The Art of Being Lost
 

He had a GPS that was frozen, how about sticking it between his nads to warm it up?:confused:

Missing hunter alive after days in woods

December 6, 2007
MADRID, Maine — A missing hunter from Vermont was found in the rugged mountains of western Maine Wednesday afternoon two days after he went missing while deer hunting with friends.

Steven Wright, 53, of Woodford, Vt., was coherent when he was found by a snowmobiler on the side of Jackson Mountain about 15 miles south of Route 4 in the unorganized territory of Township 6, said Maine Warden Service spokeswoman Deborah Turcotte. He was flown to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston for treatment after being in the bitter cold and snow for two days.

Wright set out on Tumbledown Mountain in Byron on Monday morning and became separated from two other hunters, Michael Harrington and Barry Bishop of Bennington, Vt., as they were tracking a deer during Maine's muzzleloader hunting season.

A storm that blanketed Maine with fresh snow left 15 inches or more on the ground Monday in the area where Wright was missing. A search began Tuesday, and two planes and two helicopters aided ground searchers.

Wright was found by Donald Eisenhaur, 68, of Madrid, about 11 miles from where Wright and his friends had set out hunting.

Eisenhaur told officials that Wright was wet and covered with ice when he found him, and that his muzzleloader and GPS device were frozen.

Before Eisenhaur went out for a "joy ride" on his snowmobile, his wife told him to keep his eye out for the lost hunter.

When Eisenhaur came across Wright, he at first thought he was a moose on the trail. But as he approached, he saw it was a man, and surmised that Wright had heard his sled's engine and crawled to the trail.

I predict that, in about 10 years, no one (except a select few incl. me) will know how to read a map, or navigate a pleasure boat (ie - not your job) or drive thier car to a strange place without the aid of a little GPS thingie. Soon after that, we'll lose track of where our borders are (insert political joke here) =)


-John

A local fellow got lost for three or four days out in pennsylvania in a woods that he had frequented as a boy and all his life. Many jokes went around about him.

A couple years later he was made chairman of the local Republican party.

( I am not making this up)!!

Tom W

Compass, people. Geez.

B

Shoot, how about that thing that rises in the east?

Dumbass. That's the problem with electonic devices, they're not infallable. Even though we had loran, GPS, chart plotter and radar my father made damn sure we could plot a course, keep a log, navigate by compass and watch and compensate for the tide for this very reason.

Even though I have a handheld GPS, I always have a trail/topo map in a pocket somewhere along with compass. Then again, I generally expect the worst case scenario and when it turns out better am pleasantly surprised.:)

Although I suspect "manual" navigation/hiking/exploring/etc. are becoming a lost art.

From what I gather there is not much emphasis on land navigation at most military training schools.

Wait a second ... is that where it comes from?

Not much...

~Nate

Or anywhere for that matter. Most of the boaters I know are frighteningly unprepared should one or all of their electronics decide to crap the bed.

I wonder if anyone here has taken the USCG Captains exam lately , it used to be a grueling navigation section.

Back in the day, you had to know intersection/resection and find a position within an 10 digit grid, it was the number one fallout area for BNOC and ANOC.

Of course its still the rule of the land for specialty schools but as a soldier yourself it may not be a bad idea to read FM 3-25.26 and practice. you never know when you could be separated from your unit.

I haven't but my father got his "Six Pack" Captains license about 10 years ago now (took the BoatWise course I believe) and it was a *****. He wants to get his 100T license in a couple years when he retires to run one of the river tour boats as something to do. My mother desperately hopes he goes through with it!:D A couple of his friends that he took the 6 pack course with did just that when they retired. One runs the Fishers Island ferry and another runs a 60 passenger tour/charter boat on the CT River just because they love being on the water and love running a "big boat", they'd probably do it for free if that wouldn't take ammo away from crabbing about Social Security.

I have nowhere near the logged hours needed to go for a "Six Pack" yet but hope to in the coming years as I get more available time on the water.

X2, to everything said.

Although, I wouldn’t call it: Expecting the worst case scenario.

I’d refer to it as: Being smart enough to plan for the unexpected.


This hunter’s foolishness nearly cost him his life. I hope he learned something.
As well as taught the rest of us not to ever trust our lives to a single electronic navigation device. :rolleyes:

True, that's just me the eternal pessimist talking. "Smart" and I don't usually show up in the same sentence. :)