Compass & electronic calls = more walking

[burntmuch]

Did alittle walking in the woods this weekend. Had a electronic call in coat pocket that was really messing with my compass. I got a heavy left foot, So If I dont use a compass I ll walk in circle (Happened more than once) Well I was having A hard time getting my bearings so I started using compass more & after About 1/2 mile compass just wasnt making sense. So took compass out &set it on ground & compared it to GPS . They just wernt matching. Picked up compass & watched the needle dance as it passed my coat pocket. Little extra walking & an old lesson relearned.

[Glanceblamm]

burntmuch

I seem to remember an experment from those boyscout days that used all the members along with blindfolds and an open field. If one was right handed they tended to walk in a right hand circle while if you were left handed, the opposite was true!
The lesson learned was to favor your right foot (for a right hander) if you became lost and were trying to walk a straight line with no compass.

I do have a GPS unit and love it to pieces but consider the compass to be an esential backup. Thanks for the good tip on keeping it away from pockets, beltbuckles & such.

One thing I really like about using the GPS is my Delorme Street atlas software for the computer. Most everything is there to include topographical features in rural areas. I can easily find areas where a drainage may branch of into as many as five diff tributaries and pick a likely coordinate to cover all of them before even leaving the house when hunting those Coyotes.

[Siskiyou]

Does the electronic caller have a magnet in the speaker?

[burntmuch]

It must because the compass would spin untill south was pointed right at it

[Survivor]

All speakers have a magnet.  Some even have electrified magnets.  A lot of old organs have electro mag speakers in em.  Motors run on an electro magnet too.  If your walkman were on (inyour pocket)  the little drive motor might mess with it too.  Ever use trail markers?

[Glanceblamm]

I will use the GPS to create trail marks in the larger patches such as the 7000 acre Sangainoids but like to shoot a compass headings with no map for foot travel in general. (This might get me in trouble someday)...

The thing about the GPS is that it will work with No SATELLITE RECEPTION providing that you have a route programmed in and are at a known reference point. I will plot trail marks every 1/4 to 1/2 mile so it is not to hard to get back to the last reference just by backtracking and watching for noted landmarks in general. This is a great relief from the more tedious task of using maps, pencils, counted footsteps or a time frame, to navigate there and back.

I do get caught out in the dark often so this procedure may leave something to be desired as one is depending on an electronic unit that could quit working cause of batt's or other mishaps...specially when the fog rolls in on a dark night.
I do like Dan Boone's old saying...He claimed to have never been lost, but was once bewildered for three days!
I Hope That I Have Been In The Ballpark Concerning Your Trailmarker Question.
GB