Mossy Bloke
Member
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2002
- Messages
- 98
I've been doing all my hunting in some deep swamps recently away from the city. My problem is that I can't get very far from my truck for fear of having a hard time finding my way back. The area I'm hunting has thousands of acres of swamp land with small creeks, islands, mud bogs, etc with heavy tree cover. Basically, after 40 yards or so, my truck is completely out of sight and everything looks the same. So I was stuck with putting up orange markers every 20 or 30 yards to find my way back which turned out to be a real pain since I'm stalking.
So I finally broke down, went to Bass Pro, and bought a GPS. I've toyed with the idea for a couple of years now, but haven't really been able to justify spending that kind of money for something that I thought would turn out to be just an expensive electronic bragging piece. Boy was I wrong.
Bought a Garmin Etrex Vista, sat down with it for a while that night and figured out the basics.
I've been using it a little more each day as I got comfortable with it and trusting it more and more.
I love this thing. I get out of my truck and mark where it is. Then I walk anywhere I want to. I don't have to worry about mentally "marking" identifiable features any more. I'm able to walk over to that next bog now without having to backtrack to my original path, I just walk over there and then, if I see something else that looks good, I walk there too.
When I've gone as far as I want to, I can either follow my steps backwards to my truck (as I've always done in the past) which basically ensures that I'm not going to see anything since I just walked there...OR I can walk in a straight line back to my truck with the GPS telling me the exact direction I need to be facing to head back and the exact distance til I get there. So, if I've walked in a big semi circle, I can shoot a straight line to my exit point and hunt the whole way out. It's great!
I'm certainly not going to stake my life on this thing, but for hunting in some thick woods, it's the best purchase I've made yet.
Anyone else have some positive experiences with a GPS? Do you use it regularly? I can't see ever leaving the house without again right now.
So I finally broke down, went to Bass Pro, and bought a GPS. I've toyed with the idea for a couple of years now, but haven't really been able to justify spending that kind of money for something that I thought would turn out to be just an expensive electronic bragging piece. Boy was I wrong.
Bought a Garmin Etrex Vista, sat down with it for a while that night and figured out the basics.
I've been using it a little more each day as I got comfortable with it and trusting it more and more.
I love this thing. I get out of my truck and mark where it is. Then I walk anywhere I want to. I don't have to worry about mentally "marking" identifiable features any more. I'm able to walk over to that next bog now without having to backtrack to my original path, I just walk over there and then, if I see something else that looks good, I walk there too.
When I've gone as far as I want to, I can either follow my steps backwards to my truck (as I've always done in the past) which basically ensures that I'm not going to see anything since I just walked there...OR I can walk in a straight line back to my truck with the GPS telling me the exact direction I need to be facing to head back and the exact distance til I get there. So, if I've walked in a big semi circle, I can shoot a straight line to my exit point and hunt the whole way out. It's great!
I'm certainly not going to stake my life on this thing, but for hunting in some thick woods, it's the best purchase I've made yet.
Anyone else have some positive experiences with a GPS? Do you use it regularly? I can't see ever leaving the house without again right now.