Remote Scouting Research Project

[scdavis50]

I know that nothing beats actual time in the field scouting, but like many of you, it's hard enough to find the time to hunt, much less scout, as frequently as I would like.

There's so much data available on public hunting locations including elevation maps, vegetation types, water bodies, wetlands, etc., I am trying to see if it is effective to "remote scout" public (or other) hunting lands to identify high-potential stand locations or areas likely to yield game. Then a hunter could go in with a ranked list of locations to hopefully make the most of time spent in the field.

If you only had an aerial map and some elementary data, what would you look for and what criteria would you consider important?

So far I'm considering:

1) Distance to water (less than 40 yds)
2) Edges between dense vegetation and clearings
3) Leeward slopes from prevailing winds
4) Relatively flat or low-slope draws between points of higher elevation

Anything else you would consider? I'm going to run a couple of public land sites through a gis analysis, and I'm happy to share what I figure out. Thanks in advance to the GS for your accumulated wisdom!

[Texas Grown]

Saddles! Not sure if that's your description in #4

Also wide ridge tops.

[scdavis50]

Saddles! Not sure if that's your description in #4

Also wide ridge tops.

Yes, thanks! The word was escaping me.

[scdavis50]

I thought it might help if I posted some examples. This is the Alabama Creek WMA, unit #904 in the TPWD public hunting annual.

Here is the regular aerial photo:


Doesn't tell you a whole lot. Here's the same photo with contours and streams on an overlay:



You can see here the elevation on the tract ranges from 180' to 340'.

Aspect is the direction a slope faces. Below is an aspect map; the prevailing wind here appears to be from the north or northwest. The south-facing slopes are show in white:



I'll post some separate maps later combining the overall maps into one layer and narrowing down to high-probability spots.

I'd appreciate any input you have!

[J-Bob]

Wow, the countours and streams overlay is really cool!

[scdavis50]

Here's another one. I've used the near-infrared spectrum on the aerial imagery to identify potential oak trees. They are shown in red.

[scdavis50]

Updated maps.

Here I've overlayed:
1) A ruggedness index to identify benches or other flat areas
2) An aspect map to identify south-facing slopes
3) Areas with large numbers of likely oak trees

Those areas are the dark red regions with brighter red dots.



I redrew the same regions in orange on the original aerial with roads and streams to show areas of potential stand locations.



I could drop declination lines or a lat long grid on the map for orienteering. You can also create a KML file for Google Earth, or you could identify specific potential stand or camera locations and load the coordinates into your GPS.

[roguecraft101]

What website are you getting all these overlays from?

[scdavis50]

What website are you getting all these overlays from?

Downloaded the data files mainly from TNRIS then manipulated them in QGIS.

[roguecraft101]

Downloaded the data files mainly from TNRIS then manipulated them in QGIS.

The force is strong in this one.