The world of hunting is filled with technologically advanced tools such as faster compound bows, cameras that let you track animal movement and of course, GPS. GPS is not a new technology but its adoption in hunting is undoubtedly changing the game.
It is a complex technology but primarily works by using satellites, which send wireless signals about your device’s location, consequently relaying your location at the same time.
The GPS receiver receives these signals and its processor interprets them into location coordinates, which are then displayed over a map canvas. This technology can help improve your hunting performance in the following ways.
Related Article: The 5 Best Handheld GPS for Hunting in [year] – Top Selections
1. You Won’t Get Lost
If you are hunting deep in the woods, you might reach a point where you cannot track where you came from and where you are going. The presence of trees and bushes everywhere merely makes you lose your bearings.
However, with simple GPS devices, such as GPS hiking watches, you can be able to determine the direction in which you are moving towards. This will greatly help you so that you do not move around in circles while thinking that you are covering a lot of ground.
2. Helps to Track the Prey
Let’s say you are part of a group of hunters. If you split up on the hunting grounds, one person in the group might tag a kill and leave it for the rest to pick up as he/she goes after more prey. It is also possible to tag a prey so that it can lead you deeper to where you can locate more animals.
In such a case, GPS would come in very handy because once tagged, it is quite easy to follow the animal’s movements deep into the woods.
Remember that these systems use satellites and therefore, wherever you are, the tracking system will still work perfectly. Think of it like geo caching where you have the receiver and the prey is the cache that you have to locate.
3. Helps you to Identify the Best Spots to Hunt
As you hunt or track the prey, you might discover perfect spots for hunting. For instance, you may discover spots that are the best vantage points, overlooking valleys of grazing whitetails or turkeys.
With a GPS system, you can tag this location so that next time, you can return to the exact same spot without getting lost in the bushes.
You can also tag several points along the path to this location so that you can use the same path when you are in need of some whitetail meat.
4. A great Tool in Times of Emergency
As you go on with your hunting expedition, you might injure yourself or get injured by an animal. Whether you are alone or in a group, requesting for medical emergency services might be very challenging. This can be worse if the medieval team can’t locate you.
However, with a GPS device, you can easily relay your location to the rescue team so that they can pick you up in the shortest time possible and get you to safety.
Final Verdict
The importance of GPS in hunting cannot be simply overlooked. To make it even better, the GPS devices are very lightweight and thus, their weight is negligible compared to the weight of the hunting tools that you tag along.
Additionally, the devices are cheap while the GPS technology itself is actually a free service and therefore, you won’t have to pay any monthly charges for using it in hunting.
