Natural Navigation

[manumuskin]

Yes knowing where the sand roads or blacktop for that matter is good for "Baselining" You can aim off purposely so that when you hit your baseline you know weather to turn left or right to get back to your car.You can use a swamp the same way but you know them Barrens.Sometimes the roads and the swamps start looking alike Also a swamp edge is not all that apparent if the woods ever so gradually drop and turn into swamp.
Does the head net ever really help? By the time I"ve hit the bees it's to late to reach for the net.Thats why I hate yellowjackets.You can't see the nests and don't know their there till you step on em.If you run your face into a bald faced hornets nest well you shoulda been paying attention.I almost did that once climbing a tree.I was six feet under the nest before I heard them and looked up. I always hit yellowjackets when it's warm out and always just have a t-shirt on and they go right through that.I hit them a lot in swamps,they seem to like to build their nests under damp sphagnum.I am always scared in summer in cedar swamps now.Don't keep me out of em but I"m on hair trigger unless the swamps flooded which seems to kill em. I have bear spray at the house but it's for Momma when I"m workin nights.Been a rash of burglaries around here lately.God help the burglar that breaks in when I"m not home to keep her from killing him.Spray isn't all she has

 

[Ben Ruset]

I'd like to learn how to navigate with just a map & compass.

 

[bobpbx]

I'd like to learn how to navigate with just a map & compass.

That's how I started out Ben. It's interesting. Declination and orienting the map correctly is very important. Let me brush up on it when the weather warms up, and we'll go out and try it in the upland.

In my previous post I did not shoot using a map. I just set it on a direction (i.e.; southwest) and headed out.

 

[manumuskin]

In mountainous or desert terrain often a map is all thats needed.You can orient just by looking at the land.In the Barrens thats a hard thing to do when your lucky if you can see 50 ft ahead of you. My gr gran father got lost in the bear swamp back in the 60's and had to spend the night till his son went out and found him the next day.He said in Kentucky I can always git up on a hill and see the hollers or in the hollers I can see the hills.He said all these flat swamps and thickets would git a man lost quick.

 

[RednekF350]

I'd like to learn how to navigate with just a map & compass.

I'd be happy to help you too Ben.
I started many years ago by earning a Boy Scout orienteering merit badge circa 1971.
In college, I had a two week Forestry Field Camp class in Stokes and part of our curriculum was orienteering. The professors kindly hid a case of beer at the end of the last leg of the mapping exercise ! (Drinking age was 18 then.)

Get yourself a Silva Ranger, I have two of them. The rotating base and adjustable declination are good features for orienteering.

http://www.mountainsports.com/msmain.asp?Option=Detail&Detail=144130&Product=Silva+Ranger+75+Compass

Then, all you need are couple USGS 7.5 minute quads and you are off and running !

 

[GermanG]

I assume that class at Stokes included evening pilgrimages to Brady's Pub? A Forestry Field Class tradition!

 

[RednekF350]

I assume that class at Stokes included evening pilgrimages to Brady's Pub? A Forestry Field Class tradition!

I have no idea what you are talking about German.

 

[46er]

I'd like to learn how to navigate with just a map & compass.

Most of the 'outdoor' stores have free classes but some charge. I know REI & LLBean offer them, not sure about EMS.

From the REI site, there is a fee on this one;

http://www.rei.com/event/43656/session/108063

The AMC also offers hands on instruction at the Mohican center, very nice spot;

http://activities.outdoors.org/search/index.cfm/action/details/id/78992

 

[manumuskin]

Silva compasses are the best!

 

[manumuskin]

A good point for night nav.I've done this myself.

 

[ecampbell]

Interesting, but you need to be able to see stars. If you're familiar with the constellations and how they move during the year there is no need to lie on the ground and sight through a stick. You can even have a rough approximation of the time, but all of this is rough, it will probably not get you to the Pic from Chatsworth. I enjoyed watching Orion move across the sky tonight. If I stay up late enough I will soon start seeing the summer constellations. The north star is greatly underrated here, being that it for the most part it doesn't move and is not overhead. I would not use this to travel in the pines at night for I do not like sticks in my eyes, A compass is great for it tells you direction, but not where you are. A sextant will, but once again you need a clear sky in addition to an accurate time piece. I am a sailor, so tools like a compass , sextant , depth finder and GPS are useful but none are natural.
Just a ramble here because you made me think. If I were lost and had no access to the sky or any of the above unnatural aids I would wait untill I could see, read the vegetation for affinity for water, and follow that to water and go down stream.

As I said, just a ramble. Go off shore and not be able to see or hear anything and have fun.

 

[Teegate]

Bring two GPS units with you and plenty of good batteries. Works every time. Well, almost every time......

 

[46er]

Bring two GPS units with you and plenty of good batteries. Works every time. Well, almost every time......

The onboard GPS in the Jeep flaked out yesterday, showed me 15 miles from where I actually was, at times had me driving on the bottom of Barnegat Bay. Never trust anything electronic, learn the basics for a backup. Nothing like being 80 miles offshore and the GPS gives up

 

[Ben Ruset]

That's how I started out Ben. It's interesting. Declination and orienting the map correctly is very important. Let me brush up on it when the weather warms up, and we'll go out and try it in the upland.

In my previous post I did not shoot using a map. I just set it on a direction (i.e.; southwest) and headed out.

I would like that very much!

 

[manumuskin]

Ed
This is what gets on my nerves about all the new survival shows like Bear Grylls and Survivorman and though better even Dual Survivor.The first two are way too sensational but all three are teaching you basics but the big plan is "To Get Out".I want a show that teaches you how to live if you decide you want to "Stay In". How about a show that takes a family or tribe and stays in one area and makes it for a year.Let em have it easy and start out in spring and show the skills it takes to "Stay In" Primitive Skills along with pioneer skills like canning and smoking meat,how to spin your own cloth and Blacksmith,etc. back to navigation though if I had just one thing to aid me in navigation I"d prefer a good Topo or possibly an Aerial.If it was mountainous definitely a topo. Then again if your prepared there is nothing wrong with getting lost for a couple days as long as you let family know your planning on getting lost.

 

[46er]

I want a show that teaches you how to live if you decide you want to "Stay In". How about a show that takes a family or tribe and stays in one area and makes it for a year.

I watched a show something like that; can't recall the name, but it was a family, the Brown's I think in Alaska. Kind of hookey, the Father did nothing but tell the family what to do. They built there own cabin and scavenged. I wouldn't watch it again Then there are always the Dick Proenneke saga's

 

[manumuskin]

I"ve watched Alone in the wilderness. Now that was a good documentary.Thats what I"m talking about. Staying In and not coming back out. I never come out because I want out,it's because i have to.You can't do in NJ what Proenneke did in Alaska. They'd legislate you right out of the Barrens real quick.