Want to teach myself land nav skills

AllaSnackbah

AllaSnackbah

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I remember some tidbits from scouts as a kid but I want to brush up on my basic land navigation skills. I'm wondering if anybody has some tips on good methods.

I am going to need to pick up a compass and protractor I guess, lost all my old stuff. I was thinking of having some topo maps of my location and some state forests around me to practice on but I dont know what scale or style to get (whatever .mil uses) and where to get them. Any advice is appreciated.
 
I picked up a Silva Ranger CL after taking the Map and Compass class put on by the Fish & Wildlife folks. The baseplate style is nice for drawing lines on maps and so on. Some diehards love the .mil style compasses and I'm sure they're also great, but I learned on a baseplate and I find it intuitive. Plus I don't need extra straight edges or protractors; everything you need is on the compass (except the map itself, obviously). The Ranger uses a split mirror so you shoot a sight line similar to how you'd use the .mil style.

Come to think of it, check out the Compass thread for some places to make your own maps. I like caltopo, and MA has a surprisingly nice tool called OLIVER.

If you have an opportunity to take the class put on by Mass F&W, it's definitely worth it. I was surprised to learn what items on a map are to scale (large buildings, locations of power poles, e.g.) and what's not (small buildings).
 
Maxvelocity dot com. Forum or blog , recent primer on land Nav from a former UK Para regiment officer. Most useful post ever on land Nav. Well worth the time to read. Includes links to sites that carry topo maps as well.

Edit ad add/correct : maxvelocitytactical.com
 
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Scale depends on the map and make sure you are using the correct part of the protractor.

The map will give you the distance scale to measure straight and curved distance. Remember you can use the protractor to measure short distances.

You will also need a known distance so you can find your pace for that distance, usually 100 meters, and a way to keep track of the distance you travel. Pace count beads.

Remember it is not an exact science. Research way points and back stops. Bring a big ziplock bag for your map.
 
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AllaSnackbah said:
I remember some tidbits from scouts as a kid but I want to brush up on my basic land navigation skills. I'm wondering if anybody has some tips on good methods.

I am going to need to pick up a compass and protractor I guess, lost all my old stuff. I was thinking of having some topo maps of my location and some state forests around me to practice on but I dont know what scale or style to get (whatever .mil uses) and where to get them. Any advice is appreciated.
Click to expand...

I like these maps. I have not bought in quite a while but they were very good for topo's.
http://www.delorme.com/mapstore/

topo's: http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10742&minisite=10020

ETA that they also have some type of business relationship with REI if you are a member.
 
I have the Silva Ranger & the Suunto MC-2 - both are fine instruments.
As mentioned already, take some classes. Find a few friends who are interested, and practice with them.
Also, practice somewhere that you know well, or that you can easily find your way out from, in case, well, you know. [wink]
 
jefftk said:
The Suunto MC-2 is what one of the instructors recommended when I took the MassWildlife Map & Compass course
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FEUCRW/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Looks pretty similar to the Silva Ranger.

I also recommend taking the Map & Compass course from Masswildlife if you can.
Click to expand...

The compasses that work all over the world are neat. It never occurred to me until I watched a video on them that if you're in the southern hemisphere "our" compasses want to point through the center of the earth toward the north pole. I suppose that's also the case in places in the northern hemisphere as well, since magnetic north is somewhere in Canada. Fortunately, all compasses work in #Merica.
 
Kevin Estela of Estela Wilderness Education is a great instructor and mentor for this kind of stuff. He often does classes through NH, MA, and CT, I'd recommend trying to catch up with one of those classes if possible.
 
whacko said:
Every Soldier learns this inside and out.

https://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-25-26.pdf
Click to expand...

LOL some learn better than others. I remember joining the ROTC cadets (I was being recruited) and one of the cadets was teaching map reading and was doing it wrong. Instead of embarrassing him I stepped back and informed one of the cadre who stepped in and straightened him out.
 
I would find an Orienteering event. Lots of fun and they will usually rent you a compass for a buck or two.

There's also cross country ski and night orienteering.
 
AllaSnackbah said:
I remember some tidbits from scouts as a kid but I want to brush up on my basic land navigation skills. I'm wondering if anybody has some tips on good methods.

I am going to need to pick up a compass and protractor I guess, lost all my old stuff. I was thinking of having some topo maps of my location and some state forests around me to practice on but I dont know what scale or style to get (whatever .mil uses) and where to get them. Any advice is appreciated.
Click to expand...

I can help you learn how to navigate using MGRS, local map / compass and protractor. All you need is your backyard with few trees and or a location of your choice. I have few extra protractors laying around and we can use either a mil/cammenga compass or regular. I have few of them laying around too.
 
REI and AMC both offer 1-day bushwhacking and orienteering classes. These are good because they'll cover more than just map and compass: they often include basic survival skills like first aid, shelter, 10 essentials, etc. My wife and I have taken both, highly recommend them. Both accept non-members for classes, but discount for members.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 
PennyPincher said:
LOL some learn better than others. I remember joining the ROTC cadets (I was being recruited) and one of the cadets was teaching map reading and was doing it wrong. Instead of embarrassing him I stepped back and informed one of the cadre who stepped in and straightened him out.
Click to expand...


Spent plenty of time on the Fort Benning, and Fort McClellan land nav courses. As an enlisted man......NCO....and officer. I always found night land nav to be easier than day.......makes you bury your head in that compass to stay on point for me anyway. I always did very well. At officer candidate school about 30% of the candidates failed and got the one way ticket to Fort Home of Record! LOL. Some of them amazed me that they could not walk a straight line on an azimuth even after telling them to shoot a point.....walk to it.....shoot another point.....repeat. It really is not all that hard........it just gets in some people's heads and they get all ****ed up!
 
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whacko said:
//At officer candidate school about 30% of the candidates failed and got the one way ticket to Fort Home of Record! //
Click to expand...
The number in my class was much smaller - maybe a dozen - and people didn't get sent home: they got sent to the enlisted or NCO ranks. NCO's from admin MOS's actually seemed to do the worst.

When I took the OCS land nav course I screwed up the time (in my head) and thought we had 30 minutes less than we actually did. So I came sprinting up the road to the final checkpoint because I thought I only had three minutes, not 33.

Ranger Land Nav was a whole 'nuther thang. Don't remember that many people failing the day or night tests because a lot of people prepped. But the RI's would walk up to you randomly during a patrol and ask you where you were on the map. If you weren't right within 100 meters, you got docked and might even fail the patrol.
 
garandman said:
The number in my class was much smaller - maybe a dozen - and people didn't get sent home: they got sent to the enlisted or NCO ranks. NCO's from admin MOS's actually seemed to do the worst.

When I took the OCS land nav course I screwed up the time (in my head) and thought we had 30 minutes less than we actually did. So I came sprinting up the road to the final checkpoint because I thought I only had three minutes, not 33.

Ranger Land Nav was a whole 'nuther thang. Don't remember that many people failing the day or night tests because a lot of people prepped. But the RI's would walk up to you randomly during a patrol and ask you where you were on the map. If you weren't right within 100 meters, you got docked and might even fail the patrol.
Click to expand...
one of the other platoons in ocs lost a candidate because he was ahead of schedule on the night portion. Dude thought hed take an hour nap....leaned against a tree and set his little wrist watch alarm.....yup slept through it. Tac officers had to look for him when he never showed up at the cp. biggest kick in the junk was he had all his points right!!!!! Sent his ass home!
 

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