Sense of direction?

I have a very good sense of direction. Only one place I frequent (a 30~ acre swamp) really gets me turned around. I carry my GPS but it really only leaves my pack to mark a place I want to be able to find exactly again. The rest of the time I glance at my compass to make sure im headed in the general direction I want to be going in.
 
And as for technology.....I never understood why some folks (usually older) are so against GPS. They are a wonderful tool. So you they run out of batteries....so what? All kind of crap can happen in the bush, you prepare for it as best you can.
 
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I have a terrible sense of direction and can get lost in 10 minutes in the bush of Ontario. Face it, if there's nothing but swamp and trees, no far off mountain to get reference from, I'm lost. I always have a good compass as well as a ball compass pinned to my jacket in the bush. I spend so much time looking for deer sign, I completely loose reference points. I also use a GPS but never go out without a compass as well.
 
I have always been of the mind that carrying a compass is key..... mark the direction you head into off the last road or trail th3n have at 'er... worst case scenario, you get back to the same trail or road.....
 
I hunt in the mountains. Usually, you just have to look up. ;) Hunt norther Alberta, where it's flat as a pancake, you better have a compass or GPS.

Grizz
 
I've spent my life in the bush... and while I have never been lost per say, I have spent a couple nights in the bush when it just took longer than expected to reach my destination... I expect it is not the same feeling sleeping under a spruce when you know where you are as opposed to when you don't have a clue where you are...
 
I do smell something a bit like b.s. in a bit of this thread. ;) Sometimes some just can't take a hit to the ole man card.

If you haven't been turned around in the bush when not using a compass or map or GPS , then you haven't been in the bush long enough or deep enough like others have stated.

And NO , getting in and out of the local garden center with the Mrs. does not count.

It is very easy to get into thick stuff, walk with your head down to avoid branches or try follow game signs and lose your last point of reference, then bam , you are back at the opening you figured you just left.

A true "bushman" takes with him the tools to survive and navigate, and doesn't leave things to chance, IMO use as many tools as available , natural or man made.
 
I am a both compass and GPS guy. A little situational awareness helps also. If you travel into a area on road systems that say run N/S, or the watercourses are a certain direction....then you know how to find a way out....just have to pay attention leaving your vehicle or drop spot.

I have used GPS for years, but got turned around in some thick stuff years ago. Could not get a fix, so i started zap strapping a cheap compass to my rifle slings. Compasses dont run out of battery power either.
 
Kelly Timoffee said:
I do smell something a bit like b.s. in a bit of this thread. ;) Sometimes some just can't take a hit to the ole man card.

If you haven't been turned around in the bush when not using a compass or map or GPS , then you haven't been in the bush long enough or deep enough like others have stated.

And NO , getting in and out of the local garden center with the Mrs. does not count.

It is very easy to get into thick stuff, walk with your head down to avoid branches or try follow game signs and lose your last point of reference, then bam , you are back at the opening you figured you just left.

A true "bushman" takes with him the tools to survive and navigate, and doesn't leave things to chance, IMO use as many tools as available , natural or man made.
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This is absolutely true. I never go in the bush without my compass, and I usually take my GPS. Whether I use the GPS is another matter. My comment about GPS and older guys earlier in the thread directly relates to what I bolded. Its foolish to automatically disregard technology because "it takes batteries and they might die". Whom else have you ever heard complain about GPS use :p ?

Ive done my fair share of bush time. Ive lived and worked in "big bush" where going the wrong direction will lead you to nothing man made in any sort of realistic walking distance.
 
We lived in Northern Ontario when I was a young fella and I spent a lot of time in the bush I never had a compass, didn't know how to use one even if someone had given me one. I had great confidence in the bush as I always new which way was out and where I was generally going. Then I reached the puberty years, got my hunting licence and the first year I got turned around the only thing I was sure of was the sky was up and the ground was down. Got lost several times that fall, scare me, so I took a wilderness survival course which included a whole section on orienteering and map and compass work. Took me several years to trust the compass and get my confidence back. But it came in time and experience, I was one of the main doggers at the deer camp for many years as I preferred walking over sitting. I always carried two good Silva compasses, one big Ranger model and a smaller Huntsman model and a topo map if I could get one. There was many occasions where I thought the compass was lying to me so out would come the second compass and I would put them down about 8 feet apart away from rocks or the rifle. 100% of the time they both said the same thing and were not lying to me. They always bought me out to where I had to be. The eastern shores of Georgian Bay are notorious for rock cuts and beaver ponds and it is easy at times to get hooked on the opposite side of a beaver pond and have to get around them so walking a straight heading was impossible. My natural sense of direction that I seemed to have when I was a kid disappeared at puberty so I learned to depend on the map and compass. When I developed these heart issues and then one our members had a tree stand accident and broke his back several of us bought the Garmin Rino GPS units as they also have a radio built in and a feature that other Rino's can see your exact position. An added measure of safety and it makes it a lot easier to locate your body. I think GPS units are nice but they should never ever take the place of a good compass and map and the knowledge on how to use them.
 
Rugdoc said:
I wonder how many hunters these days know how to walk into the bush for 500 yards without a GPS and find their way out.
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.... I bring a GPS.
 
Slaymoar said:
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.
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Ive had the same thing happen to me a couple times, thank goodness for the gps to bet me back on track.
 
cosmic said:
I wonder how many members here will admit to getting "turned around"?
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Although I am a total expert when it comes to almost anything...... :p

Yes, I have been "turned around" more than once. I also know two of my friends who got mixed up and they both wouldn't believe their compasses. They were together in semi familiar territory, and eventually came across a trail they recognized.

People are quick to poo-poo GPS, but it can be another safety when out touring in strange bush country. As far as the batteries dying at the wrong time, well, I don't even need to say it. I use mine to start a "cookie crumb trail", but more for the novelty, as I only follow trails when I go walking in the bush up North at the Buffalo River First Nation area. I mark my trail with colored tape. I have explored several old trails in the bush around Dillon. Google earth is my friend when I make a plan. :)

Edit to add KT's comment: I do smell something a bit like b.s. in a bit of this thread. Sometimes some just can't take a hit to the ole man card.
 
I've made this comment before in another thread, but if you are carrying electronic devices - 2-way radio, GPS - make sure they are not interfering with your compass. I hadn't gone too far when I suspected something was up. I did a 360 in place and the needle never moved.

Also a little mnemonic I came up with to account for magnetic declination in my part of the country: MonTReaL

Map To Reality = Left

In other words, when taking a bearing off of a map and using it to establish a physical direction of travel, turn the compass bezel to the left as many degrees as the declination. Again - this only works when the declination is towards the West - it isn't universal.
 
In thick stuff, traveling in a straight line can be a challenge. Again in the thick stuff, during a heavy snow, with no wind, and no tracks to follow back out, you could be in for an interesting day. If you travel several miles, that takes you around numerous small lakes, and you come to a lake with waves that are moving in the opposite direction of all the other lakes you've skirted, what are the chances that you won't believe your compass? If you've gone for a hike in the bush, and you come out anywhere other than where you intended to be . . . you were lost! Beware of people who claim to have never been lost, they're either liars or have never been anywhere. As you walk, frequently look behind you, the trail going out will look different than the one going in. Carry a good quality compass. If you isolate that compass from all metal objects you happen to be carrying, and have determined that there is no magnetic anomaly nearby, you should believe what it tells you. Mountains, lakes, rivers, streams, open muskeg, cell towers, power-lines, and clear cuts can all be useful landmarks, that will all be conspicuously absent once you've realized you're lost. Chances are, if you're just going for a short walk, you won't have a topo map, a gps, or a compass. Guess when you'll get lost! Once you've determined you're lost, stop, and try to think your way out of your predicament. Don't wander aimlessly. Pick a landmark like a snag that can be seen from a distance, and try walking from that landmark out 200 yards then return to the snag. Repeat in all 4 directions. If that doesn't bring you to another useful landmark or to familiar country, stop walking, build a fire, set up as comfortable a camp as you can manage, listen for sounds of traffic, a train, or a boat that might help identify where you are. Be mentally prepared to spend the night, and the night after that. Family and friends will be worried once you're over due. That's a good thing, they'll call for help. Provided you've told them where you intended to go, a search party should be able to find you fairly quickly.
 
Boomer said:
If you've gone for a hike in the bush, and you come out anywhere other than where you intended to be . . . you were lost! Beware of people who claim to have never been lost, they're either liars or have never been anywhere.
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That's a little harsh Boomer... either way you are calling me a liar... I have spent most of my life in the bush... and I have said that I was never lost...

Perhaps we have a "definition misunderstanding?" I don't feel that getting slightly offline, or coming out to a road or lake shore on a slightly different line, or running into a swamp or creek or lake that you didn't know was there, necessitating a course change, is "getting lost."

I would define "getting lost" as being in a position where you think or say "where the heck am I" and being unable to figure out your location in short order... I have MANY times thought "where the heck am I..." but I have never been unable to figure it out in short order, using a compass, map, and considering available evidence and a mental retracing of my steps and duration of travel...

Best to tread lightly in making blanket assertions...
 
Too many guys thinking the local 9 hole is the wilderness. ;)

Just last night was a prime example of how easy it can happen, I will admit to it.

Went to put batteries in a game cam, decided to walk and leave the quad at home.

I knew exactly where it was and decided to take a short cut through the trees instead of follow the trail until I came to a closer spot to traverse to the area.

I went through a spot I had never traveled before and by only going bout 100 yards and not being familiar with landmarks I went off course by about 25 or 30 yards.Get pointed in a slightly different direction or jog around an obstacle and off ya go.

Now extrapolate that into a couple km journey with zero familiar landmarks and it is easily seen how ANYBODY can wind up where they don't intend.

Can YOU tell you are veering off course by a degree every so many yards without a compass or map?
 
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