quote:

Originally posted by H5:
I suppose it saves those that tend to rely upon them from learning the skills, I often wonder how they would cope if the thing packed up at that crucial moment when you needed it most. As they always inevitably do sooner or later.

I tend to agree..But on the particular hunt mentioned people are issued specially marked up aerial photos, and the more experienced folks supplement that with relevant sections of the 1:25,000 OS topomap and perhaps a GPS..

Obviously as your local knowledge of the ground increases, these navigation aids become less important..

I still have old faithfull, (a silva) & a whistle taped inside my first aid belt!

Sounds like you have it all under control Steve!

I suspect that in most of the UK if you have a vague idea where you are and a compass then you can probably get yourself out. It may not be fun but most people walking off the beaten track in the UK are probably no more than 5 miles from a track or road at any given time and they could probably hit that road using just their compass and common sense.

In saying that I know of a chap who was fishing a loch, that he knew well, in the Hebrides one evening and who made the mistake of trying to get back to his car by heading down the easterly side of the hill on which the loch sat. The problem was that he had climbed up the westerly side to get to the loch. It was some days later before he finally made it out onto the next road over and was "rescued." The loch was about about a mile from where his car was parked and the application of a compass and some thought would have saved him a very unpleasant experience.

As an aside I've been using hand held GPS since they first became available at the sort of money mere mortals could afford and I've never had one fail on me. The older units just gave you a grid ref so you needed the map and compass anyhow but I do love the new mapping units, especially on the blanket bog of Lewis which is rolling and featureless and so requires a lot of concentration with the map. With the GPS the workload is next to zero and I get to see a lot more :-)

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:

quote:

Originally posted by H5:
I suppose it saves those that tend to rely upon them from learning the skills, I often wonder how they would cope if the thing packed up at that crucial moment when you needed it most. As they always inevitably do sooner or later.

I tend to agree..But on the particular hunt mentioned people are issued specially marked up aerial photos, and the more experienced folks supplement that with relevant sections of the 1:25,000 OS topomap and perhaps a GPS..

Obviously as your local knowledge of the ground increases, these navigation aids become less important..

I take you are referring to the often mention BASC stalking scheme on Arran.

I have read many conflicting reports on the said scheme as well as had a number of 1-2-1 conversations with some of the stalkers who have tried their luck there.

Not wishing to stir up the inevitable hornets nest I'll not comment further.

Dear Aitch, I think you'll find we're all worker bee's in here, no sting attached Steve.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Latham:
Dear Aitch, I think you'll find we're all worker bee's in here, no sting attached Steve.

Steve

I believe that very few species of bees have no sting, and none of those are native to europe.

But thanks for the welcome.

1. Gortex
2. Tree Stand
3. Zip saw
3.5 Range finder ...O.K. I cheated