Thread: Amateur Hour in Pirongia

Waikato pig hunters call for help gets rescuers lost too

When a pair of pig hunters got lost in the darkness of Waikato bushland, one made a call to her mother for help.

What started as a rescue of two people then quickly turned into a midnight search for six.

The hunters, 25 and 26, entered Pirongia Forest Park off Corcoran Rd on Tuesday afternoon, Sergeant Warren Shaw, of Waikato police said.

The 135 square kilometre plot located 30km southwest of Hamilton spans four blocks of land with areas allocated for pig hunting.

They didn't appear to be staying longer than the afternoon and definitely weren't prepared to be in the bush overnight when they lost the light, Shaw said.

"Their GPS failed and they had no map or compass, or a decent torch."

From Te Kuiti, the pair were not familiar with the area and by 7.30pm found themselves lost in the darkness, he said.

"Whenever you're going into the bush take a torch, batteries and a basic kit so if you have to stay the night you can."

It was understood that a phone call was made to the lost woman's mother.

The mother, partner and two friends of the 26-year-old man, then decided to head into the bush to search for the pair themselves, Shaw said.

"So four others - from Te Kuiti and Te Awamutu - had gone into the bush and they didn't have the right gear with them either."

Two of the lads managed to locate the hunters by tracking the GPS on their dogs' collars.

"Then they started running out of light.

"It wasn't called into us until quite late and we had been told that some of the party that had gone in were coming out but they didn't arrive."

Volunteer Matt Hazard, along with Graeme Hill and dog Gemma, began the search from Corcoran Rd and managed to locate them a short time later.

He said the six were found at slightly different locations along the same track. The last ones were brought out of the bush around 1.30am.

"They were wet and cold, but fine."

"A bit of preparedness and we wouldn't have had to send the search volunteers in."

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/956...cuers-lost-too

Uh huh!

FFS! If ya can get cell phone coverage you can use Google maps or similar to get out, no?

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by R93

FFS! If ya can get cell phone coverage you can use Google maps or similar to get out, no?

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

And it doesn't escape me that you also have the light from the screen at the very least. Probably have a torch app as well.

And I get the piss taken out of me when I take overnight gear on a quick walk by he missus....

Idiots the lot of them, no torch ffs

Recipe for disaster. At least they all made it out in the end.

I nearly got sent in there in my ambulance capacity once. Someone had called in saying they could hear someone calling for help. We staged in the car park, and I did my best to convince my crew partner that there was no way we were going in without support, given that it was late afternoon, and ambulances don't come with tents. Eventually, we got stood down. It turned out the caller had a history for hearing goat bleats and thinking they were humans in distress...

May this lot where six goats now who 1 taught them to use phones and 2 who listens to goats

Said they were found on a track (hardly lost). But yeah always take the basics.

Sometimes shit just happens even to the best of us and that we all understand.
But.
Is it just me or is the human race becoming stupider by the minute? take the guards and signs off of everything and let nature take its course I say!

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Sometimes shit just happens even to the best of us and that we all understand.
But.
Is it just me or is the human race becoming stupider by the minute? take the guards and signs off of everything and let nature take its course I say!

You're on to it VC.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Sometimes shit just happens even to the best of us and that we all understand.
But.
Is it just me or is the human race becoming stupider by the minute? take the guards and signs off of everything and let nature take its course I say!

Hands up for Darwinism

Originally Posted by 223nut

Hands up for Darwinism

As someone who, without technology, wouldn't be able to see well enough to survive, I'm going to give flat Darwinism a selfish thumbs down.

Originally Posted by R93

FFS! If ya can get cell phone coverage you can use Google maps or similar to get out, no?

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Not always.

Could be a battery issue (e.g. only enough power to raise a call or SMS) or signal acquisition issue. Delving deeper, 4G / 3G coverage isn't available everywhere, which is what you want for accessing data-intensive apps on your phone such as Google Maps.

2G is an easier signal to acquire if you're a VF / 2Deg subscriber. It's only good enough for phone calls, SMS and GPRS data traffic (late 90s / early 2000s) tech. Has extremely limited bandwidth by today's standards making dynamic rendering of a GPS position on a map virtually impossible, particularly if transitioning from point A to B and losing signal along the way.

No map
No compass
Not much else to say really
Had a GPS which is good for bugger all if broken or flat.
Also gives u a real false sense of security.