Lost In The Woods

If you become lost in the woods, there are several ways of signaling for help.  Signaling techniques are used by us all everyday.  Whether it is to hail a friend across the street, get attention of a cab driver or to get your young ones to come in for dinner.  Whistles, shouts and gestures are common.  If you are in a situation where you are  lost in the woods or stuck in a wilderness area, be it a park, federal or state land or any large space away from the trappings of civilization, the same basic signaling techniques apply. A Navigation and Signaling Guide would be an excellent reference to carry with you.

If you have a cell phone, signaling for help is just a matter of calling someone, but the reality is that if you are stranded or lost in the woods all too often you will be out of range of any services when they are most needed.  When rescuers come looking, you need to help them find you so your signaling efforts just need to be on a different scale.  When humans search they primarily use sight and sound.  Spotting someone from a plane is not as easy as they make it look in the movies so it is important for the one who is needing help to make this task easier.

If the search party is on the ground, your signaling efforts can make a significant difference in the time it takes to locate you.

Distress signaling whether you are lost in the woods, mountains, or desert is universally based on the number three, whether it is audio or visual.

The idea of signaling with sight is to make your signs and signals stand out from the natural order of things so they will be noticed by rescuers. The Deluxe HP Alert Locate Flare Kit contains three different types of flares.  Other ways of signaling, if you are lost in the woods, would be a bright orange flag or streamer tied to the top of a tree to be sighted from the air, a series of three fires either in a line or fires in a triangle pattern, smoke signals, or the sun reflected off a shiny object.

The little things can make all the difference should you become lost in the woods.  A Signal mirror with a float and whistle  would be a good addition to your survival kit.

Laying out a large SOS on the ground with logs or rocks that contrast with the prevailing ground color, or even tramping it out in the snow in huge letters, will help.

Signaling by sound to attract the attention of searchers on the ground may be done with shots, whistles, drum beats on a hollow log and even shouts for attracting the attention of searchers.

Using your imagination with any of these signaling techniques will produce a host of ingenious ways to implement them.  The quickest way to get help if you are lost in the woods is by carrying a personal locator beacon which will bring searchers directly to you.

By learning different signaling and navigation techniques you will be prepared should you ever become stranded anywhere or be lost in the woods.