Before I became a line pilot for a commercial airline, I was a bush pilot. As it so happened I ran into unexpected bad weather and was put into a forced landing on a lake located in the far north. As it happened it was dark and out of the corner of my eye I caught what I thought was a light. Making a long story short it turned out to be two American fishermen who had been forgotten by their bush pilot by one week. They were in bad shape but so was I from the perspective of being low on fuel and also needing rescue. Using their canoe and help from them I was able to portage out and get help. In turn I was able to fly them out. In fact, we kind of saved each other. The point being that these things happen and today with all the technology at hand you should not go into the remote wilderness without some sort of communication, whatever you choose to take. Either leave info at home as to your destination and expected time of arrival back home, so that if you are late the family can initiate rescue procedures or have a satellite phone with you.. It is more common than known to be forgotten by bush pilots for various reasons. They rotate out for rest and forget to tell others, sometimes they quit the job and don't care, etc. Bottom line, if you don't have communication with your pilot then start after two days. The longer you wait the more dangerous it gets for you. You run out of food, etc. and then your chances start to diminish rapidly!
There was an incident in Alaska many years ago where a hunter was forgotten and lived for 3 months before finally shooting himself with his last .44 mag bullet. He left a detailed book of everything he went through and it was that book that indicated the errors in signalling that he made. Unfortunately he had a chance to be rescued but used the wrong signals when spotted by another aircraft. You can obtain a manual from the government, small and portable, easy to take in the bush, and it tells you what to do in terms of what signals are to be used for rescue purposes. A lot of people wave their arms which in rescue terms means everything is o.k. 3 fires placed in a triangle, ready to be lit when you hear an aircraft is the normal signal. It is worth your life to take the time to learn what to do when in need of rescue. Most hunters I have run into do not know about rescue procedures. This can be a deadly mistake as the Alaskan hunter found out.
