The very nature of Bigfoot investigation puts people in the woods at all times of the day and night, often in unfamiliar areas. This creates the potential for accident, confusion and disorientation. You can overcome the potential adverse effects of these situations with a little bit of knowledge and a few items that can easily be carried with you.

Far more important than any item you can carry is the ability to keep your wits about you when you become lost. This means more than just knowing what to use and how to use it. It means being able to control instincts, such as the fight or flight response. In other words, you must be able to stop the panic. Panic is the single biggest problem you face in unfamiliar situations. It often leads to injury or death and comes in many stages, from simple discomfort to shear terror. Even the lesser of these can cause a person to forget to pay attention to what they are doing or where they are going. Panic often leads to accidents; therefore, before entering any unfamiliar environment panic is the first situation you must prepare for.

Fact: Every person who is lost or disoriented in the woods will walk in circles. It does not matter who you are or how many times you have been in the woods, you will walk in circles. To avoid this, you must observe landmarks and plot your course with a compass. Of course, this is impossible if you are in a panic or in the dark without a compass.

At the onset of an uncomfortable feeling, you will be even more disoriented and perhaps injured if you take off blindly or start running. What you need to do first is sit down, then do something small, such as smoking a cigarette, drawing a picture on the ground or whittling on a stick. Anything that will relax you and focus your mind on something else will work. Do not try to force it; just relax. You might feel a small wave flow through you as the adrenalin in your system decreases. At that point, you should calmly examine your situation. In most cases, you will find it is not as bad as you had thought.

Your best course of action is to build a small fire and wait until daylight if you find yourself in the woods at night separated from your companions. This accomplishes several things. First, and most important, is that it gives your mind something to focus on. Second, fire is comforting to humans and your companions who are looking for you may spot it.

This brings us to the first item you should always have with you—a means of starting a fire. While rubbing sticks may keep your mind occupied, you will wear yourself out before you get a fire, if you get a fire at all. It is hard work even if you know how. Therefore, I would strongly suggest having two watertight containers full of matches. Keep one in your pocket and the other in your knapsack. Always clear your fire area very well, and use stones for a fire ring if they are available. You really do not want to be trying to stomp out a forest fire. Remember, we are trying to take away problems, not add new ones. Enjoy your fire, and when daylight comes you will often recognize where you are and can find your way out by yourself. You may be able to backtrack to your point of origin if you have not run all over the place in your initial panic. Remember, you are likely to take a fall and injure yourself by running around. That is another problem you do not want to have to deal with.

In addition to staying calm and in one place, it is also important to be aware of what is around you. The first thing to be aware of is that you do not immediately need food to stay alive, regardless of what your stomach is telling you. Starvation only becomes an issue after a week or more. What you do need is water. Item two that you should have with you at all times is a full canteen of water or a means of purifying water to enable you to drink from a stream or lake. A person without water, hiking through desert terrain can dehydrate and die within 4 hours. In any environment, strenuous activity can lead to rapid dehydration. At best, this can be very painful and at worst, it can be fatal if not treated.

Being aware of what is around you is also important. Let your eyes, ears and nose do their job. Calmly listen for any noises, like your friends hollering your name, cars passing on a road, the sounds of a stream or a river, or dogs barking. Your chance of getting back to your comfort zone and friends is greatly increased if you can find a road, even if it is not the road you want. Sniff the air for smoke, food odors, etc. They will tell you where people are. Look for tracks, fire towers and house chimneys. All these things will help get you “unlost.”

However, it does not stop there. Awareness, in the sense we are talking about, is something that should be nurtured in all aspects of investigation. Awareness of what is around you will keep you from stepping on a snake, tripping over a log or stepping off a cliff. In an investigation, it will allow you to see that pristine track half-hidden by a bush. There are ways to train yourself and promote awareness, to develop the mind set necessary to keep yourself safe and become a better investigator.

These two aspects—overcoming panic and learning to become more aware of your surroundings—should make it relatively easy to handle being lost for a night or two in the woods. Nevertheless, just a few items will make it easier to overcome problems should they arise.

There are many fine books and web sites dedicated to learning survival techniques. Unfortunately, most of them give you such a long list of things to take with you that you would need porters to carry it all. You probably will not have any porters and you do not want to weigh yourself down with a pack so heavy that it strains you. However, a few items should always be with you when entering the woods.

We have already mentioned the ability to start fire and the need to carry water. To this we will add a well-secured, good quality, fixed blade knife. If you could only take one item with you, this would be what you should pick. A fixed blade knife is truly a multifunction tool. With it, you can cut material to build a shelter. You can dig a small hole, which can be used to secure a pole and set a snare. You can use it to cut splints or make a crutch. It can be used to fashion a fish spear; however, there are easier ways to get fish, but this can be fun at times. The knife can also help you clean any food you may have secured, and you can even use the right tempered knife to start a fire. Finally, you can use a clean shiny knife as a signal reflector. The list goes on and on making a fixed blade knife, a tool you should not be without.

The next item on the list is a lightweight Ace bandage, because a sprain is one of the most common injuries that can happen in the woods if you are not aware of where you are stepping.

Cordage comes next. A bit of small rope or heavy string is a very useful item to have with you. Personally, I recommend a minimum of 12 feet of Para cord. I carry mine wrapped around the crown of my hat and extending through the side holes as a chinstrap.

The last two items are 4X4 sterile sponges and Band-Aids for dealing with cuts and scrapes. It would not hurt to also have some antiseptic wipes along.

This is not an article on how to survive for long periods of time in the wilderness. It is an article on how to survive the night you will never forget. The night where you became disoriented in the woods while searching for Bigfoot.

For more in-depth study of this subject, I would recommend Brown’s books on survival. Apply what is in them to your research and stay safe on the trail of Bigfoot.