Losing Focus On Your Safety While In The Bush
BY Herschel Smith
2 weeks, 1 day ago
When I was younger, I prided myself on always being prepared in the outdoors. Whether it was a backcountry hunting trip or just a casual hike, I always brought everything I could possibly need in case something went wrong. I carried a fire starter, extra clothes, and high-calorie snacks in my kit. I would always charge my phone, and I’d usually throw a satellite device and signal flares into my pack if I was heading into any serious wilderness. Yet, over the years, my preparations began to lapse.
[ … ]
That’s how it all starts. Becoming lackadaisical.
Knowing I’d hit him, I pulled out my phone to text Hayden, only to see that my battery was dead. Cursing myself for not charging it, I shrugged off my mistake and went to recover the buck at the bottom of the canyon.
Dead phone.
I dropped my pack on the ground and looked for my heavy coat before remembering I’d taken it out the day before to help pack out Andrew’s deer. With the cold wind biting into me, I knew that If I didn’t get back to the safety of our tent, I was going to be in trouble.
Improper cold weather survival apparel.
I re-shouldered the pack and dug into my pockets for my headlamp. It, too, was out of batteries.
Dead batteries for your only real source of light.
Looking up toward the rim, I suddenly sank knee-deep into a gap in the rocks and pitched forward, hyperextending my leg. In a panic, I pushed myself to the left and the weight of the buck on my back shifted down, twisting my leg even further. I felt and heard a loud snap as I was pulled from the hole, and I slid through the mud back down to the bottom of the canyon.
Injury in the darkness because of no light and no gear for emergency cover and bedding.
“Dude,” Hayden shook his head. “The tent’s gone!”
We got to camp and saw that the wind had blown our tent completely over, exposing everything inside to sleet and snow. Hayden unearthed a couple damp sleeping bags from the soaking mess, and then we climbed into my truck and flooded the cab with heat. This relief would be short-lived, too, as the truck was low on gas and we still needed to drive back to town. Shivering in our seats with the knowledge that morning was only a few hours off, we both fell into a restless sleep.
Failure to fuel your transportation.
The list of failures is long, and this guy is blessed to be alive.
Learn from his mistakes.
On May 6, 2025 at 6:11 am, jrg said:
That was a long list of descrepancies he neglected to check. Especially the battery supplied items – at the very least snap it on and verify the item even works. I had a flashlight with batteries that corroded inside it because I forgot to check it. There may be a limit to how many flashlights can you RELIABLY keep working.
I’m glad he and his companion survived. Thanks for the lesson – vigilance and preparation is always better.
On May 6, 2025 at 8:49 am, xtphreak said:
My EDC includes two pocket flashlights, both USB rechargeables, both waterproof, both with clips to allow attachment to a hat bill or brim.
They’re both Streamlights, the Macrostream (500 lumens) and the Microstream (250 lumens).
I’ve not seen a USB rechargeable corrode up a light, yet, but they maybe can?
When I’m out motocamping or just riding or hunting, I have other lighting options besides these.
The lack of batteries, lack of gas, lack of cold weather garb, is absolutely unbelievable to me.
I roll the other way, packing more than the minimum, “JUST IN CASE”.
Have a Good Day!
On May 6, 2025 at 9:56 am, Latigo Morgan said:
Dang, that guy was close to becoming a statistic, even though he knew better. I keep a Camelback day pack as my grab and go pack for everyday use as a “get home” pack, or as a day hike pack that can sustain me minimally for 2 or 3 days. Every change of season, it gets dumped and reorganized. Some things are removed and others might be added. The more you know, the less you have to carry. But, I carry extras anyway. Maybe I don’t need 5 different ways to start a fire, but I have it available to me just in case. Maybe it hasn’t rained in months and isn’t likely to anytime soon, but I still keep a poncho and poncho liner in the pack – it has more than one use, a couple 55 gal 6 mil drum liners which have many uses, including filling up with leaves and grass to make a bed.
Water purification 3 different ways. First aid IFAK kit. Now, a satellite personal locator my wife bought for me, for her peace of mind. If I’m carrying a cell phone I have a small charging brick to bring along to recharge the battery, and it also doubles as another light source with its built in flashlight.
With water, extra food/soup/boullion/tea/coffee, the whole thing weighs in around 25 lbs.
Spare socks, headlamp and spare batteries, compass, notepad and pencil are just a few other things in that pack.
It’s not a “tactical” pack or a “bug out bag”. It’s just an everyday pack I can grab and put in the vehicle to take with me in case I decide to do some exploring off the beaten path, so to speak. But, it would get me home if there was a sudden catastrophe that forced me to hoof it home instead of drive.
On May 6, 2025 at 1:54 pm, Georgiaboy61 said:
More potential Darwin Award winners these days are partly as a consequence of the fact that so few Americans have any significant experience being outdoors and in nature, as compared to the past.
What’s worse, is that the mainstream media et al. have portrayed nature as benign, kind and loving, when in fact it better fits J.B.S. Haldane’s aphorism, “Nature red in tooth and claw.” Consequently, you get a lot of folks who are literal babes in the woods – and who either end up paying the price for it, or narrowly escape that fate.
The Boy Scouts and 4H used to fill that education vacuum somewhat, but the Scouts don’t anymore – but 4H is still a going concern, far as I am aware. Same with Future Farmers of America (FFA).
The natural world is beautiful, but also unforgiving and potentially dangerous.
On May 6, 2025 at 5:48 pm, Steady Steve said:
And my wife wonders why I check our flashlights every month and check all our hurricane preps in May.
On May 6, 2025 at 5:51 pm, Grunt said:
If he’s being this complacent, what is he not doing regarding the mundane aspects of life.
On May 6, 2025 at 10:13 pm, X said:
Lot of stupid stuff there, including splitting up in the near-dark.
That’s not the kind of hunting I do, here in the East I am rarely as much as a half-mile from the road and usually much less than that, and still I am pretty anal about having two good lights, ropes, charged cell pone, bandages, gloves, heat packs, gas in the truck, etc. etc. and I stay the hell out of tree stands. You can indeed get injured out in the woods, and you don’t have to be very far in to have a pretty serious problem if you’re by yourself.
Thankfully I have a place where I almost always see deer and it’s usually not a question of if but when I will take one. There is no need to be in a hurry, dragging that thing out and cutting it up is a lot more work than getting in there and shooting one.
On May 6, 2025 at 10:18 pm, Herschel Smith said:
” … dragging that thing out and cutting it up is a lot more work than getting in there and shooting one.”
Boy isn’t that the truth!
On May 7, 2025 at 11:04 am, Latigo Morgan said:
I don’t know how many deer and elk I’ve passed on because they were on the other side of a steep canyon. My brother-in-law didn’t pass on an elk on edge of a canyon and he took the shot and it tumbled down to the bottom. Took him all day to pack it out a quarter at a time. I do have to admire his determination, he left nothing behind but a gut pile.