I agree on the use of a compass, and even better when used with topo maps. And that has gotten much nicer with the advent of websites that allow you to print a topo map of a new area you haven't hunted without the need to order a map from USGS. But just using a compass and being able to walk the right direction to at least hit the road where you parked your truck can save miles of walking.
I actually carry two compasses, because there have been a few times in my life when I didn't want to believe it was pointing me in the right direction. There was one time though, when I got my gear out before hunting season, and found that one of my compasses somehow flipped, and North became South. Both compasses were in the same box, but not real close together, and the box hadn't been exposed to any strong magnetic fields that I knew of. Nothing man-made is as foolproof as the Sun or Polaris. Even extra batteries for the GPS won't help if you are hunting in Nowhere, North Dakota and Chinese hackers or solar flares disable our GPS satellites.
