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Early morning setups

1simplemann said:
What did we do before phone and GPS's? Technology today is amazing. It definitely has it's place. However I think it has become a crutch for some of the newer generation of today's hunters . It sounds like some people need to brush up on there woodsmanship skills. For years, I have entered and exited my trees without a head lamp. To this day, I could take you to trees I used to hunt on properties that I hunted 20-30 yrs ago. On the property that I currently hunt, we have 26 trees pre-set. None are "pinned" on my phone. One is a mile 1/2 from the truck. We walk right to all of them without the aid of a phone or a light. It's fairly easy to do. Your eyes have to acclimate to the dark. Then You just have to have recognizable landmarks to navigate throught the woods. A former hunting partner couldn't believe that I could take him right to his tree without ever turning on the light. With that being said, my eyes aren't what they were 20 years ago and I find myself using using a light more and more especially in tricky footing areas. I will say though that being able to give a "pin" to a new guest on my property would be pretty handy. They could walk right to "their" tree without me taking them to it. Also GPS is VERY handy in navigating the mountains while hunting elk. I use one all the time in the mountains now. However , for years we just navigated with a compass and common sense.
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Woodsmanship is disappearing. I agree with this. I still have spots I navigate to with nothing more than landmarks and pace count. Navigated out this year after shooting and quartering a buck via compass.

With that said, technology is nice, and very convenient (just got a new smart watch with gps and took and landscape maps preloaded) but will always have a compass.
 
I've had both but many of my settups are so close or near bedding that I want to be in there plenty of time before legal shooting light. This year NY changed legal shooting for big game from one half hour before sunrise to one half hour after sunset. So, I'm typically trying to get in even earlier.
 
I use OnX. If I find a new spot that I want to come back to I'll pin the tree and if it's not an 'easy' walk(I.e. there are thick patches or essential crossing points) I use the track function to map my walk out, or at least my walk back to the trail. Then I know where to cut off and can stay on the right course. Make sure the maps are all downloaded ahead of time. In my experience the pins are very accurate and have never given me issues finding the tree. It is important not too look at the phone too much to keep your night vision. Keep the brightness down and use it only when needed.
 
I’m a HuntStand tree tacker. I use both, but I just started this whole thing this year. I am scouting constantly and tacking trees I want to hunt from. I’ve just started going in and finding tress on my walk abouts and climbing one. Maybe another after a few hours m then maybe another depending on how it goes. It’s really neat to be able to hunt up 3 different trees in a day
 
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