Mass hunter found dead

[tuna]

I used to carry all kinds of stuff "just in case". As I've gotten older, I've stopped caring as much. A knife and some matches. If I take a deer down, I'll have to head back to the truck to get the rope to drag it out. If I get lost, I'll make do.

I just realized, I leave my keys in the truck so I won't lose them, and my heart medicine is on the key ring - LOL. Then again, I can't think of a better way to go than fishing or hunting.

 

[Mark from MA]

I used to carry all kinds of stuff "just in case". As I've gotten older, I've stopped caring as much. A knife and some matches. If I take a deer down, I'll have to head back to the truck to get the rope to drag it out. If I get lost, I'll make do.

I just realized, I leave my keys in the truck so I won't lose them, and my heart medicine is on the key ring - LOL. Then again, I can't think of a better way to go than fishing or hunting.

Same here....except....there's places I know I won't get lost (field edges, not far from road, not huge blocks of woods) , so I don't take everything, and it lightens the load. Or I just take the treestand essentials, which I keep in a separate small pack I can haul up to the stand.

When it gets colder, and I'm not treestand hunting. but Im gun hunting andwandering or snow tracking. I take the whole pack, sometimes even water and snacks or a freeze dry meal.

 

[CATI]

I used to carry all kinds of stuff "just in case". As I've gotten older, I've stopped caring as much. A knife and some matches. If I take a deer down, I'll have to head back to the truck to get the rope to drag it out. If I get lost, I'll make do.

I just realized, I leave my keys in the truck so I won't lose them, and my heart medicine is on the key ring - LOL. Then again, I can't think of a better way to go than fishing or hunting.

I carry a little more but I do not carry as much food as others
Never understood that.
As long as I have water, food can wait...............weeks. And I am not getting lost for weeks in ME,NH,MA

 

[Coyote33]

When it gets colder, and I'm not treestand hunting. but Im gun hunting and wandering or snow tracking. I take the whole pack, sometimes even water and snacks or a freeze dry meal.

I had water start to freeze, and even cold water kind of sucks when it is cold out. A nice thermos of coffee or hot chocolate is nice.

As long as I have water, food can wait...............weeks. And I am not getting lost for weeks in ME,NH,MA

An apple or bagel, or fig newtons are pretty good and not too messy.

 

[one-eyed Jack]

I carry a little more but I do not carry as much food as others
Never understood that.
As long as I have water, food can wait...............weeks. And I am not getting lost for weeks in ME,NH,MA

If you are in the woods that long, you'll come across four legged or winged food. Jack.

 

[HorizontalHunter]

I had water start to freeze, and even cold water kind of sucks when it is cold out. A nice thermos of coffee or hot chocolate is nice.


An apple or bagel, or fig newtons are pretty good and not too messy.

Back in the good old days when I was young and could get around good , I would often carry a JetBoil or alcohol stove on a full day hunt. Lighter than most thermos’s and you have a lot more options to choose from, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, etc and it doesn’t have that tinny thermos taste.

 

[Arto]

Back in the good old days when I was young and could get around good , I would often carry a JetBoil or alcohol stove on a full day hunt. Lighter than most thermos’s and you have a lot more options to choose from, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, etc and it doesn’t have that tinny thermos taste.

if you put a handwarmer under the Jetboil fuel cannister, is will work much better in the cold

 

[vickers]

What about that family that got caught in Colorado 5-6 years ago. They trusted their GPS (see above - LOL) and went down some not-gonna-work roads in the Rockies. After 4 days the dad decides to hoof it out. They found his body, after a couple-days' hike a few hundred meters from the car. He was wandering around in a circle.

Yeah, that sounds familiar, was that the asian dude who was a columnist or reporter or something. If it's the one I am thinking of the family was found alive and he was the only one that passed away. It's a tough call, they say stay with the car, but after four days I don't blame him for making a move. Sad story either way.

 

[MisterHappy]

the means and knowledge to at least start a fire could be a life saver. If you learn nothing about the outdoors, learn how to make a fire and carry even a magnesium firestarter on a keychain.

When I do the Hunter Ed course, I tell the students, "Go home. Go into the back yard, with a couple of matches. Start a fire. See how easy it is. Then, wait for a nice rainy day, and do it. Because that's when you need to be able to do it."

Too many people think that Siri can get them out of anything.

 

[MisterHappy]

This one is funny. Know your limitations.

I don't hunt some of my real deep spots anymore because dragging a deer out that far at my age.....no thanks. The walk in and out of those places itself was bad enough.

The fruits of shooting a bunch of nice big bucks in my early years.....has me saying its not worth dragging a deer for over a mile ever anymore.

My dad always tried to hunt uphill from where he parked.

 

[tuna]

My dad always tried to hunt uphill from where he parked.

Oh yeah? My dad says it was uphill to his hunting spot AND the car, plus he hunted in the snow.

 

[EMTDAD]

When I do the Hunter Ed course, I tell the students, "Go home. Go into the back yard, with a couple of matches. Start a fire. See how easy it is. Then, wait for a nice rainy day, and do it. Because that's when you need to be able to do it."

Too many people think that Siri can get them out of anything.

yeah.. we'd teach scouts same things... It's definitely important to have dry stuff.. matches in a pill bottle, a lighter, some cotton balls soaked in vaseline as tinder.. and knowing how to find or make dry kindling in the woods.. A solid survival knife can help a lot.. from splitting small logs to prying off bark or slicing wood shavings off for tinder/kindling.. essential tool.

 

[Mark from MA]

Back in the good old days when I was young and could get around good , I would often carry a JetBoil or alcohol stove on a full day hunt. Lighter than most thermos’s and you have a lot more options to choose from, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, etc and it doesn’t have that tinny thermos taste.

I still do this on occasion when its really cold and I'm gun hunting off of the ground. Nothing warms you up like a hot chocolate or hot freeze dried meal. Its definately kept me hunting for longer on those shitty days.

 

[Artifact]

Just pack an MRE 3k plus calories and is water sealed.

 

[Mark from MA]

If you are in the woods that long, you'll come across four legged or winged food. Jack.

I wouldn't count on that.....one of my places I put a camera that actually looked pretty good......I haven't gotten a photo in 2 weeks.

That said in most of my spots if I can shoot a deer with a flashlight at 3am I'd be successful.

 

[Dennis in MA]

Yeah, that sounds familiar, was that the asian dude who was a columnist or reporter or something. If it's the one I am thinking of the family was found alive and he was the only one that passed away. It's a tough call, they say stay with the car, but after four days I don't blame him for making a move. Sad story either way.

Yes. He started out after they burned all 4 tires and didn't have any way to get warm. I was thinking - "they're on a mountain in a forest. You're telling me they can't keep a fire going for 4 days?" And you'd think a burning tire would have been a HUGE beacon for rescuers. Apparently not. LOL

James Kim - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It was Oreo-gon, not Colorado. One of those states with O's in it. And he was just short of the destination. I swore he ended up accidentally circling back but that may have been another situation around the same time. That was 2006. Wow. They were grossly underprepared for the situation they got into. And it was paper maps, not GPS.