The only time I can accept the use of a cell phone on a backcountry pack trip (if it works at all) is when there is some dire, life threatening emergency.

Like either make the call or having to hack off your arm or leg with a Swiss arm knife because it's crushed and pinned under a boulder.

In the "backcountry" I hunt in up here, there is no cell phone service.....lots of folks up here use satellite phones for backup in case of an emergency.

Joe

well the wife likes me to check in--so I rent a satellite phone--check in at night every 2-3 days and to use in case of an emergency---chris

I agree that cellphones shouldn't be used in the back country. You'd be surprised though how much more willing your wife is to let you go hunting when she can be assured that you're still safe. It's also a great way to include your children in your activities even though they are too small to tag along. So yes I hate to take mine ...but I still do.

the chef

You don't have to get very far off the beatten path to loose service...We hunt 150 miles from home, no real hills or mountains, all farmland and tree farms, but no luck with Cingular, unless you are on the freeway...so I guess a satalite phone might be a better choice??? Arthur Olds

One of the things that I dislike about cell phones is that many people use them as a "safety net", especially here in the G.V.A. on the North Shore mountains. Every year, we get people who come here and who consider themselves to be experienced "outdoorsmen"; they simply do not realize how vast, how empty, how cold and how wet B.C. is and they go home in body bags.

I was hiking yesterday, in a very cold rain and I ALWAYS carry a Mysteryranch "Deluxe' pack with an emergency camp in it AND wear appropriate boots and clothing. There were runners dressed in next to nothing and foreign folks who do not speak English on the lower reaches of the Lynn Headwaters Trail and many of them were yapping on cell phones as they walked along.

IF, and it happens all the time, the cell phone dies and you sustain an immobilizing injury and you do not have emerg. gear/skills, even this, the "softest" part of B.C. will kill you; northern Canada and Alaska are just that much more lethal for those who depend on technology, rather than the proper gear and some bush skill.

So, I ain't a big fan of cell phones, or, even satellite phones although I used radios very extensively in my former occupation...and had them fail me in extreme conditions in remote areas. I cannot stress too strongly NOT to rely on electronics, GPS, cell phones or satellite phones; learn bush skills, carry emergency gear and use your common sense.

Kutenay, truer words were never spoken.

We , amateur radio HAMS, demonstrated last year that cell phones and gps may not always work . We are only 100 miles from NYC !Learn how to read a topo map, have a copy, a regular compass, let people know where you are going and when you will return. Carry emergency food, water clothing etc.

Kutenay, I couldn't agree more. My hunting partener and I do carry a pair of small radios, that we don't really ever turn on unless we hear the other guy shooting (nice to go help him pack), or if he for some reason doesn't show up at camp at the end of the day. Also, as I do most of my hunting alone, I carry a radio with me (off), and leave one at home, in the off chance that if anyone ever has to come out and look for me, it's one more tool to help them find me. But, I follow the basics of leaving at home a map of where I'll be, and an ETA, because I'm not about to rely on some cheap piece of cr@p electronics. The thing that is most likely to save my ass when push comes to shove is the grey stuff between my ears...