How to use a compass in the forest: recommendations

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

In our time, when satellite navigation devices have become quite commonplace, it would seem that getting lost in the forest is almost impossible. However, in practice this is not the case. Every year, especially during the mushroom and berry picking season, EMERCOM employees have to search for missing people in various regions of Russia - not only citizens, but also those who consider the forest their home.

GPS-navigator is definitely a useful thing. But anything can happen in the forest: the battery has run out, dropped, broken, etc. Therefore, the simplest magnetic compass will come to the rescue. This is a device that has been known to mankind for more than one century. The main thing is to know how to use a compass in the forest.

The magnetic compass is the simplest but most reliable device. Its principle of operation is based on the interaction of the Earth's magnetic field and a magnetized needle, which, rotating around its axis, is always located along the magnetic field line.

In principle, the compass is easy to use. One has only to release the magnetic needle, and after a couple of seconds it has its blue end, which is usuallyresembles an arrowhead, turns to the north. The reverse end of the arrow (red) will point south. Accordingly, if you stand facing north, then the east will be to your right, and the west to your left. It should be remembered that near power lines or railways (as well as in areas of magnetic anomalies), compass readings may be distorted.

Anyone, regardless of gender or age, may well find themselves in a situation where they need to determine their location and direction of movement, and therefore knowing how to learn how to use a compass does not hurt anyone.

Checking device performance

When going to nature and repeating how to use the compass in the forest, you need to make sure that it is working. For this you need:

• Place the compass on a level surface.
• Let the arrow settle down.
• Bring any metal object to the compass to unbalance the needle, and then abruptly remove the object.
• Make sure the arrow returns to its original position. If this does not happen, you cannot use such a device.

How to use a compass in the field

Before heading into the forest:

• First of all, you should choose for yourself those landmarks that will help you find your way back in the future. In other words, you need to "attach" to the area.
• Linear objects (road, clearing, power lines, etc.) should be chosen as landmarks, from which you can go in any direction, butonly at right angles.
• After some distance from the landmark so that it is within line of sight, you need to turn around to face it, pick up the compass and release the arrow. After it stops rotating, turn the body of the device in a horizontal plane so that the arrow points with its blue end to the inscription "C" ("N"), and the red end to "S" ("S").
• On the compass scale, determine the direction in degrees to the selected landmark (you can do it visually or with the help of some object, say, a twig). This is the direction in which you will then need to return - it must be remembered. Now you can enter the forest in a direction that differs from the measured one by 180 degrees.

How to use a compass in the forest to return to a landmark:

• Turn the compass in your hands so that the conditional line of sight passes through the center of the compass and the given azimuth.
• Release the arrow and, rotating around its axis, make it coincide with the north-south direction.
• Move in the direction your gaze is directed.

In order not to get lost, it is best to periodically update the course of the route - both when moving into the forest and when leaving it.

Even if you know how to use a compass in the forest, you should follow a simple rule - before you go into an unfamiliar area, you need to think in advance how to get out of it. In no case should you deviate from the intendedroute. If this does happen, don't panic. You need to calmly understand the situation and make the right decision.