Survival: Lost In The Woods For Twelve Days
BY Herschel Smith
11 years, 4 months ago
A patient at Boone Memorial Hospital is living to tell a story even she says she thought she’d never tell.
“At times I thought I was going to die,” Charlene Hankins said.
Hankins had been missing for 12 days when she was discovered Monday.
Hankins said she was driving to her mother’s house in Oceana when her car ran out of gas deep down an isolated road in the Twilight area of Boone County.
She had no food, no water and tried to get help, but instead she got lost.
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She said she ran out of gas and spent the first night in her car.
Crews found her car on Sunday. The gas tank was empty and the keys were still inside.
She told crews she tried to walk to find help, but ended up lost in the woods.
Hankins told crews she lived off berries and mushrooms and tore off the sleeves of her shirt to start a fire.
I’m glad that she was found and is recovering. The berries, mushrooms and shirt sleeves to start a fire were a nice touch (although the caloric value of mushrooms makes them essentially worthless as a survival food).
But take this as yet another object lesson. First, I don’t walk from room to room of my home without carrying one of my guns with me, much less take long road trips. She could have faced black bear, snakes and coyote (panther have been sighted as far north as South Carolina). Feral hogs would have been a good source of food.
Carrying a parka and 550 cord as part of a survival bracelet would have given her instant shelter in the case of rain (from which she could have died due to exposure). I also don’t go on road trips without carrying a tactical light, which would have given her ability to see her surroundings at night and a stand-off weapon to blind animals of the two- or four-legged kind.
Finally, I don’t go on road trips (and certainly not backpacking or hiking trips) without a good knife, usually a large folder rather than fixed blade knife, and I always have some sort of liquid container with me. She apparently carried an ignition source for a fire.
A gun, a parka, a knife, 550 cord, a tactical light, a container and a fire ignition source. A few light, simple tools can go a long way towards ensuring survival in the case of becoming stranded or lost. Others may not have fared so well.
On August 22, 2013 at 8:43 am, Paul B said:
Yep. I tend to have in my car at anytime those things or on my person.
Water, Shelter and Fire are the three top things.
On August 23, 2013 at 4:55 pm, Josh said:
Cool story, but I’ll take issue with two things: 1) eating wild mushrooms is a dubious decision at best, and a lethal one at worst. 2) I just don’t believe panthers exist in the Carolinas. Never seen an iota of evidence.
On August 25, 2013 at 9:53 pm, Doramin said:
Oh, and hello? Equipment and accessories aside, you don’t have to be Bear Gryllis or Cody Lundin to realize that wandering off into the woods is bad idea numero uno.
Approximately how far was she from her Mother’s house (or any inhabited house) when she broke down?
On September 8, 2013 at 5:34 pm, Bill Drissel said:
Why would anyone with a disabled car leave the road for any reason? Where in the woods would one look for help with a car?
Bill Drissel
Grand Prairie, TX