Keeping your bearings!

[elk-n-walleye]

Stick brought up a good point in another post about "woodsmanship". As season draws closer I would like to recommend if you are going to a new location have a reliable gps unit or know some landmarks for reference. I'm sure we all know this but overcast/rainy skies can make you second guess which direction you need to head. I was in this position last year on a rainy day. Even though we were in an open field my entry level gps (couldn't afford a higher end unit) was telling me to go one way but I was certain camp was the other. Needless to say I upgraded gps units for this season.

Be careful out there.

[Elkduds]

A simple thing we all do is to turn around often and look back where we came from. Take a moment to remember and imagine landmarks as they will look on the way back. Choose landmarks that will be visible when you return. Imagine how they will look later in the day. Where will the sun be, what will be in shadow? Snap a pic if you like. Use your map each time you look back to orient you to these landmarks, so they are easier to remember when you are tired, distracted, or humping a 70 lb pack of fresh meat.

[Lefty]

For me one of the easiest things s to enter into the area when the sun is shining
Always looking at a compass ( in my truck ) or hand held. Know the relationship of landmarks in different locations ( google earth) or other maps
some simple things
Knowing that the major range or river goes a certain general direction
Last year at a boy scout winter camp we were asked which way was north, it was dark with cloud cover. I was the last to point the right direction, I knew the creek we were on flowed SE. an a fence ran sort of perpendicular.
The fence ran true north and south
At night often city lights can glow 70-90 miles away
Just knowing your location in relationship to a know feature, the more you do it the more accurate you will become

[ishy]

I have always been a little scared about getting lost just because I never really have, and lose all restraint when I hear a bugle. Couple years ago had to cross a willow river bottom that was super thick and about 75 to 100 yards in the dark. Needless to say when I finally made it to the other side I looked up and the truck was right in front of me. I was floored I was totally turned around within eyesight of the truck, pretty embarassing to say the least. I do have a cheap gps now that I picked up at a thrift store for $10.

[Fridaythe13th]

Deafirishman and I were out last year, new mountains in a new state. The only day it did not rain the sky were clear we got into a heavy canopy of pine trees both are gps had the arrow pointing the wrong way. It was the end of the day and we were tired and started seconded guess are selves. Thank goodness we did pay a little attention on the way in.

[TheBuzz]

LOL...I got lost In the Bighorns, At Night, and went too deep back in 1983....After that experience, I really got to know a map and compass, land navigation and Orienteering.

If it wasn't for a good lit Moon, and a Peak for reference, I would have had to make a very primitive night camp, and wait till first light.

I was lucky. I made our camp, but the other guys said my eye's were as Big as Saucers, when I made chow tent.

[jc957b]

I use a app on my phone called Gaia GPS. Works very good. It has topo maps for all of US and Canada (I believe). Pre-download the topo map in the area you choose to hunt and then you can pull it up any time. No cell signal needed. Works off satellites and works great. I use it any place I go to hunt, new or familiar places and never leave home on a hunting trip without it.

[under H2O hunter]

In a day and age where people rely more on an electronic device to let them know where they are. I highly recommend learning a few different ways to figure out what direction you're headed. Here is a simple way on a sunny day when the sun is high above you. It requires three sticks. Place stick one in the ground. Take stick two and place it at the end of the shadow of stick one. In 15 min. the shadow of stick one will have changed. Now place stick number three at the end of the shadow of stick one. You can pull stick number one out of the ground or find a fourth stick. If you lay stick number one so that it touches stick number two and stick number three at the same time you have a stick that is pointing east and west. As the sun moves from east to west your shadow will move west to east. You can figure out north and south by placing another stick across your east/west stick and now you have a bearing. Good luck and I hope no one gets lost this season.

[Rangerz]

Some good tips here. Some people have a better sense of direction than others. I would recommend learning or knowing how to use a map and a compass. GPS is great, but if they go out, then what!

[ElkNut1]

If your GPS ever gives you fits or a miss direction in your opinion then there's a good chance it needs to be re-calibrated! Gps units are pretty darned reliable even the inexpensive ones. If you change batteries or locations where it's being used always re-calibrate it for a new area especially if 25 miles away + -- A simple calibration is generally the reason for one not working well or giving a swirly arrow direction. Too, if a GPS unit gets old like in the 7 year plus age then you may need to have the lithium battery changed, this battery is different than the ones you would install when needing fresh batteries or re-charging a re-chargeable battery like some units offer.

ElkNut1

[msd1228]

In a day and age where people rely more on an electronic device to let them know where they are. I highly recommend learning a few different ways to figure out what direction you're headed. Here is a simple way on a sunny day when the sun is high above you. It requires three sticks. Place stick one in the ground. Take stick two and place it at the end of the shadow of stick one. In 15 min. the shadow of stick one will have changed. Now place stick number three at the end of the shadow of stick one. You can pull stick number one out of the ground or find a fourth stick. If you lay stick number one so that it touches stick number two and stick number three at the same time you have a stick that is pointing east and west. As the sun moves from east to west your shadow will move west to east. You can figure out north and south by placing another stick across your east/west stick and now you have a bearing. Good luck and I hope no one gets lost this season.

Tremendous tip! Unfortunately, I am not one of those people who are seemingly born with an internal compass. I could get turned around in a phone booth. I always carry at least 3 compasses and 1 GPS, and reference them continuously. I keep one that I clip right onto my shirt so I only have to look down quickly every once in a while. Its not a great compass, but it keeps my general bearing well enough. I pull out the higher quality stuff when I think the shirt compass may not be giving me an accurate enough read.

[8seconds]

I'm a big advocate of GPS and carrying a topo with me in the field. From time to time i reference the map location with my GPS to keep my bearings. I take it as a personal challenge to know where i'm at and how long it will take me to get back to camp. No doubt i have too been turned around; but not often. I'm pretty diligent about my position of solo hunting.

Of course the very first thing i do is mark my camp. This was a huge help to me a couple of years back while solo hunting in the San Pedro Wilderness of NM on a cloudy night with intermittedent rain/sleet and a cheap head lamp. Early on before dark one bad decision led to another until i was in trouble; never again. GPS got me home and into my sleeping bag at 1:30 am; exhausted. I was so tired i couldnt' even eat.

[Stick]

Stick brought up a good point in another post about "woodsmanship". As season draws closer I would like to recommend if you are going to a new location have a reliable gps unit or know some landmarks for reference. I'm sure we all know this but overcast/rainy skies can make you second guess which direction you need to head. I was in this position last year on a rainy day. Even though we were in an open field my entry level gps (couldn't afford a higher end unit) was telling me to go one way but I was certain camp was the other. Needless to say I upgraded gps units for this season.

Be careful out there.

Thanks for the kind word I was afraid some would think I was being arrogant with that woodmanship post. I think this is what makes me wonder about us not developing our built in sense of direction. Take a Daniel Boone or better yet Simon Kenton who had the ability to dictate a property deed from memory of land marks and be perfectly accurate. Don't get me wrong I carry compass and Gps but seldom use them to challenge myself to focus on my surroundings. Am I wrong in thinking we get a little to dependent on these electronic devices?? Do you think it would help if we only used them for a last resort?

[foxvalley]

The hardest time I have keeping my bearings is comming down a hogback after dark where you have finger ridges on either side. It is so easy to take a finger off of the main hogback. Most of the time I will leave my GPS on,especially in new country where it leaves a trail for me to follow out,and keeps me on the hogback,and not on a nightmare finger ridge which usually puts me a long way from where I should be.

[toasty tiger]

There are a few simple things that you can do prior to stepping foot into the woods. Know your landmarks and mark them on your topo map. Mark streams, roads, peaks and any other feature that you can find including major ridgelines. You can typically locate yourself on a map by doing a two-point or three point resection (shoot a reading to a landmark- draw a line- shoot a reading to another landmark - mark a line). In timber I always try to get to the highest point or lowest point when navigating if I think I am going in the wrong direction - streams always fall with elevation -if you truly are lost water will lead you back to civilization in most cases and you can go for a week on water if needed. One other thing that I always keep tabs on before I walk in any wooded environment is understanding the terrain changes in regards to vegetation - swampland pine trees on on high ground etc.. Knowing the difference between where dark timber is located and aspens are located could be the trick to getting out - The other thing that I personally do is if I think I am lost I start treating it just like a blood trail, I mark my trail every 15-20 yards. One thing I learned the hardway once upon a time---if it is dark and you are truly lost- bivvy for the night - the only thing you are going to do in the dark is get more lost:)