Originally Posted by
cyc79
Last January I was taking a load of fuel by snocat to a site 72km back in the bush for an exploration company. About 13km in & about 6 hours away from where I was hauling to, the machine broke down. This was about 6pm. I knew my partner would come looking for me in a few hours when I didn't show up, so I got into the thickest bush I could find & got a fire going to wait. Hours later, still no partner. I knew he must have run into trouble himself so I got ready to spend the night. First thing was shelter. I built a lean-to & gathered spruce for a bed. That done, wood was next. Fortunately I was in a spot that had a fair amount of deadfall & standing dead trees. A lot of this area has been burned over & over again, so some places have lots of wood & in others there's practically nothing. I don't like using an axe after dark but had no choice. I always carry a flashlight so getting wood was ok, & once my fire was going I could see well enough to get more. Luckily, we were having a mild spell & I doubt the temp got to much below -15c during the night, if that. No matter what, I always carry my bushpack. I carry a flashlight, spare batteries, a small cookset, tarp, knife, rope, matches, bic lighter, small first aid kit, tea,sugar, packaged soup & oatmeal, trail mix etc. along with some other odds & ends, enough to get me by for a couple days. The next morning, me, with my pack & axe along for the ride, start hoofing it back to where I'd started out the day before, where we had a shack with a woodstove & grub. This was only about a 13km walk but the country is pretty rough. Lots of hills. 4 1/2 hours later I make it back but am pretty tuckered out even though I took it easy so as not to get sweated up. I was wishing I was 20 again instead of 50. I made fire at the shack, got coffee on the go & was going to cook, then jump on a spare Skidoo we kept there to go find out what happened to my partner. Just then I heard a snowmobile come in. He finally made it. Turns out he too broke down & spent the night out. He walked 2 1/2 hours at daybreak to get back to where he could get another machine. The odds of both of us breaking down like this are astronomical, but obviously can happen. Other than being tired, all this was pretty much just an inconvenience. Being prepared makes all the difference in the world as to the outcome. We all know that any kind of travel alone is risky, but here it's just the way things are. Trappers in the north are often alone for weeks on end, & practically everyone has spent the night out in the bush at one time or another because of break downs or bad weather. You must be prepared at all times. You also need to think differently than when down south. You can't be in a big rush to do things as rushing around is a good way to get hurt. Being injured can get you dead, especially in the winter if you can't get around. And being without a good axe in the winter is about the same as being barefoot. The end result may not be pretty. Having said all this, I'm not trying to make myself out to be some kind of survival expert. I wouldn't call myself expert at much of anything. There's a lot of people out there that know a whole lot more than I ever will, & when the native people here tell me something, I ask questions & listen very carefully. No one is too old to learn something new.
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