Land Navigation Tips

[WapitiTalk1]

Let's share some land navigation tips. It's no fun getting lost, not being able to find your treestand you emplaced a week earlier, not being able to find the elk you shot the night before, or missing camp by 300 yards after dark. The tips can merely be constructive elk woods navigation tips/reminders, or, they can be something to do with using a map/compass, or even some good tips for GPS use. I'll start with a couple.

Tip - Ensure your map is oriented properly before you head to an objective using your compass, and, check your bearing often during the course of the leg.

Tip - When diving off a game trail into a draw, basin, or heading sidehill towards an answer, scratch two or three marks across the trail with the heel of your boot where you left the trail. I even use this scratching method while just traveling in an area with numerous, intersecting game trails to show my path out if needed. This method is especially helpfull in very thick areas.

Tip - Remember every distance plotted between two points is farther than the map or GPS shows (ups, downs, sidehills, traveling around objects).

[Swede]

Follow a ridge uphill and a stream down to arrive at a particular location. If you are going to hang surveors ribbon or set up a pile of rocks as a guide point set them up the stream from where you need to arrive or down the ridge .

Always know where your vehicle, camp, ect. are on a map you carry with you.
Set you camp or vehicle location on your GPS, if you have one, before you head out. If you have to come out after dark it can be very difficult to see far enough away to identify your location. The GPS will make travel much easier.

Trust your compass. If you have a question about your compass go in the direction it says you need to go and check frequently.

Your GPS is a great tool, but if it quits, it will not be a major problem if you have kept track of your location on your map.

Give yourself plenty of time to get back to where you need to be.

If you think you are lost, you are.

If you can find a prominate point that you recognize, then take a compass bering on it. Now locate it on your map and draw a line from that known point 180 degrees from what your compass indicated was the direction to it. Now estimate the distance you are from that prominate point and mark it on your map. That is approximately where you are. If you can find two know points then do the same for the secont point and you are where the lines intersect. You need to know the difference between magnetic and true north. Your compass shows magnetic north. Your map show true north. Learn what the magnetic declination is for your hunting area before you go there. If there is an east declination, then your compass points too far to the east. The correct bering is the magnetic direction minus the declination. E.g. If the declination is 20 degrees east in your area, then true north is actually 340 degrees on your compass. Due west is 250 degrees, etc.

Hang a line of surveyors ribbon for a good distance from where your elk is at if you think you could have a difficult time relocating your animal. The ribbln line doesn't have to go all of the way up to the elk. You should be able to go the last couple hundred yards without the ribbon.

It is easier to walk farther and follow known land marks, than take an unknown untried shortcut even if you are tired.

[easeup]

you guys already have it covered.

I want to add for our less experienced hunters here that it is good to develope that really good comfort zone with being way out by yourself in the toolies. I have met too many guys through the years who sacrifice the last two hours of everyday, because they subconciously want to make sure they have plenty of time to get back to camp before dark. It is easy to draw an opinion they probably dont feel comfortable with their map and orientation skills. Even with the new fancy gps units. Now of course safety is always paramount to your enjoyment of the hunt.
But think of the extra oppurtunities that might come your way if you stayed in that really good area as the sun gets low in the sky.
there is probably no better way to get cozy with the outback than to just get out there.
But I will bet phantom has some more ideas to help.

[WapitiTalk1]

Swede, do you have a bit of military background friend? "If you can find a prominate point that you recognize, then take a compass bearing on it. Now locate it on your map and draw a line from that known point 180 degrees from what your compass indicated was the direction to it. Now estimate the distance you are from that prominate point and mark it on your map. That is approximately where you are. If you can find two know points then do the same for the secont point and you are where the lines intersect." This is almost military spec "resection" explanation. Great tool for sure.

Easeup is on the mark with his observation of some newer cats "hey, let's get outa here before it gets too dark" mentality. Remember elk don't come out to play/feed in even mildly pressured areas (general rule) until oftentimes, just a bit before the shiny thing in the sky drops. How many times have you worked your way out of your area to hear Mr. Screamer back in the area you left with plenty of shooting light.

A few more from me (looking forward to hearing a bunch more from some of you other salty hunters)...

Tip - Simple but effective. Know the direction you leave a trail from and remember that you have to go E, W, N, S, etc. to get back to the trail.

Tip - Get a pack of inexpensive Bright Eyes trail tacks. You don't need to string 100 of them up but they really help to strategically place them for key turns in the dark, or, to alert you that you're getting close to where you wanna be.. They shine forever when you touch em with your headlamp.

Tip - Use the middle of the day (forego the siesta that I spoke of in another thread) to lock down your route in/out of a key area that will be rough to navigate after dark unless you use pre determined routes (game trails, clear ridge lines, etc.). I hunt in extremely thick areas and if one doesn't have solid ingress/regress routes, you may be destined for hours of alder crawling (if you've been there, you know what I mean) to go a mere few hundred yards..

Tip - Mark every point of interest on both your GPS and map. This serves a multitude of obvious purposes with your GPS. It's also very nice to spread out a full size topo back at camp and study your markings which could assist with elk travel, bedding, feeding, etc., etc. interpretation for your target area.

Tip - Own adjoining maps to the area you're hunting. It's a loooooong way back to town once you decide you don't have an adjoining map for an area you decide warrants further attention..

Keep em coming...

[Lefty]

Know an area well enough (maps) If you get into trouble where you need to go
Down hill can lead to a house or road Know where your safest house is located.
This year I stopped and spoke with the owner of the nearest house getting out and introduced myself just in case

Like already mentioned, trust your compass .
Know the directons of your ridges and MT ranges,
and never trust a women directions

[cnelk]

Many many years ago there was a wise old man who I called 'Dad".

He always reminded me to look behind you when hiking in new country.
Looking back at the landscape occasionally will orientate you better upon the return trip

[>>>---WW---->]

Stay away from the el cheapo WallyWorld compasses. Get one that can be adjusted for east/west declination so everything lines up with your map. Also one that has all the map scales on the sides is a great choice.

GPS is all the rage now days. But when your GPS decides to take a crap, that's when a GOOD compass and compass know how really come into play. Here is one of the very best links to learning how to use a compass.

http://www.learn-orienteering.org/old/.

[Swede]

Phanton16, what I learned was mostly Forest Service. Same government. I did a lot of compass work in the service. I spend hundred of hours as a helmsman keeping the ship on course, or coming around to a new one. There were only two skills I ever felt I aquired in the Navy. Helmsman and chow line navigation were my specialities. I am still pretty good in a buffet. If you get lost there, just remember they put the cheap stuff up front, so keep moving along.

[Bartfrncs]

While on many govt outings. we would use our watches and a compass. Just take a general reading then note the time on that particular vector say i just walked 15 min on magnetic 270 ect. While not perfect it gets you to a general area. Very few of us are looking for a food cashe in the woods that reqiure pinpiont accuracy.
Bart

[mtnmutt]

Tip: For CO dark timber, get a GPS with external antenna like the Garmin 60CSx. An older internal one I had, could never pickup satellites in dark timber.

Tip: Get compass with declination adjustment and 1:24,000 map scale like the Silva Ranger

Tip: The magnetic North is moving at a faster pace than in the past. CO declination is now 2-3 degrees different than 10-15 years ago. Update your maps if they are old and if they do not have the current declination listed or use a compass that has the declination adjustment and make sure it is correct.

Tip: Do orienteering meets. For CO's Rocky Mountain Orienteering Club meets, you do not need to be a member. Many states have their own club. They host free clinics. http://www.rmoc.org/content/view/20/50/

Tip: if you don't know where you are, sit down immediately. Drink water and have a snack if needed. If cold, put on clothes. Then start to figure where you are.

Tip: Use "handrails": fences, roads, trails, streams, ridges for orientation and paths to your destination.

I was misplaced once and I did everything wrong and knew better. I went scouting with a friend when I was sick. I did not take the 10 essentials which I have never done before or since that day. She had the map, compass and gps (did not work in dark timber). I bailed early because I wasn't feeling well and dark timber was not my friend that day. It was an easy trek back to the truck, so I thought. It started to rain. I got "misplaced". I finally sat down and imagined the map in my head. I figured it out by sitting down and putting the image of the map in my head. The road was angling away from me as I went downhill, so I wasn't getting to it. I decided to go uphill at 45 degrees which is away from the truck but that got me to the road faster and gave me my "handrail" to get back to the truck. Within 10 minutes, I was back at the 4x4 trail and heading down to the truck.

Despite all my stupidity while trekking thru CO woods for the last 22 years, I have only been misplaced one and only one time. I am not that great at orienteering, but I am good at sitting down and using images in my head of maps and terrain.

[one_elk]

Worked on a search an rescue crew for a few years and often heard that folks who are disoriented i.e. lost but not willing to admit it have a tendency to follow streams (even though following a stream can get you in worse trouble than you are in) in the wrong direction, the solution was to throw grass, leaves dirt or whatever in the stream to verify you are going in the direction you were hoping to..

[ferris bugler]

Good suggestions here, but I will say it's a bummer to be walking through the woods and come upon someones garbage surveyor tape line that has been there for over a year. Please take your trash with you when you leave.