• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Ball compass unreliability

Dmathews87 said:
this is embarrassing but drives your point home so ill share just dont laugh at me too hard lol...same trip, walking in blind 4:30am with my flashlight. all i need to do is walk straight (south). i have no idea what happened but i get to a truck in the woods and im like thats weird, is there a trail i didnt see on map?? then, oh wait, thats my truck....yeap did a complete circle back and had no idea.
Click to expand...

Yep happens to the best. I’ve literally watched pathfinder trained army rangers and ODA guys fail miserably by not relying on their compasses.
 
I'm gonna say the thing you're never supposed to say :D. I don't carry a compass anymore, took it out of my pack for the first time in 20 years before this season. My phone works just fine and since I started using my phone to navigate 6 years ago, I've never had an issue with a battery dying, or lack of service causing me to get lost- even on several week long hunts with no service or access to electricity. Compasses are a thing of the past, and we will look at them like rotary phones pretty soon. Phones are good enough to replace them now, and they're only getting better every year.
 
SNIPERBBB said:
Course the trick is maintaining direction. Thats where a lot of people get lost is they cant maintain direction.
Click to expand...
I am not a "keyboard warrior" so take this for what it is... I would say that my sense of direction and navigation is above average, but changing direction constantly in the dark (limited to the headlamp illumination) to crawl through mountain laurel seriously messed with my sense of direction. I got out close to where I needed to be, but it took way longer than was necessary! Couple that with no service and an almost dead phone...
 
Yep when you don't have any landmarks its pretty easy to get turned around. I got turned around good this summer on lil bay de noc. I always try to memorize what things look like when I leave a spot like I did there. Problem was when I came back, I didn't pay attention to the obstruction of said view so I didnt make my turn on the way back so I went one bay to far. Trolling motor died so I had to paddle a mile up current/up wind to get back to the right bay
 
I used my Huntstand app last week in a no cell service area and it worked great for navigation with an offline map downloaded.
 
Weldabeast said:
Hopefully relying on the phone never come back to bite ya. I have never ever ever dropped a phone in the water and I definitely have never had 1 fall out of my pocket to be lost forever.
Click to expand...
I had a backup cheap compass in my pack. Also have to be careful using my phone or compass around my badlands bino harness with magnets when it was opened. Don't know why it didn't affect it when it was closed.
 
The_Fit_Ness_Monster said:
Not a lot, ALL, idc who you are unless you’re constantly on the compass checking degrees of travel you WILL drift and you WILL drift left. Constant checking of direction is required, trust the (good) compass always over your “feeling” of direction. I taught/teach land nav in the army and civilian side as a “hobbie”. These are hard facts that even the best trekkers can’t wrap their heads around. It is what it is, there’s science to explain it but no need to get in the weeds here.
Click to expand...
Do you naturally drift to the right south of the equator?
 
bowhunthard88 said:
I am not a "keyboard warrior" so take this for what it is... I would say that my sense of direction and navigation is above average, but changing direction constantly in the dark (limited to the headlamp illumination) to crawl through mountain laurel seriously messed with my sense of direction. I got out close to where I needed to be, but it took way longer than was necessary! Couple that with no service and an almost dead phone...
Click to expand...

I got turned around on a brushy plateau. Like turned 180 degrees. I was scouting.

I had in my head "the field is to your right". I check Onx after a while and the field was on my left.

I tried to get re-oriented as far as my natural sense of direction. But it was such an eerie feeling that I just left and went home. It was a feeling of not being able to trust that which I once relied upon.
 
I am at peace with my lousy sense of direction. That's why I carry 3 separate means of finding my way.
 
FWIW, I carry my phone and a small inexpensive map compass. When needed I use my phone primarily but often times I just want to make sure I'm still headed in generally the right direction. In those instances its just quicker to pull out the compass for a quick check. For years I relied on the pin on ball compasses but I also found they had a tendency to dry out and get sticky, usually discovered when I actually needed it. I ended up going to a small inexpensive flat map style compass that I keep lanyarded to my pack. It weighs nothing and is only 3" x 2" x 1/4" so it takes up virtually no room for the extra security it provides.

1701210369547.png1701210549581.png
 
Curious about that left drift because I have noticed 9 times out of 10 if I go a while without checking, I will have drifted left.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top