Thread: PLB saves hunter

I think it depends on how you read "life or death" if you take it to making sure decisions are made about it early and the fact a response will take time. Ie after cold water exposure before hypothermia sets in. If your lost and the only issue is your hungry it's a bit different to your lost it's raining and you have no shelter and will likely become hypothermic overnight. I do think it's should be made only for life and death situations but that you should be realistic about what could be life or death ie dont wait till you are on deaths door and required response times, whether over time your ability to make rational decisions will decline.

Originally Posted by rambo-6mmrem

Plb is for life and death only
If you run out of food two days ago and still unable to get out then maybe
But simply to let you family know your ok nup

That is where the inreach or the new starlink satellite text on modern phones is the go

I don’t mean it in the sense of letting family know you’re ok. It’s more if it was at the point that LandSAR were probably searching.

Originally Posted by akaroa1

Not getting lost isn't going to help you when you are at the bottom of cliff with a massive flap of your scalp torn off and both your shoulders dislocated.

It would also be pretty bloody useful at the car crash you are more likely to have on the way to your hunting trip.

I knew there'd be one who just had to respond.

If I am falling off a cliff, then it means I went and got LOST. I dont own a parachute either, which would also be useful in that bit of conjecture.

Originally Posted by John Duxbury

I knew there'd be one who just had to respond.

If I am falling off a cliff, then it means I went and got LOST. I dont own a parachute either, which would also be useful in that bit of conjecture.

It was a true story
I wasn't responding to you
I was warning others against the stupidity of your statement

Originally Posted by akaroa1

It was a true story
I wasn't responding to you
I was warning others against the stupidity of your statement

Yeah, you were.
But, it didn't happen to me, it sounds like it happened to you. Stop falling off fucking cliffs.

Originally Posted by John Duxbury

I knew there'd be one who just had to respond.

If I am falling off a cliff, then it means I went and got LOST. I dont own a parachute either, which would also be useful in that bit of conjecture.

There are lots of cliffs to fall of that don't require being lost. I hunt in terrain that could result in a slip or fall constantly. Mountaineers do the same. I think your being a bit obtuse. Accidents happen and you can't avoid them completely.

Originally Posted by Stocky

There are lots of cliffs to fall of that don't require being lost. I hunt in terrain that could result in a slip or fall constantly. Mountaineers do the same. I think your being a bit obtuse. Accidents happen and you can't avoid them completely.

I'm not being obtuse, I am being sardonic. Meanwhile, I am not a mountaineer, no one said that I had to be in order to hunt deer, and I have avoided an accident for fifty years, and it wasnt hard. I even enjoy being outdoors, and am rarely anxious.

I maintain the risks of being in the bush are much lower than you clumsy types are making out it is. Reading articles like that do not concern me. 48 people died scuba diving last year. THats something to worry about.

Originally Posted by John Duxbury

Yeah, you were.
But, it didn't happen to me, it sounds like it happened to you. Stop falling off fucking cliffs.

I know some bloody good outdoors people who have needed to push the button. One had the ridge he was walking on collapse underneath him. The other got swept out to sea in his Kayak when a combination of tides and wind became too much for him.
Stop falling of cliffs is a silly statement to make!

No one intends too, But also no one, that I know anyway, Is as perfect as Mr Duxbury.

I carry one because Ive learnt that I can make mistakes.

I remember reaching the top of a cliff and hugging a tree with shear relief. After having the scariest climb of my life because halfway up I realised I couldnt get back down and that the climb was too difficult for me.

I fell through ice into a crevace. Luckily it had a blockage. Ive attempted mission that were harder, wetter, longer and colder than I anticipated. All those factors can induce bad decision making or simple mistakes. Mistakes have a habit of compounding.

It doesn't happen now so much. Because I learnt from those close calls how better to prepare and make better decisions.

And one of those preparations and decisions was to carry a fucking PLB!

Another story about my dad, he was having some heart issues.
So me and my brother and sister were always joking with him and saying"if you even feel slightly dizzy, push the button so we can find your body".
Explaining that with no body recovered all his assets would be frozen and we wouldn't be able to get at them. I think he realised we were joking (sort of).

Originally Posted by John Duxbury

I'm not being obtuse, I am being sardonic. Meanwhile, I am not a mountaineer, no one said that I had to be in order to hunt deer, and I have avoided an accident for fifty years, and it wasnt hard. I even enjoy being outdoors, and am rarely anxious.

I maintain the risks of being in the bush are much lower than you clumsy types are making out it is. Reading articles like that do not concern me. 48 people died scuba diving last year. THats something to worry about.

You are being deliberately obtuse.

I find it's ironic your clearly acting the hard man but you are scared of hunting challenging terrain and think those that do are anxious the whole time. I carry a PLB just in case the things I don't control go wrong. Never used it but have been close.

I would also get bored shitless if I hunted such boring country that there was no risk (no such thing anyway). I'm glad you have been lucky but acting like it was anything other than luck and that you had complete control of how it played out is in fact being obtuse.

In all honesty the way you are talking makes me think you should get out and hunt more and stop being a miserable old prick claiming superiority due t9 not carrying a PLB. If you have never had any close calls in 50 years of hunting your either getting senial and forgetting or you didn't really hunt that much.

I very nearly pushed the button on mine a few years ago when we came onto a road accident in the Lewis pass area where the nearest cell signal was a substantial drive away still. Luckily the people were not hurt enough to need to push but it sure didn't look that way at first.

Originally Posted by whanahuia

........And one of those preparations and decisions was to carry a fucking PLB!

I fail to to see the sense in not carrying one. The technology is now readily available and can be used not only to help yourself out of a serious situation but perhaps others that you may come across. A lot of those on this forum spend bundles on clothing, scopes and other flash gear, why would you not have a PLB. I go back to the statement that it is better to have one and not need it than need one and not have it.

It's also not just for you. It could be argued it's part of being a responsible outdoors person. Ok you are well prepared and have all the gear to surviver a bad situation yourself. But what happens when you come across the unprepared tramper who has slipped and injured a leg? Or got caught on the Ruahine tops in shorts and singlet when the fog came in, creating directional confusion,and the temp dropped 10 degrees?
Both of those are situations Ive come across in the days before cell phones and PLBs.

There have been numerous situations on the Mt Robert ridge in Nelson Lakes where people have been caught out and not just tourists, some of these people died and others were lucky that LandSAR personnel were able to save them, which led to one team from Nelson receiving major recognition for saving lives a few years ago.

I was also party to an incident when I first moved here where a person was winched off Mt Angelus and spent a very cold night keeping cell contact with the Police in the only place at the time where you could get cell reception, a PLB would have been awesome to have that time, the person rescued still 23 years on cannot work full-time. I bought my first PLB soon after this incident and thankfully have not needed to use one so far. I carry it and have it in the car on long journeys for just those situations, I expect one day to have to use it for somebody else rather then myself.

Yes they may become obsolete in the future but not everyone wants to switch to OneNZ or give money to Starlink for whatever reasons and not everybody can afford (myself included) to have an InReach subscription. For me a PLB is still the cheapest and best option even though mine actually needs replacing next year. I have the KTI one with the 10 year battery and have worked out the yearly cost has been $55 a year to own it, far cheaper than anything else on the market.

Those saying they don't think they need one as they don't take risks are doing an Ostrich, its not just accidents that happen in the bush medical events happen too. Have already done a body recovery where the person had a heart attack on a local walking track, its not pleasant.

Originally Posted by John Duxbury

I have called the police and had a search and rescue operation for a friend of mine who got lost. He was out for two nights in winter. He was fine, mostly his trauma was mental. He told me a lot of what went on was between him and god. I said, you should learn how to read a fucking map and then you wont have to go to church.

How many people involved in the search for him? The PLB is as much for them as for the person carrying it.