Lost in the Bush - Which way is North?

Last November I was hunting with my brother-in-law Ty.  It was reaching the end of the week of our controlled hunt and we did not see a single deer.  Instead of doing what we normally do, which was go to our strategically placed tree stands, Ty went to his stand and I was voted to what we call push the bush.  This means I would go off into the bush and circle around trying to stir up some deer and funnel them to Ty. My secondary objective was also to scout the area as we only knew a small part of the bush.

I knew the truck was parked due north so I started off walking due south with the truck to my back.  The tree stands were about 1km to the west of me.   I went in about 1.5km walking toward the sun and decided to turn to my right which would make me facing west.  I lost sight of the sun as the trees were tall and I started to realize I was getting disoriented.  When I checked my compass it was showing me facing east but I thought I was heading west.  I started to not trust my compass.  As it was November it can get a bit chilly out there. I wear camo mitts/gloves meaning the mitt portion of my fingers can be flipped up so I can use my trigger finger.  So not to make noise the mitts use magnets to keep the finger portion to stay folded back.  I thought my compass came into contact with these magnets, therefore magnetizing the needle. What starts to happen, and a possible sign of panic, is that the bush starts to close in on you. The last thing I needed was to be in a panic situation.

I tried to back track but when you are deep in the woods it all starts to look the same, especially when the sun starts to go below the tree tops. It gets pretty dark. It is not easy to walk a straight line in the bush. There are plenty of obstacles that get in your way so it is easier than it seems to go off course.  Not trusting my compass I decided to stayed put. This gave me an opportunity to check out what my options were.  What I needed was to determine what direction was north.  That was the direction of the road and the truck.

The sun was starting to set lower in the sky so I had to start to think quick.  It was getting too late to do the shadow stick method so I remembered that I could use my analog watch and the sun as a compass.   I went to a small clearing so I could see the sun and pointed the hour hand toward it.  The distance between 12 noon and the hour hand roughly points due south. I now knew what direction I had to head in - north.  I headed in the direction my watch indicated as north. I kept checking periodically with the sun and my watch to make sure I was still headed in the right direction.  I started to hear the odd vehicle driving in the distance in front of me so I knew I was getting closer to the road which was a good sign. After walking a short distance later the tree formations started to look very familiar. As I was looking up into the trees I saw Ty sitting up in the tree stand. It was a good feeling.

All that pushing the bush produced no deer but I did see plenty of signs of them in there. It is always a good idea to mentally know at least one point of reference and direction. For me it was knowing the truck and the road were due north. I always carry a compass with me. Now I carry two in case one fails, but I was also able to find direction using other methods such as my watch and the sun. It is always good to know at least two ways to do the same thing. BE PREPARED!

See you out there!