ok lets talk compass vs GPS

[Titan_Bow]

I agree with Paleface.  I use my GPS (along with my maps) primarily, and the compass is a backup.  I spent 7 years in the U.S. Army, and I've done night landnav courses, and even taught landnav courses to my soldiers.  
  When I need to go to a specific tree, wallow, or trail/crossing,  and its 4am, I'm going to follow the waypoint in my GPS, not do pacecounts on an azimuth thats going to take a heck of lot more time.    
   Although I have seen issues with my GPS losing signal in thick timber, if its on and already acquired a handful of satellites, it tends to stay connected, versus trying to turn it on and have it acquire them in a sketchy area. Also, if you use lithium AA's instead of alkaline, they will last alot longer.

[Curveman]

"Captain's in the chart room navigating on a star. Can't know where we're going when he don't know where we are.."    
-Joe Walsh, The James Gang

I got lost twice with GUIDES! Believe it or not it was me that got us out of there despite the protestations from the guides in both cases that they'd: "been hunting this area all their lives" and the direction I'd said to go was the way to go (though once the challenge was just getting the guide to be quiet for a moment so I could listen for any road traffic). ANYONE can get turned around in the woods and in the compass/survival class I went to, I was taught that anyone can panic and they gave some real life examples of experienced guys found dead etc. After dark it all looks the same, no?! I use a compass, a GPS, AND mark landmarks where I can. It is important to practice compass/orienteering skills but if it comes to life or death I prefer life over my pride of being an "expert woodsman" and want every advantage I can get!

[BigRonHuntAlot]

Curveman nailed it as far as I am concerned. I have been lost with a freind and he swore up and down that we were going in the wrong direction... even told me my compass was wrong., So to appease him I let him lead for about 20 minutes and we ended up crossing our backtrail. I told him I was going home and he could follow or take his own course, we were back home in about an hour and 20 minutes on foot on a new moon. We have not hunted together in the evening since... LOL  Use all of what you have available when hunting deep and dont be afraid to bunker down for the night if need be.    Lost is a bad thing but twice as bad at night.

[MikeC]

A good GPS is a great tool for marking stands, water holes, swamps, routes what have you.  As far as using up the batteries.  Duh...carry and extra set.  I do for everything I take in the woods that uses batteries.

[J-dog]

Roger what John Nail says, my GPS batts died on me and a friend the other day, wife had taken spare batts out of my pack so she could use her digital camera!!! my dummy self did not check this before leaving on scouting trip deep into croatan.

Compass, map, AND situational awreness got us home.

Told my friend "you watch man vs. wild?" he says yeah I asked "did ya pay attention?"  :D   he got worried as he is from Michigan and his first year hunting here.

Always have spare batts, map and compass. And if you have spare batts don't pull a "me"    and be SURE they are where they are suppose to be.

[gobbler10ga]

I take both

[the Ferret]

It sounds like those of you with training in orienteering from Uncle Sam and know how to use a compass with a map rely on that cause you have been trained to do so.For those of us without that training it's black magic LOL

Hunting in featureless places like south Texas, the cypress swamps in Florida, the tamarack swamps of the UP of Michigan, the big woods in Northern Wisconsin where every direction looks the same and there are no Hills, I can't understand how compass in particular or a map and compass can help you.Especially in the dark.

[Woodduck]

I can read my compass in the dark...it glows.

If you walk in and hunt west, turn around and walk east...you're back!

If you veer off and walk north 30 minutes, you'll have to remember to walk south 30 minutes. Keep up with it and you can get back.

It is simple.
I get aerial photo's of the area I hunt and have a plan when I hunt. I don't take the map. You could however. Keep notes in a little pocket notebook how long in each direction you have walked and reverse directions to get out.  

[John Scifres]

I love maps and use them for every spot I hunt.  I wouldn't dare go in the woods without a compass.

I really like a GPS for out west.  Around home they are sure nice for finding tree stands too.  But the GPS supplements the compass and map.

[joebuck]

Order of My Orienteering Tools Preference.
( If I only could have 1)

1. Compass..I need to know direction. I know if I get in trouble then I'll remember for example" oh so and so road Hwy 3 runs east and west and it was 2 miles below me then I'll head 180 degrees till I step on it"...I may be way off but I'll be someplace I can build another plan.

2.Topo Map...7.5 Quad or 24,000 scale.....I print mine free off the internet..If you like paying $10 ..use some a company that has ads on internet....I study topos all the time..if it's daylight and I have a topo, i can move around a decent set of woods by the sun..I just can't tell how valuable they are.Most of ya'll know that.

3. GPS..If I can't have a compass, or topo then i'll take a GPS...I know I can mark my truck and walk to king dom come and it will tell how to get back SO LONG AS I BELIEVE it (Thats if it has an electronic compass). I have been using a GPS for so long I can remember when the government use to jack with the settings during war... I love my GPS..I have used it from plotting roads of my hunting clubs to marking fruit trees and stands to water routes to my duck blinds on the mississippi river and lakes..Then print all this off on a 7.5 topo map that I laminate and carry in my fanny pack...I also label all my deer stand by favorable wind condition....Like a locust tree may be labeled S17L....If I need a south wind that morning I'll pull up all my "S" stands..I could go on and on how I use my GPS..I lost most of you by now...

My last advice is learn how to use UTM as I have said earlier on my threads..When you can orientate your compass to your topo map while looking at your GPS at UTM coords of where you are exactly on the topo....You will always have 100% piece of mind of your where abouts..Some newer models may have 7.5 topos on them but learn the UTM to map route first.....good luck everyone and hope I've helped someone

[Ken999]

...maps, compasses, and GPS...I use and like all three...But, surveying is my choice of careers, so that's no surprise.

Read the articles Mr. Havard linked. They are top notch.

I use Terrain Navigator and print my own maps. I use UTM's and a compass that has scale on the baseplate.

 http://www.thecompassstore.com/51gpsg.html

I use the UTM's like Mr. Blust describes in the Kifaru articles and they are REALLY simple once you get tinkering with them.

[jacobsladder]

ive only found 2 people lost that i had to help out of the chunk of state land behind my place..both of them had a gps.. i also had to help a fellow locate his deer stand when he walked into my front yard with his gps.... i think a gps would be great if the person understands how to use it.... but i like a plain jane compass for hunting areas im not familiar with...

[joebuck]

I also like to add that you may feel more comfortable using a scale for measuring UTM at first but when you get to using it so much, you can basically eyeball the line intersections providing you have drawn your north/south and east/grid lines from the sides of the map.

[JAG]

I spent a WEEK ONE NIGHT in the woods.  You can bet I have a compass with me, now.  GPS is great until it dies, or you get to a place with no signal.  I try to get a good Topo of every place that I plan to hunt.  (don't forget to get 'em laminated!)  I scout areas on the topo, before I head out.  Thaen, at least I have an idea of where I want to look.
Keep it safe out there.  
Take an IBEP Course, just for grins and giggles, if nothing else.  You might learn something new.

[Titan_Bow]

Whichever tool you decide to use, you have to know how to use it, and you have to learn to always trust your instrument, whether it be a GPS or a compass. You can never let your gut instinct override what your compass or GPS says (if you are certain of your abilities).
 Another thing is you have to always be on top of where you are. If you are using a compass that becomes much more complicated because the only true way to do this is know your 100m pace count, and continue to mark your pace, stopping every few hundred meters to update your position on the map.  Like Mickey mentioned, if you are in a featureless  forest with no hills, you had better have been paying attention to where you are, because it is really hard to determine specific location in that type of environment. With no landmarks to triangulate your position from, determining your exact location becomes almost impossible if you haven't been paying close attention to where you are on the map.

[Joseph]

GPS's are a great thing but I can guarentee you that nobody in the military heads out on a mission with just a GPS and not also carrying a map and compass.  Just like the cell phone and microwave that we think we can't live without.  If a GPS is going to fail you it will do so at the most inopertune time possible.  Mankind navigated the earth a million times over before its invention and knowing how to get along without it is just plain smart.  One of the sayings I heard a lot while in the Army and that applies here is;  Failure to plan is planning to fail!  Joseph

[Chris Lantz]

Hunting with my father when I was younger we always took a compass bearing before setting out into the woods. These were usually situations where we started from a road, field or clear cut so it was always easy to find your way back using a simple compass bearing. Even someone with limited experience using a compass can usually find their way back to their starting point within 100 yards or so by simply taking a bearing going in and following the reverse going out. Granted this won’t work everywhere but it has worked well enough in the areas I’ve hunted.

I still take a compass bearing before entering the woods on any hunt even though I carry a GPS. I have got into a lot of places with thick tree cover where reception is poor and you can’t get a lock on a satellite. Problems like that are usually intermittent, but I think it’s good to have some sort of backup in case of failure of any device.

I’m not sure if it’s true but I’ve heard that most people who get lost in the woods are found within a few hundred yards of a road or their intended destination point. It’s always a good idea to use a compass or GPS even if you are not planning on going far.

[the Ferret]

I agree with Titan in that the orienteering articles I have read talked about pace count and triangulation of features like he said. Heck I can't keep track of the number of spoons of sugar I put in my tea sometimes "did I put in one or two spoons.or if I even sugared it at all..(got to stir it and taste it)?" there is no way on Gods green earth I'm going to be able to keep a pace count. And when you're hunting, creeping along slowly that's not the same as pacing. And if you deviate from a straight line to look at something how do you count that? Or in really thick places you can't pace in a straight line, going around trees, or cacti, or blowdowns how do you pace that?

"If you walk in and hunt west, turn around and walk east...you're back!If you veer off and walk north 30 minutes, you'll have to remember to walk south 30 minutes. Keep up with it and you can get back.

It is simple."  Woodduck

I wish it were as easy as walking north off an east west road and then turning south but in alot of places I've hunted it just isn't that simple.
I know people have been navigating for ten thousand years with a compass but I'm afraid I'd have fallen off the edge of the earth if I had to use one.

[R.W.]

Lots of good books on orienteering/compass navigating/GPS use.

I carry compass and GPS (with a two way radio)

At the military base where I work, there are certain people who go out during exercises, and corrupt GPS Sat. signals, this forces the troops to use thier compasses and maps, instead of blindly following a GPS reading.

Need to know how to use them both.

[Tom Leemans]

Nothing wrong with either really, but I carry a compass. Even without a map, you can do the whole walk this direction for this amount of time, then this direction for that amount of time, etc. If you know roughly where you want to go, a compass can help you get "unlost". A compass is small and uses very little space in you pack or pocket. You still have to keep your wits about you though. A GPS simplifies all of this for you. The tradeoff is that it's electronic, hungry for power and, eventually,  prone to failure. That said, I like the Rhinos. A buddy calling for help instantly gives you his coordinates, That's cool. If I were going to Elk country or Alaska for the first time, I'd consider taking a GPS, but I'll always carry a compass. I've never been lost though, so I guess I've never felt the need for a GPS.