E-Scouting, Garmin Base Camp, ONX and water....

[Brad Daniel]

We drew elk tags in the Land of Enchantment for unit 13. I've been looking over the ONX maps using Basecamp looking for water sources. ONX shows potential water sources very well with numerous springs and ponds shown.

Basecamp has a handy feature in that you can take the current portion of the map you are looking at and have it go to Google Earth. Here begins the problems, a very large portion of the listed springs and ponds are empty and dried up.

Anyone have any suggestions for finding actual sources that will ease up on the required miles of burnt boot leather? Not looking for anyones specific spots but is there a better method to E-Scout water?

 

[Bowhunter60]

I've run into the same issue. Having only found trying to obtain intel through those who've been there or are there to be really reliable.

 

[Big Fin]

Make sure your image dates are during the period you will be hunting. I can go to the monsoon states of the Southwest and if I use image dates of May, almost all the water sources are dry. When I change to image dates of September, after two good months of monsoon, most all the tanks show water.

 

[windymtnman]

I've also been faked out by ponds on quadrangle maps that are dried up while in the field. I had looked at that area on Google Earth, however it was a Winter satellite image, so I assumed I was looking at ice. So, perhaps you can use the historical image feature of Google, and see if there's been water in the ponds other years, or if they are just dried up for good?

 

[Brad Daniel]

Can one change image dates on Google Earth? I see... Just learned how to do historical imaging. Thank You

 

[dcopas78]

One of the services I pay for is gpshuntfish.com. I have found it extremely useful. It has both Bing imagery, Google earth and various other map formats as well as property ownership and forest road statuses. I mark up all the water sources that I can find. Some are listed on the USGS topo maps and others aren't. I look for the ones that aren't by going over the aerial maps very tediously. As Randy mentioned, try to make sure the imagery date is as close as possible to your hunt dates. It takes a lot of time to find them, but I want to make the most of my hunt when I get there. I actually enjoy it.

If I screw up, it won't be because I wasn't prepared. I can transfer these points (manually) to my gps and have all of them at hands reach. I also mark potential glassing points, campsites, and areas of closed roads. I also print out sections of aerials (with the water holes marked) on write-in-the-rain waterproof paper. I'm a nerd when it comes to being ready. My wife laughs because I plan summer vacations in November I'm a bit obsessive-compulsive about it.

 

[Bowhunter60]

Make sure your image dates are during the period you will be hunting. I can go to the monsoon states of the Southwest and if I use image dates of May, almost all the water sources are dry. When I change to image dates of September, after two good months of monsoon, most all the tanks show water.

Randy,

How do you obtain the different image dates?

 

[neffa3]

There a button on the top ribbon in GE (looks like a clock with a back arrow) that let's you go back through all the images they have for that location. There are two dates, one on the scale bar that lets you adjust the date, and one down in the lower right next to the lat/long. They often are not the same, and I have found they can both be wrong (but are mostly right). I have used this function to assess hunter density to help plan locations when I'm not able to scout during a prior season.

If you really want to get detailed the USGS hosts a lot of historical aerial imagery you can download for free, it's a bit of a pain to find and download but you can often get a better spread of dates and hopefully find some from the time of year your season is.

 

[Don K]

Having hunted in 13 just a bit of advice is don't totally rely on water. I was there a week ahead of the hunt, located great water and Bulls using the water. Then a monsoon came and threw all of that out the window. Locating water is great but make sure you have other plans in case you get rained on.

 

[Bowhunter60]

There a button on the top ribbon in GE (looks like a clock with a back arrow) that let's you go back through all the images they have for that location. There are two dates, one on the scale bar that lets you adjust the date, and one down in the lower right next to the lat/long. They often are not the same, and I have found they can both be wrong (but are mostly right). I have used this function to assess hunter density to help plan locations when I'm not able to scout during a prior season.

If you really want to get detailed the USGS hosts a lot of historical aerial imagery you can download for free, it's a bit of a pain to find and download but you can often get a better spread of dates and hopefully find some from the time of year your season is.

Thank You! I had no idea that existed. I'm scanning through my hunt locations now.