emergency whistle

sadiejane

sadiejane

Joined
Feb 6, 2009
Messages
1,120
week before last i was hiking with a cousin and her daughter, in the ozarks near the buffalo river.
always carry a whistle round my neck tho this is the first time ive used it.
a standard fox 40.
the cousin was taking lots of time trying to locate and photograph a pileated woodpecker we kept hearing.
the daughter and i moved ahead a few turns in the trail and stopped at one of the caves along the way.
we assumed she would catch up directly and stop there too.
i left my pack close to the trail so she'd see it.
we realized after a bit that she'd been some time so decided to look for her,
retracing our steps back to where we had left her and then some.
then on ahead past where we had stopped.
we just couldnt believe she wouldnt stop at the cave nor see my pack.
i got out the whistle and blew up and down the trail a bit.
we finally decided she had gone on and we caught up to her at the next cave
which was the end of the trail/turn around area so no real chance of staying separated.
she never heard the whistle and none of our cell phones had a signal.
now this wasnt a real emergency, the trail is not that isolated.
and she had a map as did i, and we both know the area.
but it was a little disconcerting that the whistle was basically useless in this case
if we had been in a larger wilderness area, well, i woulda never went ahead nor outta sight for sure.
but nevertheless, we carry these whistles thinking they might help.
just wondered if any ya'll ever had a similar experience when an emergency item you were carrying didnt hold up to your expectations.
 
I have a Fox 40 on my keychain for EDC. Without being familiar with the area you were in, it is hard to determine what happened. Sounds like the terrain kept the sound from carrying far enough. The whistle is not magic - the main benefit is that it is easier / louder than yelling. There's a lot that is going to lessen its effectiveness - wind, trees, hills, etc. High pitched sounds also reflect off surfaces a lot, which makes it hard to determine which direction they are coming from.

I would keep carrying your whistle - but be aware of the limitations and do some more real world testing.
 
oh yeah, ill keep carrying the whistle
and she was around a few bends and over at least one ridge
but even when i got to the top and whistled she still didnt hear it
it wasnt windy that day

best thing is to not let anyone get outta sight!
i wasnt really concerned
just wanted to let her know where we were if possible

her daughter is young and was a bit concerned she had fallen or something
but we backtracked far enough to reassure her we werent leaving her behind
it was far from a serious situation fortunately
 
I've used a whistle before when hunting to attract my brother to help me get out a deer as we were leaving that afternoon. He heard the whistle and he was at at least 2 ravines over. Maybe 3.
 
All things have their limitations. The key is trying out your gear BEFORE you need it, and knowing what you can realistically expect when you need it most.

Good thing it wasnt a real emergency. Personally i havent been in any situation i would call critical, at least not outdoors in the woods.
 
That your friend didn't see the pack may explain why she didn't hear the whistle. She may have been so focused on the woodpecker, or just getting to the car, that nothing else made an impression. Perhaps if your friend thought she was lost, she may have been more alert to the things that were happening around her. Whistles beat trying to scream, but nothing is perfect.
 
Scott Free said:
That your friend didn't see the pack may explain why she didn't hear the whistle. She may have been so focused on the woodpecker, or just getting to the car, that nothing else made an impression. Perhaps if your friend thought she was lost, she may have been more alert to the things that were happening around her. Whistles beat trying to scream, but nothing is perfect.
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this is what i was gonna say. she wasn't listening for a whistle. she was focusing on the woodpecker probably and was just tied up in that. i have used the whistle many times for many different things and only once was i not able to get someone's attention but that was because they were 600 yards infront of me and a very strong wind was blowing directly into me.

they definitely beat yelling lol and they definitely help you keep your voice
 
there was a pretty good article/test that was posted in a survival blog of most of the commercially available whistles- I can't recall it however, but iirc the Fox line of whistles faired pretty well. I use their Micro whistles exclusively, they sure sound loud when I blow on them :)

from their site

http://www.fox40world.com/index.cfm?id=8478
 
When the subject of giving a whistle to someone who does not know enough to bring his own whistle, I like to mention that it's important to tell that someone how to use it safely and effectively. Those whistles are LOUD and can damage hearing with enough use. They are at least temporarily deafening. Cover ears with hands. Blow. Listen.
 
sadiejane said:
she never heard the whistle and none of our cell phones had a signal.

just wondered if any ya'll ever had a similar experience when an emergency item you were carrying didnt hold up to your expectations.
Click to expand...

You don't state the distances or how long your blew the whistle. I find it difficult to believe she didn't hear the whistle unless she was in the cave or very far away from you or you didn't blow it at regular intervals.

I've used a whistle in the wilderness and the sound travels for a long distance - definitely better than trying to yell.
 
she was never more than a mile away, and eventually yes, in a large cave but with a very large opening. and since she was not concerned about us and knew we would either be along behind her at some point or were down deep in the cave exploring, she may very well not have been listening. i blew the whistle at intervals as her daughter and i headed the way we assumed she had traveled for maybe 10-15 minutes. every few minutes, esp as i crested a ridge. at that point i stopped as we would be at the large cave in another 10 or 15 minutes and if she wasnt there then different tactics...but of course, she was there waiting for us, so no need to try and figure out what to do next. as i stated i wasnt concerned either. except for the daughters bit of nervousness about where her mother was.
my cousin and i spent lots of time together as youngsters, and lots of time in the woods. but her daughter, tho living in a rather rural area(and just miles from this particular trail), is not accustom to long hikes and seemed to have more anxiety than i recall having at that age. she didnt appear particularly comfortable in the woods like that. i felt she was overly concerned given the situation. if it hadnt been for her, i would have just backtracked a bit and then gone on as we did. without much concern as my cousin can handle herself in the woods just fine.
when she was growing up with another sister and 5 brothers, everyone hunted and spent a great deal of time in the woods. heck they lived perty deep in the ozark woods. outhouse, pump for a kitchen faucet etc. she doesnt need to carry a whistle, she could always whistle louder than any of us. but her, husband and family live in town now. and the daughter grew up in town.
i was surprised she passed by us in the first place. of course she was still, at that point, determined to photograph the woodpecker
 
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Wind, water noise, canopy, hearing proficiency (I can't hear a certain decibel range), etc. All kinds of factors can play a role. The whistle shines because the sound does carry and it doesn't wear out like your voice. But it's not a failsafe. If you want more piece of mind, get some two-way radios, keep a fresh stock of batteries in the devices, and distribute them to your fellow hikers along with some spare batteries. Of course, these radios have limitations too, largely dependent on the terrain.
 
Scott Free said:
Those whistles are LOUD and can damage hearing with enough use. They are at least temporarily deafening. Cover ears with hands. Blow. Listen.
Click to expand...

I bought one of those storm whistles and tried it out in a semi-confined area. I'll never do that again without putting my fingers in my ears.
 
sadiejane said:
she was never more than a mile away, and eventually yes, in a large cave but with a very large opening.
Click to expand...

it wasn't the whistle that was the problem it was the physics of the situation the sound waves probably got to the opening of the cave possibly a mile away but the sound waves not getting from the mouth of the cave then bouncing along the walls to the ears of the daughter inside the cave was not the whistle's fault also you being on the other side of a ridge at one point would subtract from the whistle's effectiveness for the daughter to hear
 
I EDC a Fox 40 Micro and find it to be extremely loud. It almost never gets used, but when you need it you are really glad its there.

Picture759.jpg
 
There reaches a point where absolutely nothing will work. I've got mirrors than can reflect sunlight for 100 miles under the right conditions, but they only work if there's sun, and if there's someone around to see them.

It's good to have protocols in place before you find out the limitations of your gear the hard way, like having an understanding of where and when to meet if you get separated, or simply agreeing to not get out of line of sight of each other.
 
If you search bladeforums for "whistles" there is a wealth of interesting information. Go back until you find posts by Don Luis. (He hasn't been active on bladeforums since last May.) He has a huge collection of whistles and really knows his stuff. There is more to consider besides loudness. Tone makes a difference as to how well that loudness will carry. Some whistles take more breath to blow than others. If you're injured or giving it to a child, this might matter. Unlike knives and almost all the other stuff we buy, whistles are cheap, so it doesn't hurt too much to find a model that works best for you. Give or loan the others to friends.

Sadiejane— I miss your dumpster diving avatar. :)
 
Great thing to have outdoors, my FIL used his once to signal me to head his way after he shot a deer.....I guess it was easier then calling me, but I am glad he got a use out of it, although he did look at me funny when I originally gave it too him
 
grunt soldier said:
this is what i was gonna say. she wasn't listening for a whistle. she was focusing on the woodpecker probably and was just tied up in that. i have used the whistle many times for many different things and only once was i not able to get someone's attention but that was because they were 600 yards infront of me and a very strong wind was blowing directly into me.

they definitely beat yelling lol and they definitely help you keep your voice
Click to expand...

^^^ I agree that she probably wasnt listening for a whistle, preoccupied
 
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