Thread: Navigation with compass and map

Dont play with my emotions Shooter?!!!!!

Yea I would differently make the trip out your way....I'm super keen for a day or a two dayer. What ever suits you!!!....and yes I agree to actual hands on practice.

I also forgot to say thank you to ebf for the help!!!.

Really not all that hard to practise triangulation.

If you live in an urban environment, take bearings off any of the following:

railway stations
radio masts
trig beacons
points where power lines cross known roads
highway overpasses
in hilly suburbs you'll often find roads run thru saddles

and in the bush, different strategies depending on if you have clear line of sight... in dense stuff, practise walking on a bearing, an learn how long it takes to cover different types of terrain. count stream crossings, forks in the track (within reason - remember that streams can be dry, and some side tracks are not indicated on a map) etc.

on rigelines and on the tops where you have clear line of sight, different strategy applies.

each has its own pitfalls - very easy to take the wrong ridgeline coming off a peak, and walking a bearing in dense bush is probably one of the hardest things to do...

Originally Posted by Tussock

Awful generous, but I'm happy to do it for nothing

There is an off chance LBD is an engineer.

Its that obvious?... I have spent years trying to mask the symptoms and hide from the social stigma...

Actually not quite an engineer in the graduate engineer sense....although I do suffer from similar foibles.

Originally Posted by Myk

Dont play with my emotions Shooter?!!!!!

Yea I would differently make the trip out your way....I'm super keen for a day or a two dayer. What ever suits you!!!....and yes I agree to actual hands on practice.

I also forgot to say thank you to ebf for the help!!!.

Will flick you a PM then mate.

Originally Posted by Tussock

30m is heaps!

Work object to object. Hold the compass in your hand, find an object as far away as possible on the bearing you are walking, walk to it. Find the next object. Go to it. In this way you can walk an arrow straight line across country reasonably quickly.

It goes to pieces when you start guestimating "I think I was a bit to the right off...." or when you get too finicky and waste five minutes at every station (object). Just get the hang of holding it up, chosing a point, walking to it. After a while you don't slow down.

So how do you multi task navigating like that and hunting at the same time? I've seen a guy in the kaimais with a compass strapped to the side of his butt. That intrigued me how effective it wouled be.

Originally Posted by Rusky

So how do you multi task navigating like that and hunting at the same time? I've seen a guy in the kaimais with a compass strapped to the side of his butt. That intrigued me how effective it wouled be.

Depending on how close it is to metal bits. Not very, also probably not usefull if trying to get a bearing off a map/onto a map

I suspect that guy is on here

Originally Posted by Gibo

I do lots of circles mate Sit, scratch head, and do a bigger circle My compass, map and GPS gets me close enough to get where I'm going.

A week ago in the Kaimanawas I stayed at a clearing that was a 40 min bush bash to a river and on the other side was the track. Pretty simple. I stayed until 30 min of light was left put gps on and made a fast paced walk through bush to said river. I always underestimate how dark the bush gets when light is fading. I then thought of the consequences of that GPS failing and how good I would be at finding my way out via a compass in the dark. Id say I could do it, but not very quickly and not with complete confidence. Im gonna have to give the compass some more practice and put the GPS in my pack as a last resort. Leaving the GPS on in your jacket plotting your trail and navigating via a compass/map marking your course as you go would be a worth while exercise.

Originally Posted by Pengy

I suspect that guy is on here

Not you is it? I swear I've seen a picture on here before of the same setup from a Kaimai post.

Mohawk660??

I don't know if I'm the odd ball but I almost never use a compass. Used one on the tops in a whiteout to get a general idea but can't remember too many other times. I've always found it easy enough to figure where I am from memory or a map alone.

Even if you're using a GPS be very very careful of your rifle barrel or knife. It throws it out something wicked.

Originally Posted by Gibo

Mohawk660??

That's the one

Originally Posted by ebf

If you live in an urban environment, take bearings off any of the following:
...
trig beacons
...

What kind of weirdo would triangulate bearings off trig beacons?

Originally Posted by Rusky

A week ago in the Kaimanawas I stayed at a clearing that was a 40 min bush bash to a river and on the other side was the track. Pretty simple. I stayed until 30 min of light was left put gps on and made a fast paced walk through bush to said river. I always underestimate how dark the bush gets when light is fading. I then thought of the consequences of that GPS failing and how good I would be at finding my way out via a compass in the dark. Id say I could do it, but not very quickly and not with complete confidence. Im gonna have to give the compass some more practice and put the GPS in my pack as a last resort. Leaving the GPS on in your jacket plotting your trail and navigating via a compass/map marking your course as you go would be a worth while exercise.

The trick that I use when trying to find my way back is stop every once in a while on the way out and look at the view of the track from the way back then try to look for waypoints about every 30 paces or so

Works for me

I recently wrote up a few techniques on another forum - heres the link

FishnHunt - New Zealands Famous Hunting and Fishing Forum Since 1995 - Navigation with Map and Compass