Basics When Lost In The Woods

I went to nursing school, and for 3 years of that part of our training was to do expeditions to rural mountainous areas and give medical help to the communities. These communities were very far from my city; around 6 hours of a drive through the mountains, then another 6 hours walking towards the nearest community. And yes, the farthest houses are another 8 hours. So it's all a lot of walking in the woods in a mountainous region. There weren't even roads at most areas. Just a footpath and very few houses in between. It was both beautiful (since you can see nature) and scary, since there's literally nobody for miles. I kept brainstorming about what I would do if I got lost in there; basically most dogs are in the community areas and they're basically street mutts, so they probably can't sniff a missing person out in the woods. Phone signal would be all but strong, and in some areas have zero connection. These communities have to rely on hard wired phones for communication.

So what would you do in this situation if you were ever lost? Most of our items were basic medic stuff, a sleeping bag, and rations for 3 days at a time (it was 3 days that and 3 days lectures at school).

 

SPOT ON RIGHT!

Keep calm and think.
If need be just sit down and breath and take stock of your situation.
Boundary Waters, canoe, wind storm, my cousin and I went into the 50 degree
water.
I can't swim worth a hoot.
He can!
He's a big 6' 4" 220 pound guy and 20 years younger than me.

I'm 5' 10", 170 soaking wet. ( I was soaking wet! )

He panicked and almost drowned and I saved him!
It was me that got a fire going, saved our water proof boundary packs
and got the dry clothes and such.

We were buck naked when other party members came buy and took pics
of us naked and shivering.
Butt wipes!

 

I watch a lot of survival shows, and i picked up a trick or two from Bear Grylls, except what he eats, i guess.

 

Definitely keep a clear head when lost, otherwise you're going to panic and forget about the basic survival skills. Take things one at a time and see if there's anything you can do short term to find your way back. If you got lost in the afternoon I suggest you start preparing a shelter, it could be risky to go out on a limb at night.

 

What I would do when I'm lost in the woods is keep walking straight until I get to the road or higher ground. Once you get to the higher ground, you can try to find where the road is and figure out the rest from there. Aside from that, most of the earth is populated these days, so chances are you'll come across a house or a shack there, don't be afraid to ask questions on where to go when you're lost. Also, the main point is to always remember where you're headed. If you're went mostly north, then head mostly south.

 

I do a lot of hunting in remote areas on in hunting trip I had shot a deer and when I was tracking it your looking down all the time and not looking at terrain features and was turned around so I knew I went in headed west so I take my cover off because I have a compass sewed into the cover a cover being a hat and I just walked east because I know that was the way my truck was I also knew that the road I was in was running North and South so as long as I walked east I would hit the road then I would have to find out if I was north of my truck or south and in this case I was thinking about 400 yards South of my truck

 

This is so much true. It seems when we lose our minds we do a better job of getting out of track than of getting back on track. No matter how grim the situation I was taught to keep a cool head and think. First, i'd try to find my way back from where I came. If that was not possible I'd worry about finding shelter and water. After that, i'd worry about food (Hunting or gathering) and then about finding my way to a nest (higher ground) so I could try and get a feel of where I was supposed to go.

 

Personally I think it's impossible not to panic when lost in woods, Even just whilst reading this thread I panicked!
however if I am in such situation I think I would look for two things, Food to keep my energy and a way home
about food if I don't have some take away i would find some insects though i can't see myself eating insects but what?? you have to survive right? or birds or good herbs I use to see that in movies and I think it's applicable however never eat caterpillars or insects that can bite your tongue, if it's the only choice you get remove the teeth and legs to those insects ten keep walking don't stop until you find your way home or some help.