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

Okay...

So day 1 I slept in and decided to go for a scouting mission at 9am. My day 1 movements are marked in green. Saw boat loads of deer poo in the fern growth and tons of footprints especially at stream crossings. Stopped and waited for 30 minutes 3 at positions facing towards where the wind was coming from (No luck). Saw a game trail intersection which went 4 different directions and held decent poo sign. Decided to go back there the next day for sunrise.

Day 2 (movements in blue) - woke up at 4 and made the 2 hour walk in. (was early because forgot about daylight savings haha). Gave the intersection 1 hour. (nothing). Decided to take the long way back to the track to navigate some bush and practice some bush confidence. Stopped a few times for 30 minute silent scouts. nothing. Went for an afternoon reccy just for the hell of it but gave up after I realized that I had been walking a bit too much.

Took my Spotx plb system. Relied heavily on my topo on phone and double checked its reading with my compass. Used ridges as directional paths to stay in one direction. Had half an anxiety attack when I "what if'd" my way into thinking that my phone topo might be giving me incorrect readings but at that moment I found a pink possum trail marking which calmed me down. Was very quiet as I peaked over ridges, went slow when I saw decent sign. Travelled with wind in my face (used bic lighter.) Was pretty gutted I didn't see an animal tbh. I still had a great time and it was a good experience, but seeing so much sign I was convinced I might see an animal. Oh ill add that where I was, the bush was massively forgiving. Beautiful. saw kaka and morepork and kereru and even a bat. Could travel any direction I wanted very easily. None of that supplejack trash that smoked me in the kaimais.