By Jim Dickson | Contributing writer
Being able to find your way back after venturing into the wilds has always been a basic necessity for survival.
That is the reason a lost man tends to walk in a big circle. That same trait was carefully cultivated by our ancestors to insure that they got back home each night before dark. With modern man it may not kick in until you are really lost and then may return you to your starting point, which may be when you first realized that you were lost.
The most dangerous thing about getting lost is panic. It is important to remember that every experienced woodsman has been lost at some time or another. Daniel Boone put it this way “I’ve never been lost but there were a couple of weeks where I was a mite confused.” Obviously, he took it in stride like you are supposed to do.
I remember a Canadian guide saying, “I’m not lost but that mountain is in the wrong place!”
I know a man who was an ivory hunter in old Africa in his youth. He always took along some natives to carry back what he had shot and to find the way back because as he put it “I have a terrible sense of direction.”
Rural folk often develop a good sense of direction growing up playing in the woods. A friend of mine was in training camp in WWII when they had a class on map and compass followed by dropping them off in the woods and telling them to find their own way back to camp. My friend told the rest of the men “I don’t know how to use all the stuff in the lecture but I am a country boy and I know the way back.” The whole bunch followed him straight back to camp.
When the Finns came to this country in pioneer days they were called “White Indians” because of their skill at woodcraft. The Finns admired the wilderness skills of the Laplander’s whose way of life herding reindeer dates back into prehistory. There is an old saying in Finland that when you ask a Lapp what the Lapps do when they get lost they say “We just go straight home.”
It should be noted that humans spread all over the world long before the invention of maps, compasses, and GPS. Primitive natives today still find their way just fine without them. This is the most basic and important skill an outdoorsman can have yet few men cultivate it.
Know Your Surroundings
To achieve that measure of success you must always be aware of your surroundings and their relationship to your camp.
I know one case where someone squatted down to relieve himself in the woods without taking note of where he was first. When he got up he no longer knew which way the road was. Keep looking at any landmarks and note the change in their appearance as your angle to them changes. This is particularly true of mountains, which make good landmarks but are constantly changing appearance as you move.
The sun is a good substitute for a compass although it lacks the compass’s precision. It rises in the East and sets in the West. When your left side is facing West then North is in front of you.
At night the moon also rises in the East and sets in the West. Both the Sun and the Moon appear on this track because of the rotation of the Earth. There is also the North Star, Polaris, which can be found by looking at the Big Dipper constellation. The last two stars in the cup of the big dipper point to the North Star, which forms the end of the handle of the Little Dipper constellation.
Both the sun and the moon are very useful in the treeless tundra or the Great Plains where there may be no landmarks to reference. You have to keep in mind their relationship to where you want to go though.
Wind is sometimes helpful if you are in a place where the trade winds are constantly blowing in the same direction. If you are in an area where it may change directions it can be a treacherous tool to use. This is especially true in the mountains where the wind is constantly changing direction as it flows among the convoluted contours of the mountains with all of their up drafts and down drafts.
Noting the position of any creeks, rivers, trails, or roads, in relation to the direction of your travel can be a big help. All you have to do to get your bearings is go to the side where they are.
In thick woods or jungle, set your sights on a marker tree in the direction that you wish to go. Once you reach that spot pick another in line with the direction that you are going. Otherwise with the constant moving around obstacles in your path you may find yourself spun around without your knowing it.
The South side in the interior of forests and swamps gets the most sunlight resulting in some things that are generally true but have exceptions. All things being equal, which they often are not, tree branches will tend to follow the sun and have more branches on the South side. At their bases you will often find anthills on the warmer South side and fruits and berries tend to ripen first on the South Side. Moss likes things dark and humid so it prefers to grow on the North side of rocks and trees. An opening in the canopy can change this all quickly if another side is getting more light. There are too many exceptions to this Southside business to place too much confidence in it as those new to the wilds often do.
Eventually these skills become intuitive among old woodsmen and result in the ability to find their way that awes the uninitiated. It is vital to master because you may not have map, compass, or GPS when you need them most.
Now we come to modern navigation tools. First and foremost is the compass, followed by the map. By constantly referring to your compass you can navigate your way through twists and turns over hills and marsh. Try it. Play with it. You will easily get the hang of it. A G.I.-issue compass in its military carrying case is as rugged and trouble free as it gets. You use a lesser compass at your own peril.
When using the compass remember that the magnetic needle is attracted to iron. Keep it away from steel belt buckles and anything else that it will want to point too except the magnetic North. You should be 55 meters from high-tension power lines, 18 meters from vehicles, 10 meters from telegraph and telephone lines and fences, and 0.2 meters from your rifle.
While the G.I.-issue compass is as rugged and soldier proof as possible it still is a delicate instrument that should be treated carefully as the dial is set at a delicate balance that a shock could damage. Always return it to its issue carrying pouch and use the neck lanyard to prevent dropping it.
To mark a course of travel with the G.I. compass look through the slit in the eyepiece and align it with the hairline front sight in the cover and the target. Once you have this position held steady the azimuth can be read by glancing down at the dial through the eyepiece. This compass has special features that are important for night use, the luminous markings and the 3-inch bezel serration and clicking device. Turning the bezel ring to the right increases the azimuth while turning it to the left decreases it. The bezel stop and spring will hold the bezel ring in any position desired. The luminous dot 45 degrees from the luminous line is used to help set the luminous line to any predetermined magnetic azimuth in the dark.
When using a compass it is common to end up back a ways to one side or another from your starting point due to your movements to that side while traveling. Expect and allow for this.
When combined with a contour map the compass really comes into its own as a precision navigation tool. Maps are positioned with true North at the top. Compasses point to the magnetic North so there is a slight divergence. To correct this, rotate the map until the top of the map is aligned with the magnetic North shown by the compass. Maps come with a scale of miles that is highly useful for figuring distances. Elevation is marked on the contour lines that show mountains and valleys. Lakes and streams are clearly identifiable.
When in doubt as to your position take out the compass and do a compass bearing. Starting with the point you should be at start identifying and matching up the features on the land with the features on the map to locate your position. There are plenty of reference points on the map and learning to relate the map to the ground you are on is an easily acquired skill with practice. This is the most important thing in using a map. If you can’t relate the map to your surroundings when you are at the place you are supposed to be then you can’t get any use out of maps. Work on this until it is second nature to you unless you like to be lost.
Now we come to the 21st Century electronic means of locating your position. These are nice to have but should take second place to the aforementioned ways because they have more things to go wrong with them. Drop them or fall on them and they can break. An electromagnetic pulse from the sun like the 19th Century Carrington event or a high altitude nuclear bomb blast will fry them. If anything happens to the satellites they depend on, which is a given in wartime, they have no means to function.
The GPS is well known to hunters and they come in varying degrees of complexity and features. I prefer to keep things light and simple. The Bushnell waterproof Backtrack Mini measures only 2.54” high by 1.95 inches wide by .98 inches thick. Complete with tether and carabiner to attach to your gear it weighs only 2.3 ounces and has an arrow to show you the way back. The screen is lit up for use in the dark and it has a host of other features. There is a built in compass, temperature, time, barometric pressure, and elevation. It can create and navigate a trip to and from your camp. You can mark landmarks including your hunting stand as desired. It even shows the optimum hunting and fishing times for the next seven days based on the phases of the sun and the moon; quite a lot for such a tiny thing.
The onX is an app for your smart phone. It is a digital mapping location based app that can download maps and save them when the phone is turned to airplane mode. If there is cell phone service in the area it can even show the maps in 3D. The onX clearly shows boundaries and also can show your location on the maps. The GPS is picking up the phone’s location. If say, the location is off 30 feet you would turn the location services on the phone off and then back on to reset it.
To prevent the phone battery running out deep in the woods, take along some mobile charges with you. Remember to keep the phone turned silent when hunting as even when set on vibration an elk can hear it 30 yards away. Also phones are not waterproof so when you fall in the water you will probably not come up with your phone working. Getting dunked happens sooner or later when living in the wilderness. However if you take your smart phone on the hunt with you then it makes good sense to have this app.
The Huntstand app is one that gives property information such as who owns the property. Now you know whom to contact for permission to hunt that land. You can set up your own hunting areas with boundaries and you can mark stands, scrapes, etc. as needed. You can trace your own trail to and from camp and the app shows wind direction and even the direction waterfowl will be coming. Of course it has maps and GPS. It is another app worth having on your smart phone. Keep your cool if you do get lost and remember that any experienced woodsman who says he has never been lost is a liar.
