One of Australia's leading outback survival experts says dependence on high-tech gadgets is putting people at risk in remote areas, and has called for a back to basics approach to bushcraft.

Authorities say an increasing number of people are getting stranded or lost in remote parts of Australia, as four-wheel-drive technology improves, and the 'Grey Nomad' population grows.

Bob Cooper has been teaching bush survival skills for more than 30 years, and said people were increasingly relying on technology, and were increasingly helpless without it.

"People are losing their bush-craft skills and their common sense skills," he said.

"[They] can go out with their GPS and go to a remote locations and find them easily.

"But when the thing stops working, people don't know what to do, and they're out of range with their mobile phone."

Police agreed basic bush skills were useful to have, but maintained carrying equipment like an EPIRB was the key to staying alive in the bush.

"For a couple of hundred dollars, you can have a piece of equipment on your vehicle, or on your person, that will work anywhere," Assistant Police Commissioner Murray Smalpage said.

"And if you push that button someone is coming looking. That time frame may be the difference between finding you alive or finding your remains.

"So if you want to work on other skills in case it takes a week or days or hours to get there, that's a bonus.

"But at least they would have the first availability to call for help."

A growing and costly problem

In 2015, police had to conduct around 230 searches for people in WA alone, with about a third of those in regional areas.

At least three of the people reported missing were found dead.

Police said the most common scenarios involved vehicles becoming bogged or broken-down; prospectors getting lost, or people with dementia or mental illness who became disoriented.

Mr Smalpage said outback searches were an increasing costly and time-consuming part of the job.

"Those [searches] that are most challenging for us are centred around people in very remote areas, where there's very little technology available," he said.

"The heat, the weather, the terrain, the ability to get our own logistical resources to support the searchers.

"At the commencement of a large scale search, everyone is buoyant, everyone is positive, everyone is very, very focused.

"But the longer the search goes on, it takes a toll on those people looking, both physically and mentally."

There is also a significant financial toll.

Search aircraft cost up to $5,000 an hour to hire, meaning the bill for a single search can climb close to $1 million.

"And that includes the provision of logistics, helicopter hire, aircraft hire, overtime. So it is a significant cost to the state," Mr Smalpage said.

It is a cost WA Police said they were happy to pay to try to return someone home safely.

But there is frustration that so many searches could be prevented by people carrying communications equipment, and following basic advice.

Water, emergency beacon, stay with the car

Outback survival expert Bob Cooper said hearing of people dying in the bush made him ill. ( Supplied: Bob Cooper )

Tony Bullen, from the WA Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) has been running a safety program targeting prospectors.

They are a high-risk group, spending weeks or even months trawling remote, rocky areas for elusive gold nuggets.

"It's always frustrating and it's even distressing when you hear of people becoming lost in the outback and just not taking what we think are commonsense precautions," Mr Bullen said.

"We've seen more and more people with access to four-wheel-drives and have the leisure time to go out prospecting, so it's increasing, and we have about four or five prospectors a year find themselves in difficulty."

The DMP, Worksafe and WA Police are running campaigns trying to reinforce the key messages: carry water, carry an EPIRB, and stay with your vehicle if something goes wrong.

But for Bob Cooper, the priority is up-skilling people to survive unaided in the bush.

"We've got a lot of young people now that haven't got the basic skills to cope in the bush," he said.

"They feel like it's 'us versus nature', but if we can teach people to respect the environment, learn how to survive within it, then we'll have more respect for the bush and respect for ourselves."