A compass is a Go Bag essential, but it won’t do you squat if you don’t know how to use it, and chances are – you don’t.
Forget more completed orienteering type “map” compasses, they are too complicated for the average user, and are designed for sophisticated navigation.
You just don’t want to get lost. A good simple camping style pocket compass can be your best friend in a survival situation, and requires no special skills to use.
Here’s how to use a basic compass.
- Hold the compass flat in the palm of your hand at chest level;
- Move your body around until the Red end of the needle, usually marked with an “N” lines up with the “N” on the face of the compass, now you know which way is North.
So long as you keep the red magnetic needle lined up with the “N” on the compass – you will always be able to get your bearings and know how to travel in any direction you wish. Some simple compasses also have a rotating clear bevel on top with a clear Lucite arrow. These are a good idea if you have never used a compass.
With such a compass, once you have identified North as above, and you want to travel east for example, turn the Lucite arrow so it lines up over the “E”, and head in that direction. Leave the arrow there as a reminder of the direction you want to move in, and every 100 paces or so, realign the red compass needle to the North,
to be sure you are moving in the desired direction.
Here are 2 videos that will show you how to do it the right way.
Last Word
Your Bug Out Bag is critically important, but only as a vital tool that will help you survive. Never forget that YOU are still your best and most ULTIMATE survival.
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View Comments (1)
I always figured the most important point about using a compass is to know which way you need to go BEFORE you get lost. If you wait until you think you are lost and THEN decide it's time for the map and compass, you're too late. Before you start out across that mile or so portage, check which direction you are going to be heading. If you don't know that first, finding north is of no help whatsoever. If you end up bushwhacking, at least you won't be wasting energy if you know where you are going.