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A bunch of stories posted here over the years where the lost people throw away their rifle and start stripping off their clothes, even boots, and are found practically naked. WTF??? Any definitive reason why they do things that stack the deck against their survival???


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Hypothermia makes them feel warm at some point.


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Deep Survival by Lawrence Gonzales is a great read on the subject. He covers many scenarios about the mental & physical decisions different personality traits make in stressful & in many times life & death situations.

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Hypothermia and the brain doesn’t jive correctly. People have been found without their boots, barefooted and have walked 9 miles over some nasty terrain. Think zombie like situation.

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You might be interested in the books and movies based on the research by David Paulides, referred to as "Missing 411". Lots of mysterious disappearances of kids and adults and the odd circumstances surrounding the cases.


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I lost my keyes once. They weren't clothed.


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I just sit in the Scottsdale with heater goin

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Originally Posted by slumlord
I just sit in the Scottsdale with heater goin


But do you strip down and toss your rifle out into the weeds??


"To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." -- Thomas Jefferson

We are all Rhodesians now.






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Many people, particularly urban and suburban people, seem to be unable to function without a smartphone with dozens of apps and an internet connection. My daughter is really back about using an app for directions, while having no idea where she is in relation to anything else. No spacial or situational awareness at all. Drives me nuts!

Look up Geraldine Largay, the 66 year old woman who got lost on the Appalachian Trail in Maine back in 2013 and whose body wasn't found until 2015. People like that prove that Darwin was right, the strong/smart survive and the weak/stupid don't, just as it should be.

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Fear can do some strange things to some people. One cold day when I was in AIT, we were on maneuvers. One guy was walking in a dry ditch when he tripped and sat down on the bank right next to a copperhead. The snake was cold and couldn't move but he went into shock from fear. He just fell over on his back, his eyes rolled up inside his head and he lay there quivering. They had to haul him to the hospital and we didn't see him for a week. I wondered how he fared in Nam with livelier snakes.


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A lot of people go out into the mountains or forests without any idea that something might go wrong or something adverse might happen to them. Therefore they don't take any survival gear with them, or if they have a couple of items in a day pack, they often have no clue as to how to use what little they have brought with them.

That old denial syndrome of "Ahhh, It can't happen to me," has killed more than a few out in the outdoors.

L.W.


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If you worked hard as an adult to teach yourself to hunt, and did the same to learn how to roam far and wide yet remain safe in big/high country in the west, it can be difficult to understand how and why people get themselves into such bad circumstances, and even more difficult to understand why they do some strange things when lost.

I feel terrible for folks who become badly disoriented and lost and then suffer - even die - because they are not equipped/prepared to deal with what they got themselves into - and then went in deeper. It must be a horrible feeling to be in that condition. I also sometimes feel badly for the search and rescue people who are suddenly called out to try to help. These things have happened all too frequently during the many years we lived and roamed in that high country.

Thanks for the info on effects of hypothermia - I've never been really, really cold out there, let alone hypothermic - so it helps one understand why people do some strange things. Having never been lost or even in confusing or fearful conditions, I simply wish that people would study and learn how to behave wisely in such undertakings and what to do if they get themselves into trouble - it is logical and easy to learn and the prep is easy - just do it.

In the few instances where sudden weather or other unexpecteds caused me to have to change course or concentrate energy and effort to get out of some challenging situation, I certainly never would have tossed my firearm, or boots, or whatever. To do that, minds must be really scrambled at such a point.


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Originally Posted by gonehuntin
Originally Posted by slumlord
I just sit in the Scottsdale with heater goin


But do you strip down and toss your rifle out into the weeds??


Probably.


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Originally Posted by Fireball2
Hypothermia makes them feel warm at some point.



It is called paradoxical disrobing, an effect of severe hypothermia. We were on a mission many years ago looking for the wife of a local businessman in the mountains of Colorado. We found her unconscious , naked with her clothing strewn about the trail and her horse nearby. While it looked like a crime scene, it was not , she had severe hypothermia after falling off her horse. Weird stuff!

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Frankly, I don't recall those stories here?


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I've seen people lay down on frozen ground who would have died if people who were mentally stronger didn't pick them up and force them to keep moving and do what was necessary to stay alive.

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Originally Posted by bruinruin
You might be interested in the books and movies based on the research by David Paulides, referred to as "Missing 411". Lots of mysterious disappearances of kids and adults and the odd circumstances surrounding the cases.



His books and interviews are absolutely fascinating.

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I have been somewhat confused about location a few times.
No threat, just things weren't how I perceived them.

Once, I was truly, no f'n idea where to go, lost.

I wasn't really far from a camp. But it was cold and getting dark.
I was as scared as anytime ever in the woods. Found my own tracks
in the snow, I had been circling the top of a big round knob. I had no idea
what direction to go, and not enough light to follow my tracks around again to
find where I came in.

It was a drive hunting situation, when I disappeared, they knew where I was.
Most of those guys had done the same thing there. (They put me 50 yards from
the top and told me to go straight. A setup knowing what they knew)
Anyway, they sent four wheelers looking for me. When I heard that engine, I dumped
my flashpowder and took off at a dead run.


No big deal. But close enough to learn a few lessons.

#1 Don't panic. Easy to say. But I kinda did.

Because. I missed one of the rules of being lost, one that really applied to me.

#2 Stay Put.

This one doesn't fit every single situation. But I applies to every one
until you at least KNOW what's up and which way to go.


In my case, I had no reason to be scared. I was within a half mile of
their camp. Moving had the potential to put me in much more remote
country. All I needed to do was sit down and wait. Someone was bound to
come looking or fire a shot.

#3
Don't think you have to find your way out.
That's where I went wrong.


It's really embarrassing to have gotten so screwed up in that situation.
I have hunted in remote areas. A long ways from anything.

But really it points to another important thought.
Some like to poke fun, and then talk about how they are prepared.

But that's where things go off the rails.
Experienced guys go "for a little walk", or I'm on a hunt that goes "nowhere really".
So many of the lost stories arent idiots.
They are people who weren't in desolate areas, just a couple hour hike.
Then things went to schidt!


Parents who say they have good kids..Usually don't!
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Originally Posted by 240NMC
Originally Posted by bruinruin
You might be interested in the books and movies based on the research by David Paulides, referred to as "Missing 411". Lots of mysterious disappearances of kids and adults and the odd circumstances surrounding the cases.



His books and interviews are absolutely fascinating.


I agree....

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Bad things can happen to experienced people in the wilderness as well. Sometimes people make bad choices despite experience.

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