Just wondering if any of you guys use anything other than your memory for keeping up with scouting trips?

I use a 3-ring binder with arieal photos of my places. I slide them in a plastic cover and then use sharpy markers of different colors to show what I have seen/heard. I'll keep marking it up as the season goes on to show kills, in-season scouting, etc.

Here's a sample map and the legend I use...





The "roosted gobbler" and "gobbling turkey" are different based on whether I think the gobbler was heard on the roost or on the ground. If you plot a gobbler as he gobbles on the ground over several days you just have to connect the dots! Like Bird Dog said, it's been so dry I haven't seen a turkey track in a while!

Do you really need to ask me this question??!!
You seen how pathological I am...and medication doesn't seem to do the trick.

Seriously, I use a similar approach and when you overlay year after year, trends become really obvious and almost predictable especially if the dirt you hunt has no significant changes (i.e. timbering, free roaming dogs, new farms construction, etc.)

Great post Freddy.

Freddy where are you getting the Aerial photos?? Google Earth?? Or some service like it?? I've just started playing around with Google Earth the freebie and noticed the photos are pretty outdated and grainy.. I was thinking about purchasing Google Earth Pro .. I hear it's better..

Just curious, as I would like to start something similar to what you guys are describing with my scouting.. right now it's all Memory and a few notes in my Hunting Diary..

Freddy, when someone else takes you huting to their places do you prepare a chart like this one you are showing us. Will you ever share it with the person who took you ? :>)

I knew your response Diablo!

WVBoy... most of these pics came from the county GIS websites. I have found them on terraserver/topozone in the past as well. The county GIS sites are great but the pictures are sometimes outdated as well but i just make notes of the differences.

GN... if you provide the map, I can add the colors. You get me turned around on those back roads down there.

Cool stuff Freddy, (notice that I'm spelling your name right now)
I'm still old school. I do keep a list of places that I can hunt. I have to, the older I get the more I FORGET and I would really hate to forget a good place.

barry

I can tell you from hunting with ol' Three Toes this fall that his maps are nothing short of amazing!

I do use the aerials and topo's, but haven't been marking them.....that's a good idea though that I think I'll put to practice.

That's a great idea. I use Tops and Aerieals to figure out how to legally (w/o trespassing) get to some spots where I have seen birds and to track further back in the Mnts if I need to, but never thought about marking spots on them. I have some weird areas that you have to take some pretty strange routes to get to efficiently AND legally. A good GPS works too.

Cool idea Freddy. I used to do that when I fished lakes all the time. I'd mark structure and flats etc, and kept a diary of the details of my trips.

I have been keeping a journal for hunting but hadn't thought of marking a map like that.

Thanks for the idea.

All the info for this spring is stored between the ears so that it can't mistakenly fall into the wrong hands. Fortunately it's already getting full up there!

-Eric

I think it's easy to see why Mr. McGuire is so successfull season after season.

I have been using topo's and aerials for a while now... but I never really got into detail like that with it. About the only thing I've done is marked different things I've noticed in the woods, that maybe wasn't on the map, that I wanted to make note of.

I believe I'll start doing something like this... great idea Freddy!