Cyber Scouting

In my first blog post I mentioned wanting to cyber scout more. You may be asking yourself what the heck he is talking about!?!? Cyber scouting is just that, finding land and game to hunt via the internet. It is not better then getting out into the woods but it can be extremely helpful.

How you may ask? Well say you have seen a piece of land that looks like something you may want to hunt. You have no idea how big the property is or who even owns it. One tool you can use to answer both questions is GIS; Geographic Information Systems. Not all counties have this at this time however many do. Usually all you have to do is Google your county name along with GIS. This works very well in the Roanoke Valley area of Virginia.

If you are looking for government owned land see if your state has a web page to help. Virginia has one called Find Game… http://www.findgame.org/

Another way to scout the land once you gain access to it is through topographic, satellite and aerial photos. There are several excellent web pages that allow you to scout from the sky with some outstanding views. Here are some of my favorites….

http://terraserver-usa.com/

http://maps.live.com/

http://www.flashearth.com/

http://earth.google.com/

Being able to look at a piece of property from a birds eye view can be of great help. You can see how the land lays with ridges, draws and natural funnels. There might be clearings or saddles that you have not seen or noticed from the ground. It is also a great help for marking your stands, blinds and game cameras.

So before you get out and tromp all over new pieces of property get online and do some cyber scouting before hand.