Aerial maps

[Eric Gregg]

I was just looking at a Google Earth map of my hunting spot. I have pulled it up online many times before and it looks like they have updated the pics.
How many of you have used this to look at your land and the surrounding geography to get a better understanding of the terrain and possible hot spots around you?

[paboxcall]

Use it a lot, helps me keep up with the clear cutting going on in the state forests I hunt spring and fall.  I find they update those satellite images pretty regularly, and the time line is a nice feature allowing you to go back to see what the ridges looked like years prior.

[FullChoke]

I use them all the time. They help me get a perspective on layout, distances, tree makeup, and ways to sneak in from a direction he wasn't expecting. It helps make ground-truthing a much easier task.

[mightyjoeyoung]

I use maps on my phone all the time, especially if I'm in a newer area and I need to get an idea of the terrain between me and a bird in order to best set up, move in or back out and swing around to set up.  Most of the areas I hunt though I could find my way around i the pitch black and know the terrain like the back of my hand.  It amazes some guys I take when I tell them "those birds are going there and there taking this route" and sure enough we get right back on em. 

[old frank]

I use it all the time for deer and turkey hunting.

I mark interesting places on my GPS and go home and mark them on Google Earth. It really gives you the big picture.
I also do it in reverse by finding places on Google earth that look like a good spot and I load it to my GPS and then walk in and check it out.
Saves a lot of gas and boot leather especially when learning a new area.

[FullChoke]

Everyone in the free world probably already knows this about Google Earth, but there is a historical image slider feature on the top toolbar. It allows you to go back and check aerials of a particular spot that were taken in past years to follow any changes. Some of them were taken in the winter so that the difference between pines and deciduous trees is rather clear. Great scouting tool.

[old frank]

No, I didn't know that one. It is pretty neat as I went back to my friends land where I hunt and I could see it when nothing was done and then advance it back to where it is now with all the improvements we made..

[jakesdad]

I printed off pics as big as I could of my normal stomping grounds then cut them out and taped them together to make a roughly 14" x 14" map that I carry in my truck.Even though I know the area very well,it never hurts to look things over to check out new ways to get around when im chasin birds.