Search and Rescue

Many people fear getting lost in the woods. If you ever find yourself separated from your group or if you find a group member has wandered away the following tips will help you know what to do if you get lost, as well as help you organize a search for a missing group member.

Lost and Alone Procedure

If you find yourself separated from the rest of your group and you don't know where they are, you are lost. Don't panic! Stay calm, stay put, and make yourself comfortable and visible (if possible, locate yourself in a clearing or on top of a large boulder). Blow your whistle in blasts of three. Pause to listen for shouts or other responses to your whislte. It is likely that you will be found within minutes.

Search And Rescue

If a group member is missing and unaccounted for, you and your instructors will organize a search to look for the missing person. The following types of searches are listed in the order in which they should be undertaken.

Hasty Search: The purpose of the hasty search is to scan quickly the areas that have a high likelihood of containing the missing person. Traveling lightly and moving quickly, a hasty search team will identify the missing person's "point last see" (PLS) and move in directions that they suspect the missing person moved in. The members of the hasty team will try to figure out where the missing person was going when he became separated from the group and predict the logical place that the missing person might be. It is important that the hasty team not disturb the PLS, because if the missing person doesn't turn up soon it may be necessary to use tracking dogs to locate him. Tracking dogs rely on scents found at the PLS and if the PLS is trampled, valuable evidence is disturbed.

Line Search: If the hasty search is unsuccessful, you may employ a line search. In a line search, all searchers for a line, with individuals close enough together they they can see and search all of the ground between them and their neighbors. The line moves as a single unit, with a team leader on either end of the line calling out commands. Searchers look behind trees, between large boulders, and in ravines for the missing person.

Grid Search: If the line search is unsuccessful, you will have to organize a grid search. A grid search involves marking out sections of area to be searched and then scanning these areas in painstaking detail. If a search advances to a grid search, it is likely that your instructors will call in the appropriate authorities and possibly tracking dogs to aid in this type of search.

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