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I have three daughters, two of which hunt with me. The first time I took them hunting, I declared that there would be no electronic devices allowed on our hunt. This was a time for bonding, not texting; observing nature, not pinning new shoes; and certainly the only Angry Birds I wanted to see were turkeys being shot.
How quickly I’ve changed my tune. I’m a huge believer in spending 80% of my time scouting (preparing would be another description) and 20% of my time hunting. This comes partially from being a guide, since people pay me to scout for them, but it is also essential in my personal hunting life. I love to simply be outdoors, but I also want to be successful on those few occasions I get to actually hunt. Technology has become an invaluable tool for the 80%.
Last spring, a family getaway forced me to be out of town on the opening day of spring turkey season. Rather than miss opening morning, I decided to try a public land hunt near the town we were visiting. I had never hunted this area before. Within a few hours following my decision, using technology at my finger tips, I had located an online map of the public hunting area (US Corp of Engineers website), identified the game biologist for the county (Wildlife Department’s website), and reviewed aerial photos of the place I wanted to hunt (Google Earth). The biologist gave me some insight as to the bird population but, equally important, where the hunting pressure would be. The following morning, using the GPS and maps on my phone, I was able to find the exact place that I had selected to hunt on the aerial photos, even though I had come in from a very difficult access point in order to avoid the crowds. At 7:20 a.m. I had two toms working their way towards me and by 7:30 the bigger of the two was lying dead next to my decoy. By 7:40 I had texted my wife with a picture of my success.
I’m officially converted! I’m a techno-hunter now. All of these tools are readily available with a simple smart phone. So, I’ve changed the rules for future hunts with my daughters. But know this: just because I have my smart phone with me, I’m probably not going to answer a call—that’s the reason I went hunting in the first place, and I still can’t stand Angry Birds unless they’re flogging my decoy.
Nice summary, I am anxious for the day that GPS units become obsolete. I used Backcountry Navigator Pro on my Samsung Galaxy S III this year hunting in Montana on land I had not hunted before. Between the large high resolution screen, ability to toggle between satellite and USGS 24k Topo, and lightweight slim design I was a happy hunter.
I imagine that in a couple of years, if not sooner a company like Hunting GPS or other hunting specific GPS/Map company will have their full product lines available on the Android and or Apple platforms…..if not they’re going to miss the boat as standalone GPS units go the way of the Dodo bird.
I used basically the same methods this past spring, but for different reasons… When I applied for my MN spring turkey license, either I told the kid at the register the wrong zone, or he typed it in wrong, either way, I eneded up in a zone with significantly less tags and success rate. I called the local DNR office to get some information. The gentlemen pointed me to some public land and noted bird release sites. After scouting on google earth and the mn Dnr website (the recreation compass shows all public lands: wma’s, wpa’s, state lands, forests, and federal as well), I narrowed down the list. When I arrived mid-afternoon, I scouted/walked 4 wpa’s, found one that looked to have been burned off the previous year, all fresh green vegetation bordered by a lake to the east, hard woods south and west, and farms/residential to north. I was just scouting for a place to set my ground blind to now hunt the next day, but after hitting the call the first time, a distant gobble gobble. It took 1.5 hours to locate them, and light was fading fast. I sprinted to the back corner of the property to find a back 40 section marked physically, but not on the map. Hit the call again, they were close. Ducked into a brush pile, hit the call again, and 4 toms sprinted in. I drew my bead on the largest and whack, season done. Probably 10 hours of research, 3-4 foot to ground, a call to someone with knowledge of the area, and got my first Tom opening evening with 10 minutes of shooting time. By downloading pdf’s and screenshots of the area on my phone, I knew the terrain. The unmapped section was a bonus, for me and my dinner table.
I forgot to mention, by downloading the maps and cacheing them to my phone, I saved precious battery power to take and send pictures of the Tom, and call my dad from the spot of the kill. He had been with me on all my previous (2) turkey hunts that both netted Jakes. I had to let him know I could do it on my own, even if I was in what was to both of us uncharted territory.
congrats. on your sucessful hunt.the only question i have for you is at what point do we draw the line.technology is rapidly taking the place of skills we all needed to be sucessful hunters.
Paws…..great question! There is no replacement for woodsmanship and the other skills you refer to. But here’s a thought. The iconic Jim Bridger, famous today for his trapping skills and survival skills, used a .40 caliber muzzleloader throughout his years in the Rockies. Had he been offered the opportunity to use the latest technology of the era, a new repeating rifle (available towards the end of his career), would he have embraced the efficiency and effectiveness of the new tool? If he did, would that have made him any less of a mountain man? I also imagine he would have gladly embraced the use of conibear traps after running lines of less effective foot hold traps on blustery cold winter days in the mountains. Both tools would have changed how Jim lived but they would not have replaced the necessity for his own skills. I think technology and skill are not mutually exclusive. I’d like to think my skills make me less reliant on technology but that technology can make me a more skillful hunter.
I would agree 100% ,the fact of the matter is this was their lively hood in some cases their very life depended on the tools they had.this is generally not the case any more hunting is a recreation and a great privilage now not a neccessity . I do not know you and therefore would never assume to judge your hunting skills itwas just food for thought.Take a stroll through your local sporting goods store and look at all the bullshit they sell to make hunting and fishing easier .If this doesn’t make someone afraid where this sport is headed then maybe it is to late to turn back.
This is an interesting question and I can see several sides to it. I would venture to say that there are many technologies that so many of us use that we don’t think about them in those terms, like the repeating rifle already mentioned, along with warm clothes and good boots, among other things. Other technology items obviously do replace traditional skills. My GPS keeps me from getting lost in spite of my shortcomings in land navigation and my rangefinder compensates for my lack of skill in range estimating. And I’m glad of them. I wouldn’t go into the field without them.
But I would put the technologies mentioned in the original post in a different category. They helped the hunter to see things from a distance that he could not have done otherwise. But he still had to use his hunting skills to identify specific habitat, the burn area, that was likely to hold birds. And he still had to use the same old skills of stalking, calling, and shooting, to bag it.
I’ll take it a step further and argue that, in my case, technology has enabled me to acquire skills that I may not have acquired otherwise. I became serious about hunting in my 40′s and I had no human mentor to show me the ropes. So I learned much of what I know through technology, such as books, the internet, and TV. Moreover, hunting access is poor and game is scarce where I live. So the technologies that enable me to travel to hunt and to find game in areas that are too far away for me to scout in person also enabled me to learn things that are difficult to learn in the absence of game, like spotting the game, getting into position for a shot without spooking the animals, and even the coolness at the moment of truth that is necessary to making a good shot.
Finally, there is hunter recruitment. Obviously, our sport depends on it. And modern technology makes hunting accessible to people to whom it would not be otherwise, and lowers barriers that many newcomers might find too daunting.
All that notwithstanding, I agree that hunting is supposed to be challenging and if it gets too easy it loses its essence. And I still hate ATVs.