This weekend a hunter was lost overnight in a local hunting area and local S&R was called out to look for him. After spending the night in the woods he walked out the next day. The thing is he relied on his phone GPS to get out that night but spotty service and a dead battery left him clueless and lost. The area is not that big so he couldnt have been more than a mile from a main road or farm at any time. Just having a 10 dollar ball compass and knowing what way the road ran could have let him walk out and not tie up the sherrif and fire departments for 12 plus hours.........just something to think about for those of you that put all your trust in your cell phone............
i fully agree. with all this new technology, basic navigation is a lost skill at its best. even learning how to roughly navigate with out a compass is almost unheard of. i agree with you that everyone should atleast carry a basic compass and atleast some sort of 24hr survival kit...the kit i would say is more needed if in big woods but even hunting the area that i know well i still carry a small survival kit. mainly because i would rather carry the extra 5lbs and have it and not need it than need it and not have it. so far, thankfully, i have yet to use it. but that is unfortunate that so many people rely on cell phones instead of learning the basics and studying the area that they hunt in. that was a very good post and a thought provoking one too.
Sheesh :nono: probably a guy with a sight on his bow lol.
You should definitely know your hunting area well enough to know an escape azimuth
Stupid with a fancy gadget is still stupid.
Technology is a killer. How many store clerks do know that can't make change unless the register tells them what the change is? How many people do you know who can't look at the answer on their calculator and know the answer can't be right? How many people do you know that can't read a map, of any kind, but especially a topo map?
Great post! I greatly appreciate technology but always have a old school silva compass in my pack even if in familiar woods. Don't take up much room com paired to the piece of mind
If it was a clear night, the North Star would have been as good as a compass, and should have been able to get him to the road at least.
Good post and a nice reminder to be prepared no matter how big the woods is.
I still carry a good old fashion compass in my pack along with a map of where I'm hunting ...
When it comes to me carrying my compass " Two is one and one is none"! You GOT TO TRUST YOUR COMPASS.
a simple cheap compass and ... a map - even a google map will do.
I actually choose not to use my gps for navigation (just carry it for blood trailing and grid searches) and rely on my compass for everything. I prefer to do it this way so that i keep my skills sharp and keep learning more. A cell phone doesnt work in most of the places i hunt so noone in my area gets to use a map on a phone.
Navigation is a perishable skill and the above story is a great reminder of that.
Yep my uncle was in the military and is no longer with us, but his compass is in my backpack. I have found that tracking a deer late at night in the thickets can get you disoriented fairly quickly.
A compass and a first aid kit should be in everybody's pack. I don't carry a 'survival kit' because I hunt on private land where I can't walk over a half mile without crossing a 4wheeler trail or dirt road so actually having to spend the night in the woods is pretty unlikely. I can't say my first aid kit has saved any lives, but it's saved a couple hunts. ;)
Matt Toms
good post,,,,,, speaking of compasses whats a decent compass to buy? I bought one at dicks sporting goods that has a magnifying glass and whistle,, seems decent but is there cheap ones that are not reliable????
Google Suunto. They make very good compasses in a wide price range.
I don't need a compass, just a deck of playing cards.
When lost I just deal out a game of solitare. Pretty soon someone shows up and tells me to play my red ten on the black jack. Then I am no longer lost. :bigsmyl:
I can relate, I'll admit I got lost once in the woods, because I forgot to pack my compass. It happens. Maybe that happened here as well and he tried to use what he had.
Well, that won't be me as I don't own a cell phone and certainly wouldn't be counting on it for a directional aid.
I have 3 compasses on me at all times when afield. Overkill for sure but so what? I like the pin on ball for generally getting around and being orientated. There's one in the cap of my waterproof match container and a third is a very good Silva if a definite bearing has to be followed.
I don't feel overloaded at all.
I carry a compass for navigating. I do also have a gps with many waypoints plugged in, but thats only to help me pinpoint a tree for my stand at 5am. Aside from that it's all compass and knowing the lay of the land for me.
I know it's good to have it but if ou don't have a map. All the compas will do is keep you walking a straight line. If you don't know what way to head your screwed anyway. ESP if the way you choose to head is along way off from anything. Where a couple hundred yards that a way.. You would have hit logging road.
Good for him...now he has probably learned an important lesson...and probably wont do that again! Sometimes the things learned the hard way are the things learned the best!
Glad he got out safe.
Even better than a compass is to do a little research before you get there. If you don't have some idea in your head where you are going, where roads, streams, hills, etc are, a compass is only slightly better than a cell phone with a dead battery.
Never had much use for a GPS..... Some people like them... Some people LOVE them!!!
Always been a compass man myself. Just plain old North, South, East & West, will get you out of most anywhere. :thumbsup:
QuoteOriginally posted by gringol:
Even better than a compass is to do a little research before you get there. If you don't have some idea in your head where you are going, where roads, streams, hills, etc are, a compass is only slightly better than a cell phone with a dead battery.
Exactly! Have an idea of the lay of the land before you even go into the woods. Which way does the nearest main road run?, where is the river/drainage ditch in relation to where you will be? ...etc Unless you're really back in the big woods there is usually something you can walk towards and be out within a couple miles. When I go into a large area I have a mental picture in my head of how things are layed out. Even when I was out in Colorado this year in an area I had never been in before, I generally knew that unless I had somehow went up and over to the other side of the mountain without knowing it, all I had to do in a worst case scenario was to go DOWN. Down would eventually get me to the valley floor where a main stream ran through and the stream eventually flowed to where the vehicle was parked. It could potentially be a long hike, but I could find my way out.
Whats wrong with spending a night in the woods any way?
I use a compass btw, no gps.
Compass and Map , Always! :thumbsup:
when panick sets in clear thinking stops, I never gt lost, because I dont care, I like roughing it, and yes I always have compass, and my hearing helps to , these days its hard to not here town or a highway, and even the lights at night 10miles from a town light the ky.
I've never been lost, but on the few times where I found myself geographically embarrassed, it's usually due to following some deer and getting turned around without knowing it and then walking in the direction you think you want to go without checking your compass first. It can happen to the best of us. On one occasion, when I finally did check my compass, I was dead certain that it was broken, as were my backup and backup's backup. It just goes to show how easily it can be to get turned around when your mind is focusing on something else.
P.S., what's this gps thing people keep talking about?
I am sure to have at least a compass, fire and a light or headlamp when i go in to the woods. I always have my knife.
I might bring a cell phone for BACK UP...
kirk
On my first elk hunt out West my buddy insisted that I had a GPS (with back-up batteries) along with 2 compasses and a watch. The GPS was used to get me to known hunting stand locations which he provided to me. Why two compasses and the watch? Well when you are truly lost, you tend to question everything and when you have two compasses, one validates the other and one can lose things. A watch can also be used as a compass but was needed to make sure we all met at the designated place at the designated time to ensure the safety of the group. His logic in all of these things have proven to be valid more than once!
GPS can be handy but I would never rely on one . I knew a guy many years ago who was an Air Born Ranger and could land navigate to within 2 meters of a grid coordinate if you gave him a Topo map and a lensattic compass . This same guy would carry a lensattic compass every time he went into the woods . Never knew any body that could get lost any easier than he could . The problem was that he never payed attention to where he was until he got lost . Those gadgets don't make up for paying attention to what you are doing . When we would go hunting together I would tell him to get his compass out and figure out where we were and he never got lost again with me .
I have an old Etrex GPS, it must be 10 years old. It is very handy marking where my truck is parked, where I have left a deer hanging in the woods, or where I stumble onto rubs and scrapes in the backwoods places. But a cell phone GPS? No way.
I typically stow my GPS and use the compass for 99% of my navigation. Here in Michigan, roads are never far away, so I keep an awareness of which way they are running.
The thing about my old school GPS, is that there are no maps in it, and it basically points an arrow in a straight line to where I want to go....which might be the worst route possible. So the compass gets plenty of use.
Bushcraft is common sense. The guy in the original story didn't have any.
I have an old Etrex GPS, it must be 10 years old. It is very handy marking where my truck is parked, where I have left a deer hanging in the woods, or where I stumble onto rubs and scrapes in the backwoods places. But a cell phone GPS? No way.
I typically stow my GPS and use the compass for 99% of my navigation. Here in Michigan, roads are never far away, so I keep an awareness of which way they are running.
The thing about my old school GPS, is that there are no maps in it, and it basically points an arrow in a straight line to where I want to go....which might be the worst route possible. So the compass gets plenty of use.
Bushcraft is common sense. The guy in the original story didn't have any.
QuoteOriginally posted by Tajue17:
good post,,,,,, speaking of compasses whats a decent compass to buy? I bought one at dicks sporting goods that has a magnifying glass and whistle,, seems decent but is there cheap ones that are not reliable????
Get a Silva Ranger. It has been a favorite among foresters for years. If you learn how to use it properly you'll be amazed at how accurately you can navigate with it. Also, the mirror in the lid can be used as an emergency signal.
Matt Toms
I'm trying to picture either the Vikings or Christopher Columbus with a GPS. :knothead: :bigsmyl:
I hunt Long Island and i've got at all times a map compass, a little ball compass on my pack, my garmin gps and my iphone. One time while scouting my GPS was telling me thisspot i scouted was to my right but i knew from the sun it should have been in front of me. Pulled out the compass and sure enough my gps was off. I then recalibrated the GPS and it corrected itself. Then i remembered that i didn't recalibrate my gps after coming back from california. I always have a back up to check.
I was on the orienteering team in high school so I'm pretty familiar with compass navigation and topographic maps but with the ease of use and night readability of a modern gps I think its foolish to abandon this tool just because its not traditional. I would advise everyone to get a real gps instead of a cell phone though. The battery on my Garmin lasts a long time, 24 hours of constant use, longer than that with quick references. My cell phone might last half the day with at best.
One of the best, and simplest compasses is the little Silva "key fob" compass. I probly have at least 10 of them laying around the house. Years ago when I hunted the Big Woods of Maine and the Adirondacks, I had them on the zipper pull of all my wool hunting coats.
I was hunting a 900 acre piece of state land here in the Hudson Valley a few years back,when I ran into a couple of Forest Rangers. One pointed at my compass and said to the other, "There's something you don't see anymore"
Sad, but true!!!
I have a GPS, but very seldom use it. I always have a compass or two in my gear and enough stuff to be semi comfortable for a couple of unplanned overnights if the need arises.
to quote Phill Robertson "yuppy city boy"....compass and use your hearing in ohio, there is probable a road with traffic some where close
We hunt in some pretty rugged stuff in NZ. Every experienced hunter carries a day pack, with a survival blanket, firelighters and stuff. I think gps and rescue beacons are dangerous. I think GPS are dangerous because if used wrongly they can lead you on a bad course. THe straightest point back to your start location isn't always the safest. Rescue beacons encourage people to think they are bullet proof. "It's OK, I'll just use my rescue beacon if I get in trouble." Don't get me wrong if I am in the back country and I break my leg I am going to be pleased as hell I had it with me. I just think you are better off learning to be careful and rely on your own skills. I guess that's why we are trad hunters, we just want to rely on what we know and not necessarily the technology.
A map and compass is all you need....but you still have to know how to use them. Skills that are not taught today....sadly!
I spent a week one night in the woods!
Not that I didn't know where we were, but it was too far to make it back safely, in all the under brush. So I settled down for the night. The fellow that I had set out to find just before dusk, a city boy, was really lost. (in his mind we were gonna die out there) So I built a small fire and settled in, he walked guard duty all night! That's what made it seem like a week! So at daylight, tired of listening to him, I took us cross country down the mountain to the camp. Never let him get too far off the road after that. That was years ago, and I think he took up golf, after that season.
Johnny/JAG
The thing is that this area was only about one mile square with a road on all sides..........Ive been in there and its a little thick but its not like 600 acres of N.Carolina swamp or as big as 40 sq miles of So.Cal desert.......
On the other hand, this would be a great alibi if he was cheating on his wife with the women who lived in the farm.
Now if he can just explain to her how those wild berries that kept him alive left red lip-shaped stains on his neck and collar....
compass compass compass thats all i use i have a silly phone but it is only used as that a ph not a gps. any how it dont have that function it aint a smart ph. :biglaugh:
I have a pin on ball compass that i use when wlking, plus I carry a lenstatic surveyors compass in my hunting pants pocket. I also have an Eagle explorer GPS that is 15 years old now, like Roger said in an earlier post mark the pickup or spots on interest that you happen upon during the day, but use the compass mostly.
The person who never made a mistake never made anything. Im pretty sure most of us have had an "uh-oh" moment. Not all of us have someone to teach us. At least he turned off the hunting channel, got his ass out of the couch and was out there doing it.
God bless, shoot straight and come home safe.
I'm a volunteer with my local NWTF chapter and I've been wanting to organize a wilderness survival camp for kids through the state chapter. I want to focus on building simple shelters, fire starting, finding food (edible plant ID, simple traps such as snares, and fishing), first aid, and map/compass navigation. The NWTF has a group called xtreme jakes that is something like age 12-16 that I was wanting to aim it at. I think a 3-4 day camp would be a benefit to young hunters who typically don't learn these skills anymore. If anybody has any other suggestions for skills that could be included, let me know.
Matt Toms