Yep, numerous times, but never had to spend the night out. Usually just disoriented for a few hours.
Numerous mentions of walking in circles. I was in Explorer Search and Rescue for 10 years or so and remember a professional tracker at one of our searches. He asked for a pair of shoes from the lost person. He could look at the worn soles of the shoes and tell which way the person would tend to circle. Also think it had something to do whether the person was right or left-handed.
The drainage where our hunting camp is located, and we have hunted exclusively for 35 years, and it is only about 4-5 square miles total, has a spot where if you are there late afternoon, you better be pulling your compass out. It is the end of a ridge that kind of splays out into numerous flatter ridges and flats. We call it the Jungle. You think that you are heading down the ridge, only to find yourself hitting the drainage and the water is going the wrong direction or there is WAY too much water. Get out your compass and follow it. Another spot at the far edge of our area has an established hunting camp about 1.5 miles from our camp, theirs was on a ridge top and ours was in the bottom of the drainage. Numerous times we have gone to Monday Night Football at their camp due to them having a little 4" TV with a grainy signal. We were there one night and partook in a few beverages. My brother-in-law wanted to show us an easier way back to camp, I usually led down a little draw to a trail that was made from logging in the 20's, the 1920's, "go ahead, we'll follow". Clear, dark, cold night, no moon, lots of stars and we could see the outline of the ridges to the north and south. We had to go pretty much west. I was following obediently, but noticed after a bit that the north star was off my left shoulder, "think we are going the wrong direction", "no, just follow me". We then smelled smoke, huh? Then we hit a FS trail, looped right around clockwise, went below their camp and hit the trail to the northeast of their camp. I led the way back to camp from then on. To his credit, that area is another place you better have your compass in hand if it is late in the day.
Cow hunting in Utah last year in the same unit we had hunted in 2019, opening day it was snowing cats and dogs, visibility sucked. I had the tag and my hunting partner was going back to the truck and was going to pick me up at the other end of the ridge we were hunting. I told him that I wasn't real sure where I was at the time. He called me back on the radio and told me when I found out where I was to give him a call. I had only been in the spot one time and that was two years prior, but had marked a wallow on my gps. Pulled out my gps and found that I was not where I thought I was, got it all figured out and then promptly jumped a bunch of elk, tracked them as far as I could, they were going to Idaho. Found the wallow and subsequently the truck. Got my cow two days later.
