Brumble-Gum said:
Before entering a new area I research the areas by studying Google Earth and topo maps, remembering roads, rivers and property fences etc.
I try to keep creeks and gullies to one side, remember digging/tracks as I go. Having a 5000 also allows me to know when planes fly over, trucks and motorcycle shift their gears or mines use their radios if nearby. If worse comes to worse I have my mobile phone (turned off) in my battery pouch which has a compass app on it.
Nothing worse than being bush whacked and have to retrace your steps.
It is pretty useless pulling out a compass after you are lost if you do not have a map to reference it to a landmark.
As point 1
Where was your starting point N, S, E, W of your present location.
point 2
How far have you travelled and in which direction.
point 3
Where is your vehicle
Nobody is that good that they can just say over there. As Wal said good luck.
People that become lost in the bush, outback, plains that are found state that they will never do it again. THATS RIGHT NEVER GO OUT AGAIN
Data and stats confirm that they never do ever........The experience is enough to scare the crap out of them.
I travel the Macquarie marshs pig hunting on horse back......it is called the channel country..!
There are no roads, no fences, no tracks, no land marks........just marshs and channels.
it is an enormous
I carry maps, compass, Gps! Packet 20 batterys now.
have been doing it for 30 years.
No Gps then. I always knew that we would make it back safely to the horse float attached to the vehicle.
Why.........when we had finished hunting for the day just turn my horses head around drop the reins over his neck sit back lite a smoke and enjoy the journey back to the truck.
A fact the horse is the only animal on earth that will walk a straight line home or as straight as possible. In my case back to the float as he knew that is where his feed was.
3 different horses never failed me in 30 years.
Another fact humans will always walk in a circle never a straight line.......so there goes I will walk straight to the car theory.
We all have 1 leg a tad longer or 1 foot a tad bigger.
so back to navigation.......line the compass reading (bearing) up with a land mark walk to that land mark.
do the same again...line up compass to land mark walk to next land mark.......this is the only way a human can walk in a straight line for a long distance.
if you have to deviate due to a steep hill.......go at right angles counting your steps.......to come back on course after deviation.......turn in opposite direction counting steps again.
This will put you pretty well back on course.
this will only work if you know where you started from.
Triangulation if you know how to read a map will find your location by land marks.
Reverse triangulation also works well again if you know how to map read.
2 bearing marks to locate a landmark. Used to plot a course to a given location.
This is something I have a passion for as it is an art to plot a bearing on a map then just using a compass and map walk to that bearing using point to point navigation on arrival checking with your GPS and finding you are within 10 to 20 metres of that map bearing.
Then doing a different return bearing using map and compass and coming to the original starting point.
Easy to do with a GPS you say.......try it some time and get back to me.
Not a 100 metre but 10klm in both directions on foot.
cheers
TheSmithy.
I am never lost I always know that I am exactly where I am, it is the car or track that has lost itself from my memory & we will be having words when it finds my memory again. 
