Compass Basics – What Survivalists Should Make Sure They Know

map and compass

It is always good to know the direction you are heading – whether you are hiking, on a road trip or lost somewhere (in the woods, at sea, etc.)

Directional bearings give you a sense of where you are headed, even if it is only in a general sense.

In a survival situation, they allow you to fixate on landmarks as well as ensure that you are headed generally towards safety.

The last thing you want to do is spend hours walking in the wrong direction, particularly if you are lost in a wilderness setting.

Not only is it a waste of time, in some cases, it can make your rescue much less likely and in the worst case, remove any realistic chance you have to get to safety.

That means you need to know how to read a compass and you have to have the right type of compass to read!

On the next page, we cover compass basics.

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One Comment;

  1. Joshuwa Proctor said:

    Can I make a special note here? A compass is next-to useless if you don’t know where you’re at to begin with. If you don’t know the area/region that you’re in, and don’t have familiarity with the terrain, all having a compass does is tell you where N, S, E and W are; not where civilization is. If you’re going to grab a compass for bug out purposes, please consider getting maps that can go along with it. Maps of roadways in your areas of travel and topo maps of where you plan to bug out.

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