Contributors to this thread:
Here's what happened -- two different years, two locations about a mile apart.
The first one was when I first began elk hunting back in the late 90's. Left camp mid day determined to find a good looking spot. Thick timber, walking along the base of a steep north facing mountain that went up for several hundred yards into the dark timber (didn't know it back then - but now .... "bedding area"). I came to a spot that had a draw going up with a "pounded to dust" game trail coming down and then splitting into a "Y". The entire area reeked like a barn yard - can you say ELK STANK!
The location screamed elk. About 2 hours before dark a parade of elk came down that game trail - swirling winds left me scratching my head - one of my first experiences with mountain winds. I have since searched for that exact spot numerous times but can't find it. Twilight zone maybe - don't know.
About 6 years ago I went for a mid day walk-about, a mile or so east of the first location. Came across an area that again had that strong elk stank with a muddied up wallow and several trees all scraped up. A really cool location with a steep ridge and dark cool pines. I've only searched for that spot one other time, unsuccessfully.
Just wondering if others have found a "SPOT" and then not been able to relocate it?
Umm, that's what they make GPSs for, my friend. ;-)
I've never lost a good hunting spot, but I've left enough bugle tubes in the woods to supply a small army.
Matt
No because when I find a spot like that I either mark it on a GPS or on a map. The one time I found one that I didn't have a GPS and I couldn't figure out on a map I went back the next day to find it.
yup, dozens....lost my gps!
some are easy to find , most were not thus the gps
I have a GPS and mark points I want to go back to. That said I do a day by day journal (hard copy) of elk hunts. If I come across something I think is worthy I journal the coordinates so as to have a backup.
Yep. Before gps was a ‘thang’, I found a nice little wallow near a funnel in the timber. I even built a tree stand there.
Well 3 years ago my son and we’re in that area and we just so happened to stumble into it.
It’s marked on a gps now. Elk and deer still use it.
Its funny, some of you guys dont remember what it was like elk hunting without a gps
CNELK, I remember it quite well. Last year before my Garmin 12 we would pop out of a washboard drainage in the dark every night and when we hit the road we would look at each other and ask "Is the truck up or down from here and 90% of the time we guessed wrong.
cnelk - thank you. I should have mentioned that the first "FOUND" was prior to me having a GPS. The second, a big lightening storm blew in so I booked it back to camp and simply forgot to mark it.
We drew the area this year so I spent a bunch of time on Google Earth and think(?) I located the first spot (area). Entered into GPS off of GE hoping it'll get me close. So yes, I'll mark it this time ------- if I find it?
Before GPS I could still figure out where I was on a map and get back to a spot. Maybe not in the dark but....
Many times I wish there still wasn't GPS. There would be a lot fewer people in the spots I go.
Man some of you guys are old.; ) I bet you used to hunt brontosaurus’s with a sharpened rock on a stick too.
Hell Link, some of us still do;-)
Guess I’m weird... Never been to a place In the woods anywhere that I can’t walk right back to without a GPS. Even many, many years later.
But ask me directions on how to get anywhere in a city and I am useless and totally without a GPS!!!!! Hell, I can’t find my way around Steamboat! Much less any bigger cities!
That's funny, Treeline, I'm the exact same way. I'm like a homing pigeon in the woods. I can't remember ever needing my GPS to locate a hunting spot. But, put me in the city without a GPS and I wander around like a lost child.
Matt
" I bet you used to hunt brontosaurus’s with a sharpened rock on a stick too. "
We left that fancy 'tie the rock to a stick' thing to the younger guys ;-)
I had the same exact thing happen to me but to this day have never been able to find it again. An awesome triple wallow with major trail intersections heading to it. Stumbled onto it one time probly ten years ago without a GPS and have been back looking several times with no luck.
I always struggled with gps units and anything techy. My dad used to carve an arrow on the bottom of my boots in case he ever needed to find me. He never needed it as I seem to remember every little detail when I’m in the woods.
yes, on a rifle hunt many years ago before I had a gps, I cut a single elk track in the snow and followed it up thru thick timber cow calling, after maybe a half mile I came to a spot that was more open with lots of grass and a herd of elk in it, I shot a cow with my contender handgun in 35 remington. they busted out of there and my cow eventually separated from the herd but something had gone wrong as I tracked her for a day and a half before I lost her below the snowline. funny thing was the first day she led me on a semi circle around the area and my trip back to camp completed it and I never crossed another elk track including the herd going in or out. I have tried to find that spot again but never could, maybe did but didn't look right, anyway now 30 years later the landscape has changed so much it wouldn't have the same appeal to the elk.
The magic of the steep and deep...if you know, you know
I remember all my spots without a GPS. A GPS is nice but I don't relie on them for everything. I didn't get a GPS until 2007 when I was given one at my military retirement party.
OK, try again... Pre GPS, I found a basket sized rock in a meadow in Montana that was loaded with fossils of ocean life. This was at about 8000 feet and looked for it many times after that with no luck. Damn!! It was cool.
Try walking in the Pa. woods in the dark to get to the spot you picked to hunt a Gobler you roosted the night before.
I heard about this country singer who bought 30 acres and couldnt find his house in the dark the other day. He even phoned a friend.
Hell, I cannot get to my office down in the city without a GPS. Or anywhere down there for that matter. Totally lost in the city.
We found the most beautiful meadow the first year we elk hunted. We came in with no GPS just wandering through the woods and came up over a rise and it looked like a Disney movie. There were deer all over, wild flowers, deer playing, some eating, a small creek. It was AMAZING! My son and I just hung out watching all the deer. I went back with an archery deer tag the next year and couldn't find it. I spent two days walking around in the general area and could not for the life of me find that place again. No luck on google earth either.
You must have been in the twilight zone....
Pre-cell phone I found a wicked deer hunting spot overlooking a valley. Watched a nice buck chasing a doe around and let a newB empty my gun at it. Same deal, can't find it. So frustrating, although I am very rarely in that area of the province. I feel your pain.
I’m like treeline, no need for gps, if I’ve been there I can get back. I don’t mark my truck or my camp either, I just know where I am at. I haven’t been there in 20 years but I could take you to the exact spot I shot my first deer, we didn’t have a gps back then either...
I was a scout in the army, so I’ll never be lost, I might just be scouting new area for a while though...
Grey Ghost , l think that I found one of your calls in New Mexico (Primos). l wonder how many have lost or not been able to find stuff left along recovery trails or places planned to return to where gear was Left. I have lost gps, clothes, glasses ,etc. this way. Treeline, l am thinking age might have something to do with my sense of direction because l used to trust myself 100% but not anymore... Badbull
I ain’t never been lost.
Been a fearsome confused fer a month or two, but never lost.
t-roy, I have never been lost but terribly disoriented for a few hours a few times before the GPS came along. Usually happened looking for or coming from that special spot after dark..... Badbull
