When "way points" go away

As I wrote in a previous blog post, my "anniversary" DeLorme GPS met an untimely and inconvenient death.  With its passing went the passing of all my treasured way points - those points of interest where a partridge was flushed, where I found a deer scrape, where Adirondack trail heads or rendezvous points were, and so on.

A new GPS means new way points.  The first way point for my new Garmin etrex 20 was my home.  I'm not sure why I even have that flagged since I have not yet been unable to find my own house.  In fact, my only real concern is finding my truck at the end of a day.  I'm usually good about hitting the relevant logging road, it's the question of which way to turn down the road that is the problem.  A wrong answer can mean miles of extra walking...usually in the dark.

With the new Garmin BaseCamp software I purchased with the GPS I am hopeful that I can now have all my way points backed up on my computer.

I went for a 3.4 mile hike up Flynn Hill today to see if I could find a deer scrape that I noticed when hunting earlier in the year.  (Flynn Hill is in the foreground of this picture taken from Jim's dooryard.)  I found the scrape, but it appeared that an angry buck had broken off the overhanging branches.  I also noticed two hunting stands nearby.  It may or may not be a good area to hunt, but it seems to be overcrowded.  The hike provided a perfect opportunity to put my new Garmin etrex 20 GPS through its paces.  So far, so good.  I've been impressed with the features, the ease of accessing the features, and the battery life.

I'd rate my hike a success, and if Jim every needs to know where his house is, it has been flagged.

I'm starting on my next article for the Mountain Gazette, since it appears that my first installment has not been rejected.  Now that deer season is over, I thought it would be interesting to write about how to go about scouting new hunting areas for next year.  If you have any thoughts on the topic I'd love to hear from you.  You can comment to this blog post or e-mail me at kristopher@sportingafield.net.

Hunting gear and other weighty topics

I'm always interested in what different hunters conclude is essential hunting gear.  Essential being defined as essential enough to carry on your person all day long.

I drove to New Hampshire last Friday to visit my brother Kirk and to hunt the last weekend of rifle season.  If there is anyone who enjoys new hunting toys as much as I do, it is Kirk.  We were joined at Kirk's by his friend Gary.  One of the first orders of business was to see who had what.  Gary, who hadn't hunted since he was about 13, won the category of newest stuff.  He arrived with bag upon bag of clothing and gear from Cabela's (located not too far from his home in Connecticut).  Gary had a couple new hats, new gloves, new coat, new pants, new boots, new remote-controlled electronic foot warmers, new thermos....  You get the idea.  Two things Gary lacked where a rifle (he was borrowing one of Kirk's) and a hunting knife (he also borrowed one from Kirk).  I know that by next year he'll have his own gun and a hunting knife or two.

Gary's remote-controlled foot warmers were the most exotic gear anyone had.  Total gear, including rifles, carried into the field weighed between 23 and 29 pounds.  At 29 pounds of gear, Kirk won.  But to be fair, Kirk was traveling light.  He has shaved pounds off the amount he carried several years ago when he got back into hunting.  It is funny how after carrying a lot of gear around for a day or so causes you to reassess what is really necessary.

Leon Leonwood Karma Restored - I like to carry a GPS into the woods.  However, I only find a GPS worth carrying when it actually works.  When a GPS works, it is useful in marking way points and buck scrapes, and it leads me directly back to where I parked.  That said, I rely primarily on my compass when I'm in the woods.  My GPS rests in my pocket waiting to show me the most direct route back to my car at the end of a hunt.

My DeLorme Earthmate PN-20 GPS died my last weekend of hunting.  In the immortal words of Dr. Bell, "that was unfortunate."  I had purchased the DeLorme GPS at L.L.Bean in Freeport, Maine, the summer of 2009 when my wife and I were on vacation celebrating our 25th anniversary.  So clearly, this GPS had emotional value.

The good news was that I was passing the L.L.Bean store in West Lebanon, NH on my way back from Kirk's.  It seemed like a good opportunity to test Bean's return policy (a policy I questioned since my less-than-satisfactory experience returning some leaky waders earlier this year).

I stopped in the store and the sales associate looked at my DeLorme GPS, took the batteries out and gave them back to me, then gave me a credit of $299.  The credit was given because the unit was discontinued and the newer unit was out of stock.  I thought why replace the GPS that died with another GPS of the same manufacturer?  So I decided to get a Garmin etrex 20 which retailed for about $199.  Since L.L.Bean only had the display unit, they took 10 percent off.  I also got a $10 gift certificate for my purchase.  I felt pretty good about how I had been treated.  Good Karma restored.

Above is a picture of my new Garmin etrex 20.  I took this picture to show that the etrex actually is able to pick up 7 satellites from inside the house.  This was something that my DeLorme GPS could not do.  To be honest, I'm not old enough yet to need a GPS inside my house, but it was an interesting experiment.  So far I've been very pleased with the etrex.  The menu is very straight forward and all features seem easy to access.  If it only showed where the deer were.