Lost hunter blames GPS

[onestep]

"Steven Wright, the 53-year-old deer hunter from Vermont who spent nearly three days lost in the woods surrounding Tumbledown Mountain near Byron (Maine) this week faulted his Garmin Extreme GPS unit for getting him in trouble."



Lewiston SunJournal article here.

 

[Chip]

This article has a bit different angle. Sounds like a bit of panic and maybe hypothermia.

53 year old deer hunters can spend a lot of time in De Egyptian river, also.

 

[cbcbd]

"He tried walking farther to get different readings, skirted a half-mile-long clear-cut, and headed down a valley, but he said the GPS told him he was going away from his truck"
Hmm... he ignores the GPS telling him he's going farther away from his truck but still keeps walking around to try to get a "different" reading?

Like the article states: "High-tech devices might not be for everyone"

This story reminds me of a guy I helped once with a GPS he was buying to also use for hunting... well, let me say that I hope he took his wife along - she was getting it, he was clearly not and didn't seem to have any intention of reading any manuals before heading out "this weekend".

This article has a bit different angle. Sounds like a bit of panic and maybe hypothermia.

thanks, the other article did have many unexplained gaps in their story.

"To keep warm, Wright kept walking after dark Monday and at one point fell into a water hole and was submerged up to his neck" whoa!

 

[sardog1]

"This is probably one of the most remarkable stories I have heard in my life," the veteran warden said.

Yep, me too. Especially after I watched the bedside interview from WCSH.

 

[WhiteMTHike]

I suggest this guy take DougPaul with him the next time he goes to the woods.

 

[DougPaul]

I suggest this guy take DougPaul with him the next time he goes to the woods.

No thanks. I'm not eager to try winter night swimming...

Doug

 

[DougPaul]

"He tried walking farther to get different readings, skirted a half-mile-long clear-cut, and headed down a valley,

If I was concerned that the GPS was having problems, I would have gone out into the clear-cut to get a better skyview.

GPSes do not always give an accurate location. But if get them out into a clear skyview and orient them properly, the chance of a bad location becomes very small. And they are unlikely to sustain the bad location for any length of time.

Doug

 

[DougPaul]

Another link with a little more detail on his saga: http://www.sunjournal.com/story/242054-3/RiverValley/Hunter_tells_saga_of_survival/

BTW, the hunter mentions a Garmin Extreme GPS. There is no such model--perhaps he meant an eTrex.

Doug

 

[michaelb]

The most obvious guess for what he was doing wrong is that the GPS doesn't have an electronic compass, and he was not pointing it in the direction of travel when he stopped to check it. This would give direction readings that could appear to be completely wrong and pointing in the opposite direction.

 

[Lawn Sale]

This also sounds like a guy who wouldn't believe his compass. Two of the things we teach in Hunter Safety here in Maine is 1) always have 2 reliable compasses on you, one is a backup in case you lose the first, and 2) always trust your compass, even if you "know it's not right".

I'm just glad he was found, some of our training video's have the same scenario in them, only the hunter, delirious and hypothermic, runs from the snowmobile and isn't found until after he's died.

 

[Jasper]

So this guy is experienced?

Let me see: he is out in the Maine woods in winter---

No compass, No map, No flash light, and does not appear to be familier with the GPS.

Is this part of his educational experience?

 

[cbcbd]

Let me see: he is out in the Maine woods in winter---

No compass, No map, No flash light, and does not appear to be familier with the GPS.

He does mention in the video interview that he had a compass, but he could only use it during the day - at night time he used the GPS screen light to see his compass but he could only see the "southern needle".

 

[HockeyPuck]

It sounds like he turned on the GPS at his truck and created a waypoint. I suspect his GPS reception was poor to horrible and the 'here' waypoint was marked near the summit of Tumbledown.

When he got lost and attempted to use the GPS go to feature to return to his truck, the GPS accurately led him to the incorrect coordinates.

From the 2nd article it appears that the GPS was working properly and correctly tracking his progress, just his go to waypoint was wrong.

With a GPS you assume that you can't get lost. The technology is great but nothing is better than the knowledge of how to properly read a map and compass.

 

[DougPaul]

With a GPS you assume that you can't get lost. The technology is great but nothing is better than the knowledge of how to properly read a map and compass.

A GPS is not infallable* and neither are GPS users. Learning how to use a GPS and how to recognize when it is malfunctioning is also important.

I suggest that GPS owners use them when not needed (eg on trails) so that if the real need ever arises, they will be using an old familiar friend rather than a novel complicated stranger.

The military has slogan: "train like you fight and fight like you train". Same applies here.

* We should also note that maps also have errors and compasses don't always point magnetic north.

Doug

 

[paul ron]

If anything the GPS should sue for getting it lost.

Sounds like he didn't know what he was doing.

Hunters!

 

[michaelb]

It sounds like he turned on the GPS at his truck and created a waypoint. I suspect his GPS reception was poor to horrible and the 'here' waypoint was marked near the summit of Tumbledown.

I haven't tried this test, but will a GPS mark a waypoint if it doesn't have a lock? Where would it put that? If he had a lock, even a really bad one, his error would still be measured in hundreds of feet, not several miles. If you lose the lock while marking a track, you will sometimes get widely erroneous track points, but that is not the same as an errant waypoint. If he had a mapping GPS, he would have seen where the truck waypoint was on the map, and seen that it was not in the right place.

I still think the more likely error was either or both: 1) he was trying to track back, and was under the mistaken impression that would point directly to the starting point, not route him back turn by turn over a route, which would explain why he thought the GPS direction was changing; and/or 2) the orientation on his GPS was not pointing to his line of travel when he was reading it, so the map was spinning around as he was spinning around.

I am not trying to judge him either. Both of those mistakes are easy to make and are confusing on GPS. I don't really like the trackback features, and seem to mess that up when playing my GPS.

 

[michaelb]

Another thing about tracking back on a GPS, or even trying to follow one. In many ways the slower you go and the more you wander around and don't travel in a straight line, the more it spins around and can't tell where you are and which direction you are going. If he was not walking in a straight line, and moving slowly, he could have been within the margin of error of the GPS so that it couldn't tell he was moving or which way he was pointing.

You see this most clearly when you are close a waypoint, within the margin of error, and the direction arrow will just spin around or change directions 180 degrees. The best way to follow a GPS is to walk briskly in a straight line for at least long enough that it gets a solid lock on where you are and the direction you are traveling.

 

[kmorgan]

Let me see: he is out in the Maine woods in winter---

No compass, No map, No flash light, and does not appear to be familier with the GPS.

Is this part of his educational experience?

Sounds like he experienced an ID 10 T problem.

 

[DougPaul]

I haven't tried this test, but will a GPS mark a waypoint if it doesn't have a lock? Where would it put that? If he had a lock, even a really bad one, his error would still be measured in hundreds of feet, not several miles. If you lose the lock while marking a track, you will sometimes get widely erroneous track points, but that is not the same as an errant waypoint. If he had a mapping GPS, he would have seen where the truck waypoint was on the map, and seen that it was not in the right place.

My GPSes can record a waypoint from the pointer location with or without a lock.

I've seen momentary errors on the order of 1000mi. And initial fixes are often less accurate than after the GPS has held a fix for a while. (So if he turned the GPS on in the parking lot and recorded a waypoint as soon as was possible, he would have been more likely to have recorded a bad waypoint.)

A bad waypoint is a reasonable theory, one that can be checked if one had access to the appropriate data from the GPS. The examining officers did state that the GPS appeared to them to have operated properly. Hopefully, they would have checked the waypoint locations as well as the recorded track. Of course, it is also possible to execute a "goto" on the wrong waypoint, too.

Doug

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

My answers in blue.

I haven't tried this test, but will a GPS mark a waypoint if it doesn't have a lock? (YES) Where would it put that? (Last position acquired, Etrex) If he had a lock, even a really bad one, his error would still be measured in hundreds of feet, not several miles. (I've seen errors of a few miles on mine) If you lose the lock while marking a track, you will sometimes get widely erroneous track points, but that is not the same as an errant waypoint. If he had a mapping GPS, he would have seen where the truck waypoint was on the map, and seen that it was not in the right place. (Not necessarily)

I still think the more likely error was either or both: 1) he was trying to track back, and was under the mistaken impression that would point directly to the starting point, not route him back turn by turn over a route, which would explain why he thought the GPS direction was changing; and/or 2) the orientation on his GPS was not pointing to his line of travel when he was reading it, so the map was spinning around as he was spinning around. (I made that mistake a few times, till I figured out how to set the orientation to north)

I am not trying to judge him either. Both of those mistakes are easy to make and are confusing on GPS. I don't really like the trackback features, and seem to mess that up when playing my GPS. (I think most of his problem is he just can't admit he made a mistake.)