Topo maps??
 

Hey guys, recently landed a new lease around my area. Got 320 acres and this is gonna be my first year hunting it. Needless to say I am very pumped about the new land but I really would love to get a topo map of the property to identify funnels, pinch points etc.... I have looked online but can't find a place where I can locate the property and get a good map of it. Does anyone know the best way to get a topomap?? Thanks for the help!

Something I found that is 100% better than a Topo is Google Earth. You can buy a cheap ($100) GPS, find your coordinates, go to Google Earth and enter the coordinates and you have a complete aerial view of the property you are going to hunt and/or scout. You can zoom in on your site too.

Reconyx offers a software program with google earth. It allows you to download the map of your property and has all the tools to add property lines, trail camera markers, stand markers, trails, bedding areas, food plots. Its pretty neat. Its called buck view advanced and its compatable with any trail cams if you use them. Ive found it to be a great tool. If im not mistaken you can download it from their website.

Goggle earth is good, but I always use the weather channel map the have for the radar and print it. you can switch from road to aerial and its free. The only disadvantage is it doesn't give you elavation, but you can make out the features really good.

I have Google Earth and I've also been playing with www.bing.com lately. For some areas, Bing has "Birdseye view" that is awesome. It only works on some of the properties I hunt, though. Nothing wrong with the aerial views, though.

I use Google maps, they have worked well for me over the years

I like all that stuff, but a program that lets the gps and the map work together is the ticket.

The one I use is a National Geographic one. Could be better but it's pretty good. One use is with a lap top traveling from one public ground to another scouting. Lock things in, build maps, add notes, add pictures, store it away and pull it out when ever.

One public ground I've hunted I scouted out using google maps as well. Thing was when I traveled the roads around the ground I saw where other hunters had parked and entered. :) Got a love it. It's not close to home and large. It would be costly to get that info and a whole lot less comfortable if I had to drive it. You could almost see where they went to hunt. I take the info, find it in my program and build a map, dump it in my gps and I'm good to go. I don't even have to set foot on the property before I know where to hunt it. I can also use those other hunters to push deer to me knowing where they enter and travel all from multiple miles away.

Bing is nothing but a search engine, went to that and entered "Birdseye View" and got a bunch of nothing.
Google Earth is the best I have seen, easy to navigate and simple to use.