Who uses a GPS when going for elk?

[Elkhunter]

Even though I hunt the same area, same piece of timber for 6 years now. I still take along my GPS and use it religiously. I always mark where the horse it tied up, everyday. It has helped me find the shortest way to my elk on several occasions now. The timber I hunt is very rolling ground with lots of deadfall and most every knoll looks just like the next one. It has also helped me to find the quickest and shortes way back to the horse more than once. I use it deer hunting and elk hunting both. I have never had a problem in the canopy geting a signal, just took a little longer to get the signal.

 

[BuzzH]

I use one for the same reason elkhunter, finding the shortest way back to a kill site. I never used one up until a few years ago. I also use it to verify land ownerships after I locate them on the map, probably saved me a confrontation or two with a landowner.

 

[twolfd3]

never leave camp without mine. i know the country i hunt well but you never know when you may have to track an animal and get caught in the dark in unfamiliar territory

 

[A-con]

I started useing one last year, and I love it.
Saves lots of time and bootleather. Finding kill sites, finding my way back to camp, marking good looking spots in the daytime, then hikeing right to them defore dawn.
I also carry a compass just in case, and a few extra battires.

 

[FLIPPER]

Never been elk hunting......so.....nope


But deer hunting here I don't need one. We don't have the big wilderness areas here like you do.

Cherokee National Forest is only 300,000 acres, so don't have a use for one.

 

[Elkhunter]

Very good point Annaconda on the batteries. I also carry 4 extra batteries in case mine go dead on me. The shoe leather the GPS saves is incredible.

Flipper, I never thought about one until we had to go out for the horses one day and my buddy marked the kill site on his GPS. It got us to the horses a lot faster than we would have gotten to them on our own after wondering around in the timbered hell for 3 hours and then right back to the kill site. It turned out we were only 1/2 mile from the horses. I just hope the day never comes when I have to call 911 and tell them my coordinates to to get me. The bad thing about hunting alone.

 

[FEW]

I use mine all the time, even when Im not going too far. I got lost archery hunting in the Kaibab for a whole day no water no warm clothes nothin and it all started with me shooting a buck only a few hundred yards from the road. I found him a few hundred yards later and decided to take a "short cut" back to the road since I was dragging a deer. Well that was about 630 am and I didnt see my truck or water again until about 530 pm it had hailed half the day and the other half was sunny and I was sweating my ass off. Anyways I love mine and it comes in handy all the time, especially finding dead chit...

 

[Tom]

I have a cheap one that didn't match the topomaps when I got it, in elevation anyway. This year, a friend told me where he saw a bear at a pond during his elk hunt. I went back to that spot, using the GPS and there was the pond. The bear didn't have a chance of me being at the wrong pond with that thing.

 

[Kidney]

I use mine a lot with topo-zone.com, a web page. I can find a spring, ridge, etc. on topozone and it gives me the exact coordinates with the cursor. I plug those into the gps and hike right too some pretty isolated areas. It has helped me find some small two track turns offs in the dark before, when I had not been into the area before.

 

[ELKCHSR]

I just got one...and what a lot of difference it makes...Especially with the way some of these timber patches go on for miles and it all looks the same...Set up an incognito camp in one of these and see how many times you walk by it before finally stumbling across it...I also have some antique treasures that I have found and couldn't have packed them out while hunting...So I can go back in the off season and score on them....
It also helps when finding wallows. You don't have to polute the whole area walking around, looking for it...I think it will also help finding my tree stands in dark..Since I like to hide them good...

 

[Elkhunter]

Well they have proven to be a well worth item many a time now and it goes where I go.

 

[Shaky]

I have never owned one, still don't. Where I deer hunt, back home, if I get lost I just went blind. The woods here are a mile long, at the widest and "maybe" 1/2 mile wide. The ground is as flat as a pancake. If anybody gets lost here they should take up knitting and stay home, lol.
I have been hunting the same farm for over 20 years now. If I don't know that farm by now, I never will.

I can see where a GPS would be very usefull out west. On my recent trip to CO a lot of the hunters had and used one.

I will invest in one for future hunts out west. Now for the question: Which one is a good one? Hope I didn't open up a huge can of worms there.

Have a good one,

Don

 

[ELKCHSR]

I use this little camo clad "Etrex". Walmart has them for fairly cheap. The bright yellow ones would be harder to lose though. You set this one down and it don't matter how well you have your waypoint set, it will probably be gone..

 

[Elkhunter]

The one that I have and have never had a problem with and am very happy with is the Garmin 12

This GPS receiver utilizes a 12 parallel-channel receiver for quick satellite acquisition. 500 waypoints and 20 reversible routes of up to 30 waypoints each make it easy to store all your travels. TracBack™ function, plus orienteering features like position averaging and UTM and user grid formats keep you on course. Built in antenna for quick satellite acquisition. Requires four AA batteries (not included).

Garmin GPS 12 Item: XC-221936
Price: $144.99
Cabela's