Using mapping software - Part 1
Authors Note: This tutorial is intended to show you how to use a few free tools to help you research your new hunting area. It is not intended to point to you to an unknown honey hole. Quite the opposite in fact. The area I'm using receives heavy pressure during all seasons. In fact I saw 12 camps up there on opening day the 2005 Archery Season. Don't hunt up there. It is a waste of your time and money. Unless of course you want to compete with the other 3,000+ hunters that have read this article. You'll enjoy the trip more if you spend the time to find your own spot, then hunt it over and over until you learn how the animals react to pressure and such. There are plenty of good forum sites, video's and books to help you along the way. So having said all that, let's get down to business. |
Part of the enjoyment (at least for me) when researching a new area, is taking a look before I actually land on the ground (Map Scouting).
In this first part we will look at how to use JDMCOX software to download topographical and satellite photos of a hunting area.
The second part will discuss how to use the Colorado NDIS mapping site to determine land ownership, and big game populations.
First off you will need to download the software from http://www.jdmcox.com. You will want to grab the Full Install. It is a fairly small program (About 600K at the time of writing this).
Go ahead and install it. The screen shots I have been using come from version 2.76.
Once the program is installed you will need to create a new map. Click on file, then new map location.
You should see a screen pop up like this. Use the coordinates in the boxes. This should get you pretty close.
I'm going to use Area 36, near Sheephorn Creek as an example.
Press “F”, to start filling or downloading the topographical map images. Dial up users need to be real patient as this might take a while.
Once the data is downloaded you will be left with a pretty high level map. Use the “+” key to zoom in, and the “-“ to zoom out.
The next thing we are going to do is start downloading the satellite photos. I normally like to make a few reference points on the topographical map before switching to the photo.
Left click your mouse right in the middle of Slough Grass Lake. Fill in the comment box and hit ok. You can do this a few other places to if you want.
Ok, so we have a marker set. Let’s switch to the photo mode. Press “P”. You will be left with another gray screen, but with a green dot in the middle. Press “F” again to download the photos.
Once the photo’s are done downloading you should see some detail. Place your mouse over the green dot to see the name. Again, you can use the “+” and “-“ keys to zoom in and out. Let’s zoom in.
The screen may turn gray again as you zoom in. Don’t fret, just “F” again. You are now getting a higher resolution picture then before.
What are we looking at here?
The green dot to the left is Slough Grass Lake. #1 is a grove of Aspen, just a bit northeast, and #2 looks like a truck or camper.
But lets get some real good information. Like where is that big old bull at?
Switch back to the topographical map (“T”), and zoom out a couple of times (“-“ key).
Press the right arrow key one or two times until you see “Blue Lake”.
Go ahead and mark it by clicking the left mouse button. Name it Blue Lake. Then switch back to the photo mode (“P”).
You may need to refill (“F”) the empty gray boxes.
Now we are getting somewhere. Zoom in a bit.
Ok, so what are you looking at? This is just northwest of Blue Lake. By using the shade, we can see that this is a north-facing slope, with a few aspen’s in it. You will also see a small stream right above the number 3.
That looks good, but how steep is it? Well you can actually download the elevation data and see then see the contour of the land.
Here is how.
Click on File, Elevation Data, then select “Get Elevation Data Lat / Lon”.
Click inside the square with your green dots. You should get a pop up that looks like this.
Click on the box in the upper right corner to close it. Then zoom in a few times until you see the photo’s you had earlier.
Open notepad or your favorite word process and click “Control V” to paste the information. Our example looked like this “39.49 -106.27 http://www.atdi-us.com/SDTS_DL_b.htm”
Go to the web site listed above, and enter the LAT / LON information
Click “Get Data”
You will be sent to another page where you can download the data
Go ahead and download the bottom file. Save it into your C:\Program Files\USAPhotoMaps directory.
Next we need to convert the file. USAPhotoMaps has a built in tool to do that. Click on File, Elevation Data, Convert Elevation Data.
A window will popup asking you to pick the file you wish to convert. Select the one you just downloaded.
You are almost there. Click “C” to load the contour data.
Now let’s go back to Blue Lake example, this time with the contours.
This concludes this basic introduction to using this great piece of software. Please feel free to post any question you may have on our forum.
Next steps, learning how to use the NDIS map to determine big game activity