How do you navigate while hunting?

[K31]

Good advice about the topo map and compass and, if at all possible, scout the are in good weather so you know the terrain.

Mobile phone, GPS, as noted, sometimes don't work. Keep electronics under all your clothing layers.

Making mental note of the terrain, ridges, etc. Only helps if the conditions are good.

I remember walking into an area I never was in before in Garrett County. There was already enough snow on the ground to make walking difficult. I decided I could always follow my foot prints back to the parking area. Then it began snowing again. My foot prints behind me were filling up. There was a ridge on my right going in so I thought if I kept it on my left going out I'd find my way back. Then a whiteout happened.

Good advice on the fire starting methods, etc. I'd add a loud whistle as well. For really remote areas you may want to think of an ELT of some sort. Watch Dave Pelides videos.

 

[lazarus]

When I public land hunted I used phone but had backup methods
#1, I scouted before the season during the day.
#2, I had printed map
#3, I did use Phone to navigate normally, but I also put pin on reflectors onto trees at the corners so I could work my way back to my vehicle. In some cases, Other people had already done that and I just put mine at a different height on the tree.
#4, I had reflective ribbon material to mark my way through brush if I was following a blood trail in the dark
#5, I did have a compass and did use it once during the day of scouting just to make sure I could use it.

Deepest I ever walked to hunt was 2 miles. Flat terrain and I would take a plastic sheet sled for the deer.

One place was super marshy and if I had not scouted it in the day, I'd not have known the higher points to walk cause it was NOT in a straight line up the power lines.

Pretty similar for me.

I guess it’s stupidity on my part, but I figure for the most part, unless I become injured and can’t get out (in which case knowing right where I am doesn’t really help), even the largest places I hunt you can walk out in a day from the middle of them if in reasonably good health. For instance, even Greenridge state forest almost anywhere is within about a mile or one of the roads/logging roads. At worst you hit one of them and follow it or flag someone down. Or you head the direction of the C&O and hike out that way/flag someone down.

Most eastern shore stuff is pretty flat without good features. But same deal, most of it isn’t THAT big. A couple hour hike and you’ll almost certainly exit on to a road or if you went the wrong way, one of the major rivers.

Yes, in potentially dangerous weather like a blizzard or extreme temperatures you want to be darned sure to be able to find your way. But that’s sort of back to “I know most of the public land spots pretty well” and they’ve mostly got decent trails.

In the dark is more dangerous too. But other than extreme conditions I am wearing appropriate clothes to be just fine overnighting it. To add I always keep a lighter and magnesium rod in my hunting pack. If I haven’t used it all, I usually have a couple big wads of TP. So I can generally start a fire. Plus I almost always have more food and water than I need with me. Not days of food, but I am usually packing maybe 800-1000 calories of lunch and snacks. And I usually have something at the end of the day.

It would be a shitty night, but I could always build a crappy shelter and start a fire and have a snack and some water if I wasn’t confident in hiking out in the dark if I was lost and needed to wait for daylight to see the terrain and trails better. I also keep a few chlorine dioxide tablets in my first aid kit in my pack. Enough to purify about 2 gallons of water.

The few parks that are smaller and I know extremely well, my knowledge and my phone are it. Bigger places I don’t know quite as well I tend to bring a compass as backup and always bring a printed map (topo for out west. I don’t bother with topo maps for the eastern shore).

If it was some place I’ve never been, phone, printed map, compass and the most scouting I can possibly manage.

I keep reflective surveyors tape to stick to things (works okay on smooth bark and rocks) or loop back over on its self to go around branches (sticks to itself REALLY well). I can see that stuff from about 200yds away with my headlamp. That’s for finding my way back to a trail if blood trailing in the dark. But a compass and my phone are usually enough to do that also.

 

[teratos]

I can read a topo map and use a compass. My SF buddy has had me out a couple of times in Uwharrie National Forest. This is where guys in SF school do their land-nav course. We camp out there and you can hear the guys trudging through in the dark. My friend really enjoys navigation, and I learned a ton.

 

[AlBeight]

I am new to hunting and wonder how people navigate so they don't get lost in the woods. Do we rely on the GPS on our smartphone -- not sure if we can always get good cell phone signal in the woods and mountains? Is it necessary to buy an actual GPS, campass, and/or map?

If you walk off the paved or dirt road and head west for 500 yards, then go 500 yards east to go back, you’ll find that road easily. If you go up a hill going out, go down that hill going back. Pay attention to the terrain, streams, funky looking trees, clearings, etc... You may not always nail the same spot you started at when you come back, but you should get close enough. If you’re having to mark your path going in for a day hunt, you probably need a better sense of direction and maybe shouldn’t be hunting that far from the vehicle.

 

[Doco Overboard]

When you get turned around and become tired of walking in circles, cut down a sapling about ten or so foot long.
Carry it in one hand like a spear just below your belt line.
It'll keep you walking strait enough in dense cover so you can make it along enough to look at your compass again.
Even in the daylight.
Some places I show people off to go to some stands, I threw white 5 gallon jugs on the ground so its easier to make your way in and out.
About every 40 feet I guess. Phones and stuff dont always work in there so they're not very dependable.
Especially when you look at them in the dark.

 

[gwchem]

Yep.

 

[outrider58]

I never use a flashlight on shorter walks at night. Too easy to get disoriented when you're focused on that little spot of light.

When you're on a longer unfamiliar walk in the daytime, stop often and view your back trail. Focus on key features that you'll need to recognize on your return trip. Without those keys, nothing will be recognizable and you will soon get lost.

The hardest time to navigate is on cloudy, foggy, or rainy days. Always carry a compass(and topo if you have one).

I often use a compass when I've shot a deer and it's run off without my seeing it go down. I take a heading in the direction I last saw the deer run while I'm still in my treestand, so when I hit the ground(a very different view), I have a definite heading to where I expect to pick up the trail. That's especially helpful if nightfall is closing in.

 

[antco]

The street signs work well for me.

 

[308Scout]

When I public land hunted I used phone but had backup methods
#1, I scouted before the season during the day.
#2, I had printed map
#3, I did use Phone to navigate normally, but I also put pin on reflectors onto trees at the corners so I could work my way back to my vehicle. In some cases, Other people had already done that and I just put mine at a different height on the tree.
#4, I had reflective ribbon material to mark my way through brush if I was following a blood trail in the dark
#5, I did have a compass and did use it once during the day of scouting just to make sure I could use it.

Deepest I ever walked to hunt was 2 miles. Flat terrain and I would take a plastic sheet sled for the deer.

One place was super marshy and if I had not scouted it in the day, I'd not have known the higher points to walk cause it was NOT in a straight line up the power lines.

I use these backups as primaries and relegate the phone to back-up status. I usually hunt more mountainous terrain. If hunting public or unfamiliar land, I generally:

1. Pre-scout the area from home using Topo maps, google maps (sat view), and any available trail maps making note of sites of interest (saddles, funnels, etc.) and learn the general terrain.
2. Scout the area pre-season as much as possible. While scouting, walk as many trails as possible, where they exist, to be familiar with them. Denote the locations of landmarks, odd trees, rock formations, angry bears, etc. on map. Mark location of preferred hunting sites on map. Think about the the easiest/shortest ways out from sites if dragging a deer or injured and verify by walking it. Trails are often not the shortest route, but the shortest route may also not be passable. Leave the "breadcrumb" signs (reflectors, flagging, etc) that you'll be able to follow on the way in in the dark. Mark sites on custom google map as a backup, if service is available.
3. Keep a annotated map created in #2 and compass in the hunting bag, JIC.

 

[STeveZ]

In a new area I start with a map and the sun as reference and am typically cautious. I do carry a GPS and a cell phone which I sometimes reference. I mark the car on my GPS before wading in.

 

[Tomcat]

When I public land hunted I used phone but had backup methods
#1, I scouted before the season during the day.
#2, I had printed map
#3, I did use Phone to navigate normally, but I also put pin on reflectors onto trees at the corners so I could work my way back to my vehicle. In some cases, Other people had already done that and I just put mine at a different height on the tree.
#4, I had reflective ribbon material to mark my way through brush if I was following a blood trail in the dark
#5, I did have a compass and did use it once during the day of scouting just to make sure I could use it.

Deepest I ever walked to hunt was 2 miles. Flat terrain and I would take a plastic sheet sled for the deer.

One place was super marshy and if I had not scouted it in the day, I'd not have known the higher points to walk cause it was NOT in a straight line up the power lines.

Pretty much the way I do it. When I got a Bear permit several years ago I searched online maps and information before I even went to Garrett Co. When I was scouting things out I marked several spots on my phone so I could return to them. Down here in St.Mary's County I figure you can't get but so lost it you can walk in a straight line (yes there's a way to make sure you do in the woods) before you run into a road or water.

Oh yea, I found the answer to does a bear sh!t in the woods?.............No, he does it in the parking lot

 

[bigD]

When you park for a hike or walk, orient yourself. Here's how I do it: I do not look at a compass, yet. Walk out a ways from vehicle and then mark your internal compass. In or on the ground mark what you think is north. Walk east or west, east coast I do east, west coast I do west, elsewh in an overall straight line

 

[Blacksmith101]

This might help:

FM 3-25.26 Map Reading and Land Navigation
https://www.amazon.com/3-25-26-Map-.../131-3159297-1829401?pd_rd_i=1978070675&psc=1

 

[smokedog]

When hunting alone out west I used a compass and map.
Planned the few days before my hunt my intended route and away I went.
Also left a map at home with a stick pin in it just in case I didn't return.
At least it gave them a starting point to search.
Learn the compass and map method it is well worth it.

 

[lazarus]

When hunting alone out west I used a compass and map.
Planned the few days before my hunt my intended route and away I went.
Also left a map at home with a stick pin in it just in case I didn't return.
At least it gave them a starting point to search.
Learn the compass and map method it is well worth it.

That’s always important. I send digital pin from my phone before I head in to the woods (at least so far everywhere I’ve hunted has cell signal where I park. Where I AM is often a different story).

Since my wife rarely listens to me it gives searchers a general part of a park/forest/WMA to look in.

As well as she listens, it also gives them which park/forest/WMA I am (yeah, she listens REALLY well).

 

[outrider58]

If you're really going deep into the boonies, you should carry an EPRB(or the like). That's only to be used in extreme emergencies though.

 

[RRomig]

If you're really going deep into the boonies, you should carry an EPRB(or the like). That's only to be used in extreme emergencies though.

I agree and use a garmin that has the oh fvck button.

 

[outrider58]

The main point about navigation is, you have to pick a point(compass is the most reliable method) and aim toward it. You can't "stay to the left" of something. You will undoubtedly walk in circles.

 

[Muleskinner]

Huntstand app. $30 a year and you can see the property lines on the screen