every year people get lost--How to combat this?

With every respect to the current situation thats goin on at menzies, i thought I'd throw in a few tips and hopefully anyone else may do the same, coz u really dont know everything and we are not to old to lift our game. if Lost I would park up during the day if its bloody hot and venture out in the cool. U might be lucky and have some high ground around to get bearings.

If I go bush for an extended stay with mates I always take my h/p rifle..if someone gets lost -trust me they will hear my cannon go off for miles.

In the evenings if i am going to do a night hunt I always turn on my work light in the back of my ute--its an 8 hour Narva blue colored rechargeable light--about $90.00 I also carry an amber 12v flashing light that can be easily hooked up to any battery.

At night u should know how to find south via the stars of the southern cross -- clouds permitting--

Carry a box of matches or lighter.

At night, generally I dont carry water but i do survey the area to see where my vehicle/camp is.

I think the detector back packs could be updated into the 21st century. extra pockets on the straps to hold a gps/epirb, knife-lighter, museli bar etc..

never go to the back of beyond by yourself--if ya vehicle or you break down its a lonesome place by yourself.

If u happen to go out bush to some lonely place then let the police know and check in with family every night--sat phones might cost about $2 a minute but hey--I think I'm worth every cent. dont tell em what u found just tell em u r OK.

Use the KISS system.

From now on I think I will give all the punters who come into my workshop a leaflet on websites like this and a few others so they can check them out and hopefully pick up a few pointers.

regards
oneday69

Good suggestions one day........could add a PLB(accurate to within ten metres).
I also like your idea of practical "modernised" prospectors backpack......an opening for an astute forum member to make some $$$$$$.

Be lucky.

i read about a couple of sweedish people who hire a vehicle and go bush sight seeing-- summer and the wet season---get bogged--no water-no food--no nothing
absolutely amazing that people have a total disreguard for our country..
hate to see the bill for the recovery of the vehicle...

there are basically only 2 back packs which are out there at the moment and they come up short on a lot of fronts--maybe there can be a change instigated.

regards
oneday69

I use a 'SPOT' messenger.
I used to simply press the 'ok' button every hour, but we have changed that now and have it set to 'tracking' until I'm back at camp.
A location is sent every 10 minutes, so if something happens where I cant hit the button, my location is still known.
Piece of mind for the family and me!

hi all
i go prospecting out on my own 3 or 4 trips a year, plus other more remote trips with company
i have a PLB permantly on my harness and i also have a garmin 4 trex GPS (bit like a wrist watch)
when i leave camp swich on the 4 trex mark my location and then switch it off as well as getting some bearings like hills big trees ect near to camp i find i can concentrate more on detecing rather than worrying about were i am and getting lost.

i also carry a swiss army knife a flint strike and keep a compression bandage under the battery on the harness and spare batteries for the GPS its just stuff that will get you out of trouble

i have 2 flares in the ute 1 hand held and 1 rocket flare
might seem a bit over the top but as oneday said its a very lonely place on yer own with a broken down ute or lost out bush miles from nowhere

regards
mick

It doesn't matter what you do there will always be people who don't listen to reason and get lost. Some will die but you can't save 'em all.

Cheers, Jim

granite2 wrote:It doesn't matter what you do there will always be people who don't listen to reason and get lost. Some will die but you can't save 'em all.

Cheers, Jim

Yes this is right. It is not us types that tend to get lost it is those who don't give it a thought. When one of us gets lost we usually make it go right. It's the times we drop our guard that gets us. It is the times you don't follow your own rules that might get you.

was in Kmart today--they have a little compass and a whistle and a water tight cintainer all in one --oh u can put some matches in it

about as wide as ya thumb with a lanyard to tie to your belt or harness.

All for 5 bucks--struff how simple--and a bloody good idea..

regards
oneday69

Gday

I reckon the two main reasons that people get lost and sometimes die are due to being "complacent" or by being "inexperienced"

Its easy to become too familiar with the bush and to start cutting corners, this is where the "complacency" comes in to it, this is where are person who spends many uneventful weeks/months/or even years in the bush will take chances due to being over familiar with their surroundings and over confident in their own capabilities.

The "inexperienced" simply can have no idea what the conditions can be like and what precautions they should take to protect themselves, and for that matter I can say from experience that sometimes no matter what you tell some people they will still do as they want anyway regardless of what advice they are given, so at the end of the day they will have to have a bad experience or two before it sinks in but unfortunately sometimes the worst can happen before they wise up.

I dont think there is really and method that can be used to stop this sort of thing happening and at the end of the day it will come down to the individual and after all in reality we are all responsible for our own actions and decisions right or wrong.

cheers

stayyerAU

after all in reality we are all responsible for our own actions and decisions right or wrong. Sad

How true how true.

Heres my two cents worth, I believe you may have summed it up nicely StayerAU, however I wonder if today we are becoming too reliant on modern methods of GPS and technologically based methods of finding our way to and from wherever we intend to go, with the result that the old ways of taking careful notice of landmarks and and plotting your course by marking or recording either mentally or physically the path of our travel is completely forgotten, I do not go too far as a rule, I guess that depends on where you are but I have a few things that I carry with me, I always have done in some form or combination or other depending on what I'm up to and where..... extra weight I hear you say? yes for sure, but in the unlikely event that I do (god forbid) get lost, I won't be happy!! but I will be happier to have a few of these items than not have them.

Wayne.

great little set up wayne.

Theres another side of this tradgety and I mean that in the terms of a person being lost and that is the mental state that might afflict
any person to walk of from his camp or house

regards
oneday69

hi oneday,just on the subject of sat phones yeah about$2 bucks a min if not more all depends on who the provider is.but you can sms from a sat to a mobile phone for nicks:)

Having been lost for about three hours about ten years ago I now do most of the things mentioned in this thread. A good fright can be quite enlightening and helpful and certainly helps you focus on personal safety! But some people seem to have no concept of the dangers of being lost, or of the likelihood of it happening to them.

A few years ago I met a bloke in a C'van Park on the WA goldfields. He had flown in from Europe a few days before for his first trip to Oz. He bought a $6000 4wd at a dealers in Perth and set out towards Laverton. He was quite a decent fellow to talk to but had no idea of safety precautions, no safety equipment, no GPS and told no one where he was going. Every week or so he would come back to the C'van Park for a shower etc and show us his gold. And he was doing OK. One day he got a puncture right in the C'van Park and had to get help to change a wheel! He was amazingly ignorant of such a simple thing as that. He was there for about six weeks, all alone most of the time, and finally left for Perth with a pocketful of good gold. Did he ever get to Perth?, who knows?

Had he been lost on the goldfields no one would have known about it. No one would have missed him as he kept his plans to himself. You can't help but wonder if others had the same lack of thought as he, and how many are still out there being bleached but the sun.

THE DESERT'S SECRET
Struth! I couldn't carry half of all that gear, I'd need a wheelbarrow. I have never been seriously lost until my first trip to the northern hemisphere. We spent 3 weeks in England and I was totally lost every day. With the sun in the south instead of the north and no southern cross at night it can be very confusing. Alternatively, if you came from the north and visited the southern hemisphere it would be just as bad.

I wonder just how many are still out there bleaching in the sun.


There's a shaker up the gully,
There's a paddock partly stripped,
And a shovel, pick and dishes lying around,
And a little heap of tailings,
Lying underneath 'the sieves
And a heap of hopper stones upon the ground,
But the hand that shook the shaker
Never more will raise a 'run',
For he's numbered with the lost ones,
And he's bleaching in the sun.

Anon.

Another helpful tip if you are ever lost and not sure of Nth/sth is that most reefs/bedrock will allways be roughly nth/sth. Of course there is exceptions but in a general area if you study the formations its easy to work out a rough nth/sth.
Neil Saville taught me this many years ago.

In the southern hemisphere when the moon is up and showing in its crescent form, if you draw a line from "horn" to "horn", it will always point to the north. Bushes and trees will have more blossom on the northern side of the tree or bush when it's in flower.

Well sometimes when I think I am gonig to get lost a long stick with a flag on it tie to a tree or ute above the tree line if you can WA somtimes low trees ,not in the eastern states.
then if I no witch way back to the truck I scratch a arrow in the gravel or sand ponting towards camp
then put a long branch horizotal in the trees you can see this from a long distance as it stands out from the rest
in the early days when we had nothing like GPS my dad had nothing to guid with we all ways tried to take note of our camp. and watch the clouds wind sun time of day.
or drag a chain . yes I have been lost 2 times my dog and my son got me back

i note that after an interview with Don North on Riverrina Station that there is a number of people still going prospecting
and not informing the Station owner of both their arrival and departure...I assume these people dont have a 20a and are doin there own thing.

Just be aware most stations have shooters out there, controlling dogs, roos etc, doin there thing and hopefully they wont come into contact with anyone camped up in the middle of the night. Especially winter time.

20a or not, make it a rule to ring the station owner and touch base. A newspaper, couple of litres of fresh milk or a loaf of bread would certainly make a lasting impression.

Station owners cannot refuse u permission, however there are excemptions.

regards
oneday69

Just following up on Mark's comments above, we place "high visibility flags" (just old jackets really) in a shrub. They can be seen forever, so as to speak, and make a very good visual aid. Each of us also wears a high visibility jacket and thus we can easily find each other over great distances.

We've got all the other aids as well, but the high visibility clothing is a great addition, but not much chop if you are on the ground illegally!

I always walk out the same way I walked in. If you decide to take a short cut, across that hill or this hill , it is then easy to be going in the wrong direction.
You can hang plastic tape on the trees or bushes. It is very cheap and a lot of geo.'s use them all the time.

That's a remarkable story Jack. It is hard to imagine that such irresponsible and care-less people are about.

When are you going out with them again?

That is a prime example of GOLD FEVER Jack Outwest.
One thing in mind. Needless to say you would not go out again with them pair.

the-A-man

I would say one of the biggest dangers in getting lost would be when someone decides to go for that short walk without any gear. You know the kind where you just want to go to the top of a hill to take a squiz and be right back. I don't mean just from camp but from bikes and quads too.

I got caught like this once. Got off the bike just to take a look at something 50 or so metres away, but as soon as I got there something else caught my eye and then it was another 50 metres and so on. It was gorge country that went for miles so climbing a hill was out of the question. I've a fair bit of experince and don't get lost easily but every gorge looked like another and the creeks all had branches that looked identical. It was getting on dark and that didn't help. I did have a sat phone but nothing else and to make matters worse I'd parked the bike where it can't be easily seen from a distance. Stupid, very stupid. I always park the bike where its highly visible except for this one time. Anyway I recognised an old can on the bank of a creek so I knew the bike was somewhere close. Didn't realy want to use the phone unless I really had to and I mean REALLY HAD TO.

C. Nyal de Kaye wrote: Each of us also wears a high visibility jacket and thus we can easily find each other over great distances.

We've got all the other aids as well, but the high visibility clothing is a great addition, but not much chop if you are on the ground illegally!

I think this is wise. I go out alone so I try and wear bright colours in case of an emergency.