Compass? GPS? Phone?
- Thread starter Wapiti_Hunter
- Start date
N8tve_Hunter
New Member
- Apr 20, 2017
- 32
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Garmin 650t GPS w/ OnXmap GPS chip.. Rugged design, I also have a spare rechargeable lithium ion battery for it.. If things get real bad, it also takes AA batteries as well.
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hoshour
Veteran member
I'm the same way, with a great internal compass, though not as good as it used to be.
I think the reason it's not as good as it used to be is that I think an internal compass is nothing more than a very good visual memory and many little things become landmarks. Like everything but wisdom, my visual memory is not as good as it was.
Plus, I intuitively keep track of easy clues like the sun, moon, stars, mountains, shadow direction, the north sides of hills and trees and prevailing wind direction for that day (which can throw you off in some places, especially out West).
I can get as lost as anyone in the dark, even going to a familiar place. I've tried to walk a fairly short distance to my stand with no headlamp before dawn and found I have to turn it on at some point.
The first time I found that I had walked in a circle even though I tried to take a roughly equal number of right and left turns around obstacles, it really humbled me. I always carry a compass now.
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scubohuntr
New Member
I use an old Magellan GPS to mark things and generally stumble around. I have Avenza maps on my phone and carry at least one paper map, just because I have a map fetish. I also carry a really good compass (Brunton Pocket Transit) and know how to use it. I always assume every battery I have with me will die, so I never totally depend on anything electronic.
There is nothing like a really good GPS when following a tough blood trail in cedar swamps after dark. Mark each blood drop, and when you lose the trail, check the GPS. Chances are you either took a wrong turn or the trail headed for water or away from a road. It also makes it possible to come back in the morning to the exact point where you left off.
There is nothing like a really good GPS when following a tough blood trail in cedar swamps after dark. Mark each blood drop, and when you lose the trail, check the GPS. Chances are you either took a wrong turn or the trail headed for water or away from a road. It also makes it possible to come back in the morning to the exact point where you left off.
As most have stated correctly GPS and Compass are musts. Phone too though you can become easily masted under trees which kills reception.
GPS and compass should be best you can afford. I prefer the Garmin Rino line with GPS because it is also a radio as well as polling or pinging feature which has gotten me out of a pinch or two.
Compass- good quality military grade Lensatic with topo map. As somone rhetorically stated "technology never fails" unless you're in back country, and there is a lot of iron content in the ground which throws off the GPS reading - really. I and several others tested this out in the area above Breckenridge several years ago. The compass heading was steady whereas the GPS compass became sporadic due to magnetization.
A good quality compass will not fail you and topo maps are prolific and most o the time , free.
GPS and compass should be best you can afford. I prefer the Garmin Rino line with GPS because it is also a radio as well as polling or pinging feature which has gotten me out of a pinch or two.
Compass- good quality military grade Lensatic with topo map. As somone rhetorically stated "technology never fails" unless you're in back country, and there is a lot of iron content in the ground which throws off the GPS reading - really. I and several others tested this out in the area above Breckenridge several years ago. The compass heading was steady whereas the GPS compass became sporadic due to magnetization.
A good quality compass will not fail you and topo maps are prolific and most o the time , free.
I don't have a phone but I use a Garmin Rhino GPS, map, and compass. It comes down to what you're comfortable with. I chuckle when I hear people say that a GPS guided somebody to the wrong place, I suspect that the problem was the operator and not the GPS. I've got a friend that bought a top of the line GPS for elk season last year. I spent more time trying to teach him how to use it and navigate with it than he spent actually using it. I finally gave up trying to help, it was just beyond his ability to understand but according to him it was the GPS that was wrong.
Rino: all day and all night to cover ground
Map: pull this out if needed, but usually just for planning at night
Compass: Only get this out at night if my GPS has died or I need to check the compass calibration.
Hoshour hit it on the head. The second we lose our visual stimuli in the dark, it becomes apparent that we have no internal compass at all. The only thing we have left is a feeling of the terrain. I have a bum leg. If I don't monitor my travel in the dark, I become the guy who walks in a 1/4 mile circle. It is pretty obvious that vision is the key for keeping us on a target when we walk. Funny how your brain will compensate for things like awkward loads, limps, sloping ground, etc.
Map: pull this out if needed, but usually just for planning at night
Compass: Only get this out at night if my GPS has died or I need to check the compass calibration.
Hoshour hit it on the head. The second we lose our visual stimuli in the dark, it becomes apparent that we have no internal compass at all. The only thing we have left is a feeling of the terrain. I have a bum leg. If I don't monitor my travel in the dark, I become the guy who walks in a 1/4 mile circle. It is pretty obvious that vision is the key for keeping us on a target when we walk. Funny how your brain will compensate for things like awkward loads, limps, sloping ground, etc.
It's a proven fact that without a known visual point to guide on people will always tend to move in a circle, some say that right handed people move predominately one direction and left handed in the opposite direction- I can't remember which direction but in either case you're still lost.
Luckily I live where I hunt so I've gotten pretty good at navigating without tools but I still take my GPS, map, and compass. I use the GPS to mark points of interest when I'm scouting or hunting and the map and compass just help me stay aware of what's around me - which helps when I need to try to predict where a travelling elk or deer might be headed or why they're headed the way they are.
Luckily I live where I hunt so I've gotten pretty good at navigating without tools but I still take my GPS, map, and compass. I use the GPS to mark points of interest when I'm scouting or hunting and the map and compass just help me stay aware of what's around me - which helps when I need to try to predict where a travelling elk or deer might be headed or why they're headed the way they are.
I think the practice of navigation is a dying art and frankly one that must be practiced diligently when you're in the woods, with and without navigation tools. There is absolute truth in the notion that people tend to blame things for failure instead taking personal responsibility for their shortcomings
However I find your comments interesting that technology or more specifically the GPS can't fail. It does and in fact has. I've witnessed it along with about three others in a camp of about ten. The Garmin Rino is rock solid but the compass headings were thrown off a few times- in real time when we were testing them in a certain area after the morning hunt.
Which is why I strongly advocate using and practicing with all resources like a topo map, compass as well as maintaining the internal compass.
Technology can and does fai,just like the humans that invented the technology
mustang8
Active Member
Ill never forget up at deer camp in northern Wisconsin 20 some years ago, one year one of the group got turned around and was lost for like 6 hours, no radio or gps or compass. The next year he was awarded by the older guys in our group with a Copenhagen tin with a mirror glued in the lid, that way next time he got lost he could look at it. It didn't show where you've been or where your going, only shows you who's lost. It was pretty dam funny when I was 13.
Colorado Cowboy
Super Moderator
For 20 years I was in the Coast Guard Aux. I held several training certs, one was in navigation. The thing they teach you is to use all the old, tried and true instruments eg. compass, sextant and charts. In the situation today with all the electronics you might ask why? Well if all the electronics fail and you are out of sight of land....where do you navigate to and what do you do?
In the field I carry a compass and a map. I have never had to use either in 60 years. I notice landmarks when I leave camp or my truck, where north is and watch the sun. Night is a totally different situation, that's why I try never to walk around at night withour prior knowledge of the area. I do carry a GPS, but for a different reason. It has a land status chip in it and I want to know what the lands status is where I'm hunting, and it does this for me.
In the field I carry a compass and a map. I have never had to use either in 60 years. I notice landmarks when I leave camp or my truck, where north is and watch the sun. Night is a totally different situation, that's why I try never to walk around at night withour prior knowledge of the area. I do carry a GPS, but for a different reason. It has a land status chip in it and I want to know what the lands status is where I'm hunting, and it does this for me.
I have used all of the methods, and my preference has now become my phone. However, I have become very partial to InReach after using it for a week in some really remote country.
Mr Drysdale
Active Member
- Mar 24, 2013
- 440
- 333
Used the "AntlerInsanity " app in Utah last week. It worked perfectly. I had no idea it would work without cell signal. I also made a mental note of which direction would get me back to a road when leaving the vehicle. The compass is always with me.
mustang8
Active Member
We used OnX last week in Wyoming that had NO cell service at all, I was absolutely blown away how great it worked and how little battery it used. We did notice when using the tracking feature it sucked more battery life down but was an absolute god send. Never going back out west without OnX on my smart phone.
WapitiBob
Veteran member
Since my post back in March, I have used the OnX phone app on two phones for about 1 1/2 months. OnX is still a bit short on features that I need but as far as actual use in the field I found the following..
My Iphone has limited memory and was used for the initial testing. I found it to work error free "provided" I took certain steps. I turned off cellular data for the app, always placed the phone in airplane mode, then opened the app. Closed the app then took the phone out of airplane mode for other uses. I only used wifi for downloading maps and as stated, never used cell data. I found cell data caused the app to be extremely slow and occasionally appear to lock up.
Once I saw what I felt was needed and realized the memory problem I had, I grabbed one of the kids old G3 out of the junk drawer. It has a much bigger screen than the iphone5 and has 32gig internal memory. OnX will not write to an SD card so that memory was a big deal. This G3 is locked to a carrier we don't use so is wifi only. This phone has worked flawlessly from day one. I turned off all cellular data capability I could find, used wifi when downloading maps, and otherwise, the phone lives in airplane mode. If I download a map, I close the OnX app, turn wifi on, then open the app again.
On our archery hunt we biked an average 20 miles on our morning hunts and 5+ on the evening hunts with tracking enabled. Battery usage was increased but the tracking feature was within a few feet. The direction of travel arrow worked well too but we didn't use it too much.
My Iphone has limited memory and was used for the initial testing. I found it to work error free "provided" I took certain steps. I turned off cellular data for the app, always placed the phone in airplane mode, then opened the app. Closed the app then took the phone out of airplane mode for other uses. I only used wifi for downloading maps and as stated, never used cell data. I found cell data caused the app to be extremely slow and occasionally appear to lock up.
Once I saw what I felt was needed and realized the memory problem I had, I grabbed one of the kids old G3 out of the junk drawer. It has a much bigger screen than the iphone5 and has 32gig internal memory. OnX will not write to an SD card so that memory was a big deal. This G3 is locked to a carrier we don't use so is wifi only. This phone has worked flawlessly from day one. I turned off all cellular data capability I could find, used wifi when downloading maps, and otherwise, the phone lives in airplane mode. If I download a map, I close the OnX app, turn wifi on, then open the app again.
On our archery hunt we biked an average 20 miles on our morning hunts and 5+ on the evening hunts with tracking enabled. Battery usage was increased but the tracking feature was within a few feet. The direction of travel arrow worked well too but we didn't use it too much.
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WapitiBob
Veteran member
I haven't packed a compass in about a decade but I know which way I need to go if the electronics quit.
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