What navigation tech are you using?

For Android, I am using a free app, HuntStand. It includes GPS, weather, wind, land ownership lookup, and other features. You can pair it with a computer, and set up group hunts where everyone in your group can share your map. It may not have all of the features you are looking for, but it is serving me well.

Topographic map, and a liquid filled compass, plus counting steps, marking trails if they ain't already marked, and noting landmarks by visual, and cross referenced to the map.

GPS and Cell Phones run on power that can run out. So as long as the magnetic field of the Earth doesn't shift, my compass will keep working strong. Plus the Topo map tells me what to expect as I walk, the GPS just tells me where I am when I find the cliff.....

Yeah it's "old school" but worked pretty well for me in The Corps back in the '80's.

LD

Map/compass, and terrain association to "recon" and select where to put up my stand/blind. Routes in and out are marked with glow tacks and orange ribbon for walking in/out in the dark, if needed.

Cell phones die fast when navigating, or at least mine does. If I had to use an electronic navigation aid, I do have a Garmin Etrek. It'll go all day on a set of AAs. If you're out for days, carry more batteries. Ain't any charging ports in the woods for your cell phone.

I never really needed a GPS to navigate, though, but back in the day I can think of a few situations where it would have been handy. I've used a GPS mostly on the water in my boat.

For the most part I use my eyes and a compass. Phone GPS is very good, but in many places I hunt there is no decent coverage. So I don't bet my life on it. A good compass is a inexpensive investment and easy to use. I've had the same Silva for 30 years.

Most places I hunted, there was no cell phone service.

I use a military lensatic compass and topo maps, with a handheld GPS for backup.

But mostly, I learn the area by hiking/camping in it during the summer.

I've got an old Garmin GPS with topo maps for where I hunt loaded up. It has a walkie talkie feature which is handy for communicating plus a weather radio, and it really only loses a GPS signal in a few steep canyons oriented the wrong direction. It's handy to drop waypoints at the truck, camp, downed animal, etc. I also don't get cell service in a lot of the areas I hunt so I can't rely on that.

I study a map before hand and carry a compass.
A Garmin is on my short list. I was the medic on a search for a lost hunter a while back and the K9 unit has one. He was more than happy to show me how it worked and it sure beats using my memory.

I don't have cell service where I hunt so phone is out.

I've just been using Google maps, carry a power stick so I can charge phone, as always a compass backup

I've never needed a GPS to find my way home, but will no longer hunt without one. Once it's capabilities are mastered and the right maps are loaded it is a wonderful tool. I can carry a few extra batteries and could use it conservatively and make it last a week. I get about 10-12 hours of constant use out of a set of batteries. I will occasionally pull up google earth on my phone for more detail but prefer to use the phone as a phone.

I know how to use a paper map and compass if needed. But there is no reason not to use the technology available.

A Garmin is on my short list. I was the medic on a search for a lost hunter a while back and the K9 unit has one. He was more than happy to show me how it worked and it sure beats using my memory.

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I volunteer with a SAR team and after going through the GPS training and learning how much they can do the difference is amazing. We use them to lay down tracks to document EXACTLY where we have searched and what still needs to be covered, not to find our way home. I do the same thing hunting. At the end of the day I plug my GPS into my computer and lay my tracks down on Google Earth. Same thing we do at the command post while searching. It is a great tool to scout with and help find potential future hunting spots and the easiest way to access them. As well as keeping me out of areas off limits to hunting.

A map and compass is great, but with what we do usually not available when we get the call at 10PM and hit the woods in an unknown area.

I have been using Garmin GPS's for about 20 years. I'm on my 3rd one now, an Oregon model I got last year on sale during Black Friday. I don't mark trails anymore with bright eyes or ribbon and can find my stand in the dark without much of a problem. When tracking a deer or still-hunting, it allows me to take a shortcut back to the truck when I am through .... IF I marked where the truck was. I still carry a compass though because any gizmo can fail.

I pity the flatlanders that can't just look up to see where they are. But I suppose I can see the use of instrument navigation at night.

labnoti said:

I pity the flatlanders that can't just look up to see where they are. But I suppose I can see the use of instrument navigation at night.

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So, I guess you've never walked in circles in the woods?

Eyeball, MkI; I don't hunt anywhere where I'd need a topo and a compass anymore. I have used them in the past, learned Land Nav at 16 in ROTC.

MCgunner said:

Cell phones die fast when navigating, or at least mine does. If I had to use an electronic navigation aid, I do have a Garmin Etrek. It'll go all day on a set of AAs.

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Garmin Oregon, a full topo map set and spare batteries do the trick for me. It's been a while since I've needed to dig the maps out of backpack for anything else than planning the trip. I only use a cell phone in driven hunts where dogs have GPS collars, app displays the locations of all participants real time and shooters are expected to know exactly where the drive moves. Unfortunately it only works where there's 3G/4G coverage and the app kills the battery in 4-5 hours.

I drop corn behind me when I leave...

I have used GPS (stand alone, not cellular) but it’s been awhile since I have needed it in the field.

If you are going to potentially rely on electronics to save your bacon, ensure they are protected, have good batteries and fresh extra batteries.

MCgunner said:

So, I guess you've never walked in circles in the woods?

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Nope. I just look up and see where the big peaks are.
If Cliff Creek pass is behind me, and Stewart peak is in front, I know I'm in the Grey's River drainage.

labnoti said:

I pity the flatlanders that can't just look up to see where they are. But I suppose I can see the use of instrument navigation at night.

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And fog.(the worst)
If youve ever been really turned around....even familiar things look wrong.

Got a great fog story. My Dad and were duck hunting, set out in fog towards the slough. I need to state that I have a fairly innate sense of direction, and can measure distance well. I started rowing toward the slough, and my Dad pointed the opposite direction, and said, "The slough's that way." I said, "It's over here", pointing the right way, and he insisted he was right. Even though I was 25 at the time, I knew better than to countermand him. So I rowed the way he insisted, with him giving me 'course corrections' occasionally, and when the fog lifted, we were 100 yards directly offshore of the campground. I simply said "Told ya so.", and started rowing the way I set out an hour earlier.

It's not totally a joke that I have more time outdoors and hunting than a lot of hunters have in being upright and breathing. I just seem to have a knack for having a feel as to where I am and which way back to camp or truck. I have used topo sheets to get a feel for the territory before I head out. For whatever reason, maps have always been quite easily understood, for me. Like I say, though, I'll take luck over skill, any day.

cheygriz said:

Nope. I just look up and see where the big peaks are.
If Cliff Creek pass is behind me, and Stewart peak is in front, I know I'm in the Grey's River drainage.

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There are no "peaks" in the east Texas piney woods and every tree looks alike probably because the lumber companies plant them at the same time. I did find out, though, that the old adage is true, moss really DOES grow on the north side of trees. As the road was due west of me, I just kept walking west navigating by the moss. I never again forgot my compass. LOL

I think the post did say "flatlanders".

Fog. I lived for 28 years on Lavaca Bay just down the street from the boat ramp at pier park. I had a route plotted on my Garmin, would go put in there on a very foggy morning. You've never seen fog until you seen sea fog. I'd putt across the three miles of bay way point to way point watching for crab trap balls and it'd lead me directly to the reef. That reef held tons of speckled trout in the cold months. I had a route plotted to the mouth of the bayou where I duck hunted in the back of that bay, too. Never run fast, though. Fear the crab traps. LOL

I never really used a GPS much on land, but it is a wonderous aid on the water.