- Joined
- Apr 21, 2012
- Messages
- 1,138
Saturday afternoon me and a friend of mine went out deer scouting in some new territory near the college I go to in the Adirondacks (The Santa Clara wilderness area for those interested). Things were going well until we deiced to start to head back in to the truck. We started heading to where we thought the road was (we were probably only 3 or four miles out and we still had about two hours of sunlight left). We ended up going Northwest when we should have been heading Southeast, and as it got darker we of course panicked and picked up the pace. Where we ended up having to stop for the night was a quintessential Adirondack wetland.
As we were planing a short afternoon trek I only packed water for myself, a emergency tarp (tarp like emergency blanket), a magnesium/ferro bar and my BK-16. My friend only had his 20 ga. shotgun and a light hunting jacket. I used my 16 to cut some swamp grass and make a rushed bed for us to lay on to keep us off the wet moss, with the emergency tarp over us we tried to get some sleep. It was just above freezing, with strong winds and a light rain. At dawn we were both starting to display advanced stages of hypothermia.
We got our blood flowing and headed to the nearest treeline. Our clothes were completely soaked (we broke the golden rule, I was wearing carhart pants and my buddy was wearing jeans) so we tried to split out some dry wood to get a fire going, my friend only had his small skinning knife so I split up some decent sized branches and got some dryish wood. We cut open a 20 ga. shell took the powder mixed in some magnesium shavings and lit it up with some grass I kept dry in my jacket pocket. Soon we had a decent fire going and dried out a bit.
We figured out our navigational error and started backtracking to familiar ground. after 9 miles of trudging through: bog, willow thicket, Tamarack, Black Spruce, and new growth white pine clusters on dryer ground, we found the trail back, and made it back to the truck.
After a little more than 24 hours in the wild, unprepared, we were both hypothermic dehydrated and exhausted. I attribute our survival to our combined wilderness skills, mental toughness, and the tools we had at hand.
If I had not had my Becker with me I would have been unable to make the life saving survival shelter for the night or the fire that warded off the final stages of hypothermia. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Ethan Becker and Ka-Bar for producing a quality tool that I could rely on in this time of great need, without it I would likely not be here today. And to all the people who taught me survival skills over the years, they helped me keep a clear head and self rescue.
That buisness aside I also have some sweet pictures from my camera that was completely soaked and still somehow works
My 16 that I stripped just prior to us heading out (was planing on doing a strip thread when I got back but plans changed quickly)
A mushroom growing out of Black Knot on a Black Cherry
Views from the point we were at just before we started to get lost
Almost Out! (also where I figured out my camera still worked wasn't to concerned with it when we were freezing half to death)
Moose Tracks (I think)
What was a freshly stripped 16 before it took the ultimate test
As we were planing a short afternoon trek I only packed water for myself, a emergency tarp (tarp like emergency blanket), a magnesium/ferro bar and my BK-16. My friend only had his 20 ga. shotgun and a light hunting jacket. I used my 16 to cut some swamp grass and make a rushed bed for us to lay on to keep us off the wet moss, with the emergency tarp over us we tried to get some sleep. It was just above freezing, with strong winds and a light rain. At dawn we were both starting to display advanced stages of hypothermia.
We got our blood flowing and headed to the nearest treeline. Our clothes were completely soaked (we broke the golden rule, I was wearing carhart pants and my buddy was wearing jeans) so we tried to split out some dry wood to get a fire going, my friend only had his small skinning knife so I split up some decent sized branches and got some dryish wood. We cut open a 20 ga. shell took the powder mixed in some magnesium shavings and lit it up with some grass I kept dry in my jacket pocket. Soon we had a decent fire going and dried out a bit.
We figured out our navigational error and started backtracking to familiar ground. after 9 miles of trudging through: bog, willow thicket, Tamarack, Black Spruce, and new growth white pine clusters on dryer ground, we found the trail back, and made it back to the truck.
After a little more than 24 hours in the wild, unprepared, we were both hypothermic dehydrated and exhausted. I attribute our survival to our combined wilderness skills, mental toughness, and the tools we had at hand.
If I had not had my Becker with me I would have been unable to make the life saving survival shelter for the night or the fire that warded off the final stages of hypothermia. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Ethan Becker and Ka-Bar for producing a quality tool that I could rely on in this time of great need, without it I would likely not be here today. And to all the people who taught me survival skills over the years, they helped me keep a clear head and self rescue.
That buisness aside I also have some sweet pictures from my camera that was completely soaked and still somehow works
My 16 that I stripped just prior to us heading out (was planing on doing a strip thread when I got back but plans changed quickly)
A mushroom growing out of Black Knot on a Black Cherry
Views from the point we were at just before we started to get lost
Almost Out! (also where I figured out my camera still worked wasn't to concerned with it when we were freezing half to death)
Moose Tracks (I think)
What was a freshly stripped 16 before it took the ultimate test
