Dont be this guy........

[RedShaft]

I know it's good to have it but if ou don't have a map. All the compas will do is keep you walking a straight line. If you don't know what way to head your screwed anyway. ESP if the way you choose to head is along way off from anything. Where a couple hundred yards that a way.. You would have hit logging road.

[LookMomNoSights]

Good for him...now he has probably learned an important lesson...and probably wont do that again!  Sometimes the things learned the hard way are the things learned the best!  
Glad he got out safe.

[gringol]

Even better than a compass is to do a little research before you get there.  If you don't have some idea in your head where you are going, where roads, streams, hills, etc are, a compass is only slightly better than a cell phone with a dead battery.

[woodchucker]

Never had much use for a GPS..... Some people like them... Some people LOVE them!!!

Always been a compass man myself. Just plain old North, South, East & West, will get you out of most anywhere.  

[Burnsie]

Originally posted by gringol:
Even better than a compass is to do a little research before you get there.  If you don't have some idea in your head where you are going, where roads, streams, hills, etc are, a compass is only slightly better than a cell phone with a dead battery.

Exactly!  Have an idea of the lay of the land before you even go into the woods.  Which way does the nearest main road run?, where is the river/drainage ditch in relation to where you will be? ...etc   Unless you're really back in the big woods there is usually something you can walk towards and be out within a couple miles.   When I go into a large area I have a mental picture in my head of how things are layed out.  Even when I was out in Colorado this year in an area I had never been in before,  I generally knew that unless I had somehow went up and over to the other side of the mountain without knowing it, all I had to do in a worst case scenario was to go DOWN.  Down would eventually get me to the valley floor where a main stream ran through and the stream eventually flowed to where the vehicle was parked.  It could potentially be a long hike,  but I could find my way out.

[Sharpend60]

Whats wrong with spending a night in the woods any way?

I use a compass btw, no gps.

[SERGIO VENNERI]

Compass and Map , Always!  

[r-man]

when panick sets in clear thinking stops, I never gt lost, because I dont care, I like roughing it, and yes I always have compass, and my hearing helps to , these days its hard to not here town or a highway, and even the lights at night 10miles from a town light the ky.

[TraditionalGuy]

I've never been lost, but on the few times where I found myself geographically embarrassed, it's usually due to following some deer and getting turned around without knowing it and then walking in the direction you think you want to go without checking your compass first. It can happen to the best of us. On one occasion, when I finally did check my compass, I was dead certain that it was broken, as were my backup and backup's backup. It just goes to show how easily it can be to get turned around when your mind is focusing on something else.

P.S., what's this gps thing people keep talking about?

[kirkbow]

I am sure to have at least a compass, fire and a light or headlamp when i go in to the woods. I always have my knife.

I might bring a cell phone for BACK UP...

kirk

[eflanders]

On my first elk hunt out West my buddy insisted that I had a GPS (with back-up batteries) along with 2 compasses and a watch.  The GPS was used to get me to known hunting stand locations which he provided to me.  Why two compasses and the watch?  Well when you are truly lost, you tend to question everything and when you have two compasses, one validates the other and one can lose things.  A watch can also be used as a compass but was needed to make sure we all met at the designated place at the designated time to ensure the safety of the group. His logic in all of these things have proven to be valid more than once!

[Pine]

GPS can be handy but I would never rely on one . I knew a guy many years ago who was an Air Born Ranger and could land navigate to within 2 meters of a grid coordinate if you gave him a Topo map and a lensattic compass . This same guy would carry a lensattic compass every time he went into the woods . Never knew any body that could get lost any easier than he could . The problem was that he never payed attention to where he was until he got lost . Those gadgets don't make up for paying attention to what you are doing . When we would go hunting together I would tell him to get his compass out and figure out where we were and he never got lost again with me .

[Roger Norris]

I have an old Etrex GPS, it must be 10 years old. It is very handy marking where my truck is parked, where I have left a deer hanging in the woods, or where I stumble onto rubs and scrapes in the backwoods places. But a cell phone GPS? No way.

I typically stow my GPS and use the compass for 99% of my navigation. Here in Michigan, roads are never far away, so I keep an awareness of which way they are running.

The thing about my old school GPS, is that there are no maps in it, and it basically points an arrow in a straight line to where I want to go....which might be the worst route possible. So the compass gets plenty of use.

Bushcraft is common sense. The guy in the original story didn't have any.

[Roger Norris]

I have an old Etrex GPS, it must be 10 years old. It is very handy marking where my truck is parked, where I have left a deer hanging in the woods, or where I stumble onto rubs and scrapes in the backwoods places. But a cell phone GPS? No way.

I typically stow my GPS and use the compass for 99% of my navigation. Here in Michigan, roads are never far away, so I keep an awareness of which way they are running.

The thing about my old school GPS, is that there are no maps in it, and it basically points an arrow in a straight line to where I want to go....which might be the worst route possible. So the compass gets plenty of use.

Bushcraft is common sense. The guy in the original story didn't have any.

[tomsm44]

Originally posted by Tajue17:
good post,,,,,, speaking of compasses whats a decent compass to buy?   I bought one at dicks sporting goods that has a magnifying glass and whistle,, seems decent but is there cheap ones that are not reliable????

Get a Silva Ranger.  It has been a favorite among foresters for years.  If you learn how to use it properly you'll be amazed at how accurately you can navigate with it.  Also, the mirror in the lid can be used as an emergency signal.

Matt Toms

[Ric O'Shay]

I'm trying to picture either the Vikings or Christopher Columbus with a GPS.      

[Mint]

I hunt Long Island and i've got at all times a map compass, a little ball compass on my pack, my garmin gps and my iphone. One time while scouting my GPS was telling me thisspot i scouted was to my right but i knew from the sun it should have been in front of me. Pulled out the compass and sure enough my gps was off. I then recalibrated the GPS and it corrected itself. Then i remembered that i didn't recalibrate my gps after coming back from california. I always have a back up to check.

[bigbadjon]

I was on the orienteering team in high school so I'm pretty familiar with compass navigation and topographic maps but with the ease of use and night readability of a modern gps I think its foolish to abandon this tool just because its not traditional. I would advise everyone to get a real gps instead of a cell phone though. The battery on my Garmin lasts a long time, 24 hours of constant use, longer than that with quick references. My cell phone might last half the day with at best.

[woodchucker]

One of the best, and simplest compasses is the little Silva "key fob" compass. I probly have at least 10 of them laying around the house. Years ago when I hunted the Big Woods of Maine and the Adirondacks, I had them on the zipper pull of all my wool hunting coats.

I was hunting a 900 acre piece of state land here in the Hudson Valley a few years back,when I ran into a couple of Forest Rangers. One pointed at my compass and said to the other, "There's something you don't see anymore"

Sad, but true!!!

[ISP 5353]

I have a GPS, but very seldom use it.  I always have a compass or two in my gear and enough stuff to be semi comfortable for a couple of unplanned overnights if the need arises.