I wouldn't call it survival but I did get lost in the deep forest with a buddy while elk hunting.
It's Northern New Mexico/Colorado Border Carson National Forest.
Base on a true story that happened to me.
It starts off at 430am it started off like the previous days trying to beat the herds moving at dawn and dusk, it's a brisk -5 degrees, I've got 4 layers and still cold. Not freezing but cold which is good you don't want to be warm. Knife, power bars, rifle, ammo, handgun on hip, extra gas cans, 2 lighters, box of matches, ski mask, and 2 thermal blankets and bag of trail mix, check check and check....okay I'm good to go. I turn to my friend Louie, I ask him, you got everything...yup yup...okay lets roll. We start out in his Dodge 2500 with the ATV in the back and wench in the front ready to pull in our tags. We look all morning, fruitless. Rest in the afternoon at a nice mesa and eat lunch Louie brought sandwich meat, cheese slices and tortillas, some tortilla sandwhiches with a couple of diet cokes. I munch on some trail mix. 3pm, okay lets start moving, we see a Bull Elk, beautiful rack, problem is it's on another mesa about 2000 yards away, and we have cow tags. Looks beautiful in the binos though. Then I see it...fresh tracks right in front of me, about 15 sets. We follow the tracks we know we're close it leads us to the edge of another mesa then I see it about 1,000 yards out the herd....most gorgeous thing you'll ever see. We stop the truck and set out on foot and climb down the mesa. We keep following they stop to eat some grass in a plain on the other side of the valley, we go slowly along the tree line methodically, then Louie says look look right there, I raise the range finder(I got my elk a day earlier). Louie raises his rifle(unbeknownst to me what the caliber of his rifle was at the time.) I range it for him before he asks, 525 yards. He shoots...elk goes down, the bull barks and the herd runs. We walk over, gorgeous cow, medium size, wasn't the biggest one, but a good bag. We gut it, and decide to drive the truck down the mesa into the valley, instead of taking the ATV. It didn't seem to be too steep. We drive the truck down and load the elk. This is when I ask, what caliber was the rifle? A .243 at 525, I would not have believed it had I not been there or had the range finder in my hand. Damn good shot and compensation it was a direct cerebral shot base of the skull at the top of the spine. Anyway, we load the elk and go to drive out of the valley....the truck can't get out...put in 4wd, still won't we go 1st gear 4wd won't do it, we try to get out for 2 hours now. It's 5pm it's starting to get dark and it's starting to snow. Cars get buried out there in 8+ feet of snow for months at a time, this is the start of the snow season, I'm starting to get worried. Next we try the ATV, figure we can ditch the truck and take the ATV, now the ATV won't start...just great. Okay, let's keep trying to get up the mesa, their are no trees on it to tie the wench I trie making stakes into the ground to pull us up...no good. Still nothing seems to be working, snow is getting heavier, finally I say lets give it one last push up the mesa....by the grace of God we made up the mesa, but now another problem.....our tracks we used to guide us in are now gone covered up. We drive around for about 45 more minutes trying to find the tracks...no luck, nothing looks familiar now. Now I'm getting really worried. I ask Louie, you got the gps?....uhhh no, I think it's at camp...ALOT OF GOOD IT DOES THERE!!!..I asked you if you had everything you said yes!(note to self ask specifically if they have it.) The End Part 2 comes later.
It's Northern New Mexico/Colorado Border Carson National Forest.
Base on a true story that happened to me.
It starts off at 430am it started off like the previous days trying to beat the herds moving at dawn and dusk, it's a brisk -5 degrees, I've got 4 layers and still cold. Not freezing but cold which is good you don't want to be warm. Knife, power bars, rifle, ammo, handgun on hip, extra gas cans, 2 lighters, box of matches, ski mask, and 2 thermal blankets and bag of trail mix, check check and check....okay I'm good to go. I turn to my friend Louie, I ask him, you got everything...yup yup...okay lets roll. We start out in his Dodge 2500 with the ATV in the back and wench in the front ready to pull in our tags. We look all morning, fruitless. Rest in the afternoon at a nice mesa and eat lunch Louie brought sandwich meat, cheese slices and tortillas, some tortilla sandwhiches with a couple of diet cokes. I munch on some trail mix. 3pm, okay lets start moving, we see a Bull Elk, beautiful rack, problem is it's on another mesa about 2000 yards away, and we have cow tags. Looks beautiful in the binos though. Then I see it...fresh tracks right in front of me, about 15 sets. We follow the tracks we know we're close it leads us to the edge of another mesa then I see it about 1,000 yards out the herd....most gorgeous thing you'll ever see. We stop the truck and set out on foot and climb down the mesa. We keep following they stop to eat some grass in a plain on the other side of the valley, we go slowly along the tree line methodically, then Louie says look look right there, I raise the range finder(I got my elk a day earlier). Louie raises his rifle(unbeknownst to me what the caliber of his rifle was at the time.) I range it for him before he asks, 525 yards. He shoots...elk goes down, the bull barks and the herd runs. We walk over, gorgeous cow, medium size, wasn't the biggest one, but a good bag. We gut it, and decide to drive the truck down the mesa into the valley, instead of taking the ATV. It didn't seem to be too steep. We drive the truck down and load the elk. This is when I ask, what caliber was the rifle? A .243 at 525, I would not have believed it had I not been there or had the range finder in my hand. Damn good shot and compensation it was a direct cerebral shot base of the skull at the top of the spine. Anyway, we load the elk and go to drive out of the valley....the truck can't get out...put in 4wd, still won't we go 1st gear 4wd won't do it, we try to get out for 2 hours now. It's 5pm it's starting to get dark and it's starting to snow. Cars get buried out there in 8+ feet of snow for months at a time, this is the start of the snow season, I'm starting to get worried. Next we try the ATV, figure we can ditch the truck and take the ATV, now the ATV won't start...just great. Okay, let's keep trying to get up the mesa, their are no trees on it to tie the wench I trie making stakes into the ground to pull us up...no good. Still nothing seems to be working, snow is getting heavier, finally I say lets give it one last push up the mesa....by the grace of God we made up the mesa, but now another problem.....our tracks we used to guide us in are now gone covered up. We drive around for about 45 more minutes trying to find the tracks...no luck, nothing looks familiar now. Now I'm getting really worried. I ask Louie, you got the gps?....uhhh no, I think it's at camp...ALOT OF GOOD IT DOES THERE!!!..I asked you if you had everything you said yes!(note to self ask specifically if they have it.) The End Part 2 comes later.