Thread: Hello, and any tips to gain bush confidence?

yes Pureora difficult place to learn about bush navigation but ya have to get practice - two basic rules to begin with not to be broken 1) UNTIL YOU GET CONFIDENCE JUST STICK TO HUNTING ONE CATCHMENT 2) DONT RELY ON STREAMS TO GET HOME UNLESS YOU KNOW THEY CAN BE TRAVELLED OR HAVE BEEN UP OR DOWN THEM BEFORE - DONT DROP INTO UNKNOWN STREAMS - STICK TO TRACKS OR RIDGES - okay having done a lot of SAR for missing hunters two of the biggest causes of them becoming lost are 1) dropped into another catchment with ridges and streams going in an opposite direction and realise to late that ridge or stream is not taking them home 2) leaving it to late to return to camp and getting caught out in dark and then things turn from bad to worse - before you set out for day -map work - which way do the ridges and streams lie - okay the catchment I am in lies with everything flowing west - the catchment to the east on the other side of main ridge system everything flows out to east -bush navigation is knowing what catchment you are in all the time you are hunting -and where neighbouring catchments start and which way they flow -when you lose track of that and cant see any reference points you are lost -Pureora will be difficult country to get a view anywhere -GPS units are huge help but take spare battery's and don't entirely rely on them - always have a compass - your navigation aids are ridges rivers tracks roads and visual reference points i.e bluff system- maybe a steep obvious hill -land contour i.e did the map show tight gorge or bluff system or other obvious feature you can use -recognise -you need to be building up a picture all day and orientating your self all the time -that will give you confidence -