Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Good compass?

If you are referring to the green alloy sportsman's compass then they are no longer made, only issue I had with mine was that they are not water tight.

I do like the reversed forestry dial though.

I have an expensive (to me) Brunton version of that...do not like it one bit as it is heavy and a pain to carry. I generally carry a Silva issue compass and an issue button compass in my personal kit as back-up.

Agreed. If I had to pick a single compass to "be there" during thick and thin and do what a compass is designed to do, it's hard to beat the general issue military compass.

Going along with having a good compass is knowing one's pace count and using it.
#1 A pace is not a step, a pace is every other step.ie every time the left foot hits the ground, that is a pace.

#2 You could measure out 100 yards or meters but the easy way is going to a football field. Start at one goal line (on the side line so you walk a straight line) feet together, step off with the right foot and then count every time the left foot hits the ground as you walk down the sideline toward the other end of the field. The hard part here is not getting macho and exaggerating the length of your steps, just walk normally. When you get to the next goal line which is 100 yards, write down the number of times your left foot hit the ground and then continue on to the end of the end zone, which is almost exactly 100 meters, write down the total times your left foot hit the ground.
Do this several times and then average for each one, you now have your pace count not only for yards but meters as well.

#3 Some "experts" will tell you that you need to do this for all conditions, such as running, uphill, downhill, sand. shallow snow, carrying a pack etc. but that is not necessary. If conditions are such that it would take more paces to cover the distance (constant uphill) a rule of thumb is to add 20%, and if the conditions are such where it would take fewer paces such as (constant downhill), deduct 20%. If it is just ordinary hiking about, probably no need to do that as the uphill and downhills will come close to evening out. Remember this is not an exact science but you will be pretty darn close. If you will be on snowshoes then you might want do all of the above wearing snowshoes walking in snow., but I bet you will be surprised how little difference there is(depending on the texture of the snow ie sugar snow vs really wet snow).

#4 I use a Cammenga 3H, so what I do is write the pace counts on the inside of the lid in pencil(pencil because you might want to change the info. and you can easily erase pencil). Here is an example of what I write on the inside of the lid;
Y68/14 M76/15 The Y refers to yards and the M refers to meters, the next 2 numbers ie 68 and 76 would be the pace count and the
last 2 numbers would be the 20% for each one. Do not count on memory to remember these numbers as fatigue, stress, passing time etc. can make it easy to forget simple things.

Hopefully this will be of benefit to someone. In the near future I plan to go into the importance of a good lanyard, how to construct a proper lanyard, how to use one and how to make and incorporate homemade (better than store bought) pace count beads (AKA Ranger Beads).

A pace count in the mountains is pretty much useless. Your pace could be anywhere from 12" to over a yard. As you get tired, it gets shorter.

What's wrong with the one that comes free on an iPhone? Can you use the side of the iPhone as a straight edge? Just asking. Might be a problem in areas with no cell service.

I have a Silva Ranger compass that I have used for over 50 years and its still dong just fine. Its from back when the cover was still made or aluminum.

Around here, everyone they find dead or clinging to life has a cell Phone, so....no.

It's hard to beat the plastic Chinese copies of the Brunton pocket transit. Buy on Amazon or Ebay for $15-20.

That's more than half of Idaho and much of all the mountain states.
The compass on my Samsung phone isn't accurate enough for serious work but it'll get you in the general direction. the Iphones might be better, I don't know. I use Onx on it all the time. However, electronics and batteries fail. I always have a real compass in my pocket or pack.

No, no it is not pretty much useless, if you read and understand some of what I posted. I have been doing and teaching this for years. Alaska, New Mexico, Washington, Laos, Vietnam and elsewhere.

You are correct that when you get tired things can change but I covered that in my post.

If I'm in the mountains, counting paces isn't what I'm there for. I have better things to keep my attention. I'm not into running orientation courses.

Okie dokie, but neither was I, in Vietnam/Laos and elsewhere. I needed to know where we were located, and there are some pretty significant mountains there. Same same NM, Alaska , WA. etc. Sometimes a somewhat accurate pace count can get you pretty darn close.
If you want to win this argument, OK you win, I don't care, I am trying to help those that do not have the experience that I do.
I still do all this stuff ie tracking, SAR for private as well as Gov. endeavors, and teaching word of mouth students in the craft of survival, bushcraft, combat patrolling etc.

So, Rock Chuck you win, have a good day and try not to get lost, if you do someone will surely know your LPS.

I don't know anymore but if you can find a Tates brand brass compass from the early 1930's they are really a magnificent compass that was considered the gold standard.

Alas, by the late 30's the Tates company had been bought by another firm who had no experience in the fine machining required. Their quality fell and the models from the late 30's into the 40's were awful, despite still being really popular and selling well. The led to so many search and rescue expeditions back then the first responders had a saying.

"He who has a Tates is lost"

Try the veal and don't forget to tip your waiters.

Rock Chuck would have been one of those lieutenants where the platoon sergeant would have said "Lost again, LT?"

Yep

Don't count on that. I've spent 60 years in the Idaho mountains and I have a lot of compass and map time under my belt.

As I said you win, no need to comment any further. Navajo Way.

A compass isn't needed in the mountains, except by flatlanders who don't know the difference between a peak and a valley.

OK