Ok the last 4 years it's been a struggle to find the time to spend in woods from scouting to actually hunting time has been a premium. So I was overjoyed at getting a chance to head out today. The weather held up, a little warmer than what I like, but it's hunting season so off I go.
I get to the state land I like to hunt and I get my favorite spot. I have come close a few times here so I'm feeling hopeful. I take my time sneaking as best as I could but the deer have beat me to where I like to try and set an ambush.
Time for Plan B. I figure I know where the deer are heading so maybe if I take the long way around them keeping the wind in my favor I might get lucky.
Only problem is I'm not too sure of the layout of the land beyond this point, but hey how hard can it be right.
Well I got into some thick stuff, turned myself around a few times and voila I lose my bearings. No problem I say, I'll just head back to where I started. So I head off........in the wrong direction. It doesn't take me long to figure out I'm going the wrong way and I forgot to pack my compass.
After a while I hear road noise so I head in that direction. I start to see houses and realise I am about to walk through their property. And I'm concerned because I know some people wouldn't be too happy to have a hunter walking through their backyards. There is no going around the house, the vegetation is super thick.
My hairs rise up when I see a huge flock of Wild Turkey's in the driveway. What the heck are they doing there. I'm not tempted to shoot obviously, I'm on someone else's land. As I get closer to the house, it "looks" abandoned. All I'm hoping right now is that I get the heck out of here and away from this creepy house. Man if I heard a chainsaw I would of lost it.
Made it home, hugged my compass and promised I would never forget it.
Loved the reading of your story.
Seems silly to drag them along until you need one. I always try to have mine on hand as well, even in familiar territory.
I always pack mine, but then it belonged to my grandfather and so taking it with me is like having him along. He still bailes me out occasionaly.
And if you had it with you, using it would have been so mundane and so brief to locate yourself it would have seemed almost to be of no importance having a compass along...
Great story lesson and been there done that!
Joshua
Been there and done that.
One of my hunting buddy's tells me that he likes hunting with me because no matter how many times I've hunted a spot it's always just like the 1st time I ever set foot on the place..lol
God bless,Mudd
I got "twisted a tad" about 10yrs ago withut a compass, followed road noise an ended up on the oposite side of a wildlife area and had a 10 mile hike to my truck........have several now and always carry one hunting..........
mine has a line that is tied onto my pack havent left home without it in 30 years
Folks if you have ever seen the original movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre.......that's what the house looked like and the weird part was how thick the vegetation was like a fence, no going through it. I had to go through the driveway, real creepy.
Alls well that ends well, now I'm going to have to remember how to get back there, those thunder chickens were huge.
I did something similar once with a 12# stand and Rapid rails PLUS a full pack on my back...and it got HOT!
Man was I tired when I finally got where I was supposed to be!
Never think it will happen in country you think you know till you end up where you've never been!
I always have 2-3 with me, one in my pocket and the rest in pack or fanny pack. I have now put one on my 2 hunting armguards! I also put one on my back quiver that I use for stump'n!
That has happened to me more than once. The last time it was at night while tracking a deer in the bottoms west of my house where every tree looks just alike. I got turned around while trailing and forgot which direction I had came from and to make it worse I had my pregnant wife with me.It took us a good 2 hours but we eventually found the creek and followed it back to the road. I knew we would get back but it still is a bad feeling not knowing which way home is!
When I first read the title of this thread I thought it was going to be about toilet paper.
I need to add a compass to my "DO NOT FORGET" list.
Here's a sun shadow method
Clear a flat area of dirt or sand. Grass will work, but not as well.
Find a stick about 2 or 3 feet long and stick poke it into the ground so it stands up.
Get another small stick or pebble and place it exactly on the end of the shadow line.
Eat a trail bar or relax for a half hour.
Place another stick or pebble at the end of the new shadow. If you have time, wait another 1/2 hour and repeat.
The line between the two pebbles runs east-west direction with the first mark being west and the second being east.
If you are in the northern hemisphere, North direction is perpendicular to the east-west line heading away from the sun. It's South down under.
From here
http://www.compassdude.com/no-compass.shtml
Been there, ashamed to say, more than once.
Always try to keep one in my pocket and a spare in my hunting utility belt.
Been there my self a few times up in the U.P. Now I always make sure I've got a compass when I head out the door.
A compas has a way of becoming a favorite friend.
I buried (when he died)the old but reliable compass my Dad used to guide us through the Maine wilderness on fishing bushwacks when I was a boy. It had a very special place among all the gear- it never let us down.
My other favorite I lost and its replacement led me out of 5 miles of heavy dead fall and steep country here in Colorado in the dark. It is gaining "special" status among my gear with each adventure.
They should name them "Peace of Mind". That is what you have when a compass is in your hand.
I always have mine with me, it's attached to the Leon Stewart LB., that is as long as I take that bow.
Used to have a Bear Takedown with a compass, never needed it and never got lost, but it was fun to play with when I got bored. the first time I hit a big Wisconsin woods I had a longbow, no compass. I Followed a deer to a private berry farm, good berries, and got caught and was advised to hunt on the next corner of their land and shoot that bear that was getting into their berries. I did and just like they said a bear came, winded me and went away i followed it for long time. It got cloudy, it got dark the wind stopped blowing and I had no idea where I was. Hours later I heard a truck engine brake. I went that way and found a road, then proceded to walk four or five miles the wrong direction on that, until a drunk guy asked me where I was going, I told him my plight and he said "I saw that little green pickup today and I know right where it is", moral of the story never accept a ride from a drunk driver, unless he knows where you left your little green courier pickup. I miss my Bear takedown with a compass on it.
Always in my pack. I have a lensatic and a map reading style. Got one of those clip on ones somewhere too, but I like knowing exact degrees. You can use shadows, but that doesn't help much if there's no light from the sun. I've told my kids lots of times to look for straight looking open areas of sky that indicate roadways or waterways. Follow power lines to civilization. Power lines usually run along heavily traveled roads. In farm country, follow those lines that head towards a big clump of trees in the middle of nowhere. That is usually a town, because they don't cut down their shade trees.
ha ha ha this happens to me all the time,,,, I still don't use a compass and I get lost all the time but I'm in mass and you just walk in any direction.
BUT when you bring a compass in don't you have to anticipate being lost and take location marks on the way in? I guess you can say well I just walk south to the rd but like what happened to this guy you can come out in someones back yard. we do this but we stay in the woodline and follow the rd back that way (run alot of deer bedded behind the houses right back into the pieces too) I was thinking about taking a compass reading class which is offered free by the state but I wondered if its really needed in urban hunting??
you guys who hunt in drop camps and in complete wilderness I say its a must but I hear people and cars from all my stands all day long no matter what town I'm hunting in.