What Method Do You Use So You Don't Get Lost in the Bush?

[user 794]

Some good advice here. Thanks

Can I also suggest that you take a few precautions if you do get "lost". For example, a whistle or small mirror will help if you are with people and do not take up much room and are not weighty. A space blanket if you are out after dark in winter. If not with people then tell someone where you'll be and when you will be back and what to do if not back (although this is not going to be a saving point if you get lost on day one of a 10 day trip). Water is essential. A sat phone certainly handy and/or UHF radio. And spare batteries. These last items though start adding weight and complexity to things.

 

[Highway1]

I also thought I had a good grasp on intuition, gut feeling and common sense. On a cloudy day taking mental not of scrubby trees and a gulley, 500 meters from the car, then walking around in circles with a GPX5000 low to the ground. I thought it was time to return to the car, walked for a k at least but no car. I was approx 100 degrees off coarse and only found my way back when I walked across a bush track, followed that to the next track that had a track name sign, then worked out where I was. Result lost at least an hour of detecting.
Cheers Max

 

[Village]

Hey Highway1

You know if old Rex, who owned the pub on the lake is still around or did he bugger off all together.

 

[Twapster]

I can say that getting lost is an easy task....its very easy to become lost. That paradigm shift comes with experience in most cases....us city folk are so used to maps and gadgets that we don't even consider marking spots, looking at the sun etc because our GPS or map or compass will show me the way out.

Take all those gadgets away now...ur only a beginner. U've been in the bush many times.

Trust me if you walk far enough....if ur a bloke that ventures more than a few hundred metres from the car.....take every precaution to understand which way you are facing, which way the sun is pointed, marking a spot or dropping an object. One of my last trips I turned 360 degrees and all the canopy was the same. Lucky I hadn't wandered too far to loose the car and found it. but could have been easily a different storey.

GPS is a must guys, if you go deep!

 

[Barragold]

I am never lost I always know that I am exactly where I am, it is the car or track that has lost itself from my memory & we will be having words when it finds my memory again. 8.cool:

Hi Lee, aren't you about to run navigation courses for your club.

 

[silver]

Take away everything and people would starve, because city people probably couldn't even find a shop!(haha)

 

[HeadsUp]

Depending on where you are, you may look at getting 1:25,000 maps. Central Victorian goldfields are covered. Tullys and Stones gold maps are NOT topo nor geo nor are they 100% accurate maps and are a guide only to workings only - they are far too reliant on the use of man-made objects as a navigational aid - very bad idea (houses/fences/roads etc). With a compass and an ability to read map to ground you should be OK. Of course the GPS system is excellent but for a quick check, simply doing a map to ground works fine for me. You can get into another world of navigation data sheets, bearings, back-bearings, use of trig points etc. Learn how to do your map to grid and grid to map conversions for your compass bearings and you should not get lost. Topo maps and compasses usually don't lie - people just don't know how to use them.

I have Oziexplorer with 1:25,000 Vicmap and have used it in the Vic goldfields. I have also put the entire Doug Stone book onto my tablet in Oziexplorer. I tripod photographed them, picked 4 known features (usually road intersections) as near to the corner points and calibrated them against the Lat/Long taken from Vicmap.

I've then laid in tracks on Vicmap and then used the same track on the Doug Stone maps and found them to reasonably to scale and accurate. I have some Tully maps and could not do that with any degree of satisfaction. So it's my opinion Doug Stone used Topo maps as an underlay and although by themselves not good for navigation, now that I have them calibrated in Ozi, I would be happy to use them on my Tablet or my Galaxy 3 phone to navigate.

Condor , awesome to hear how you imported maps that you photographed yourself . Big thanks

May I ask what tablet are you using ?

Does it have built in GPS or External one connected by USB ?

Thankyou

 

[thesmithy]

This is a true Story
I'm from Ireland and my name is Shamus

Here it commences I managed a large acerage on the western side of the Onley state Forest.
My next door property owner was from Ireland His name was Shamus.
He is an Account with Macquarie Bank (****** first class)
One afternoon late in Autumn he arrives at the house wearing a T shirt, shorts, no hat, or any water bottle.
in his hard to understand Irish accent he asks if he can go for a walk. Yes of course you can, would you like a bottle of water to take with you....no its not hot???????

Off he goes up the back of property then up the old Cobb track... about a kilometer and a half.
I never thought another thing of it until his wife drops in at around 8pm

Is Shamus here he said at 4 pm he was just going for a quick walk up to KingTree.......The name of my property.

**** he is not back home with you.
I said ring 000 give them these grid references.

Now I grabbed a hunting rifle (large wild dog problem) the Polaris 750 turbo quad my survival back pack tropo map of the area compass GPS a trauma first aid kit and the dog.

I know the area like the back of my hand in the daylight.......walk off the track turn around and it all looks the same.
it was not looking good....no protective clothing, no water, no idea which way he went at end of track.
had he fallen.....was he attacked by a pack of wild dogs.......and he was Irish not a good mix.

off I went my partner waited for police, RFS, SES, and some locals.

I travelled as far as I could on quad about 4 klms took some readings. Called back to house on UHF
spoke to OIC SES. Informed him of my location and that they should start search up on Watigan forest road at Grid reference 55nxxxxxx as I was only 200 metres below that mark but unable to manouvre the quad any further.
I returned to farm house had a feed refueled and headed up to the search HQ on Watigan Forest Road.
Order of the day normal search routine no one to leave vehicles until sunrise stay on tracks report every 15 minutes.

now 2am still no sign. The country up that way is quite hostile and rugged.
No reports were coming in of any significance.
4am still nothing.
at 5am daylight was starting to break still to dark to enter the bush on foot so a few of us on quads started to go down side tracks stopping and calling out.
still nothing.
6.45am first chopper was in the air.
police with dogs picked up his scent 4klms from base camp HQ heading towards Lagoona on the main dirt track.......!

At 7.45am we received a report that a very lost Irish man in shorts had knocked on the door of the Lagoona local store asking if he could call his wife to pick him up.

All were relieved to say the least. Search was cancelled RFS provided breakfast.

Now to the Irish mans story. Please do not laugh as it was serious.

I started to walk singing to me self it was getting a bit chilly so I decided to leave the track and head up the hill to where the sun was when I got there it was gone.
***** I think I was lost I made a decision to calculate how far I had walked.
I just could not remember what time I left home.
so I just started to walk it was very cold at one stage I think some poachers were shooting in the bush as they had a big light shining it into the bush there was quite a few of them.
I made a mental note to call the police when I got home.
When they became close I hid in the bush so they could not see me. Now remember Shamus is IRISH

I was very cold and now worried the poacher may find me.
so when they passed I kept walking.....they didn't find anything to shoot as they kept coming back.
I just kept hiding.....I think it saved my life.

I came across a house as I was walking down the track towards it the dogs started to bark so I ran back out onto the main track and just kept walking.

this happened 3 or 4 times until the sun came up ***** I could do with a cup of tea
now I sees the tar road wondering which way to go so I waited till a car comes along and decides to head in the same direction.
I then starts to walk it was still cold I come across the shop at lagoona and knocks on the door.
and ask the gentleman does he have a phone so I can call the wife don't have any money but wife will bring some.

He never tells the store owner where he has come from or that he has been dodging barking dogs and poachers (search party with spot lights) all night on his 18 kilometer stroll.
When interviewed by the police and told them about his terrible ordeal and that he just escaped being shot by poachers.
As far as he was concerned he was not lost.
They asked him what was he thinking when he went walking just on sunset in short sleeve shirt and shorts with no hat and no water. In the bush.
It wasn't hot and I wasn't thirsty. WHAT ABOUT YOUR CLOTHS THEN, I think the wife will have to get new ones as they have a few holes in them.

I never did grant him permission to go for a walk again ever.

A few months later we had a fund raiser for the local hall renovations.
2 off the auction items were Shamus's bush walking clothing ....... only been on an 18 klm walk been tested in adverse conditions. Only worn once. They raised 500 dollars

The second item was the map of his adventure with the trail he took marked on it
the winner of the bid paid 450 dollars.
it was a rolled up map with a black cover on the cover it said Shamus xxxxxxx an Irish Adventurer.
When the new owner unrolled it he found an A3 sheet of blank paper.

THE END
Cheers
Thesmithy.

 

[G0lddigg@]

hahah great story Thesmithy

 

[Twapster]

Top story!

 

[user 7268]

They say you can take the boy out of the bush but not the bush out of the boy ? Some just know where they are as does a homing pigeon.
Personally in most cases I have experienced when injury is not involved is the major item left behind when one has ventured out is common sense ? I know sounds rather harsh but sadly very true and is why people have died when help was within a kilometer of them.
Safe travels people.

 

[Wolfy]

Hey Wolfau, greatest espect to you for being frank, and also in fnding ways to deal with the issue and not just give up and sit in front of the telly. I spent a lot of time in the bush but find now i am in my sixties it is easier to get confused.

I once got lost in new zealand fishing, eventually found i had strayed into an adjacent gully and that is why everything looked different. Recently too i ventured only a very short distance through high thick scrub to check out a river, and was hopelessly lost when i went to return it was only a matter of a few hundred meters so no big deal to wander until i found a landmark, just shows how easy it can be sometimes.

 

[Dignit]

Hi Wolfau
I have suffered anxiety all my life too. Have read many books on the topic. The life changer for me was reading Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway. This was probably 25 years ago now.
When I first started detecting this time last year I was super anxious about being in the bush on my own. I had real concerns of being bitten by a snake, falling down a shaft, getting lost, etc. At the start I wouldn't move beyond sight of the car. I soon realised that this was very limiting. So I devised the following system when I am on my own. I text my wife my location when I stop, at every stop, and I tie bright fluro orange strips of cloth to branches at spacing so that I can always see the previous one. I carry a small back pack with first aid kit, whistle, water, knife and my phone which has a GPS. If something should happen my wife would be able to trace me to the car and follow the orange flags. It works really well and I feel safe. A year on I am much more confident in tracking my path and don't need to deploy the orange flags as often. I still text my wife with my location at every stop. I've never seen a snake though still wear gaiters, am still very cautious around shafts, and have never got lost. The experience builds confidence. I felt the fear and did it anyway. This is a very personal thing and as such you need to work out what works for you, but keep in mind the realities of what you are dealing with. I also carry some muralax in my first aid kit should I get caught out and need to fight off a panic attack. I've had them too and they are no fun.
There is plenty of good advice from experienced people in the previous posts. Hope you work out what is good for you and you get out and do it, with safety measures treated as paramount. Of course getting out with mates is a great way to go as well. I do a bit of both. All the best. Dignit

 

[Gravity]

Great advice Dig'it , I should take some notes with regards to the first aid kit !

Way point on my Z , can zoom 20x out from drop pointing the pin works very well 8)

 

[Capertee gold]

I walk for hours in the bush around the turon and it's tributaries with out a GPS ,
Have never got lost but I do know the area quite well ,but if in doubt I just follow a stream or the river back , I guess it's different in Vic

 

[7.62marksman]

I use a bushnell backtrack (also have a map and compass just in case battries dont last forever)i also never step away from my 4x4 without the PLB on my belt you never know when it will be needed
As it has been said on here before the best thing to take bush is commen sense

 

[Maltisau]

I carry a wristwatch. If I get lost I take it off and swing it around over my head really fast and then let it go.

The watch has gone west, so I figure out my bearings from there...

I am yet to travel into areas that are far removed from civilization. I just have an image of a map in my head and work it out from there. If I get lost I get annoyed because I have to walk further than I'd like. Somehow i figure it out. I have dealt with anxiety and it is not fun. However, I have never felt anxious while doing what I love. I guess I am lucky in that regard.

If I was walking through the Simpson Desert I would take a GPS device of some kind. I think in the Vic goldfields I am pretty sure to stumble across civilization before too long. Especially if I have researched the area.

When your numbers up ain't nothin yo gonna do about it so I don't worry about the inevitable. I just enjoy myself.

 

[user 4485]

:lol: good one - you are joking right 8)

If I get lost I get annoyed because I have to walk further than I'd like.

pmsl :lol:

 

[peter650]

I know this is a little bit of a old thread ?. It's just about impossible to get truly lost in the bush, but it's very easy to convince yourself that you are lost. Soon as you have convinced yourself that you are lost, you are in very serious trouble. I have seen people emotionally brake out bush, & it's virtually impossible to get them thinking right again. The only thing that will truly prevent you, from thinking that you are lost, is familiarity. If you camp out of you r pockets, find water, shelter, food out bush, navigation becomes very easy because you have pulled the teeth out of the tiger.

 

[Smoky bandit]

I wish i could get lost..been trying for years