Topo Maps

[HurricaneHuge]

Just wondering what guys are doing for maps as far as scale goes. The 1:24,000 standard would cover my whole area that I'm hunting, but not sure it'll provide as good as detail. Are guys doing multiple maps to cover an area for better detail? We'll be heading into a wilderness area along a creek that runs about 10 miles long. We don't have an exact spot to check out, figure we'll head in a couple miles, and ease along if need be to locate the elk. Since I can't narrow my map down to just one spot along the creek I wondered if setting the map to finer detail and doing multiple will be better. Thinking about the hybrid aerial and topos from MyTopo. I know they have a good reputation, anyone have other preferences?

[JimKirk]

here's a link for free usgs topo's. if you have access to a plotter, then you can print them larger. but legal size on your home printer works great.

http://libremap.org/data/

i use national geographic topo because it interfaces with my gps so I don't have to manually enter waypoints into it to see areas I have been or want to go. plus its just kind of fun to see the map then see it under your boots. I paid 49$ for my state. I've seen it on the net for 39$.

[ElkNut1]

Yes, I use multiple maps per area! I like the 1-24000 7.5 minute USGS topos best! They are very detailed & show nearly all water sources in the area! I commonly have 3-5 maps on my person if I'm bordering the edge of a hunting area on any of the Topos! I have my GPS set to UTM Grid not Long/Lat. This way the Topo & GPS read the same coordinates, this makes navigation 100% accurate!! I also use a compass for maneuvering in heavily timbered/Brushy areas

ElkNut1

[one_elk]

I use mytopo.com (and no I have nothing to do with their business just a satisfied customer who has been getting maps from them for a number of years). You can customize your map to the scale of interest, center it on your area of interest comes on waterproof paper with hill shade if you want it. If you area of interest covers parts of multiple 7.5 minute maps you can design your map you specific area of interest and you can also have them put UTM (or Lat, Long) tic marks on your map for navigational assistance and they are relatively in expensive….anyway for my money they are well worth the purchase…best of luck to ya..