Excellent Survival Story over in Becker K&T Forums now

Wow. I'm glad this turned out a success story.
This happened recently in northern Minnesota. It really has me thinking about what I carry on my person and
in the car since getting lost could happen so quickly.

"Duluth News Tribune
twincities.com


A Two Harbors man was found safe but dehydrated and hypothermic last week after being lost for four days without food or water in thick woods in Lake County.

John Koepsell, 48, lost his way while out scouting for the upcoming hunting season off county Highway 2 about 30 miles north of Two Harbors, Lake County Undersheriff Steve Van Kekerix said.

"He was out scouting and he had stopped because his car was overheating, and he took a short walk" while the car cooled off, Van Kekerix said. The man then got "turned around" in the thick woods.

A property owner came across Koepsell's unoccupied car on Tuesday evening, Sept. 11 -- with keys, wallet and phone inside -- and called the sheriff's office. Deputy Erik Furo responded, checked the area and yelled out -- and got an answer from Koepsell, who had not been reported missing.

Koepsell was within a quarter-mile of a cabin, but lost in extremely thick woods, said Jim Williams, captain of the Lake County Sheriff's Rescue Squad. The rescue squad was called at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday to help get Koepsell out of the forest.

Furo, the property owner and members of the rescue squad hiked in from the property owner's cabin off Highway 2 just north of Whyte Road.

"It was so difficult," Williams said. "It's a dry swamp now. It's just so thick and brushy."

After they located Koepsell, it took about two hours to get him out, Williams said, with six men carrying him on a backboard.

"He was in tough shape,"
Williams said. "We worked very hard to get him out of there."
Koepsell was taken by ambulance to Lake View Memorial Hospital in Two Harbors, the sheriff's office reported. No information on his condition was available Saturday. Van Kekerix said Koepsell couldn't tell his rescuers much about what had happened during the previous four days."
 
OwenM said:
Neither does the noggin!
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I shouldn't be so critical though. What was common sense and the knowledge that comes from years of outdoor experience for people that age a generation ago (my generation) is not so common for young people today who are used to modern lifestyles and comforts, and little real experience in the outdoors.
 
Remember folks, hydrate or die! I always carry extra water on hikes, if you fall a twist an ankle or have an unexpected issue your life could depend on it. These guys were lucky they did not get hurt. Makes me wonder if anyone knew to go looking for them by a certain time.
 
SubaruSTi said:
Remember folks, hydrate or die! I always carry extra water on hikes, if you fall a twist an ankle or have an unexpected issue your life could depend on it. These guys were lucky they did not get hurt. Makes me wonder if anyone knew to go looking for them by a certain time.
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Again, in the hope of promoting critical thinking, one will not die in a cool moist environment from a lack of drinking water for a day or two. Also, a wetland has water. It rained that night and they had a plastic sheet but did not collect rainwater, nor evidently the next moning with the same sheet of plastic from the wet grasses.
 
Just figured I'd pitch in since I'm being talked about, The thought did occur to collect water but our main concern overnight was keeping our cores warm, the next day we did try to collect some water from grasses but I don't have much experience in that and it wasn't going too well, so we decided to cut our losses and keep moving no sense in burning daylight and energy for a half cup of water while we were pretty severely hypothermic. There are beavers everywhere in that area so any flowing water would be likely to give us giardia (I know it dosn't set in for a few days at least but I'd rather not have the hershey squirts at all if I can help it). By the time we got back the rangers were already informed so we settled that business after we warmed up a bit. We were both scouts (my friend an eagle scout, never got eagle myself because I was having too much fun in the woods to do paperwork). Both of us have spent a good amount of our lives in the woods (myself a lot further south in NJ where its a lot warmer this time of year and a lot easier to survive in) that's probably the only reason we made it out alive, you take an average kid from our generation and throw em out there with the stuff we had, they'd probably be dead. We do consider ourselves very lucky that we made it out alive, we got careless, and paid the price for it.
 
TheWambo, I really was not talking about you, per se, but the situation in general. Apologies if it seemed that I was picking on you. It was not my intention. The situation was, from the information given, one which would have been, to me at that age, inconvenient and uncomfortable, but I likely would not have considered it to be life threatening. I understand why you didn't give high priority to water collection. IMHO, you may indeed have been thirsty, but I cannot agree that one would be in danger of health problems of dehydration in that short time period and in that climate. As you both were likely typical young Americans, you have probably had good nutrition. At least until you began your trip. So your bodies were able to generate a considerable amount of heat with physical activity, particularly the next day when, if I understand correctly, you got wet. It is good that you were able to start a fire and at least partially dry out the next day. We all live and learn. You know now to take compass headings when going out in relatively flat but unknown terrain, and follow an inverse heading to return to your startng point. I am sure it was a learning experience for you. And again, apologies if it sounds like I am picking on you because that was not and still is not my intention. I hope that some other young or older inexperienced outdoorsmen will benefit from a critique of your experience, which is, again I assume, why you shared it in the first place. :) Thanks!
 
No offense taken, just figured I'd put in some first person perspective, and the only reason we were considering it life threatening was because of the hypothermia (we both had pretty violent uncontrollable shakes) and If we didn't dry out our chances looked pretty slim. Don't know what the weather's like in southwest Tennessee but its starting to cool down here in the north country, 35 without windchill.

Sorry I flew off the handle a bit, I'm just a little pissed at myself because I didn't make the preparations I should have and usually do. of course some constructive criticism is welcome. Thanks
 
TheWambo said:
No offense taken, just figured I'd put in some first person perspective, and the only reason we were considering it life threatening was because of the hypothermia (we both had pretty violent uncontrollable shakes) and If we didn't dry out our chances looked pretty slim. Don't know what the weather's like in southwest Tennessee but its starting to cool down here in the north country, 35 without windchill.

Sorry I flew off the handle a bit, I'm just a little pissed at myself because I didn't make the preparations I should have and usually do. of course some constructive criticism is welcome. Thanks
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You certainly owe me/us no apology. Yes, it is still seasonably warm here. And I have been wet and cold quite a few times. It can be life threatening, more so because as core temperature drops, the ability to engage in critical thinking drops. This is why victims of hypothermia have been found at the end of a trail of dropped clothing.

As I said, it seems that you are searching your memory for missteps that led to your situation. Hindsight is always better than viewing a situation when we are in it. It is my hope that you and all of us in fact, can gain some insight into those missteps so that we may avoid them in the future. This thinking leads us to examine stories in the news where bad things happen to people. Lost hikers. Falls. Animal attacks, etc.

How and when did you become wet? Shelter failure that night? Walking out through tall, wet grass? Was there a reason why you didn't consult your compass on the way in and out? And importantly, how will you change your day kit? What will you add without making it so cumbersome that you are tempted to leave it in the vehicle or at home? Some food for energy? I've never been a big fan of energy drinks and bars, but warm Jello, chocolate or othr sugary drink can give a core warming energy boost without a lot of added weight. Bullion cubes are good for a hot flavored drink. Water treatment tablets alleviate concerns of potable water. Most of this kit can go in a plastic container the size of a cigarette pack. In fact, I use mil-surp plastic decontamination kit containers and they will also hold a trioxane bar, mini-bic and a cheap, thin space blanket and a small piece of heavy duty foil for a cooking container. Tight fit, but it will pack in there.

4 1/4 x 2 3/4 x 1 3/4" hard-plastic and a few dollars ($4 +/-)


vfaueu.jpg
 
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Codger_64 said:
You certainly owe me/us no apology. Yes, it is still seasonably warm here. And I have been wet and cold quite a few times. It can be life threatening, more so because as core temperature drops, the ability to engage in critical thinking drops. This is why victims of hypothermia have been found at the end of a trail of dropped clothing.

As I said, it seems that you are searching your memory for missteps that led to your situation. Hindsight is always better than viewing a situation when we are in it. It is my hope that you and all of us in fact, can gain some insight into those missteps so that we may avoid them in the future. This thinking leads us to examine stories in the news where bad things happen to people. Lost hikers. Falls. Animal attacks, etc.

How and when did you become wet? Shelter failure that night? Walking out through tall, wet grass? Was there a reason why you didn't consult your compass on the way in and out? And importantly, how will you change your day kit? What will you add without making it so cumbersome that you are tempted to leave it in the vehicle or at home? Some food for energy? I've never been a big fan of energy drinks and bars, but warm Jello, chocolate or othr sugary drink can give a core warming energy boost without a lot of added weight. Bullion cubes are good for a hot flavored drink. Water treatment tablets alleviate concerns of potable water. Most of this kit can go in a plastic container the size of a cigarette pack. In fact, I use mil-surp plastic decontamination kit containers and they will also hold a trioxane bar, mini-bic and a cheap, thin space blanket and a small piece of heavy duty foil for a cooking container. Tight fit, but it will pack in there.

4 1/4 x 2 3/4 x 1 3/4" hard-plastic and a few dollars ($4 +/-)


vfaueu.jpg
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The wetness was due to panicked trudging through swamp on our way getting lost, poor shelter at night and more trudging through the woods, on the way in we thought that we knew were we were going and on the way out we used the compass to help us backtrack. As far as food goes I usually keep a cliff bar or two in my pack, but those got snacked on by my girlfriend the last time we went hiking and I never restocked. As far as water is concerned I usually bring at least two nalgenes full and a camp cup to boil in if I need more but my nalgene with the stainless cup was stolen out of my jeep a week ago, and again never replaced it. Most of the issues we faced were due to me not restocking my vitals, and my friend only having a shotgun with him (no food, water, etc.)

Main lesson, check and restock your gear before every outing and check to make sure you know where you're going don't just assume.
 
I just chalk it up to "These Things Happen".

Hindsight is a great way to look at your mistakes objectionably, but while its going on, one must take into account many variables. Food, water, equipment, terrain, temps, and a thousand other things. It alters a persons methodology to find solutions to problems.

I agree, mistakes were made, but that's just part of it. It could have gone bad, it could have gone good, but at the time, it was what it was, a couple of guys out scouting for a good place to take some game.

Moose
 
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