How many hunters use a GPS while their hunting? Well I know I use mine all the time, even when I'm not hunting! When I go out somewhere that I haven't ventured to before, my trusty GPS goes with me. My GPS is the one most important things that I make sure I have when I go hunting, hiking or quading. A GPS can make or break a good day in the bush or anywhere for that matter.
I currently own a Garmin GPSMAP76 handheld and I find that it is one of the best investments I have made for my outdoor trips. This item was money well spent in my books, because all my hunting buddies had a GPS first and I was amazed how good they worked. Even years back when they first came out, the "old" ones worked good. Then as they got better, I seen how much better they worked and said to myself, time to invest in one! When I bought this one, it was the top of the line at the time after researching them. I'm going to upgrade eventually but the GPSMAP76 works great right now for me. Guess it's just keeping up with technology that keeps coming out! I'll still keep this one in my outdoor bag, because it never let me down.
When you start out on that new trail, just create a waypoint and the GPS start's leaving the "breadcrumb" trail. As you keep on moving and going to where you want to go, just keep making a waypoint to keep track where you have gone. You can name these waypoints to anything you want, to make it more easy to look at later instead of having all numbers for waypoints. I'll name them like, "truck" for the starting point and say I run into a creek, mark the next waypoint "creek" and so on. Another great feature is the compass but only works on the MAP76 when your moving so don't relie on it for that! The trip meter keeps track of your time while travelling, odometer, average speed, distance travelled and more.
Another great feature is say your really out in the bush and think you might not be able to find your way back to your starting point, just go to your tracks in the menu and hit "tracback" and the GPS will show you the correct way to get back to your starting point. It will tell you if your off track and say you have to go around a bush, it will still show the direction you need to go and correct itself when your back on track. Mind you hopefully you have a signal and you are picking up satellites because sometimes under heavy bush you can lose your signal. The downfall of some older models but the new ones have better reception and antennas.
I know that I'll never leave home without my GPS when I'm off in the bush hunting or on my bike exploring new territory. Or even exploring future hunting or quading areas in my truck for that matter! The GPS is one of the most important tools I take along outdoors now, along with my trusty compass.....can't leave that at home now can you! Backup is always important, have to be prepared at all times you know....what happens if your GPS batteries run out!!
I currently own a Garmin GPSMAP76 handheld and I find that it is one of the best investments I have made for my outdoor trips. This item was money well spent in my books, because all my hunting buddies had a GPS first and I was amazed how good they worked. Even years back when they first came out, the "old" ones worked good. Then as they got better, I seen how much better they worked and said to myself, time to invest in one! When I bought this one, it was the top of the line at the time after researching them. I'm going to upgrade eventually but the GPSMAP76 works great right now for me. Guess it's just keeping up with technology that keeps coming out! I'll still keep this one in my outdoor bag, because it never let me down.
When you start out on that new trail, just create a waypoint and the GPS start's leaving the "breadcrumb" trail. As you keep on moving and going to where you want to go, just keep making a waypoint to keep track where you have gone. You can name these waypoints to anything you want, to make it more easy to look at later instead of having all numbers for waypoints. I'll name them like, "truck" for the starting point and say I run into a creek, mark the next waypoint "creek" and so on. Another great feature is the compass but only works on the MAP76 when your moving so don't relie on it for that! The trip meter keeps track of your time while travelling, odometer, average speed, distance travelled and more.
Another great feature is say your really out in the bush and think you might not be able to find your way back to your starting point, just go to your tracks in the menu and hit "tracback" and the GPS will show you the correct way to get back to your starting point. It will tell you if your off track and say you have to go around a bush, it will still show the direction you need to go and correct itself when your back on track. Mind you hopefully you have a signal and you are picking up satellites because sometimes under heavy bush you can lose your signal. The downfall of some older models but the new ones have better reception and antennas.
I know that I'll never leave home without my GPS when I'm off in the bush hunting or on my bike exploring new territory. Or even exploring future hunting or quading areas in my truck for that matter! The GPS is one of the most important tools I take along outdoors now, along with my trusty compass.....can't leave that at home now can you! Backup is always important, have to be prepared at all times you know....what happens if your GPS batteries run out!!