This post is strictly HELPFUL CRITICISM and nothing more. It is not intended to offend anyone. Only to get you to thinking about what you have versus what you need. I am referring particularly to the area of NAVIGATION.

In looking over the contents of various kits, there is an impressive array of items. I am concerned about the LACK of navigation equipment. For example, I have seen a $300 knife, a $100 light, various high end lighters for firemaking, etc. In this same kit is a .98 cent button pin on compass which is just one step above nothing. No maps. No GPS. If you have headed for the wilderness to stay a spell, this cheap compass is going to tell you which way is North and nothing else. You can find North by locating Polaris, or the North star which never moves from it's position in the Northern sky about 30 or 40 degrees up between the Big Dipper and Cassiopea. So, I am SUGGESTING the following items be considered to have a well rounded survival kit.

First, a good compass. I carry two because sometimes I argue with one. Around my neck I carry the military tritium compass. They abound on eBay and can be had for $50 to $70. The tritium is a true glow in the dark substance and and does not have to be "charged" with a strong light. It is estimated the tritium will last about ten years. The same compass without the tritium is considerably cheaper but just as good otherwise.

My second compass is a Silva Ranger Type 15 which is a folding compass used for map reading. With it you can determine true North from magnetic North. In the central part of the US, declination is not as important as it is the further East or West you move where it can be off by as much as 25 degrees on the East or West coast. It has numerous other features for map reading and is a must if you are going to do any serious navigating.

Second, a good quality GPS. Make sure it is UTM capable. I'm not sure the cheaper ones have this feature. I have a Lowrance iFinder Hunt ($299) and the optional MapCreate program which comes with six CD's that cover the entire country ($100 more). These CD's have all the topo maps for the nation and can be loaded on your PC or laptop and then extracted to an MMC or SD card with the included card reader. Select the area you are interested in, create a map and download it onto an MMC or SD card and insert the card into a slot under the batteries in the GPS. Couple of thoughts on the GPS. In the map datums selection area, select NAD-27 to be compatible with the 7 1/2 minute topo maps. The default datum on my GPS is WGS-84. Don't be intimidated by all this datum stuff. Just do it and don't spend a lot of time trying to figure out why you did it. The GPS book spells it out in detail. Finally, go to the menu and select "UTM" instead of "Longitude/Latitude".

Third, obtain a USGS topo map (called quadrangles) to cover the area you intend to visit. These maps are available from the USGS as well as a number of private stores. Be sure and get a 7 1/2 minute map, scale 1:24000 which means that one inch on the map equals 2000 feet. A mile on the map is just over 2 5/8 inches or 2.64 inches. The map covers just under 30,000 acres. It is 5.5 miles wide East to West and 8.5 miles North to South. Each quadrangle is named for the most prominent feature or town on that quad. If your intended destination is near the border of the map, you will have to order the adjacent map also. Names of adjacent maps are printed around the four borders as well as at the four corners. USGS furnishes free index maps by state so you can select the map you want. The maps cost $6 each plus $5 shipping. You can buy one or fifty and the shipping is still just $5. They come rolled in a tube. Some people treat the map with commercially available map preservatives.

Finally, go to web page and purchase the booklet "Using Your GPS With the UTM Map Coordinating System". It costs $6 and comes with the all important plastic UTM grid overlay for the topo map. With this little grid, you can find your PRECISE location on the map in less than a minute using the UTM coordinates furnished by your GPS. Note that all topo maps have the UTM hash marks all around the borders in blue. Some of the newer maps have the grids drawn on the map. You can draw the grids yourself using the blue tick marks on the map. I have found that drawing EVERY OTHER ONE both vertically and horizontally suffices and doesn't clutter the map so much. I would suggest using a straight edge and a very fine point lead pencil to draw a faint line. Sharpen the pencil frequently. Don't be alarmed when you finish if the UTM lines are not exactly parallel to the borders of the map. This is correct and the way it should be.

I know all this sounds terribly complicated but it is actually quite simple. Rather than try to educate yourself from the manuals, I would suggest you find someone who is GPS literate and who understands UTM. In less than five minutes, you can be proficient in using the UTM grid on the map. Conversely, you can find a location on the map you wish to travel to, place the UTM grid over it, record the UTM figures and transfer them to your GPS as a waypoint to be navigated to. In time, you will develop CONFIDENCE and will be able to enter the biggest wilderness knowing where you are, where you want to go, how far it is there and how to return to where you started from.

Couple of other items unrelated to the above that I thought I would touch on briefly. First, there has been much discussion about what weapon to carry. As one poster so aptly stated, depends what you want to shoot! Considering everything, my choice is a Ruger .22 automatic pistol, stainless, with bull or target barrel. They are deadly accurate, fairly inexpensive and will meet most of your needs. I would recommend CCI ammunition over all the rest.
(BTW, be advised, stainless WILL rust).

And finally, (I'm about done) an item of equipment that I rarely see listed is some sort of AM/FM radio. Imagine you are sitting around your camp wondering if the gas cloud is moving your way, are the aliens nearby, etc. A simple radio would be desirable to stay informed. I have a small FM receiver that runs on coin cells. The radio, ear buds and an extra battery all fit in a 35mm film canister and the radio is very sensitive and tunes automatically like a scanning radio in a vehicle. A small NOAA weather monitor would also come in very handy.

This is a long post but one I think should be considered if you are serious about entering the wilderness for an extended period. I have some thoughts about short range communication radios but I'll save that for another day.

I welcome all comments, corrections and comments. Some of you military guys out there that are proficient in map reading sign on with your thoughts, etc. That's what this forum is for. Discussion. I don't pretend to know it all. Just enough to get by.

Regards to all,

Joe <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />