Hunting districts, boundaries and personal property lines

[Unshaven2897]

It's getting to be that time again when people head out to get their trophies. If you are not a land owner:

- What's your best and favorite method to know where you are?
- What if there's no cell service?
- If you use GPS, how do you know where the boundaries are located on the device's map display?

There's some cool technology out there. Our county's web site has a pretty cool and detailed interactive GIS map including property lines. Unfortunately there is not an overlay with the hunting district(s). And more frustrating is that the cell coverage is pretty spotty.

 

[BearBio]

When I did my thesis in grad school, I used a Garmin GPS and a system called TOPO, which provided topographical maps. But, it required matching your handheld with your PC. Good old topo maps may be your best bet still. Old style Army training!

 

[Unshaven2897]

When I did my thesis in grad school, I used a Garmin GPS and a system called TOPO, which provided topographical maps. But, it required matching your handheld with your PC. Good old topo maps may be your best bet still. Old style Army training!

I have the Garmin Oregon 650 and have used TOPO of which you speak. My primary purpose was to locate and document the corner pins on 5 adjacent parcels for land management (and hunting) purposes. This Oregon 650 can access both GPS and GLONASS satellites simultaneously so I expected the more the better for accuracy. Hmm. I found that only a few pins had never been placed and fortunately they were on internal corners. But as far as accuracy, instead of 'Not seeing forest for the trees' ended up being not seeing satellites for the trees' was the bigger issue. Then walking a lines per the GPS between pins and flagging trees was not even close to straight. And the TOPO software wasn't at all friendly to use. Then trying add the County's ERSI interactive mapping service boundary lines to TOPO was a hair pulling experience. In the end I gained a real respect for the physical endurance and equipment that professional surveyor's have!

Since I wrote the OP I researched three different apps to use with the my phone's GPS (it's far off grid with no cell signal so the area can be downloaded beforehand). In the end I settled on Huntstand as the price with a discount promo code along with individual parcel boundaries was included along with access to the whole US vs a state by state purchase of data. So next up I will head out to compare the few surveyor Lat/Lon coordinates I have on file along with the Garmin and Huntstand on a Pixel 7a to see how it all compares. There are a few ways to calibrate the phone GPS also. Another thing is to compare 'tracks' as I walk a few sample trails and exactly back again and compare the routes afterward. It's one thing to place a GPS directly on a pin and wait several minutes for accuracy vs actually moving. There's a lot of rattlers out at this time of the season .

Any of y'all do any GPS mapping?

 

[BearBio]

I have the Garmin Oregon 650 and have used TOPO of which you speak. My primary purpose was to locate and document the corner pins on 5 adjacent parcels for land management (and hunting) purposes. This Oregon 650 can access both GPS and GLONASS satellites simultaneously so I expected the more the better for accuracy. Hmm. I found that only a few pins had never been placed and fortunately they were on internal corners. But as far as accuracy, instead of 'Not seeing forest for the trees' ended up being not seeing satellites for the trees' was the bigger issue. Then walking a lines per the GPS between pins and flagging trees was not even close to straight. And the TOPO software wasn't at all friendly to use. Then trying add the County's ERSI interactive mapping service boundary lines to TOPO was a hair pulling experience. In the end I gained a real respect for the physical endurance and equipment that professional surveyor's have!

Since I wrote the OP I researched three different apps to use with the my phone's GPS (it's far off grid with no cell signal so the area can be downloaded beforehand). In the end I settled on Huntstand as the price with a discount promo code along with individual parcel boundaries was included along with access to the whole US vs a state by state purchase of data. So next up I will head out to compare the few surveyor Lat/Lon coordinates I have on file along with the Garmin and Huntstand on a Pixel 7a to see how it all compares. There are a few ways to calibrate the phone GPS also. Another thing is to compare 'tracks' as I walk a few sample trails and exactly back again and compare the routes afterward. It's one thing to place a GPS directly on a pin and wait several minutes for accuracy vs actually moving. There's a lot of rattlers out at this time of the season .

Any of y'all do any GPS mapping?

If it counts, I mapped black bear home ranges for my thesis to determine habitat use and size. Mapped 95% use and 60% use for comparison with other studies. I was looking home range size, diet, and habitat use of "urban bears" on the perimeter of Los Angeles. Anyone interested in my results can "PM" me and I'll send the link to my thesis.