GPS for hunting/hiking
1 - 16 of 16 Posts
Joined
·
6,833 Posts
I use a Garmin 680. They are pricey but I can add an SD card with backroad maps and load satellite maps on top of that. Pretty sweet. The satellite maps are downloaded on a Garmin subscription service and I can only load around 8 gig but that is plenty; just swap out old maps and lay in the ones for the area where you're headed. Mine snaps into a charging cradle on the dash of my SxS so I use it a lot for that as well as walking/hunting.
I get way out in the middle of nowhere so it is useful for me. If you stay closer to civilization, it would probably be overkill.
A decent GPS has become "must have" kit, IMHO.
I get way out in the middle of nowhere so it is useful for me. If you stay closer to civilization, it would probably be overkill.
A decent GPS has become "must have" kit, IMHO.
I carry a Garmin Trex 20 GPS whenever out in the woods. The screen is a little small but gets the job done. The GPS is useful to tag the location of likely game trails or fishing spots for later. I like to use a map of the area I'm in and a lensatic compass to keep track of where I am and then use the GPS to confirm my location. Always double check the battery before going out if you don't carry a map and compass.
Joined
·
1,974 Posts
I've been using them since the 1990's.
Ice fishing is so much nicer when you know EXACTLY what is going to be under that hole before you drill it because you fished that rock or brush pile all summer.
On the property line issues, better know how to read a map and remember a guy who OWNS the ground next to it PROBABLY knows where the property line is.
Ice fishing is so much nicer when you know EXACTLY what is going to be under that hole before you drill it because you fished that rock or brush pile all summer.
On the property line issues, better know how to read a map and remember a guy who OWNS the ground next to it PROBABLY knows where the property line is.
Joined
·
14,860 Posts
Don't know if you have a Smart Phone, but the 'On X' app cost ~$30 a year and the only equipment you need is your phone. It will do quite a bit of stuff. I purchased it this weekend while on my wife's family's land because I wasn't familiar with it. It's pretty nice, and tells you when you are leaving the property and whose property you're going onto...if you continue of course.
Joined
·
6,833 Posts
Good point. I also have "iHunter" on my iPhone. Don't know if it is available in the USofA but it is worth a multiple of what they charge for it. Topo, maps, my location, hunting season info and (optional) the names and contact info of property owners around me. Cell reception not required. Highly recommended.
Joined
·
1,974 Posts
Phones and GPS is no substitute for KNOWING where you are and what the legal property lines are.
Punch in my address and your GPS will take you straight up my neighbors driveway just like it knew where it was going. Then half way up there it will suddenly turn you straight across everyone's yard to MY driveway. I watch a couple Fed Ex trucks a week try to back down their driveway and backwards across the creek and back out on the road.
Punch in my address and your GPS will take you straight up my neighbors driveway just like it knew where it was going. Then half way up there it will suddenly turn you straight across everyone's yard to MY driveway. I watch a couple Fed Ex trucks a week try to back down their driveway and backwards across the creek and back out on the road.
Joined
·
3,993 Posts
I have onX on my phone and use it a little bit
Joined
·
3,109 Posts
I had a couple and recently bought a cheapo Garmin E10. They are simple but tell me what I need to know . I have a couple of the old Bushnell Backtrackers that I have used for a couple decades or more. They only tract 3 points, where your truck is, your home and your deer is down, or any 3 spots on the planet you select as you pass by them. Those three points work for 99% of my needs. In total darkness they give me directions to my truck and can find the same spot in the middle of the lake. The actual GPS of course records all the way points.
We hunt a wide open country the last 20 years or so with lots of hills and dunes, they all look alike in the dark and the roads are meandering 4 x 4 paths, usually to old oil rigs. We had a professional guide who hunted with us one year and got lost. He climbed the highest hill in the dark and walked about 10 miles to the nearest small town. He did not know which way back to the truck, his cell did not work, so our guys could not find him, "professional guide an outfitter from Colorado".
We had another member of our group get lost and walked about 4 miles the wrong way until we found him. We gave him one of the Bac trackers as a gift. Whatever works.
We hunt a wide open country the last 20 years or so with lots of hills and dunes, they all look alike in the dark and the roads are meandering 4 x 4 paths, usually to old oil rigs. We had a professional guide who hunted with us one year and got lost. He climbed the highest hill in the dark and walked about 10 miles to the nearest small town. He did not know which way back to the truck, his cell did not work, so our guys could not find him, "professional guide an outfitter from Colorado".
We had another member of our group get lost and walked about 4 miles the wrong way until we found him. We gave him one of the Bac trackers as a gift. Whatever works.
Joined
·
2,483 Posts
Save your money & down load one of the many hunting apps to your phone almost all of them have maps & a location feature. Some are free & work without service connection.
Joined
·
3,109 Posts
I have tried that and they are worthless to me. We camp and hunt in in a place in SW Oklahoma, one in the Oklahoma panhandle, one in NE New Mexico and several in Wyoming where there is no cell service of any type. In the wide open west you can go 20 miles on some stretches of state highway with no service.
When we travel by RV we take 3 cells, one ATT, one T mobile and one TracFone and still have lots of places with zero cell service. This last week we were trying to hook up cell cameras in NW Oklahoma and could not get any ATT signal. If you live close to major highways and cities they are fine. But for people who go off grid only satellite works.
We have figured a way to know if you will have cell service anywhere in the country. If you are within 40 miles of a Walmart, you are in a city or the suburbs, and will always have cell service. Once you get beyond about 40 miles from a Walmart, you can say you are off grid. LOL
Joined
·
4,051 Posts
I have a Garmin Etrex 30, had it for ages and love it. I use the basecamp thing on my laptop so I can up load the routes I've taken onto my topographical map. The maps is where the money went.. But, for what I use it for it's proven invaluable.
It was even better when I could overlay them onto google earth, but once I upgraded to earth pro I lost that
But I can use coordinates and see what's what.
It's gotten us out of the poop a few times, opened up possibilities with trails we might have found but proximity, hey that trail we followed last week? Yeah looking at my laptop - maps etc, there's a trail we use 20 feet through those trees or w/e.
Marking way points and finding them again etc.
it turned out to be the complete opposite to what I bought it for, the bread crumbs hansel and gretel thing to get out of being lost, instead it's sent me on journey of discovery and knowledge.
There's no substitute for having half a clue of where you actually are and I've never lost sight of that, I use my GPS along side that for sure.
It just saves a load of time.
It was even better when I could overlay them onto google earth, but once I upgraded to earth pro I lost that
But I can use coordinates and see what's what.
It's gotten us out of the poop a few times, opened up possibilities with trails we might have found but proximity, hey that trail we followed last week? Yeah looking at my laptop - maps etc, there's a trail we use 20 feet through those trees or w/e.
Marking way points and finding them again etc.
it turned out to be the complete opposite to what I bought it for, the bread crumbs hansel and gretel thing to get out of being lost, instead it's sent me on journey of discovery and knowledge.
There's no substitute for having half a clue of where you actually are and I've never lost sight of that, I use my GPS along side that for sure.
It just saves a load of time.
1 - 16 of 16 Posts
