Hunter survives five nights of cold, hunger in Idaho mountains

[ctdonath]

Seems I've got more survival gear in my small computer bag than he bothered to take.

I don't mean to detract from the anxiety, stress, discomfort and risk he went through. Being lost - even for a few minutes - is really disconcerting, making one painfully aware of human fragility and error. I could easily do the same thing.

But like others, I can't avoid plunging in with commentary here.

Did anyone else notice the ironic name of the area? "Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness"?!? Name alone would get me to grab another pound of gear.

The "two-day solo elk hunt" sounds like he must have planned on spending the night in the truck, or in a tent stashed therein. Gun, map ... and apparently nothing else as he plunged into the woods. No intent of being farther from the truck than he was willing to drag an elk - which presumably wasn't far.

Waiting for rescuers is a correct solution to the problem. However, people tend to way underestimate how long it takes for someone to notice your absence, grow concerned enough to call authorities, pester authorities often enough to make them take notice, authorities to figure out what's wrong, formulate a plan of action, assemble & equip the search team, transport to the area, and only then actually start looking for the needle (you) in the haystack (square miles of rank wilderness) - all convoluted by the fact that there's a lot of where you're not supposed to be but likely are. That's a long time between "I'm lost" and "we found you", magnified by you painfully aware of every second passing.

Mistakes:
- Inadquate map. Don't just take a map of where you're going, take maps of where you might end up. Battery powered ones don't cut it.
- No compass. Doesn't actually say he didn't have one, but if you've gone off the map you likely have a decent idea of which side you fell off, and thus which direction to go to get back on it.
- No shelter. There's enough stuff on the forest floor to at least pile up for insulation and crawl under. There's usually enough light (even without fire or flashlight) at night to do at least that.
- No light. Even a cheesy little LED keyfob would be better than nothing.
- No fire. No matches, lighter, flint. No skill in fire by friction. The best thing about a fire for keeping you warm is not the heat from the fire, but the heat from keeping active getting fuel for the fire. Other than cooking, fire may not actually be that actually helpful for survival, but psychologically it works wonders and can be critical for signalling.

Understandable:
- First night particularly sucked. Most people would likely act on an expectation of getting found and getting out before dusk ... so it's only at dusk that one realizes it's time to hunker down for the night, with little time to do so comfortably.
- Didn't eat squirrels. "Tiny pine squirrels" frankly sound like a lot of work for not much food. Don't waste the ammo on "fun sized" appetizers.
- Ate snow. A debatable action for sure, but no apparent harm done. Psychologically helps to put something in your mouth periodically. Sucking on a small rock is probably better, sorta like gum.
- Wolves. Nothin' you can do about 'em. Short of actually being attacked by one, you probably won't see them, much less shoot one.

Done right:
- Stayed in place. Hard to find a moving target. Settled in long enough for rescuers, if any, to do their thing.
- Rescued self. After allowing a sufficient search-and-rescue period, got self out before sitting 'round got debilitating.


My own frequent "I know better" mistakes:
- No map. On a trail, how could I get lost? Oh, like that.
- Lousy footwear. Recently moved, can't find my boots, hike in leather sandals. Get boots, ctd!
- Not informing others. Recently moved, don't know anyone to tell, usually hike with wife. Email friends/family - somebody should know.

Are you in shape to walk 24 miles out?

He covered 24 miles total. In, meandering, and out adds up. Over five days that ain't much. If he was planning on dragging an elk out, he's in good enough shape to march himself around for a while.

While not in optimal shape, hiking that far in a few days is entirely doable.

Scary that asking the question is viable today. People used to do half that for a casual Sunday afternoon on a regular basis.

Somtimes you go no matter what the weather is.

Then you darn well better be prepared for the worst. I was about to say "you darn well better know what the weather will be" but I've too often found prediction != reality.

Dry Warm Hydrate

Couldn't have said it better.

OT:

In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is regarded as insane and ostracized accordingly.

 

[ctdonath]

Oh, and don't forget your towel.

But of course you need to know where your towel is!

 

[AaronE]

This is a Teaching Moment.

A few fellow hunters and I teach hunter Education for Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Tell the kids, We dont have to make these things UP! We just read the paper and record. Fellow instructor has a 4" binder FULL of one pagers like this. covers a FEW years.

A few points.

Murphy is a bastid.

Battery powered devices dont work when the battery dies. Compasses are NOT battery powered. ALWAYS take maps to adjacent areas, like a poster pointed out...you may not know WERE you are...but you DO know generally WHICH way you ventured off the map.

for my own hunting, I carry a largish fanny pack with EVERYTHING I think I might need. I can and have stayed out with it when i shot an elk a bit farther from the camp than I thought I was. I've stayed out just for proving to self that I COULD. Also taught my kids a bit about that as well.

Aaron

 

[USMC - Retired]

When I was a kid (back in the dark ages), my dad used to take me "survival camping". This meant he and I were headed out for a weekend with just the bare esentials: sleeping bags, canteens, a .22 rifle and a shotgun, and what gear would fit in a day pack. No food, no cook gear (other than canteen cups), no tent, etc. I learned a lot on those trips and feel confident in my ability to survive for an extended period of time if the need be. Thinking about it has me a bit nostalgic now, I think I may take my kids on a survival trip when I get them for Christmas this year...

 

[Mossyrock]

>>I watch Les Stroud on Survivorman, so I'm pretty well educated on what to do, thanks though.<<

Sorry, but Les Stroud is an idiot who is going to get people killed, if he hasn't already. I lost all respect for him when he passed up killing a small javelina (He was above it, on a rock pile with a big rock in hand) to eat roasted grass hoppers....then griped about being hungry.

 

[fiVe]

Lots of good info in this thread.

 

[thexrayboy]

Ones best survival gear is between the ears. Learn how to use items effectively. Yes it's great to have things like a knife or matches etc. But it's better to be able to do without if necessary. You may by chance lose that rucksack or fannypack while trying to hike out. Knowledge can be the difference. And the idea of going into the wild alone is questionable. One should never go hunting, climbing, skiing, hiking etc alone unless you are able to make some tough decisions, such as chopping your own arm off to save your own life. Many an old time prospector or hunter was able to live off the land on their own for days or weeks at at time with very little in the way of survival equipment. However a lot of those people went out into the wilderness and never returned because they went out alone and some mishap occured they could not ovecome by themself.

 

[Leanwolf]

CORRECTION OF POSTERS ABOUT "LOST IDAHO hUNTER."

Reading all the posts about Bill Helfferich, who spent five nights up in the boonies, lost, I saw so much nonsense about him, his "non-preparations," etc., that I figured I'd correct some of the misinformed who posted.

I heard him interviewed twice, on teeeveee, plus read a long article about what happened in "The Idaho Statesman" newpaper.

1. Rookie hunter?? Not hardly. Helfferich was an experienced, dedicated hunter. Because a major fire this past summer in the area he intended to hunt radically changed the "landmarks" he was used to, he made a couple of wrong turns and ended up in an area he didn't know and was not on his topo maps. Yes, he had a compass.

2. If he'd killed an elk, he intended to bone out the meat and pack it out to his truck.

3. He had survival gear with him, including elk quarter bags he used to help keep warm, although no matter, he was cold much of the time. Six degrees F. He also was wearing good, warm, water repellant clothing.

4. FIRE!! Seems some who posted put the guy down because "he had no matches," etc. Baloney. He had plenty of matches, and spent most of his time gathering firewood and kept it going.

5... He did NOT "eat snow." He stayed hydrated because he melted snow for drinking water in his Nalgene stainless steel bottle.

6. No food? Nonsense! He had a bunch of power bars with him, and even though he got lost on Sunday, did not eat the final one until Thursday.

7. No knife?? Hell, he was elk hunting, boys and girls. Of course he had a good knife, and in fact, used it to cut pine boughs both for insulation on the ground, PLUS, he used them to spell out "HELP" in large letters in the snow. (Because of the low clouds, search planes were grounded part of the time he was lost, and they were looking in the area where he'd told his family he'd be hunting.)

8. For those who scoffed at "24 miles" as being a walk in the park, well, I've hunted over there in the White Cloud range and it ain't hardly no park!! That is some of the roughest, steepest country you or anyone else will ever hunt! (There is an old saying, "If they'd just flatten out Idaho, it'd be bigger than Texas." And that is true.)

9. He stated in the interview that his biggest mistake was going hunting alone. But he was in excellent condition, knew the area, so he went anyway. Fortunately, he survived because he kept his cool, used his survival gear, and did not panic. He managed to finally walk through foot deep snow on Friday, when he thought it was do-or-die. He found a forest research crew and the rest was history. S&R people already thought he was dead.

As for cell phones, in many, many places in the Idaho mountains -- and much of the Rockies -- cell phones won't work.

Mistakes? Yep, but we all make them. I certainly have, but always try and never make the same one twice. I'll bet he won't make the same mistake again.

Hope these corrections of some of the posts in that thread clear up some misconceptions and outright b.s.

In fact, Helfferich only lives about eight miles from me. I think I'll call him and see exactly what "survival gear" he had with him.

FWIW.

L.W.

 

[Lucky]

I was wondering if he was going to have to make more than 1 trip to carry the meat?

As for GPS in the mountains, out here if there's trees you'll spend 5 minutes waiting for the GPS to get a lock and give you your co-ordinates, and then it will lose signal as soon as you walk, but it's still pretty handy and compact, and inexpensive.

If there's a fire, then you'd have a lot of fresh foilage growing, so if it safe to assume that areas that have recently burned will have more animals?

 

[hso]

If you could call him and ask what and how he carried the gear he had that would be a big help. All in pockets or a small pack. I'd think that if he was packing the meat out he'd have to have a pack frame and might have limited what he carried in.

Also ask if he built a shelter or if he expected to get out so quickly that he kept to fire and nest to keep off the snow, please.

Most folks that don't live more than a few miles from an interstate corridore don't realize that cell coverage is completely absent in much of the west unless you're in clear direct line of sight with a cell tower. Get down in some valley or hollar or the "wrong" side of a slope and you're no bars from everyone. As such, people unfamiliar with the area they'er visiting would be well served to rent a sat phone for emergency communications in the bush. Prices have dropped and programs exist where the rental is nominal, but the price per minute is steep. Good if you only want it for emergencies and not to let your 14 year old chat on.

 

[LAK]

Always a good idea to carry the bare essentials of kit with regional/seasonal bias (heavily discussed elsewhere) - and be in good shape. There are a 1001 ways to wind up taking the long way home, and like most disasters - usually unexpected.

-------------------------------------------

http://ussliberty.org
http://ssunitedstates.org

 

[SkyGuy]

Reading all the posts about Bill Helfferich, who spent five nights up in the boonies, lost, I saw so much nonsense about him, his "non-preparations," etc., that I figured I'd correct some of the misinformed who posted.

Thanks for the info, Leanwolf.
Good to see the guy wasn't a bonehead after all.

Lesson to be learned: newspaper stories usually suck.

Upside: there was a lot of good info and survival reminders posted in that thread.
.

 

[bass806]

If he made it out of the Idaho wilderness after 5 nights; I would say this guy knew what he was doing!!! The fact that he survived is what matters. I would be more than happy to volunteer as his elk hunting partner next season.

 

[Heywood Case]

Good post, LeanWolf. I had a feeling there was a little more to the story.

1. Rookie hunter?? Not hardly. Helfferich was an experienced, dedicated hunter. Because a major fire this past summer in the area he intended to hunt radically changed the "landmarks" he was used to, he made a couple of wrong turns and ended up in an area he didn't know and was not on his topo maps. Yes, he had a compass.

I've learned the hard way about going off the map. But given the fire, the weather conditions, and the nature of the terrain I could see getting into difficulties even with a map. You still have to find where you are on the map in order for it to be useful. If you are used to travelling in places where landmarks are easy to identify, it is easy to get overconfident about your skills (I'm not suggesting this was true for Mr. Helfferich, but it might be true for me).

5... He did NOT "eat snow." He stayed hydrated because he melted snow for drinking water in his Nalgene stainless steel bottle.

This is a point worth remembering. Let's see, I've got matches, I'll make a fire and melt some snow, no problem. In my plastic water bottle... problem. I'm going to get one of those steel bottles! In temps like that it also helps if the bottles are insulated, or you have to keep them close to your skin to prevent it from freezing.

9. He stated in the interview that his biggest mistake was going hunting alone. But he was in excellent condition, knew the area, so he went anyway. Fortunately, he survived because he kept his cool, used his survival gear, and did not panic. He managed to finally walk through foot deep snow on Friday, when he thought it was do-or-die. He found a forest research crew and the rest was history. S&R people already thought he was dead.

I posted something earlier about sometimes it being a good idea to stay put in heavy snow, but forgot to add that you still have to be ready to move when conditions improve. There is only so long you can wait before you lose your mobility. Sounds like this guy was prepared, knew when to wait, and knew when to move. I'd be happy to do so well.

 

[TallPine]

Most folks that don't live more than a few miles from an interstate corridore don't realize that cell coverage is completely absent in much of the west unless you're in clear direct line of sight with a cell tower. Get down in some valley or hollar or the "wrong" side of a slope and you're no bars from everyone.

As in (or anywhere near) our house you can't get cell service

 

[dragongoddess]

All one has to do is read the story posed by the orginal poster. All observations were made based on that story I believe. You cannot blame people for making said observations based on the info provided.

As far as being an experienced hunter. I would disagree. An experienced hunter does not go off into the boonies by themselves. Its only asking for trouble. Say what you will but thats a mistake he made that almost cost him his life.
Experienced hunters don't make such fundamental mistakes.

 

[riverdog]

It's good to read that Bill Helfferich was carrying survival gear and that he used it. As a solo hunter he should have been well prepared. The questions asked in the first post of this thread however, were about how "we" would do. Do you carry the right gear and are you in shape.

The compass that he carried was/is a good tool if you know where you are and where you need to go(Pt A, Pt B -- plot a course). But without his usual landmark reference points, he lost his ability to determine where he was. A $94 GPS or the $185 Geko 301 that I have would have told him where Pt's A & B were. Then his compass would have been much more useful at telling him how to get back to his truck.

 

[mole]

I came across a lost hunter a few years ago while driving down the road. He'd been lost for a day and didn't have any gear. He was out of shape and found the road more or less by dumb luck. I drove him the few miles back to his camp and he hopped out at first chance without even a "thanks". I guess that's what happens when folks from Atlanta try to take on mother nature without planning.

This is a good thread.

 

[Sharpdogs]

Excellent point about the water bottle. I usually have a plastic nalgene and/or plastic camelback. I was thinking of adding some water purification tablets but with stainless stell container I will have the option of boiling water or using the tablets. It's amazing how many people who venture off into the woods with empty pockets. There was a story about couple who wandered off on a day hike and got lost. They only survived because they found the pack of a hiker who had died on the trail. They used his matches to start a fire. I forgot the rest of the story. Myself I keep a PSK in coat pocket at all times. Never had to use it but the ammodium AD was a life saver once

Just found out my soon to be brother in-law is going to take up bow hunting. For Christmas he's getting one of these headlamps by Streamlight http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=71 and one of these kits for his pocket https://edcdepot.com/merchantmanager/product_info.php?cPath=4&products_id=127 it will not cover all his needs but it's a start.

 

[hso]

Sharpdogs,

If you like that kit you may want to get it from the guy that designed it, Doug Ritter. http://www.equipped.org/psp/index.htm Getting it from Doug puts more money into his non-profit and gives more support to his efforts to keep us all well informed on wilderness survival equipment and techniques.

 

[LanEvo`]

Toilet paper! Save the last foot or so on a few rolls, and mash'em flat, cardboard core intact. pack'em in a zip-lock bag, along with anything else that needs to be kept dry. Unsalted peanuts. A pair of dry socks and a dry undershirt. A dozen One-A-Day vitamins. Fishhooks and line. A waterproof poncho and a foil space blanket. A small garden spade. A small makeup mirror for signaling. A stainless steel skewer for roasting small game. Antiseptic ointments and wipes.

Not a bad list. But I don't really understand the need for a dozen multi-vitamins. It's not like you're going to develop scurvy after just a few days in the woods! It takes a few months of poor nutrition before you need to seriously worry about vitamin deficiency.

 

[Leanwolf]

DRAGONGODDESS - "As far as being an experienced hunter. I would disagree. An experienced hunter does not go off into the boonies by themselves."


You're kidding. Right??

I would consider myself to be an "experienced hunter." Been hunting for 55 years. Sometimes, when hunting season rolled around, my hunting partner(s) couldn't make it. I'd still go, although I'd let a couple friends, later family members, know where I'd be hunting by names on a topo map. But I'd still go.
It was either that or stay at home. I always had survival gear in my daypack.

Helffrich's family knew the exact drainage he'd be hunting, and that's why S&R was searching for him, where he was NOT. He'd inadvertently gone on over into another drainage. "Another drainage" here in the Rockies, can cover a vast amount of very rough country.

FWIW. L.W.

 

[S&W620]

Not to dismiss what the guy went through, but come on, 24 miles in 5 days?

A marathon is 26 miles and folks run that in a little over 2 hours. Granted none of us (maybe an exception here or there) aren't in nearly as good of shape as these guys, but this isn't excactly a long distance.

I am glad the guy got out alive, but in this circumstance, I expect most of us would.

 

[Jeff White]

26 miles as the crow flies would probably be 50 to 60 miles in that type of terrain. By the time you walk up the hill and then down the hill, then through all the switchbacks and such you can more then double the straight line distance.

All those little brown lines on a topo map mean things.

Jeff

 

[ilbob]

Walking 20+ miles through rough mountainous terrain is a lot different than doing the same on level ground.

Just going up and down hill on a nice trail is far more effort than on level ground.

I would not be all that quick to criticize how long it took him to make the 20+ miles.