Hey Buddy... Are You Lost?

[WapitiTalk1]

Just curious to see who may be in a bit of trouble if their GPS croaked on them. Individual land navigation skills using a compass, map, and terrain association (minimum skills) are absolutely essential in the elk woods in my opinion. Possessing good non-electronic based navigation skills can certainly keep one alive to hunt another season. Army Field Manual 3-25.26 (Map Reading and Land Navigation) is not classified and you can actually download it for free from many sites. If a hunter does not possess these basic "non-electronic" land navigation skills, he/she probably doesn't need to venture too far from a road/trail system until they do.

This is a repeat of a thread I started over on AT about a year ago.. Got some real interesting responses and generated some good discussion.

Soooo.. we'll do it kind of like a poll. "I rate my map/compass skills as follows":

1. Exceptional - I am a human compass needle.. Just follow me.
2. Good - I use a map/compass effectively with no issues.
3. Poor - I'm a bit too reliant on my GPS. Need some work on my map/compass/map reading/terrain association skills.
4. No so good - Call for the search party I'm not making it out of the woods if my GPS dies.
5. Does RJ do anything productive besides starting these threads?

[easeup]

1 - i was born with it; must be a decendant of a goose.

[cnelk]

1 if I'm in the woods...

4 if I'm in the city...

[Haulin'Quarters]

#2 I don't have patience for the GPS to load, and I have never downloaded the whole state on it. I like maps; plain and simple.

[flystrait]

I'm in the #2 group. Bu the way I was a eagle scout so I should be a #1 but don't tell anybody LOL..

[planebow]

#2 Many years of using them befor GPS came out

[LckyTylr]

6. Other

I use a smartphone with a gps and a "Backcountry Navigator" app. Problem is that it kills my battery FAST. Problem 2 . . . I haven't used a map and compass for orienteering since boyscouts.

I need a class, to be honest.

I guess the reason I haven't had a class yet is because I'm always able to tell where I'm at by getting to the top of the nearest ridge and using line-of-sight. Big No-No right . . . what happens if I kill a bull in the afternoon and have to walk out by headlamp with a dead phone (GPS)?

I know . . . I need a class. Anybody know of any kind of class like that in Boise?

[Swede]

I consider myself a 2. I worked many years navigating in the forests with a map and compass long before GPS. Like RJ I don't want my life to depend on GPS. I love it, but I want a backup. I have been out in snow storms when I could not see over 100 feet in any direction. I have been out in unfamiliar country that is flat and tree covered. At those times the compass and map were worth their weight in gold. I too hate navigating in a city. Portland and I do not work together well.
Hey RJ: If all you have to do with your time is to start these goofy threads, what does that say about those of us who respond to them?

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

http://www.learn-orienteering.org/old/ Here is a great link on how to use a compass if anyone is interested.

I suppose I'm a #2. I understand my map and compass stuff pretty well and really enjoy using it. I do use my GPS more often, but if it fails I know my good ole compass will get me home.

[WapitiTalk1]

Hey RJ: If all you have to do with your time is to start these goofy threads, what does that say about those of us who respond to them?

Ah hah! That's the crux of the biscuit Swede ... If it weren't for guys like you and several others on this fine forum posting up their comments, the newer guys that haven't had the privilege of growing up (or hunting most every year) in the elk woods wouldn't have this great information to glean from. Magazines are cool and fine, but this particular forum will most assuredly get some aspiring elk chasers on their way to success.. Thank you for sharing your years of expererience hunting these big galoots. RJ

[foxvalley]

I would also say a 2. If you practice using a map and compass,even at home,you become more confident in these skills.

[Wapiti]

Thanks WW for the orientering site !! I am going to learn.

I don't use anything as of now other than google earth maps that I print off. Up here in Alberta you can't walk for a mile without crossing some kind of seismic/cutline !! They always run east/west and north/south so it is really easy. I hunted for a month and a half straight this elk season and always ended up back at my truck !! But I am gonna use WW orientering site he provided us and become one with the compass and map !! I'm not big on gps and i'd just prefer the compass.

So I guess I'm a 1! But want to be a 2 !! lol Sounds funny to want to be number 2 !! Go TEAM !!

[FemoralArchery]

I guess I'm a 1, but I've hunted the same areas for 10 years. If I went to a new area, it may not be as easy.

I've never owned a compass, map or GPS. I usually look at new places on google earth. I probably should invest in both a compass and a GPS for hunting new areas, but I've hunted the same areas for so long that I always know where I am.

[Broken arrow]

I'm a 3 as far as maps go but then again I've hunted lots of public ground here in Mo with no map compass or GPS and have always made it back to the truck. So maybe I'm a 1? I'm not gonna chance it I'll have a map compass and GPS for the mountains.

[Swede]

Broken Arrow you have an excellent idea. I believe every elk hunter should be prepared to navigate with a map and compass. I have lived and worken in and around the forests of the West all of my life. It is shocking how big they are to people who are unfamiliar with them. Getting lost can be real easy in the right situation. Let me illustrate for anyone who thinks they have a good "sense of direction".
You drive out a long dead end dirt road to where you park and start your hunt. When you leave the truck, you climb up to the ridge and hike in for a couple miles or so. As you walk out the ridge, in places you see a nice timbered bench about 200 yards down hill and decide to do some calling from there . You continue following that bench for a couple hours, keeping an eye on the ridge above. Then, finally you see an elk through the timber. It is close and you go after it. It started to snow a little while ago, but now it is coming down heavy. When the hunt for that elk doesn't work out you climb back uphill to "the" bench and continue on. Finally it is 6:00PM and it is time to return to your truck. It is still snowing off and on. You climb back to the ridge, but everything is wrong. There should be a stream off the other side, but there is none. Also the ridge is going the wrong way. It can't be the one you started out on. Are you 4 miles, 5 miles or 6 miles from your truck? That bench has fooled you. It did not follow your ridge, like you thought it did. You followed below one side ridge, then another. Now even if you guess right about the dIrection of your truck, you do not know where it is when you get in the vicinity. You parked on a gently sloping timbered hill, but they are everywhere. If you walk back and miss by just a couple hundred yards, you wonder did I come back far enough. Did I go too far. Which way should I turn. If you cannot read a compass and have a good map, prepare for a long night.

[otcWill]

I would'nt call myself a human compass by any means, but I do my research and scout constantly. That said, I use my gps to tell time. Not sure why I carry it other than that

[T/H]

6. Other

I use a smartphone with a gps and a "Backcountry Navigator" app. Problem is that it kills my battery FAST. Problem 2 . . . I haven't used a map and compass for orienteering since boyscouts.

I need a class, to be honest.

I guess the reason I haven't had a class yet is because I'm always able to tell where I'm at by getting to the top of the nearest ridge and using line-of-sight. Big No-No right . . . what happens if I kill a bull in the afternoon and have to walk out by headlamp with a dead phone (GPS)?

I know . . . I need a class. Anybody know of any kind of class like that in Boise?

REI has a compass/map class periodically. very informative and helpful imho

[wideangle]

2-3. I learned my map skills in the military and they have served me well. Love Google earth too!

[one_elk]

I guess i would be a 2 I use a GPS alot but also use my map and compass alot...

[Lefty]

Im a #1
However I do carry and will use a compass. And I may have been turned around a time or two
I do own a GPS and mostly dont know how to use it effectively

[LckyTylr]

Thanks T/H, I'll look that up.

[bowhunterty]

Map and compass when I need it. Started when I was in search and rescue in High Schooland in the Marines. I'm a map junkie.