Always Take Your GPS When You Go Hunting

Like I mentioned before in my archery entry, I don't hunt myself, but I live around many who do. My brother and sister in law go together with a group of hunters to the same camp, and they always take a GarmanGPS with them. That wasn't always the case, but since what happened to Ken and his dad they decided it would be a good idea. They all go out west to the same wilderness area, so there are no other people for miles except maybe the other hunters and the forestry or oilfield workers, so if anything goes wrong out there you are up the creek without any sort of paddle.
I'm not sure exactly Ken and his dad were planning that day, other than drinking a lot of beer and finding a big buck. Part of their particular deer hunter tactics involved drinking all day and scouting out tracks and such. This necessitated leaving the truck behind since the trails were not vehicle friendly and they didn't bring atv's.I guess they wandered down one too many cutlines and took a few too many turns and before you know it they were as lost as two rednecks in New York. I imagine all the beer didn't help one bit, but there you have it. In the fall during deer hunting season, it gets pretty cold at night and they figured they might be in real trouble. Ken figured if he kept walking and checking, eventually he might find a spot with cell phone service.
It must have been a long hike with the deer rifles and the beer. Of course, after the beer ran out they realized that they didn't bring any snacks or water. It was somewhere around midnight when he finally found a hilltop where his cell phone would work. One of the biggest problems with not having a plan in the morning is that the other hunters at the camp had no idea where to look for them. So even though they knew Ken and his dad were missing, they weren't sure what part of the wilderness to look in. That meant a search party wasn't sent out when they got Ken's phone call, they just told them to stay put and wait for light. Neither one was hurt or in any immediate distress besides hung over, so they would have to tough it out.
Long story short, Ken and his dad spent the night outside, and found their way out in the morning after the beer wore off. Good thing they had warm clothes on.
So yeah, take a GPS with you if you go into the back country. Learn how to use it before you need it. And don't drink a pile of beer, or you won't be able to run the GPS anyways.