

[26Reload]

Well..unfortunately I am glad I am not in the lone here...
I myself new the road I had parked on was a main road with access to the interstate...I also knew that My Hood was straight ahead of my truck...to the north....I had walked basically southwesterly...
And the GPS AND COMPASS told me to keep going...telling me that was north and back to truck.....
I consider myself fairly woods wise....I feel sorry for people whom get lost a mile from their point of insertion......that unfortunate....