LOST HUNTER FOUND!

On a late night bike ride on a cloudy night, a group of 7 or 8 of us got turned around in a new parcel we were poaching (public land). Two of us pulled out a compass and they were both opposites... one had reversed polarity. We used our gut instincts and the hint, possibly, of a very distant I75 (or was it the wind) and we headed south. Turned out we were correct but had to run through some suburbanites yard. He was not happy as we all rushed through with bright lights and yelling "we have a man down, man down". The gentleman (from India) chased us kicking dirt on our feet as we ran down his driveway to the public road.

A compass is a valuable tool in the deep dark woods and open water, but you would be hard pressed to lose sight of a levy or a set of powerlines while duck hunting in the STAs.

Unless the victim was permanently Bidenesqued, or in a temporary state of Biden, there really is no reason to be lost in there. Then again, it was a STA, and you never can know for sure what kind of stupidity you will encounter there.

I've been turned around from where I thought I was in the woods, but never lost.
I use Spartan Forge GPS app on my phone now days, keeps me going the direction I need too

I’ve been turned around while following a bird dog on a cloudy day, while blood trailing a buck after dark, and after a coon hunt after midnight. When I was ready to head back to the truck, I had to stop and carefully think in which direction to go. Luckily my memory ran through some kind of mental recollection exercise and I walked back to the truck each time. I think I have some kind of directional recall that I can’t explain. I remember telling my dad the story and that I was like a migratory duck heading home. Dad said more like a Loon was about right…

I got turned around a couple weeks ago. Overcast, fog, 2-3’ deep in a dense swamp.
I wasn’t “lost” but it took me an hour+ to figure out which way to go. I found a nice stump to kick back on until I could figure it out.
It’s work walking in that kind of shit, figured it would be better to sit than go in circles.
I was trying to take a shortcut 😁

I don't recall ever being lost but I may have had instances where I wasn't sure of the easiest or quickest way back. Like some of you, I believe I have a pretty good sense of direction, and I pay attention to landmarks. Using a GPS in recent years has significantly dumbed that ability down but it's still reliable when i need it.

Screwing around in fog out in the glades (and the coastal areas in the gulf) can be challenging so going slow is important for multiple safety reasons. Navigating in the fog is a bitch no matter what you're doing unless you have a good GPS. Even then I'm always on edge.

About 30 years ago while tuna fishing out of Trinidad I was setting gear about 250 miles of the coast of Guyana or Suriname. I don't recall which one but it was a 4 day steam back to Port o Spain from my last known position.

On the very first day we hauled about 7 miles of gear and I went inside to write down notes and record our position, only to find that I had no working electronic navigation equipment. The GPS completely gave up the ghost. I had a total Venezuelan crew at the time and had to use Spanish to communicate with them which frankly sucked. I told them we were not going home and would continue fishing for another 7 days to cover expenses and hopefully make a few bucks for our troubles.

Now that doesn't sound like a big deal to some of you but at that point my best guess as to where in the world I was currently at was based on Intel that was about a hour old. The first section of gear drifted that first morning about 7 miles to the south after sitting in the water for about 10 to 12 hrs. Everything from that point forward would be sheer speculation. We fished about 40 miles of gear every day and going forward I had no way knowing which way, or how far it would drift after cutting it off after setting it. With every subsequent day of fishing my guesswork would be significantly less accurate. I only had water temp to follow while setting my gear out and prayers that the whole shooting match didn't end up drifting inside the 200nm EEZ of any country I didn't have a permit to fish in.

So, with no other boats around, I fished 7 more days not knowing where in the hell I was on the planet. The only thing I knew was that Trinidad was about 4 days to my west, and the longer I stayed out fishing, the less I would know when it was time to head home.

Surprisingly my dead reckoning was accurate and within a few hours of my estimate. We only ran into a problem after I stayed up the entire 4th night to make sure we hit the passage between Tobago and Trinidad. I didn't want to let some inexperienced guy overshoot Tobago and sail up into the Caribbean. Once we hit the pass we could follow the coastline across by radar to the Bocas and turn south, then east to Port of Spain. At that point I laid down and let my Venezuelan mate take over who ended up driving right past the Bocas without waking me. When I got up we were over in Venezuelan waters and had to back track a couple hrs to get back to the Bocas.

We made it back, obviously, and even though I didn't know where in the world I was for a week, I never once felt "lost".

For those of you who don't know... You're hard pressed to not see a power line or levy in the STAs. They are a compact area of vegetated cells with paddle in only duck hunting. A little paddling effort in any direction will put you on a levy.

Frankly, there is no reason that I can think of why anyone would get lost to the the extent that the sheriff's chopper would need to be called in to find you.

Never have been truly lost, but have gotten turned around a few times not knowing exactly where I was or direction. Always have a compass in my pack for when I loose GPS reception or battery goes dead. It will get me out but not always exactly where I was hoping to pop out. I used to be really good at finding my way in the dark without a light or GPS but as I've gotten older not so much as I tend to veer off course, esp. if I wear my glasses.

If your Anywhere way down south in the glades area look to the sky.
Planes overhead are flying into Lauderdale...Planes way south are flying into Miami...hope this helps.

Never been lost just powerful confused for a day or 2. When I hunt alone I just check what direction I am heading into the woods and go the opposite way coming out. I just use a little pin on compass for that

only really got lost once here in florida, twenty plus years ago in ok slough before there was a trail or road every 1/4 mile i shot a buck with my bow, late afternoon ,rainy, overcast no sun , blood trailed him for bout a hour then it got dark, walked back towards the truck and ran into a huge flooded flag pond hour later i didnt recognize. another couple hours wandering around in the dark crossing knee deep sometimes waste deep sloughs and flag ponds i ended right back to that first pond i was at 4 hours ago. thats was enough i had a ass/ball rash from my jeans being soaked and chafing me to death, i found a little raised area by a couple palmettos,got little sap from a pine and made a fire once fire got big enough i could just throw dead palmetto branches and small damp pine branches, stripped off the sandpaper levis and wet socks and shirt and got comfortable. exactly 3.21 am i could see lights heading my way, fwc showed up on a buggy, buddy i was camping with called them around 11pm when i was not back at camp. lotta good laughs with fwc since it was the first recovery of a hunter in his boxers, i would have found my way once sun came up in morning but was happy to see them. i was 2.4 miles from truck. 3/4 mile from where i shot the buck. never found the buck, rash took a week to heal,, good times

patos, patos, whooo, whooo!

Read my post again Big Nerd..
Are flying INTO the airports. I know they take off over the ocean. No wonder you can't find your way around Lake O..It's a big circle ya know...just sayin

When I was bout 16 to 18 I hunted Lykes Bro,s land north of Labelle , Glades county. we'd slip under the fence and the place was ours for miles.
Never asked permission , Didn't have a License , Didn't know what the hell we were doing ...good times.
Got lost twice.
First time by myself. Walked for miles west and ended up climbing up a cypress tree in the pouring rain . spend about 5 hours in the tree then climbed down and sat in the warm water about knee deep all around my stand.
Felt good as hell after freezing in the rain for hours.
A bit later I feel something crawling up my leg...Leeches.
Right back in the tree till dawn.
Rolled into Camp about 9 am..Dad and mom sitting around the campfire.
Dad looked at mom and tells her...See I knew he'd be fine.
I crawled into the camper and slept for hours.

6 foot tall and Bullet proof