dan wrote:I would like to hear Singing Bridges take on this... He is a lot more experienced than I am with rescue operations.
This is really a complex question to answer- hunters are so different in their abilities and experience in the harsh environments we sometimes hunt.
As Dan stated for himself, I have also contemplated my demise in wilderness / big woods areas if help could not reach me in time. Lying at the bottom of a bluff with a shattered pelvis could certainly be the end, so to speak. I also am okay with it if it turns out that way, I was doing what I love most... but to temper that a bit, I have also had it pointed out to me that it is not fair to my family, close friends, etc. to think that way. This puzzled me greatly, but after spending some time thinking about it I guess maybe I was being a bit selfish.
I think my response to this issue would be what I believe to be best overall for Beast members. Tailor your plan to your personal situation and decide what criteria would alert your family or friends to notify authorities. Someone should know the general area you will be hunting, or first responders will be greatly handicapped in getting to you quickly. Remember that cell phone and flashlight batteries can go dead, etc. and decide what circumstances are truly an emergency. If you are a relative beginner to hunting and have diabetes or other types of disease your criteria may be very different from a healthy individual who has been hunting swamps their entire lifetime.
There really is no perfect answer for this question, its a tough one. As always, its better to be safe than sorry. I've pulled a lot of dead guys out of the woods and fortunately their demise was usually quick. Typically they have had a heart attack or broken their neck, sometimes they've been shot.
I've pulled a lot of guys that were alive out of the woods too, typically they had a buddy or family member that had a fair idea of where they were hunting. I've also pulled guys out of the swamp that spent the night in the woods, and they thought they were goners for sure... they had a wild look in their eye and ran at me when I found them like a crazed lunatic, so to speak.
SB
