There's an old truck this used to be a Logging Road right here this is an old Truck that used to haul logs out of here And I guess it broke down and here it is I would say about 99 of people stay on The trail their entire lives And that's both literal and metaphorical So I think people lack the courage lack the Knowledge lack the skills a lot of times To venture off The trail And the the amazing thing about doing That if you do have the courage and the Skills to do it is that 99 of the world Is off of the trail You can only see so much from the Well-beaten path and every now and then It's it's a It to me staying on the trail is just Like this this confined Zone that just Doesn't allow me to to exercise my Adventurous side Learning a little bit about navigation I Think is key learning a little bit about Your your natural environment uh the Water that you can drink the water that You can't drink those types of things And a little bit of survival skills Perhaps bringing along the gear that you Might need with you to shelter yourself From the elements that type of stuff Because you're going to be your own First responder if one of the tactics
That I use quite regular when I'm off The trail which is almost all the time I Hate hiking on Trails for the most part Unless you know I do it with the family And the kids and stuff but for the most Part if it's just me and the pooch I'll be off the trail and one of the Easiest tactics that I use is just Keeping track where the sun is just Basic awareness of where you are you can Use uh land features ridges and things Like that in the distance and in this in The wintertime it's pretty easy like you Can see a long ways I could keep I could See that Ridge right there and I could Keep that Ridge on my left shoulder and Just keep keep that as a reference point So I know where I came from and how I Need to get back The sun's a good one so I've been hiking For say an hour or so give or take and I've had the sun basically on my left Side for the most part basically on the Left side I've taken a couple turns here And there but for the most part it's Been over there so now if I want to go Home if I want to head back in the Direction that I came all I do is put The sun on my right shoulder on the Right side and for the most part keep it There and I'll head back the way that I Came I live on the east coast right I Live in the Appalachian Mountains of North Georgia and
It's unless you're injured there's Absolutely no reason to be lost and Never found again if you're injured That's a little bit different but if You're capable of moving man I tell you What you can go in any direction really In a straight line which we'll talk About here in just a second you can go In a straight line in any direction and Come across something you're going to Hit a river you're going to hit a road You're going to hit a house you're going To hit something if you just go in a Straight line And really from here I'm up on top of a Ridge right now Um I could head downhill in any Direction and run into water and if I Follow that water Downstream it's going To run into more water a bigger stream And then a bigger stream and a bigger Stream and people live near water they Live in the bottoms they live closer Closer to the water sources and there's Some places where that's not always the Case but where I live literally just Head downhill in any direction if you're Lost and you can find your way to some Sort of civilization and find some help Let's say I did go off Trail because I Wanted to see something that I check out Something a little bit closer that I saw In the distance I heard something I Wanted to go see you investigate what it
Was or whatever you know your curiosity Got the best of you perhaps and then Suddenly you're starting to realize like Wait a minute I'm not really sure how to Get back to that trailer Wherever I came from to start with Crap what do I do and I've been in that Situation I definitely have been there I I have like Daniel Boone I've never been Lost But I have definitely been turned around A bit from time to time so the best Thing to do in that situation is just Stop Sit down Sit against a big tree kind of Like this one right here and just Collect your thoughts don't freak out You're not going to die you're going to Be okay you just gotta you just gotta Relax just a little bit because that Moment of of fear and in my situation Where that's happened to me before it's Not if I'm being really honest with you It's not it's not fear that I'm going to Die it's fear of you know embarrassment Perhaps or it's um it's fear that you Know people are going to be worried About you if you don't return home when You say you're going to return home they Might perhaps send the search parties Out after you so hopefully you've told People where you are you told people Where you're going and you've told People what time you're supposed to get
Back But with that said even if you've done That people are going to worry about you And and it's natural to not want that It's natural to try to save yourself you Want to save yourself so you don't have The embarrassment you don't have the uh The the the freaking out of your family Members so uh but the best thing to do Is just to sit down if you do realize There's a point where you realize oh Crap I'm not quite sure where I am sit Down collect your thoughts relax a Little bit have a snack drink some water And then just try to use your instincts To navigate yourself back to where you Started from a good way to do that is Just pick yourself a big tree kind of Like you know like this giant big white Pine right here Let's say this is my point of where I Was uh the point where I realized I was Lost I could use this tree as kind of my base Camp area and I could I could venture Out short distances where I could still See this tree venture out short Distances in all directions I can make a Big circle around this tree and see if I Could find my trail my tracks whatever It is that's a really really good tactic But as long as you can see this this is The the least lost that you have been Right here if you just start running
Through the jungle like a madman like Crazy you're gonna get more and more Lost and possibly in more and more Trouble Come on girl Come on girl good girl That's a good girl yeah Good girl what'd you go hmm we'll just Sniff Blessed with water everywhere so if you Die of dehydration here you're either Injured really badly or you're afraid to Drink the water for various reasons Sometimes it could be understandable but Um Downhill this direction is going to lead To water 100 guaranteed I would bet I Bet my life on it downhill in this Direction 100 will lead to water no Questions asked I guarantee it you will Hit some sort of water if you just head Downhill in any direction if you keep Following that water down and down and Down and down you're going to run into Some sort of civilization eventually And probably the main thing to keep Yourself from getting lost in the first Place if you're off Trail is just basic Uh awareness just always being aware of Where you are and where you came from Taking notes mental notes of of specific Landmarks or features Keeping an eye on the Big Ridge to your Left
Um there's a big crooked nasty you know Uh tree that's been split off on one Side remembering those those big Features like that can help you stay on On your path and and just avoid getting Lost in the first place because that's That's the goal I'm traveling in a straight line in this In our area is really tough just because Of the steepness of the terrain and all The barriers that you're going to come Across you're going to come across a lot Of water obstacles Um and just the steepness ruggedness of The terrain makes it pretty challenging So but if you wanted to try to walk in a Straight line which is another really Good tactic that could work in a lot of Places just to get yourself on Lost Um picking a direction and traveling in A straight straight line as best you can Because if you just start walking you're Going to end up walking in this giant Big circle I'm probably gonna you're gonna stay Lost if the area is big enough so Walking in a straight line is is a Little bit tricky in this area but in Some places it's not so bad you can pick A tree like let's say this is my tree Right here this this big monster This big Hemlock I'm gonna pick another Tree in the direction of travel that I Want to go
And I can see that one right there that Tree right there I'm gonna walk to it And I'm going to keep this one in in Sight and this is going to be my Starting reference point and then I know There's another Tree in that same Direction right just beyond it and then Another Tree in that next in that same Direction just beyond it and I'll just Keep LeapFrog in my way making sure I'm Always looking back so I can see the Tree that I just came from and if I keep LeapFrog into that next tree the next Tree in the next tree and I keep them in A straight line I know that I'm gonna be Walking in a straight line And I'm not going to be walking in Circles like a crazy person I generally speaking if I'm out hunting Or whatever it is I'll keep a a small Pack with some supplies and stuff like That a water bottle and some and a Poncho and a basic shelter something Real minimal and I'll also keep a Compass in there And I and before I go into an area Especially if it's a new area I'll look At a map of the area it's always a good Idea to bring a map as well but but Let's assume you don't have one It's always a good idea to at least look At like your GPS when you're going into An area when you park your truck where The area you're going to hunt
Just make a mental note you know let's Say the road runs East and West Predominantly and I'm going to be Hunting on the north side of that road I can I know for a fact if I stay on That side of the road the whole day all I got to do is go South and I'll run Into that road this basic simple stuff Like that just keep you from getting Lost in the first place now it it's a Little bit more challenging to come out Exactly where you started to come out Right where your vehicle is parked That's takes a little bit more skill but But for the most part you're not going To be lost Um I always keep a small button compass In my belt so regardless if I have a Pack with a real compass and map in it I've always got a small button compass In my cash belt from Wazoo and it's very Reliable from what I have found as far As button compasses go there the button Comes is that they sell are really good And I and I've relied on them multiple Times actually if I've thought I've been One place then it turns out like oh wait A minute I'm not quite sure where I am I Can use that small little button Compass To get me basic general direction back To where I need to go And it's come in pretty dang handy and It just gives you that next level of Confidence that oftentimes we will lack
Otherwise there's lots of different Tricks and stuff that you can do to you Know the sun rises in the East sets in The west everybody knows that but it's More like Southeast and Southwest and Depending on the time of the year You could be off general direction yeah It does work but but for the most part It's and if it's what if it's really Really cloudy and you can't tell where The sun is at all so there's that moss Grows on the north side of the Trees Everybody Talks about that here's a tree With some moss on it It's got moss growing all the way around The tree This is West that is where the most of The Moss is and it is west but that's Because that's because the shadier side Of this tree is just due to the terrain Feature so we're in this really steep Steep valley right here this steep draw And the the hills block the sunshine and Causes the Moss to grow more on this one Side of the tree it's not the north side So you can't really trust that the only Time that really works is in big open Areas and big Open Fields where there's No protection from the hills or other Plants and trees and stuff I've been out Here wandering around making this video I'm lost now I'm just gonna follow my Own advice and I'm going to walk Downhill and see what happens I'm gonna
Trust my own advice and see see what Happens I'm not using a compass I'm not Paying attention to where the sun is None of that I'm just gonna walk down This hill And see if I find some water Definitely don't let my dog lead the way She'll Lead me astray for sure Headed downhill just keep going downhill And we found water and then I would just Follow this stream downhill keep falling Downstream until it runs into a bigger Stream and a lot of these little Branches like this are going to feed Into a bigger stream and it's going to Get bigger and bigger and bigger and That's where people are that's where Houses are that's where roads are I've Never been in this exact spot before in My life I'm I mean I know exactly where I am but I know I'm not lost And now that we've found water that I by The way I'd be perfectly happy to drink Out of this right here it's coming Straight out of the ground there's Nothing above it there's no houses no Nothing like that I'd be totally I'd Feel totally comfortable drinking that Now we'll try another technique so Um I had the sun on my left shoulder for The most part if I want to go home I put The sun on my right shoulder and that
Will take me back the way that came Thank you I think most of us use GPS as our Primary means of navigation now which is Fine it's all good But don't rely on it completely because I've definitely had GPS fail me I've Definitely had it tell me I'm in some Place where I 100 know that I'm not I've had it not work at all batteries Die I recently took a really short class Just a brief snapshot an hour-long class With Craig caudell he's the one that Kind of inspired me to do this video on Navigation And he's very talented what he does is An excellent instructor so if you should Ever find yourself Within uh within driving distance of him Take one of your classes I'll be sure to Put his Link in the description You know heading to High Ground is not Always a bad idea either You can sometimes get a pretty good lay Of the land by hiking up to a ridge or Top of a Top of a hill the highest point So by using the Sun as my primary means Of navigation getting back I put it on My right side Kept it on my right shoulder and walked Back I now know exactly where I am
This is a a hunting trail that I use Every year I know exactly where I am I'm back on Familiar ground and I could get myself Out of this situation while this doesn't Look like much of a trail To the untrained eye A hundred percent Have been in this spot And I know that if I walk this way it'll Take me back to where my trucks parked I really hope you found this encouraging A little bit hope you found it at least A little bit informative I really appreciate you watching thumbs Up is greatly appreciated check out the Uh the website check out our store Any and all contributions there any of The gear that you buy there is greatly Appreciated because it really helps us Out And I can't wait to see you on the next one Thanks for watching This is my job [Laughter] This is what I do What did you find Oh my God we're ways up here nobody hunts here That I know of But there's a deer leg She's trying to give it to me Where did you get that
My guess Is that was a deer that was cleaned down Below somewhere way down there and the Critters have drug it up here kind of Like Maggie Foreign
