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Mapping Waypoints and Attaching Photos

gcr0003

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31B85D31-8F53-4589-97FC-D046BE4695CA.pngI use OnX primarily despite being generally displeased by their quality or age of their satelite images (save that for another thread). When I’m scouting I’ll typically have to pull out my phone, pull up the app, mark my the location, edit the location, change the waypoint to the appropriate symbol and preferred color. Often times I’ll even add a photo of the sign, rub, scrape, scat, acorns etc. that I see. The whole thing is a pretty lengthy process each time but I like being able to look back at the waypoints and be able to recall what I was seeing. When scouting new areas I have even started making waypoints that have the photo symbol and I’ll just attach a zoomed out or pano photo of that area so I know what it looks like before deciding to come back.

I’m curious how many of y’all are fooling with tying a photo to your waypoints? How do you use photos to help you? Are you like me and the photos end up just being nice to look at and reference in the following years?

As much time as I spend marking locations while scouting, it is not very often that I have used those waypoints very successfully to plan a hunt. It’s always in my mind to but other factors come into play once I’m back in the area, and I usually end up hunting something else. I also I think I get to scouting and dropping pins all over the place and then I have analysis paralysis trying to decide where I want to hunt. I’ve been timid with my hunting in the past and I’m trying to be a little more aggressive when I find fresh sign. That is, find it and hunt it that same day if not same week. I’ve returned plenty of time to spots that I’ve scouted earlier on just to find that they don’t really have enough sign to support hunting it.

I’m returning to an area that I haven’t hunted hard in a couple years and I’m trying to have a few spots pick out to hunt before opener next week. I’m going to go scouting again today and look back through my waypoints and notes to see what might be worth hitting. I’m also trying to pick out the exact tree I’m going to hunt out of for each location. This is also a simple task that I’ve always had trouble deciding on.

Last year I got a Garmin instinct watch and I enjoyed using the hunt activity to drop waypoints that could be viewed instantly on the explore app or be transferred later to OnX. It eliminated me having to grab for my phone every hundred steps, and it’s a lot quicker, but then there are no photos. I’m debating how I want to proceed scouting in the future. Are photos even necessary?
 
Waypoints taken on my Garmin watch and viewed on the Garmin Explore app seem to have higher fidelity topo and newer satellite images, or at least winter satellite images which are more helpful at since that’s a huge portion of when I’ll be hunting. So it is nice to see the way points on the explore app sometimes. OnX seems to have summer satellite photos only of the areas I hunt, so it’s hard to use it to tell where pines patches are, for example.DA780B36-8A12-484D-837B-536CC788B182.jpegBD686EB5-0B11-4F76-BE62-48E4AFEEAEF1.jpeg
 
I've started using the photo option frequently. I think the most helpful thing is using the tracking feature during preseason scouting and walking deer trails. Really helps using that and seeing how they navigate topo features. I like using the photo option primarily when I'm marking what I think will be good trees to climb. Snap a zoomed out pic of the tree and what the surrounding area looks like. I also use it if I see a big rub, scrape, or certain types of pinch points. I'll usually do a morning hunt and then spend a couple hours if unsuccessful trying to scout. Being able to quickly mark waypoints and add pics to them makes it so I can review a bigger picture type deal later on when I have more time to really soak in the information.
 
I've thought about adding photos, but haven't. Normally I just either name it with a descriptor or add details in notes section of the waypoint. So if I choose a droppings waypoint, I just name it "fresh" or "old" or "recent" or something. I will use them when going back to an area, either as a place to Check first, or as a place to hunt depending on when I added the waypoint
 
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I too use it quite a bit taking pictures of deer beds, scrapes and rubs. I find it particularly helpful if I have a certain tree I want to be in and want to pick it out from a little ways off for a clean approach. The issue I have with it is the pics don't always show unless I go to edit a waypoint.

-Dan
 
I use it quite often as well. I also take pics of potential setup trees.
 
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As much time as I spend marking locations while scouting, it is not very often that I have used those waypoints very successfully to plan a hunt. It’s always in my mind to but other factors come into play once I’m back in the area, and I usually end up hunting something else. I also I think I get to scouting and dropping pins all over the place and then I have analysis paralysis trying to decide where I want to hunt.
I went through this. Now I only mark deer sightings.

My map is cleaner and I kill more deer. Most sign gets left at night anyway and doesn't tell you anything about what deer are doing during hunting hours. But a map full of years of daylight deer sightings and harvests starts to tell you things about daylight deer activity.
 
I went through this. Now I only mark deer sightings.

My map is cleaner and I kill more deer. Most sign gets left at night anyway and doesn't tell you anything about what deer are doing during hunting hours. But a map full of years of daylight deer sightings and harvests starts to tell you things about daylight deer activity.
What about bumping deer? Do you mark time of day, number of deer or anything like that or just a deer icon? The other day scouting I bumped about 10 deer at 2 and 3 deer at a time. I just dropped a pin each time I saw one.

This makes me want to go back and add pins to everywhere I can remember seeing or shooting deer. For some reason I had the not so bright idea to purge some of my pins from my first couple years of hunting and I regret that. I didn’t lose much data, but still.
 
What about bumping deer? Do you mark time of day, number of deer or anything like that or just a deer icon? The other day scouting I bumped about 10 deer at 2 and 3 deer at a time. I just dropped a pin each time I saw one.

This makes me want to go back and add pins to everywhere I can remember seeing or shooting deer. For some reason I had the not so bright idea to purge some of my pins from my first couple years of hunting and I regret that. I didn’t lose much data, but still.
Yeah, most of your daylight deer sightings are bumped deer. That's incredibly valuable information. You just found where deer hang out or travel through during daylight. Mark it!

I use huntstand, and it lets you drop a buck or doe sighting icon. It automatically saves the time you dropped the mark. I mark all deer as does unless I positively ID antlers. I put how many deer I saw (or a best guess) and that's it.

A lot of deer I only hear. I still mark them as sightings and put the pin as close to where I heard them blow/run.

I now only pay attention to super-hot sign. Trees with wet droppings, rubs on trees hat still have green and damp bark, or scrapes that smell fresh. I'll hunt that immediately. Otherwise, I'm looking for deer or hunting in areas where I've seen lots of deer during the daytime. I don't give a tinker's dam about old rubs, old treestands, tracks in the road, etc. I "cut out the middle man" and go straight for what we're really looking for...deer.
 
Yeah, most of your daylight deer sightings are bumped deer. That's incredibly valuable information. You just found where deer hang out or travel through during daylight. Mark it!

I use huntstand, and it lets you drop a buck or doe sighting icon. It automatically saves the time you dropped the mark. I mark all deer as does unless I positively ID antlers. I put how many deer I saw (or a best guess) and that's it.

A lot of deer I only hear. I still mark them as sightings and put the pin as close to where I heard them blow/run.

I now only pay attention to super-hot sign. Trees with wet droppings, rubs on trees hat still have green and damp bark, or scrapes that smell fresh. I'll hunt that immediately. Otherwise, I'm looking for deer or hunting in areas where I've seen lots of deer during the daytime. I don't give a tinker's dam about old rubs, old treestands, tracks in the road, etc. I "cut out the middle man" and go straight for what we're really looking for...deer.
I’ve been trying to lean more on my deer bump sightings as I still struggle with pin pointing sign. That was kind of my logic as well. If I walk until I bump deer during the day, then there are good odds that that is where the deer are during the day, considering that that is where they were during the day I bumped them. I’ve marked lots of deer preseason scouting as well as from previous season sightings, we will see how it turns out.
 
I use pictures for many of the reasons
Listed above. I also use it for marking other hunters stands so that I can look back and see if it’s been repositioned the next time I pass it. So many stands get abandoned I like to know if anyone is still coming back to the area.


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