"bells and whistles" or valuable tools?

[Jason in Enid]

This is why GPS can take your hunting to the next level. 2 indian head cents found on seperate hunts. GPS mapping showed them close together, which lead to grid hunting the area. The result was 6 indians, 5 barbers (with a key date!), 1 seated dime and 2 barber quarters. Wondering a site is great when you don't know exactly where to hunt. If you can't connect the dots from multiple hunts, you could be missing a LOT!

 

[INSAYN]

Were you hunting in a blizzard?

 

[Jason in Enid]

????

 

[INSAYN]

It was just an observation, certainly not a dig on your post.

The pictures above look like a sideways snow storm.
Not sure if you intended for it to look like that to hide your hunting location or not. If so, smart move.

 

[Jason in Enid]

It was just an observation, certainly not a dig on your post.

The pictures above look like a sideways snow storm.
Not sure if you intended for it to look like that to hide your hunting location or not. If so, smart move.

I got it now!

What you are seeing in the pics is the find points plotted in Google Earth. The "sideways snowstorm" are farm field rows. I have the town map overlay but removed it for this pic.

 

[foreign object]

Shoot Jason they even out a clock on the darn thing! Lol

 

[Jason in Enid]

Shoot Jason they even out a clock on the darn thing! Lol

A clock?!?! where? LOL.

 

[trojdor]

Jason,
Yours is the first post I've seen to clearly explain a tangible advantage to using the GPS, not just as another added gimmick.

thanks,
mike

 

[Jason in Enid]

Jason,
Yours is the first post I've seen to clearly explain a tangible advantage to using the GPS, not just as another added gimmick.

thanks,
mike

That was my hope in posting this. Lots of people aren't really familiar with using GPS, except for maybe to drive to an address. Given the inherent inaccuracy of the GPS, it's not useful in all situations and especially not for really small places. Usage patterns change over time and the GPS can reveal spots that you should go back and re-hunt with different settings, different coils, etc.

 

[mcb613]

The GPS feature is awesome! Certainly under utilized by most, Im guessing. Below is how my buddy and I use it. He is the originator of this process. He posted this on the forum and was kinda poo poo'd by comments. Proves you can really lose out if making rash comments or decisions. Each color is a different hunt. Overlay is 1937 arial image. Same thing with Beers maps.

 

[mcb613]

Jason, I think I know your location by the spacing of the rows! I erased the road names on mine for same reason.

 

[Jason in Enid]

I thought about using the geohunt like that but never did. I think it would have helped me cover my areas more thoroughly, prevent overlaps and missed areas.

 

[mcb613]

Generally, yes. But the track is a little choppy, as I am meticulous in gridding. I guess its the sample rate. But still shows some patches.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Generally, yes. But the track is a little choppy, as I am meticulous in gridding. I guess its the sample rate. But still shows some patches.

I would be more apt to use to give me the general search area since I know I work a very tight pattern when I hunt. It could show me where my past worked areas were and I could know where to pick up next time.

One thing I have been very happy with, is that I can walk to the GPS point in the screen of a past dig and see the actual spot within a couple feet of where I'm standing. For these "low end" user GPS, it's plenty accurate enough.

 

[mcb613]

Would br nice to be able to see the grids on a screen. This would help with returning to end of last track. Do you add a findpoint to use for returning to end of last hunt? I dont use findpoints and not sure if uou can nav to them??? I guess my original statement of low use by other forum members is accurate based on the thread, unless they are busy trying to find our fields... have a good holiday and good luck out there!

 

[Jason in Enid]

LOL, that's why used a pic of a screen with nothing else, nothing to track!

I have used waypoints to mark where I left off on field hunts, especially when I haven't dug a target recently. I have also use waypoints to mark out the corners or a grid to mark off on my google earth map, but it was more of a pain than useful so I quit doing it.