Navigation through blizzard/whiteout conditions

[Desk Jockey]

Setting aside the weather hazard and potential fall hazards it is a lot like moving at night. GPS is your friend if it works. If you need to go old school then terrain association is only as good as you visibility but you can get some sense (am I going up hill or downhill). Also techniques like hand railing, back stops and attack points become important with no visibility.

 

[SoDaky]

Maybe 20 years ago we hunted a 10,000 ft 'flat' area in Colorado.Always camped in a heavily forested area.Thankfully pre GPS we had the habit of stringing a series of orange surveyors tape out about 100 yds in each direction to aid in finding camp after dark.That just may have saved us one night in a raging blizzard.
In the days of map/compass,I think the average hunter had a great deal more 'situational awareness' than now.Suspect damn few now would(could) navigate that way.The ability to do so,and the need to do so,IMO,created the situational awareness of terrain and other skills that saved a lot of people.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Always a real compass, backed by GPS

 

[ArrowForester]

Lots of lessons in Stuie88’s tale.
Good advice from everyone about navigation and the wise decision to sometimes not navigate.
It’s a good question that we all should think about.

 

[5MilesBack]

Back in the 80's when we had real winter weather most every elk rifle season, I used to keep a pair of ski goggles in my pack. And I'd end up using them most years because of blizzard conditions. I've had to hunker down in tree wells to try and wait out the storm as well. Nothing like a blizzard with 30mph winds in single digit temps or worse.

 

[Rich M]

I think, I'd tuck up under a pine tree, set up my tarp, light a small fire and nod off for a while in white-out conditions. It doesn't seem like you'll see any game and you might not see something important that could lead to injury.

Goggles are a good idea - I carry glasses for windy conditions.

 

[Fatcamp]

Two weeks ago during a blizzard here GPS sent a couple kids past their destination and into a ditch down from our place. No coats or hats.

They kept saying, "The GPS said it was down this road.!?"

GPS, compass, and map if in an unknown area. Most importantly I am always keeping track of where I am and how I intend to get back. I never just haul ass and figure it out later.

 

[Gulfgoose]

Our big thing here is navigating a boat in the dark or fog. A GPS is nice but a compass never lets you down. Just remember to take things slowly. When people get into a rush is when mistakes are made. If you don't feel comfortable moving, wait it out. As you're moving through an area always have it in the back of your mind as to where you are and how to get back. 90% of the time your gut is right. Made the mistake of not listening to my gut, once, and spent half the night lost in the turkey woods. I knew we should have gone left at the bush....

 

[ChrisS]

Two ball compasses plus a regular compass. I icefish in an area that is subject to sudden bursts of lake effect snow. It's not fun navigating back to the shore in a white out with a GPS and a dying/dead battery. But I know if I go south, I'll hit shore. Some folks got turned around a few weeks ago and were wandering around the lake for a while.

 

[jmez]

Our big thing here is navigating a boat in the dark or fog. A GPS is nice but a compass never lets you down. Just remember to take things slowly. When people get into a rush is when mistakes are made. If you don't feel comfortable moving, wait it out. As you're moving through an area always have it in the back of your mind as to where you are and how to get back. 90% of the time your gut is right. Made the mistake of not listening to my gut, once, and spent half the night lost in the turkey woods. I knew we should have gone left at the bush....

Ah yes the Tejas fog. I've been on a 50,000 acre lake in the fog in Texas.

 

[Bubblehide]

Thanks for all the comments so far, may seem like a silly question to some guys but being a new Backcountry hunter I'm just trying to better myself.

The only silly questions are the unasked ones. Remember, ignorance is bliss, and bliss will get you dead quicker than most anything.

 

[Bubblehide]

Well in reference to the 2nd and 3rd post sounds like I've been doing it wrong I'll need to carry couple miles of rope with me and to make sure I have magic dust as well

I am pretty sure the rope post was referencing just how serious such conditions were taken at that point in time. In such conditions the winds are also really blowing and hypothermia doesn't take long to set in, and once you're under its spell, your time is running out. No different than navigating underwater under such conditions with a limited air supply. I got paid for that underwater navigation, if you can call it pay. I was really good at it, not because I got paid for it, but because lives depended on getting it wright (pun intended), including my own. My point here is that such cases of limited visibility are not the conditions to be testing your skills or taking chances. Back in my day, I simply did not have a choice. I was young and well, a risk taker (another way of saying to stupid to know better). Sometimes it was a blast, other times, well you know. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything, but I sure as hell would the injuries. But hell I have no complaints.

But, if every stuck out in such conditions, whatever you do, keep your head and think through your situation, making decisions that corresponds to the highest possibility of survival, generally meaning finding a suitable place to stay put and ride it out.

 

[DenverCountryBoy]

If the weather is thick enough, GPS might not be able to get a signal.

Dead reckoning is a good skill to learn for those conditions. Use a map and compass to figure out your azimuth. Pick something in that direction and move to it. Take another reading and pick another object in the direction of travel. Repeat. Keep track of your paces for approximate distance.

Or hunker down and wait for it to clear.