I dropped all my items to hunt and afterwards, could not find where I dropped everything. Especially likely in wooded areas.
If I am not in a rush, I drop my items in an open area or I chop down trees around where I want to leave my things but, when the encounter finds me and pulls me into the zoomed in map, and it is wooded or crosses several areas, I have to rely on luck to find my things. Would that it were no so.
Another possibility; my footprints would be visible and would have a different appearance than all other footprints. Then, I could "retrace my steps" (a commonly heard phrase).