Sending156s
Well-Known Member
I carry both. Mostly use gps. The compass & map won't fail or run out of battery.
USMC VV Recon
compass use
- Thread starter mongoose
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I carry both. Mostly use gps. The compass & map won't fail or run out of battery.
USMC VV Recon
Hand Skills
Well-Known Member
Most people have changed from;
-compass
-lighter
-knife
To;
-keys
-wallet
-phone
I really appreciate the days where I recite the old mantra
-compass
-lighter
-knife
To;
-keys
-wallet
-phone
I really appreciate the days where I recite the old mantra
James L Holzhauer
Well-Known Member
You hold onto that skill. I learned it a long time ago. Batteries die. Poop happens. Protect yourself and your friends when it happens with this timeless method
I carry a GPS and cell phone, but still pack my Silva compass 'just in case'. People get lost and go in circles all the time. Figure the compass can at least keep me going in a straight direction so I don't get MORE disoriented. In CO, I used to park the truck, find two prominent mountains, and shoot an azimuth from the truck to the mountains to get some triangulation on my starting location with the theory that it would help me find my way back to the truck as long as I could still see those two mountains and shoot an azimuth again. Thankfully it's never come to that...so far. But I still feel better having something that doesn't depend on batteries to work.
As for the gentleman whose compass was 30 degrees off, the first thing I thought of was the declination adjustment. In WA (where I learned to use a map and compass together) the declination adjustment from Geographic ("true") north and Magnetic north was 21 degrees (if memory is correct; it's been a long time!) We dialed that into our Silva's (for explorer search and rescue work.) For someone in New Orleans, there would be NO declination adjustment needed. Ahhh...the memories. (Thank GOD for GPS! But thank God more for the back-up compass if that GPS ever dies on me.)
As for the gentleman whose compass was 30 degrees off, the first thing I thought of was the declination adjustment. In WA (where I learned to use a map and compass together) the declination adjustment from Geographic ("true") north and Magnetic north was 21 degrees (if memory is correct; it's been a long time!) We dialed that into our Silva's (for explorer search and rescue work.) For someone in New Orleans, there would be NO declination adjustment needed. Ahhh...the memories. (Thank GOD for GPS! But thank God more for the back-up compass if that GPS ever dies on me.)
mongoose
Well-Known Member
I appreciate the insights, gents. I carry both a Silva and a Brunton along with a Trimble at work. I've seen GPS units go down and "hay wire" but lately there is the unfortunate reliance on electronics alone from far too many people and it is beginning to create serious issues in the larger scheme of things. Don't get me wrong, a GPS and personal locator are great things to have but it seems there is a woodman's skill set that is disappearing too.
FWIW, I learned Land Nav in the Boy Scouts and refined it further in LRSC.
FWIW, I learned Land Nav in the Boy Scouts and refined it further in LRSC.
ntsqd
Well-Known Member
Declination adjustment was the very first thing the instructor checked. It was correct for the area, i.e. what the topo map we were using said it should be. Which as I recall was in the 15°-17° range.
Then he laid the college compass' out next to each other on a wood table and placed mine next to them. Mine pointed considerably West of their readings. We moved them around the table just in case something in it was influencing the reading. Didn't change.
FWIW he then plotted out where I should have landed with the erroneous compass readings and confirmed that those spots were where I had ended up. Got a B in class in spite of the bad compass.
I ALWAYS carry a few laminated topos, compass, fire stick and signal mirror. Old habits die hard, but if shtf, I can at least get to a road/landmark w/o electronics if need be.
ofbandg
Well-Known Member
I have friends who tell me they don't get lost where we live in the mountains because they know all the local peaks by heart and can orient themselves to them. When I hear that I tell them about the time, many years ago, I was solo backpacking for elk not far from my home and I left camp to head down into a canyon after I heard a big bull bugling. It was a sunny day in late September but halfway down a quickly moving dense fog moved in and you could barely see ten yards in any direction. I turned around and headed back up to camp because I didn't have all my emergency gear with me but the moving fog was so disorienting whenever I found myself going a few steps downhill I didn't know if I had completely turned around or if I was just on a dip in the hillside on the way up. If I didn't have my compass with me it would have been a panic. As it was I missed the camp and had to make a 50-50 guess on which direction to circle back. Luckily, I guessed right.
Hey NTSQD,
Figured it was a long shot on the declination issue. I mean, if you were taking a class, I would assume the people teaching it would have been aware of, and looked for that. It was just the first thing to cross my mind. Never heard of a compass "going bad" in that it still worked but just pointed in the wrong direction...consistently. I wonder what the story was there? Thanks for the follow up.
ntsqd
Well-Known Member
Instructor said pretty much the same thing, that he'd never heard of or seen one go bad or be bad right from the start. Silva never would tell me anything. It worked correctly when I first got it because I used it in my first ever orienteering class. It did take about 20 years of mostly riding around in a truck's "Boy Scout Bag" before it showed up bad.
It was the rarity of this occurring that prompted me to post. We all assume that a compass will always work correctly because I'm quite probably the only case anyone has ever heard of one being bad. But what if yours went bad too? Check it, make sure.
It was the rarity of this occurring that prompted me to post. We all assume that a compass will always work correctly because I'm quite probably the only case anyone has ever heard of one being bad. But what if yours went bad too? Check it, make sure.
Fog is freaky! Great example of when something as simple as knowing east from west, north from south, can keep a person from getting really lost. I've heard of people getting caught in snowstorms where it is really coming down and blowing and they take shelter and by the time things ease up, they are discombobulated with where they are and where they came from. When Mother Nature steals our visual clues for a little while and we move...disorientation comes around remarkably easy.
WalksLikeADeer
Well-Known Member
I always carry a compass along with a printed topo map when hunting or backpacking. They go together. A compass with adjustable declination makes things simpler. I also use a compass and aeronautical charts when flying float planes and on boats in the ocean. OnX is awesome and I use that a lot also.
Hirschi1
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2015
- Messages
- 196
Yes! This past January I was on a buffalo hunt with my neighbor and his kids.
Long story short my map on my phone wigged. We happened to be in an area with many steep sheer cliffs. I got my compass and map out, lead us out and back to the truck. My neighbors two young boys (11 and 14) thought we were in for a cold night ahead. Not the first time a quality compass, map, and the knowledge how to use them had brought me to safety when GPS and the like had failed.
Map and compass to me are a lot like a master card. " I never leave home without it".
While I do use modern technology, I have still carried a compass in my pocket while hunting for over 50 years.
