This past weekend I use this training scenario in one of my classes. It got a lot of good responses, so I decided to put it on the forum. Read it over and post any key point you wish.
Wilderness Survival Scenarios
Gone Fishing
John and three friends have gone on a fishing trip deep into the Canadian wilderness. The outfitter has flown his group in by float plane, as the closest road to civilization is at least one hundred miles away. John has made plans for his group to be picked up in five days at the same landing site they were dropped off at.
By the morning of day four, John decides to get an early start on fishing a new location. He leaves a note saying “I’ve gone north to fish a new stream; I’ll be back by sunset.” He packs a lunch, two bottles of water, the map (the only one the group has), and his fishing equipment. He sets out at 6:00am, keeping the rising sun on his right to navigate north. John figures on locating the new fishing spot by 9:00am but he still hasn’t seen any signs of it. He looks over the map but is having trouble determining his current location. The terrain has many hills that look alike and the whole area is covered in tall pine trees. By 11:00am he decides to give up the search and stop and have lunch.
During lunch John looks over the map and realizes he has only a general idea where he may be – somewhere north of the camp. The sun is now high in the sky, making it very hard to navigate by. Its 12:00 noon and he heads in the direction he feels is generally south, and walks until 2:00pm. He sees nothing that looks familiar to him. He decides to push on but by 5:00pm he’s exhausted, hungry, and thirsty. He’s consumed all of his food and water. The sun is now starting to go behind the mountains and it will be dark in less than an hour. He decides to stay put for the night. All he wants to do is sleep.
By evening his friends realize that something has gone wrong for John not to have returned. Two of them decide to go look for him even though it’s dark and they have no idea where he is. They return after two hours of looking.
In the morning all three of John’s friends head out to find him and after six hours of searching they now are not sure where they are. With no map or compass, the men are starting to believe they will not find their way back to camp. They are forced to stop as they argue which way to go.
After a long cold night, John decides to continue his search for camp. He’s been without food or water for 18 hours and he feels exhausted. He wants to get back to camp before his friends come looking for him. He’s just not sure which way to go.
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