Sense of direction?
- Thread starter Rugdoc
- Start date
Those things that take batteries, which always die in the cold haha.
Sense of direction is sometimes a natural gift.
I wuzz down in Richmond at the trimall and dun git me arse lost.
It sure wuzz an interesting day.
Tried my keys on a car in that big parking lot and a big, well a really
big guy came up and handed me his.
Here, try these.
Uh-oh............................................
I'm sure this is my car.
Nope.
Dang, took me a while to find it, you sure?
Yup.
Fruck.
Just about had to hire a cab and drive me around that place to
find it.
I wuzz down in Richmond at the trimall and dun git me arse lost.
It sure wuzz an interesting day.
Tried my keys on a car in that big parking lot and a big, well a really
big guy came up and handed me his.
Here, try these.
Uh-oh............................................
I'm sure this is my car.
Nope.
Dang, took me a while to find it, you sure?
Yup.
Fruck.
Just about had to hire a cab and drive me around that place to
find it.
Canadian_Zuk
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Pickering, Ontario
I think I have a very good natural sense of direction, I never "feel" lost. But I have been caught out in the woods after dark more than once so I always have a compass with me a least. GPSs are great, very useful especially getting into newer stands before first light but I would NEVER RELY on one to take me and back out.
I've got a good sense of direction in the northern hemisphere, but put me in the southern hemisphere with the sun in the north and its different. Then get around the tropics where it might be in the north or the southern sky depending the time of year and it gets tougher. Friggen sun, I think it does it on purpose just to piss me off.
There are certain things that can screw with me out here. Our "mountains" are not very high, but it's still physically easier to go around them rather than over them. That can be tricky for my brain, though. I have ended up back where I started more than once. I am now aware of this weakness - so I don't consider myself handicapped by it. Take a bearing when you start, continue to take them as you go.
Hotwheels81
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- South of GP
Growing up in the interior of BC made navigation easy... Living in northern alberta now has made me appreciate a compass as a travel companion.
- Location
- WMU248 near Edmonton
worked in forestry for several years, GPS was the backup, map and compass and dead reckoning, and using airphotos was the norm. oh and a good memory, look at the map get it in your head and then go to where you need to be, check the map again when you get there, you can’t drive and read a map at the same time.
I always have a compass when hunting, but I can't remember the last time I used it.
I always have a compass when hunting, but I can't remember the last time I used it.
I have sense of direction huntil I see game. If I begin a stalk, I have lost my way a few times. Not "totally lost", but kind of "ok, where was I 10 minutes ago?" then I just walk towards my northing or southern bearing. Compass is my friend for this type of hunt. Once I know the land then I don't think twice.. but in new bush it can get pretty dense, and difficult to tell which hill or bunch of trees, or clearing is the one you are looking for.
If hunting based on calls, or blind, then that's easy enough. But walking into new territory I bring a compass.
If hunting based on calls, or blind, then that's easy enough. But walking into new territory I bring a compass.
No one has a "sense of direction" built in like some sort of biological compass. Lots of people do learn to use clues like the sun, wind direction, etc. as almost unconscious guides to keeping oriented, but during a sunless, windless snowfall in unknown territory, no one will stay oriented without help. Dogleg's issues with changing hemispheres is a perfect example. One of the main clues he uses unconsciously, is the sun position, and if it is changed, he experiences difficulty.
One of the most dangerous self delusions you can have is that you have a "sense" that tells you what direction is what. All you have to do is experience a "white out" of some sort, or try searching a smoke filled and unfamiliar building in pitch black, and you will find out some human limitations. So a compass/map and the skills to use them, AND a gps, if you have one, are very important things to have along if you actually go very far from roads or vehicles. If you have never been lost at least a little bit, you just haven't experienced the right circumstances yet. When you do, you will learn to love the earth's magnetic field, and really appreciate those satellites.
One of the most dangerous self delusions you can have is that you have a "sense" that tells you what direction is what. All you have to do is experience a "white out" of some sort, or try searching a smoke filled and unfamiliar building in pitch black, and you will find out some human limitations. So a compass/map and the skills to use them, AND a gps, if you have one, are very important things to have along if you actually go very far from roads or vehicles. If you have never been lost at least a little bit, you just haven't experienced the right circumstances yet. When you do, you will learn to love the earth's magnetic field, and really appreciate those satellites.
I did once, when I was 12 in northern AB borreal forest. Spent the night. Learned my lesson.
Some good posts coming on this thread.
Have I been turned around in the bush? I sure have, in fact I think that anyone who says he/she never gets turned around in the bush has just never been in the proper conditions to get turned around in!
The knowledge that you can get turned around will really be imbedded into you forever, after the first time you have been making your way for home in the snow on a heavy overcast or snowing day, then come on to another human track and realize it is your track and you have made a 360 degree turn!
The old time trappers and others who lived in wilderness areas used a lot of little indicators to give them directions. As kids we learned that moss always grew on the north side of trees. Later, I have seen this completely pooh-poohed in books as being unreliable. But it is reliable, when properly interpreted, and has been a mainstay for navigation by bushmen forever. You have to observe the whole bush. Some trees may seem to have the moss on all sides, but it will always be highest on the tree on the north side, maybe only three inches higher on one side, but if ten trees all have moss a few inches higher on one side, that side will be north.
When I was a kid in northerly Saskatchewan I was good friends with an old time trapper and he told me many of the little things they went by, to keep their direction. He said to learn which way the prevailing winds were from. For example, the grass around the shores of a frozen lake would always be bent away from the typical winds. Thus, one could walk along frozen lakes in a whiteout and still see the general directions, just by which way the grass was bent and the direction of the wind blown snow riffles.
Back when the Native Indians lived in the bush, they were great bushman, because they knew every trick in the bush to know the directions.
Have I been turned around in the bush? I sure have, in fact I think that anyone who says he/she never gets turned around in the bush has just never been in the proper conditions to get turned around in!
The knowledge that you can get turned around will really be imbedded into you forever, after the first time you have been making your way for home in the snow on a heavy overcast or snowing day, then come on to another human track and realize it is your track and you have made a 360 degree turn!
The old time trappers and others who lived in wilderness areas used a lot of little indicators to give them directions. As kids we learned that moss always grew on the north side of trees. Later, I have seen this completely pooh-poohed in books as being unreliable. But it is reliable, when properly interpreted, and has been a mainstay for navigation by bushmen forever. You have to observe the whole bush. Some trees may seem to have the moss on all sides, but it will always be highest on the tree on the north side, maybe only three inches higher on one side, but if ten trees all have moss a few inches higher on one side, that side will be north.
When I was a kid in northerly Saskatchewan I was good friends with an old time trapper and he told me many of the little things they went by, to keep their direction. He said to learn which way the prevailing winds were from. For example, the grass around the shores of a frozen lake would always be bent away from the typical winds. Thus, one could walk along frozen lakes in a whiteout and still see the general directions, just by which way the grass was bent and the direction of the wind blown snow riffles.
Back when the Native Indians lived in the bush, they were great bushman, because they knew every trick in the bush to know the directions.
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