Using a Handheld GPS for Deer Hunting

One of the greatest technical advances that can be enjoyed by sportsmen is the handheld GPS. I’ve had my handheld GPS for four years now and it aids in almost all aspects of my outdoor activity, especially hunting. You can use these units for preseason scouting, navigation and while on the hunt itself. I own a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSX handheld GPS which is a little outdated but for the purpose of this hub I’ll be referring to the use of this model and how I use it for hunting as well as other outdoor activities.

The GPSMAP 60CSX is actually the second handheld GPS I’ve owned. Previous handheld technology didn’t allow for reliability while under a canopy of foliage, which made it very unreliable while in the woods. The new handheld GPS units have a much more sensitive antenna and will pick up signals from satellites with no problem in the forest.

I use my handheld GPS quite often for any activity in the outdoors such as mushroom hunting in the spring, marking good fishing spots for future reference or simply hiking through the woods. The biggest benefit has been using the GPS for hunting. This Hub will illustrate how I begin the hunting season using my handheld GPS and the benefits it will give the hunter.

When I begin looking for a likely hunting spot I generally know the areas I want to hunt. I hunt exclusively on public land in my home state of Michigan and I like to keep the drive to one hour or less. There are three major public hunting areas within an hour of my house and I will scout all three prior to the beginning of the season.

Before I start off to the woods I study the area at home on my computer using Google Earth, a free software program you can download from Google. Google’s satellite imagery allows me to view likely spots to scout and download this information into my handheld GPS so I know exactly where I’m going once I get there.

I like to hunt pinch points or funnels created by the terrain and/or foliage. Since I also hunt on public land I like to make sure I’m going to be some distance from other hunters and If it’s thick and swampy so much the better. I try to identify three or four spots to upload to my GPS as I usually have some locations that I marked as waypoints I either found while hunting or scouting from previous seasons.

Once I’ve uploaded this information to my handheld GPS I’m ready for my trip to actually check out the areas in person. While all the spots I’ve found and uploaded won’t pan out at least half will. It’s a quick and easy way to start scouting without having to spend the gas money for many trips to the woods and also gives me a planned out scouting trip before I even step out of my truck.

Here in Michigan our first deer season is the first bow season which begins October 1^st every year. It’s a little too soon for much buck rutting activity so I generally fine tune my hunting locations as the season progresses. Any time I find a good rub or scrape I enter it into my handheld GPS as a waypoint and label them. Once the rut really starts kicking in, about the third week of October, I’ll have plenty of entries on my GPS.

Now it’s time to go back to my computer and upload all my waypoints from my handheld GPS into Google Earth. What I look for is lines that can be connected from a likely bedding area to a good food source. These rub and scrape lines can tell me a lot and generally allow me to fine tune my stand location.

The Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx allows me to connect waypoints into routes. I’ll connect what I think the likely scrape and rub lines are into routes and check these out carefully and quietly as I’m leaving my stand when a hunt is over and start putting the pieces of the puzzle together over a week or so.

Once I’m pretty sure I have a buck somewhat patterned I’ll begin hunting these routes exclusively. In the morning I’ll try and setup close to where I think the deer are bedding and in the evening I’ll generally chose a stand location closer to what I think the preferred food source is. Most of the time there is more than one buck using these routes and the opportunities for a buck get better as the rut progresses.