It is really quite simple. First, pick an easily point on the mountain in the area you want to hunt and take the compass and shoot an bearing on it. Make sure it the point is easily seen from your truck and vice versa, from the point back to your truck. Once you have shot the bearing to your reference point all you have to do now is do is a back azimuth from that point. This is really simple, if the bearing you shot to your point is more than 180 degrees, then subtract 180 from that bearing. example, from your truck to the point on the mountain is 270 degrees, subtract 180 from it and your back azimuth is 90 degrees from that point back to your truck. If it is less than 180 degrees, then you add 180 degrees to it, example, bearing to your point on the mountain is 90 degrees, then add 180 degrees to it, which is 270 degrees and that is your azimuth back to your truck. On your return trip, shoot a bearing on the same as your return azimuth to a an easily found lanmark and walk to it and continue this process till you return to your truck. Till you get used to doing this, try and keep your way point somewhat short so you will stay on track. Any more questions, just ask.
Van
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...and as SF SGM said, always walk in a straight line. If you go into the field and wander around for half a day, a compass isn't much use unless you record each direction change and take a back bearing for the return trip (and count your steps between each direction change).
Learned how when I was a cub scout. Learned again when I was a boy scout. Learned again when I learned to scuba dive. Never needed to learn again, since I just do it naturally. A GPS has almost replaced the compass, but what do you use for a backup? Best way is to get a simple book and go out and use the compass with a map. Leave a trail of breadcrumbs, just in case.
Carry a stake, marker, and a hammer, upon getting lost simply pound the stake into the ground, place some grade numbers on it, then step back, and within 10 minutes atruck driver will back over the stake, and give you a ride out.
Tom R. ( retired operating engineer)
P S If no trucks are around, a dozer operator is just as good.
Here is another simple method, if you are lost, just look on the map and where you think you are, add 100 meters and call "redleg" for one round of smoke and watch where it lands, used to work a long time ago before GPS and the the world of old maps..
SF SGM nailed it with his first reply to you. Get the compass out and go over to the nearest athletic field where you can see clearly and have at it. Just follow his instruction and you will have the hang of it in no time. Land navigation is actually kind of fun, (well most of the time). Then there's night land nav....save that one for another day, or night.
For the purposes of most hunters and outdoorsmen, my Dad's old common sense compass methods are sufficient. He had a cold-trailing **** dog that sometimes would take us 5 or 6 miles into the woods thru thickets and swamps. So when we went entered the woods, my Dad would stop, show me the compass and say, "We're heading in East so we'll need to come out West, got it?" Then at some point later he'd stop and say. "The dogs dragged us pretty far South, so now we have to come out NORTH-West, got it?" The mandatory answer was "Yes" whether you know what the hell he was talking about or not. He'd stop and make these periodic mental adjustments all night long until I was sure we'd never get out of the woods alive. Finally we'd come out of the woods right into the same damn cornfield where we released the dogs five hours earlier. We always said, "Dad is a lucky SOB." ...Every time.
It sounds like your dad knew how to navigate with a compass.
To the OP:
The needle of the compass always points North. All you have to do is then turn your compass until the needle is pointing at the "N" mark on your compass. Then hold the compass in front of you and the direction you are looking will be the direction on the far side of the compass from you.
For example, if (after aligning the needle with the north arrow on your compass) you look at the mountain in the distance and the side opposite of you (i.e. the side closest to the mountain) says NW, then you would be traveling NorthWest if you walk a straight line to the mountain. To get back to your vehicle, you would need to return in the opposite direction which would be southeast.
Again, ALWAYS align the needle of the compass to point at the north arrow on the compass while holding the compass in front of you. Then whatever direction you are looking will be the direction that is on the side of the compass FARTHEST from you.
SGM has it about right, as far as he goes. Use only USGS topographic maps. They are the best. I made many of them. Get a good compass. Practice with it in an area that has some natural features(tree lines, hills, streams, etc) that appear on the map. Better yet, take an orienteering course. Even better, buy a Beaman Alidade and plot your way in to where you are.)) Using a compass to navigate takes a little practice, otherwise get a GPS unit.
Daniel Boone was once asked, "have you ever been lost in the wilderness on your journeys?" He said he'd never been lost but mighty bewildered for days on end.
A friend and I once got caught in a white out snowstorm while deer hunting in a huge pine thicket of several hundred acres. I walked for quite some time before I came across boot tracks. After I followed them for quite a ways, I realized they were my own tracks!! I was walking in a circle to my left! I had to deliberately veer to my right every once in a while to get out of all the white and back to the road. My friend found his way out listening to the truck horn a couple hours later! I coulda used a compass that day for sure!
Not always. We have areas with magnetic disturbances here that can throw a compass off by a few degrees. Where magma is near the surface it can be off as much as 35 degrees. Aerial navigation maps often show these disturbances.
It isnt really that simple- SGM has it right for basic operation but as he knows ( but didnt say) it gets much more complicated after that
First- you have to know how to use a map and a compass together- without an accurate measurement of distance(some form of pace) ( and a map to verify that) you are up the shi* crick without a paddle at the first turn
Second- there is declination- and that is the variance from magnetic north to grid north( the north on the map)
That declination is magnfied by each turn you take- coming and going
regards from Iowa
Gene
PS - to all those that say GPS only- what happens when your GPS unit doesnt work or their is no signal?
Just remember that the arrow on the compass base points in the direction of travel.....The needle for all practical purposes is pointing North.....Hold the base in the direction you want to go and turn the dial until 0, which is North, aligns with the point of the needle. Now read the number which corresponds to the direction of travel and you have your Azimuth. The back Azimuth is just half the pie in the other direction.....IE....90deg = 270deg. To go back, turn the dial til your back Azimuth number aligns with the direction of travel arrow, Rotate the "whole" compass until 0/North aligns with the needle and the compass will now show you the direction of travel to return.
All of the above is good advice.....BUT.... NEVER.... NEVER think that if you have a compass or a gps that you can use them to replace carrying a map. If I had to choose 1 of the three, a map, compass, or gps....I'd take the map. A gps can fail, and just having a compass can get you lost.
This is all very basic but this is something you can do in your yard or the shopping center......navigating around a mountain or calling in artillery can get pretty complicated. If you are traveling very far....shooting just one Azimuth, and relying on that and it's corresponding back Azimuth, will not be enough. It's no different than using a road map.....usually you cannot travel in a straight line.
Hap is more than likely right handed......Never.... assume that you can walk a straight line. Even with a compass I've seen those that would still walk in circles.
My system is different. I walk up hill to my tree stand and down hill to my truck. I would never build a tree stand more than 75 yards from where I park my truck. Deer are hard to drag. I also park my truck near the apple orchard where the deer eat breakfast and usually I can shoot one that is already close to my truck so I don't drag it very far. When I hunt, I hunt in comfort.
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