a gps and or compass

[Rwilco]

Call me crazy but I do both. I mostly use the compass to check if my heading is correct. Then I go to GPS map on the phone to check my location. I still carry a map in some areas but it stays in the pouch.

Edit: Most cellular phones these days have a built in GPS that works off the satellite signals. If you are in an area without cellular coverage, you need to change your settings so your location is GPS only. That will stop your phone from draining battery looking for cell towers or worse - connecting to them intermittently. Getting your phone settings right is critical.

 

[sgt.rock]

Call me crazy but I do both. I mostly use the compass to check if my heading is correct. Then I go to GPS map on the phone to check my location. I still carry a map in some areas but it stays in the pouch.

Edit: Most cellular phones these days have a built in GPS that works off the satellite signals. If you are in an area without cellular coverage, you need to change your settings so your location is GPS only. That will stop your phone from draining battery looking for cell towers or worse - connecting to them intermittently. Getting your phone settings right is critical.

I will look into doing this. I just bought a gps preloaded with maps of the area I hunt. I have always had a bad sense of direction. I just wont be going anywhere anymore without sensible minimums on my person. I got super lucky this fall. But like I said, I never planned on going in the woods more than eyesight distance. We got lost 50 feet at a time following a neverending bloodtrail.

 

[geologist]

Both plus a topo map of appropriate scale.

 

[Rwilco]

I have always had a bad sense of direction.

You are not alone.

We moved to another farm when I was six. I swear that's what mixed me up. Yard orientation, direction to town, everything off axis.

Some people absolutely do have a better sense of their orientation than others. I know for a fact my father always could tell you correctly what the compass directions were. Maybe if you blind-folded him and put him on a plane for a few hours...maybe...

Me - I can leave the truck and not know which way is back while I'm still on the path if I get turned around on a bird a couple times. When that has happened I'm at a loss as I really don't think I'm that bad but the facts on at least a couple incidents say otherwise.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

One of the closest I have ever been to being disoriented was on a tree covered flat quarter, on a very dull day. I was tracking wild pigs and not paying attention to my directions, so much for the instinctive knowledge of directions. Luckily my GPS track took me back to my truck.

Grizz

 

[StacyH]

Exactly my experience as well. On a dull day in very rough bush I go so turned around I hardly knew which way was up. Came out on the same side I went in and I thought I was in and entirely different place. Since then I have owned GPS's and carried extra batteries. And more recently I also use Google Satellite view and download the maps to use offline. It has kept me getting home for 30+ years

 

[Butcherbill]

Most cellular phones these days have a built in GPS that works off the satellite signals. If you are in an area without cellular coverage, you need to change your settings so your location is GPS only. That will stop your phone from draining battery looking for cell towers or worse - connecting to them intermittently. Getting your phone settings right is critical.

If you want to get the most out of your battery life turning your phone to airplane mode and closing all your apps you have open works well, I use two different gps apps for work and get significantly more battery length while running tracks all day by doing the above. In nov/dec I bring a aux battery pack as the cold kills battery life once it gets below -10 with my phone.

 

[woodchopper]

If you want to get the most out of your battery life turning your phone to airplane mode and closing all your apps you have open works well, I use two different gps apps for work and get significantly more battery length while running tracks all day by doing the above. In nov/dec I bring a aux battery pack as the cold kills battery life once it gets below -10 with my phone.

good point on the spare battery pack

I bought a small battery bank that goes in my hunting kit. Got it from Wholesale sports when they were closing out, I have used it in the past to recharge my phone.

It also have the connections for boosting, not really big enough for the truck but works great to boost a quad or even a small car.

 

[scruffee]

On day hunts or areas I'm familiar with, I use my cell with a GPS app and always have a compass. I've had cell apps fail to give me the right bearings in the past so the compass is always a back up.

When I'm hunting in areas I'm unfamiliar with, I mostly use my cell with GPS apps but always carry a GPS and mark the location of my truck, as always, I carry a compass as a final back up and always make sure I know where prominent features are in comparison to my truck's incase I need to use my compass. Ie, if I'm hunting this area, there's a fence line to the West and a field of crops East that will get me back to the road if I follow them South.

I also always carry spare 2A and 3A batteries for GPS/flashlight and a power pack for my cell.

 

[FishHog]

I bring a aux battery pack as the cold kills battery life once it gets below -10 with my phone.

sure does, but throwing a handwarmer in the pocket with your phone helps alot as well. Last year I always used my aux battery pack in a day of hunting. With the hand warmer I haven't plugged the phone in once while in the field this year. I still keep the battery pack with me in case, but a little heat sure seems to help alot.

 

[Butcherbill]

sure does, but throwing a handwarmer in the pocket with your phone helps alot as well. Last year I always used my aux battery pack in a day of hunting. With the hand warmer I haven't plugged the phone in once while in the field this year. I still keep the battery pack with me in case, but a little heat sure seems to help alot.

I’m sure that would help out, I definitely notice the difference in battery life when it’s above -10. I don’t have to plug in for a top up, below -10 and I’m lucky to get through 3/4 of my workday between laying tracks and checking my block map or dropping pins.

 

[fiddler]

I'm an electronic guy by trade, and I make good money because electronics are unreliable. I've never broken a compass but I have had problems with electronics such as batteries, cold, and water damage. I can keep a spare compass in my truck or backpack for 10 or 20 years and I know that it will work.

Electronic GPS is popular for a lot of folks cuz they don't want to learn map and compass. Sure there are lots of uses such as dropping pins, marking your camp, and knowing where other hunters are located... but again, all gone away when the battery runs down.

Each to their own but I learned map and compass when I was 12 and I pay attention to where i am , and really don't like carrying all that extra crap with me.

 

[XRCD011]

...

 

[Chillworth]

I always take the GPS out inthe woods with me. I use the old Garmin Montana 610.

 

[nowarningshot]

And.

And doesn't run out of batteries, doesn't find it impossible to get satellite signa in the thick stuff tracking elf.

 

[Ardent]

I navigate remote areas for in living, GPS is the answer, and knowing how to use a compass the plan B. A compass is 10% of its potential without a map and sightable landmarks, but at least it’ll keep you headed in a constant direction.

I’ve been spun in the wilderness several times. Biggest thing is not to start rushing any particular direction, sit down and make a plan.

As for devices, iPhones and iPads surpassed the separate GPS units some time ago unless you need WAAS and are trying to fly an approach on it. Many would be surprised to know they’ve ridden on flights that were navigated by iPad.

 

[Ardent]

I'm an electronic guy by trade, and I make good money because electronics are unreliable. I've never broken a compass but I have had problems with electronics such as batteries, cold, and water damage. I can keep a spare compass in my truck or backpack for 10 or 20 years and I know that it will work.

Electronic GPS is popular for a lot of folks cuz they don't want to learn map and compass. Sure there are lots of uses such as dropping pins, marking your camp, and knowing where other hunters are located... but again, all gone away when the battery runs down.

Each to their own but I learned map and compass when I was 12 and I pay attention to where i am , and really don't like carrying all that extra crap with me.

Few of us are without a phone these days, which is smaller than a map and compass, and far more precise. Get a good GPS app and carry your compass too. I fly rescue as required, and as recently as last November rescued people who had a map and compass. Whether they were current in its use is up for debate. They all had phones and were all unaware they worked without cell service perfectly to navigate, all they needed was a $5 app. If you’ve navigated a good deal in wilderness, you’ll never choose a map and compass over a GPS, it’s a backup. GPS is safer, faster, far more accurate and gives you tons of info that a map and compass doesn’t. Plus, a new iPhone can even send an emergency message for us to come pick you up without cell service.

And for all those who inevitably say “but what happens when you leave cell”, GPS is passive, it only needs transmissions from the satellites. It even works on airplane mode on your phone.

 

[medvedqc]

always have a map with compass with my gps and for a good reason ... us army can deteriate the signal and we had in the north more than a few times that the signal was off and seen bushpilots forced to use charts and vor ndb like in the old days ...

but i have to say i prefer gps for sure but i have seen people lost even with a gps ... know the tools you are using is the motto.

 

[conor_90]

Never met a heli pilot who knew how to use a handheld gps, maybe that’s why ardent likes his phone

Let me know when you get an iPhone you can swap batteries on in seconds and have a full charge. Or one that can maintain battery life in the cold for that matter

Even in the era of tablets forestry pros (often depending on job etc) carry backup handhelds for a reason.


Navigating with just a gps is a rooky maneuver. Use it as a machine for finding compass bearings. Never follow the line and ignore terrain

GPS accuracy can be pretty bad in a lot of forested areas, especially on the coast (the wild one) Knowing the bearing that can get you to a road or known cutline/ river etc is advised

Just my ten cents based on a decade of navigating in the bush (from the ground), drawing maps and using gps software

 

[Ardent]

Ha I hear you on pilots and our mental depth. Unfortunately have done plenty of the ground navigating outfitting, used many garmin models. And grew up in the era of loran C giving way to GPS sailing. While you’re right to question any bush pilot’s intelligence, for we chose this trade willingly, I’m afraid even with our limited depth of understanding I have yet to meet any pilot I’d hire who couldn’t operate any GPS he’s been handed. Many of the machines have archaic Garmin 430s etc in the panel as well, we become professionally rather encyclopedias of archaic gps and radio operation. In fact I sadly know far more pilots who are stuck on old handheld Garmins because it’s the only device they know how to input coordinates into and they don’t want to export their waypoint library.

Back to iPhones and off those of us who drool whilst flying, all one needs to keep an iPhone running in cold weather outdoors for three weeks as a GPS is a 20,000mah charge pack. For better or worse, I’ve done a lot of that. The charge pack is the size of all the handheld gps I’ve used previously.