GPS's are down right turkey killing tools.

[SpitNDrumN]

     I grew up hunting every kind of game I could hunt in Virginia. We had rabbit beagles and hunted rabbits in the off season between deer and spring gobbler seasons. I've always had Bluetick coon hounds and up until the last two years I hardly ever missed a night and was always feeding one or two fine coon hounds. My passion is Spring gobbler hunting and a very close second is Fall rutting Whitetails. I squirrel hunted all through early fall. Night time predator calling for grey foxes. You couldn't get me off a trout or native stream in between all of that.

     I knew the land that hunted or so I thought I did. I knew I was never lost. I've been turned around many times but I always knew if I walked down hill with in a hour or two I would eventually hit a road and come out to a house or something somewhere. For years I coon hunted my dogs with out tracking collars. I did it the old way. I didn't have the money for a tracking system or tracking collars I was just a kid. When the dog or dogs ran a coon over a ridge or a mountain and went out of hearing; I'd get to the last place I heard them from and go from there. I never once really thought I needed a gps. I never really cared for one or thought I ever would until Garmin came out with Astro dog tracking system 6,7,8 years ago or how ever long its been.

     I had to have one. I knew that would be the ticket to keeping up with dogs. So I saved my money up and bought one and two tracking collars. I began using it anytime I went into the woods. I started marking everything I could by the names of the ridges, holloars, low places and any land mark by which I knew it by.

     Then the first Spring gobbler season rolled around that I got to use it in and boy did I see the light. Even in ground that I knew like the back of my hand I began to see its advantages. And then when I went out of state turkey hunting in Kentucky I really saw the light. I was hunting ground I'd never seen before or stepped foot on like I had been hunting it my whole life. I knew where my truck was, where I was, where I was going, and where I had been.

     Then I discovered how deadly it was for locating turkeys. For exmaple if I was standing on a high spot listening for a gobbler to strike up. I'd look at a certain point or direction. The gps has a arrow which is "you" and as you turn it the arrow which is "you" will turn the direction in which the gps is pointing. So when I would call and lets say 12 o'clock is straight ahead and a gobbler gobbled from 4 oclock I'd spin the gps and myself to the direction the gobble came from. Then I could see the ground and how it lays in the direction of the gobble. If it was muffled and there is no leaves on the trees then I knew he was in a hole or hollar or down off a ridge. If it was a clear gobble I knew he was on top of something. I can look at the ground on my gps and almost always pin point exactly where the gobbler is. I would then mark the spot where I thought where the gobble came from then start closing the distance.

     With that mark I can measure the distance I am to where the gobbler is and by that I know when I can keep covering ground in a hurry or to slow down and start listening. And it helps me not call when I moving in on a bird. Once i get within a 150-200 yards from the mark I get set up best I can facemask and gloves on and then I call.

     And it saves me so much time and takes the guess work out. Once I get his position marked I can look at the ridge tops and see which one takes me right to him besides cutting hollers straight in the direction of the gobble; you can just look and see which ridge tops to follow to take you to the gobbler. Keeps you from cutting hollows and walking up and down up and down. For example the area I hunt in Kentucky is similar in some ways but very different in many ways than the ground and mountains run here at home. Here at home the mountains run in veins. Straight is what I'm trying to say. The tops of the big mountains run in one direction so if you walk up hill you simply walk down hill and you'll come back out to where you went in or close to it. But the area in Kentucky that I hunt the ridges; well ridges is what I call them because the mountains there are like ridges at home as far as in size. But in that area of Kentucky they switch back and forth and zig zag and seem to never run in the same direction and everything looks the same. So without a gps and not knowing the land you think you are walking back to the truck but really you're not sure if you are or not.

     The first year me and my dad hunted in Kentucky I had a my gps and my dad didn't have one because like me before he thought he didn't need. We split up to cover more ground because there was gobblers gobbling in all different directions. We split and about a hour later I dumped a big ole Ky gobbler. I called my Dad and said " I just dumped one; you got one yet?" He said "No, I think I been walking around the same tree for the last hour" I started laughing and he started cussing and he said "I ain't been lost in my life; I've been turned around but never lost and I be da**ed I feel like I'm lost" Lol. Before the next spring gobbler season he bought a gps.

Also while spring gobbler hunting around home gobblers will drag you into ground you really wouldn't have any reason to travel through and sometimes I'll find a good deer stand. I mark it and go back to it in the fall and I have killed several bucks due to gobbler hunting and being able to mark that location and walk back to it in the morning in the dark several months later and walk right to that very spot with out missing a beat or thinking twice.

In a nut shell I don't do any thing in the outdoors without my gps. And it has been my main number one deadly tool in killing out of state birds in ground I've never even seen before and saves me time even in ground I already know at home. Alot of people use them now days but there is still a bunch of guys that still think "I don't need one of those things." just like I used to think but now I don't do anything with out it.

[drenalinld]

I use a GPS app in iphone or sometimes my Garmin Oregon 450. It has helped me kill many. I like hunting without it also. Sometimes it just feels like cheating.

[savduck]

I haven't ever used to it kill one, except to mark a roosted bird and get back to him the next morning. I don't have the card that shows terrain yet. One thing is for sure, Ive never been lost after killing one and having to head back to the boat or truck. Our swamps will turn you around when they have high water or when the sun starts to go down.

So far Ive found the Garmin CS60 and 62 series to be my favorite. Their satellite seems to lock in and stay locked in underneath the thick swamp canopy.

[guesswho]

As far as using it as an aid to kill birds I'm one of those guy's that still know I don't need one of those things, even on new ground.  That being said I carry one on new ground just in case I need help in getting back to my vehicle after the hunt.   I see it more as insurance than I do a hunting tool.  But I can see where people would use them in their pursuit. 

[SpitNDrumN]

It's hard for me to explain how I use it. If you could see how I have figured these things out for hunting gobblers. If you could see it first hand I believe you would step back and say ah ha I see what your taking about now. I'm not looking at my gps the whole time. I may never even pull out and look at it at all just depends on what ground I'm hunting.

For example you can't say you've never heard a gobble but wasn't sure where it came from you just know you heard it in that direction. Point it in the direction you think the gobble came from the. Ask yourself was it a clear gobble or muffled. If it was clear you know he is on higher ground to be able to hear it clearly. If was muffled he's down over something or down in a Hollar. Look at the terrain on you gps and you can quickly guess and mark where he is at based on the sound of the gobble. Then look at what ridge top or the easiest and fastest route there is to get in the area of that gobble. There is no wasted steps this way. I'm closing ground on him fast after I have him pin pointed. I'm not stopping and listening to check his position I'm just covering ground fast until I get with a couple hundred yards of where I marked him then I slow down and check on his gobble and get set up.

That being said it's still hard to explain just how I use. Around home when I here a gobble I know where he is. But knew ground is where this tactic shines more so in steep choppie ridges than anything.

[drenalinld]

I understand totally. Layered over satellite imagery you can pinpoint gobblers much easier and good approaches as well as likely places they want to go. As I said though, it takes some of the excitement and anticipation out for me

[guesswho]

Look at the terrain on you gps and you can quickly guess and mark where he is at based on the sound of the gobble. Then look at what ridge top or the easiest and fastest route there is to get in the area of that gobble. There is no wasted steps this way. I'm closing ground on him fast after I have him pin pointed. I'm not stopping and listening to check his position I'm just covering ground fast until I get with a couple hundred yards of where I marked him then I slow down and check on his gobble and get set up.

I understand fully why someone would use it and don't fault them for it.  There's really no hurry up in my hunting and I'm never in a big hurry to get to where he's at.  I start out slow and than slow down from there.  So using a GPS for anything other than getting from point B to point A for me is of no benefit.  Another issue I have with electronic gadgets is my A.D.D.  I could look at it for about 30 seconds then I'm off on another outbound  train. 

[SpitNDrumN]

I was simply stating that they are great tools for turkey hunting. There is a very neat and effective way to use them for turkeys in mountains terrain that I have figure out which saves you time and wasted steps. I was just sharing the info and I now I am getting bombed because if it.

[drenalinld]

Sorry, I did not mean it that way. It's just a tool I didn't like using. Don't blame you or anyone else for using them, they can save tons of time and help understand a gobblers location quickly.

[guesswho]

I was simply stating that they are great tools for turkey hunting. There is a very neat and effective way to use them for turkeys in mountains terrain that I have figure out which saves you time and wasted steps. I was just sharing the info and I now I am getting bombed because if it.

Bombed?  Nah, nothing like that on this end.  No ill intent intended.

[SpitNDrumN]

No worries. Sorry.

[firstflight111]

Just an FYI you can do it on a smart phone and see sat photos .

[Twowithone]

Got a DeLorme and still trying to figure it out. The nephew is good on his.

[silvestris]

Always used a Topo map and compass, so I don't think having the Topo Maps app on my iPhone is any different than what I have been doing for 40 years.  It allows me to hunt without wondering where I am.  Just pull out the phone and I become the dot.  Great for deciding that gobbler I hear should be hunted on another day and from a different approach in both hill country and swamps.

[alclark2]

I use sat photos to identify habitat on unfamiliar public land. It's treated me good so far.


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