I always have a compass on me and a map, not always a super detailed map but none the less a map. I take 2 compasses with me, a pin on ball compass that is hooked to my shirt or coat by my left shoulder and one packed away. The ball compass I look at for a quick reference so I don’t have to power up the GPS so much.


But since getting a Garman GPS 5-years ago it has taken over the place of a compass & map for doing any navigating. I still have a good idea where I am at without it, but it’s nice to know exactly where things (myself included) are. A GPS just does so many nice things that a compass can’t.

When hunting fox at night I can tag my van’s location along a corn field row, I can tag good hunting spots and come back to them months later. While fox hunting I tag any woodchuck holes I see for future varmint hunting spots. I can backtrack to any trail I walked. Night navigation with a GPS is wonderful.