That nice, warm feeling … knowing you’ll be found
Okay, it happened again just west of town. Idiots headed into a closed watershed on their snowmobiles, got lost, broke down, and nearly froze to death. Two skiers did it the week before, with fatal results for one of them.
We hunters are smarter than that, right? Wrong. Wait until fall and you’ll read about somebody wandering into the woods only to be found the next spring, mouldering at the bottom of a treestand or their bleached bones picked clean by vultures on a lonesome prairie.
We might be able to tough it out with our survival skills when lost, but at some point wouldn’t it be great if someone came looking for you? A survival plan will boost the chances you’ll be found.
A friend and I once counted seven “Deer Creeks” we’d fished and five different “Grouse Mountains” in our hunting bailiwick. You can imagine the confusion had someone been searching for us. Besides telling someone where you’re going, mark it on a map and leave it with them.
Make a print of your boot soles. Searchers have a head start with this telltale evidence. This goes double for kids, any time of year, in any outdoor setting. Put a sheet of aluminum foil on soft ground or carpet, and step on it – with both feet.
I’ve made an informal study of search and rescue reports over the last few years. It’s clear to me that just a few recurring errors are to blame for many of the volunteer callouts. Avoid them and you could save lives or at least the time, effort and risk of the worthy volunteers who end up bailing you out. Take a few minutes to …
Charge your cell phone battery. Avoid bucking snowdrifts on a road – they only get worse the farther uphill you go. Take a map and compass and learn how to head toward a major road if you get lost. Bring water. Tell someone where you’re going and when to expect you back. Take a waterproof layer of clothing. Learn how to build a life-sustaining fire.
And as I tell my dogs when I leave them in the cab of my truck: don’t do anything stupid.
Scott Linden Outdoors 
Good points Scott,with today’s techno advances, anyone who is going to be in the hills outside of good cell service should at least get one of the satellite text msg devices or a sat phone. And also do the basic things you mentioned in your article.
I spent 30 years running Search and Rescue operations in central Washington and after 600 rescues you can saw I saw it all and yes several of those I rescued were out upland hunting when things went south, it can happen to anyone!!
Yep. And now, if we could get bozos like this to pay for guys like you saving their butts!