Getting turned around in the woods is an ordinary thing. It happens to people who know the ground, usually close to something familiar, usually because they were paying attention to something else — a deer, a trail of blood, a good patch of mushrooms, a grandchild who's gone quiet.
What decides how it ends isn't woodcraft, and it isn't how tough anybody is. It's two things: whether you stop walking, and whether somebody at home knows which hollow you went into.
The search doesn't start when you get lost. It starts when somebody misses you.
Six questions worth being able to answer
- If you weren't home tonight, could anyone say which ridge to start on?
- Do you know how to decide whether to stay put or walk out?
- Would a searcher a quarter mile off hear you, or see you?
- Does your phone have a job in your plan, or is it the plan?
- Do your children know what to do the moment they can't see you?
- Could you have one cold, dull night out and be perfectly all right in the morning?
Inside the book
Stop. Sit. Think. Plan.
Four steps for the worst ten minutes, in that order, and the reason for each one. It's the shortest chapter in the book and the one I'd want you to read first.
- Stop. The moment you doubt where you are, your feet become the problem. A person walking is a person we can't find.
- Sit. Three minutes sitting down puts the panic back in its box and turns a lost person into somebody making decisions.
- Think. What do you know for certain? Where were you last sure? What's between you and a road — and which way does the ground fall?
- Plan. Stay or move, and how to be found either way. The book gives you a plain chart for choosing, and what to do with the rest of the daylight.
Nine times out of ten, sitting down is the whole answer. The rest is making yourself easy to find: staying where you said you'd be, being seen, being heard, and making whatever you're carrying work for you instead of against you.
None of this is hard, and none of it needs expensive gear. It needs to be known before you go, which is what an evening with this book is for.
What's in it
What's in the 133 pages
- How a search really works what happens in the hours after you don't come home, where searchers look first and why, and why so many people are found close to a trail or their own truck.
- Being found: whistle, color, mirror, fire and ground signals; how to get a call or a text out of bad country; and how to make a phone battery last two days instead of six hours.
- The trip note a fill-in card to print and leave on the counter, so the search starts on the right ridge instead of in the wrong county.
- The first night: staying warm and dry, simple shelter, fire, water, and what cold actually does to your judgment before it does anything else.
- Children: teaching them to stay put, why lost children hide from the people calling their names, what they should carry, and games that teach it without frightening anybody.
- Wildlife, plainly: black bear and grizzly told apart and handled differently, cougars, coyotes, snakes and moose — what matters and what doesn't.
What you get
Here's exactly what lands in your account.
- Lost in the Woods — 133-page illustrated PDF, 2 chapters, 7 × 10 in
- The printable pack — the checklists and charts from the back of the book, sized to print
- Straight away — in your account the moment you pay, and emailed to you
- No copy protection — read it on any device, print it, keep it for good
Look inside
Four real pages
Click any page to enlarge it here. Nothing downloads.
Lost in the Woods
$29 · PDF · 133 pages · Instant PDF download
The contents
Everything in the book
- Introduction: Before You Go Out
- Appendix: Cards and Checklists to Print (trip card, kit lists, signal chart, pocket card)
The details
- Format
- Illustrated PDF ebook, full color
- Length
- 133 pages, 2 chapters
- Page size
- 7 × 10 in – reads well on a tablet, computer or phone
- Printing
- Print any page for your own use. Checklists included.
- Copy protection
- None. Download it and keep it.
- Delivery
- Instant. Download straight after you pay.
Who it's for
This is for you if
- You hunt, hike, fish or forage, alone or with somebody
- You've got children or grandchildren who play where you can't see them
- You go out in country where the phone works some of the time
- You'd like the people at home to know what to do, and when to call
It isn't for you if
- You want a wilderness survival course with traps and foraging — this is about getting found, and it leaves wild food alone on purpose
- You want gear reviews. The kit lists say what a thing has to do, not which brand to buy
Who wrote it
I'm Emmet Hedrick. Elkins, West Virginia — Randolph County, up against the Monongahela.
This is dense eastern hardwood. With the leaves on you can't see forty yards, and people get lost within sight of a road they've driven their whole lives. Janelle keeps the county map on the kitchen wall and has a rule about the note on the counter before anybody leaves. She's right about the note. It's the cheapest thing in this book and it does the most.
Tell somebody where you're going.
Read it for 60 days. If it's not for you, I'll refund it.
Email support@oldhands.co within 60 days of buying and you get your money back in full. No questions, no forms, and you keep the file.
Before you buy
Questions
Is this a survival book?
Not the usual kind. It's about the first ten minutes, the first night, and being easy to find — written so an ordinary person with a day pack can do all of it.
Will it frighten my wife, or my kids?
No. It's written calmly on purpose. The children's chapter is built around a game, not a warning, and there isn't a disaster story in the book.
Does it cover first aid?
The plain basics — cold, heat, and when to get help — and it's clear about where plain basics end.
How do I get it after I pay?
Checkout is handled by Whop, a payments company. The moment you pay, the PDF is in your Whop account to download, and the link is emailed to you as well. You can download it again any time.
Is this a printed book?
No. It's an ebook: a PDF you download straight after paying. You can print any page, or the whole thing, for your own use.
Will it open on my phone?
Yes. It's an ordinary PDF, so it opens on any phone, tablet or computer. A tablet or computer shows the pages best.
What if I don't like it?
Email support@oldhands.co within 60 days and you get a full refund. You don't need to give a reason.
The book
Print the trip card tonight.
$29 once, and the trip-plan card, kit lists and signal chart are in the back to print as many times as you need.
- 133-page illustrated PDF, 2 chapters, 7 × 10 in
- the checklists and charts from the back of the book, sized to print
- in your account the moment you pay, and emailed to you
- read it on any device, print it, keep it for good
Instant PDF download · 60-day money-back guarantee
Stop walking. And tell somebody where you're going.