$trtgh ffimmffiY hmw Rna High Techin the Balance gy NA.Ncv Awrsprnr,n Whether to use technology in the field is not a debate of absolutes.Polarized,one side would showcaseChris McCandless,the naive young man who venturedinto the Alaskan wildemess to live offthe land and died four months later from starvationand poisoning by eating the wrong seedsat the wrong time. The other side would be the two men and their teenage sonshiking in the Grand Canyon who, accordingto the Associated Press,pushedthe panic button on their personallocator beacon (PLB) three times in three days,mobilizing rescue helicoptersbecausethe water they'd found "tastedsalty." Rejecting the safety net of technologyis foolhardy. To say that the outdoorsmust be experiencedfree from the intrusion of electronicssmacksof misguided romanticism. Hunters are unwise who believe that a compass,map and common sense are all that are neededto never get lost, injured or in trouble. Conversely,relying solely on technology to bail you out - or to summonthose who will bail you out - is a combination of iuroganceand ignorance. A middle ground that respectsthe risks inherent in the wild can co-existwith the use of global positioningsystems(GPS), PLBs and satelliteand cell phones.On a day-to-daybasis,the technologiesthat establishlocation and communication expedite travel and serveas an alternativeto keeping a 1og.A GPS can help you return to that honey hole in the middle of a 1,500-acre tract. A cell phone will let you know your buddy has a flat. In an
emergency,a satphoneor PLB will bring the medical help or rescuethat could saveYour life. Your choice:live or die No one (ottrer than die-hard technojunkies) likes to hear cell phonesringing in the hush of deepwoods. Similarly, the hunting partner who is constantly pushing buttons on a GPS while ignoring your dog on point is a candidatefor the Annoying Hunters Hall of Fame. However, used as needed- determinedby practicality and the situation technology has its place in the hunting world. In fact, most of us already use technology in our hunting lives. We order our hunting licensesonline.We use flashlightsinsteadof torches. We watch TV news for the weather forecasts.Our game is stored in self-defrostingfreezers,and those walkie-talkies come in very handy when it's lunchtime and your hunting pal has the sandwiches.Nowadays,technologyenvelopsour hunt. The only issueis how reliant upon it we shouldor shouldn'tlet ourselvesbe. No matter how good your GPS, when the batteriesfail, you needto know how to read a compass.Disregard the dangersof winter, and all the electronicsyou can stuff into your game vest won't prevent hypothermia.And no matter how quickly you can call for help, if you don't have a first-aidkit and someQuick Clot in your pack, it might not matter. Even with high-tech devices, huntersstill have to know how to handle themselvesoutdoors. Outdoor writer Ted Kerasote questionedthe appropriateness of electronic devicesin his 2004 book, Out There: In the Wild in a WiredAgeoabout a canoetrip in the wildernessof the Horton River in Canada'sNorthwest Territories. His desire was to get away from cell phones,email, trafflc and the ambient buzz of civilization, but his travel companionbrought a satellite phone and GPS. Kerasotewrote that having the technologyon hand diminished"...
Rejecting the safetynet of technologyis foolhardy. THE UPLAND ALMANAC
#**ffi#i kâ‚Źa H$*a vffiyffi Iew H$m fle *-%l%'mp themixture of genuinefear at being alonein the vastnessof the highlatitudes,and the lovely tensionof facing that fear with no resources other than what we've brought along and the wit inspired by necessity." when askedwhere he standson the high-tech Nevertheless, versuslow-tech debate,Kerasoteagreesthat "it's not just black andwhite," and he gives a good example."On the Horton River," describedin Out There,"there really was no needfor a GPS.We wereon a river with prominentfeatures.If you could read a map - andI could - I wasn't going to get lost," he explains. "That said," Kerasotecontinues,"when I did the SilvrettaSki Traversein Austria tn2009 with an old mountaineeringfriend, we tookmaps,compasses,altimeterwatchesand a GPS.The weather wasperfect- sevendaysof glorious sunshine- but had the weatherturnednastythat GPS would have beenvery handy in thoseunfamiliar mountainswith glaciersthat have crevasses.I don'thave a problem in using a GPS in thosecircumstances.It seemsa very valuabletool." The samelogic basedon circumstance holdstrue for bird hunting. The useof technologyin the field doesnot improve your odds of finding or taking game.Knowing how to hunt and observing theethic of fair chasehave nothing to do with programmed coordinates or examiningthe terrainon Google Earth.A fancy programmable Garmin will not make you a bettershot.An iPhone won't help your dog track a running grouse.Technologysimply savestime and offers a possible- not guaranteed- safetynet. Giventhe challengesof the hunt and how preciousis our time afield,I'll make the most of mine and usethe high-techdevices availableto me.
Finding Your Way Out of a PaperBag nv TonnKpBn The late seasongrousehunt was not going accordingto plan. It had snowedthe prior night, and when the wind changedto northeast, the white powder startedto fly, creatinga near whiteout condition.The wind was whistling throughthe trees,it was difficult to seemy friend's mostly white setters,and it was nearly impossibleto hearthe beeper.Temperatureswere in the teens,and grousewas probablytucked againsta treetopin anyself-respecting
the middle sectionof the thickestof pine trees.I didn't think much could get worse,but it did when the beeperbatteryon the e-collar died. I am a tremendousproponentof anythingthat will make life betteror easier.I like running water.ATMs are convenient for getting cashwhen banksare closed.In the world of hunting, there are a lot of really excellent products out on the market that are completely helpful.E-collars for dog training. Beepersfor knowing if your dogs are casting or if they are on point. GPS systemsto tell you where you are in the woods.And Astros for tracking big running dogs. Add Google Eanh and a laptop to researchnew covertsfrom the comfort of your home or PLBs to bring in the cavalry in caseof emergency.Heck, when was the last time we dropped a dime in a pay phone?Sincecell phones cameon the scene,we can call our family to let them know we're alive, or we can call our hunting buddy to tell him to pick up anotherbottle of bourbonon the way to bird camp.Every day thereis new technologyto help us along our way. Kudos to the inventors,to the product developersand to all who benefitfrom usingit. But technologyshouldn't replacetradition on a hunt until the tradition is mastered.Throughouthistory,many championand otherwisegreatdogs were trainedwith whistles,hand signals, voice commands,check cords and the like. If our dogs are working the way we want them to work, my recommendationis to then move on to an e-collar.An e-collarwill be like a turbo charser.
Technologyshouldn't replacetradition on a hunt until the tradition is mastered. S U M M E R2 0 11
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thinking behavior. The more we watch screensand push buttons, the more we use our rational brain. If it goes too far, then we don't use our hearts.I am fearful that folks will grow dull to many of the wonderful reasonswe bird hunt. Can the electronicsof Google Earth teach us the actual namesof plants and trees?It is efficient to match a screenshot from a known-covert on Google Earth with a potential new covert in a secondscreenshot. That said, is there any depth of experienceassociatedwith the screenshot?Is the image even current enough to be valid? Is there a breadthof knowledge and experiencethat comes from putting bells on the dogs and running a new covert in the off-season? Traditional approachesto bird hunting make us savvy hunters. Learning how to forecast weatherby studying cloud formations can replace a WX station with a high degreeof accuracy.Watching our dogs cast on a whistle blast or charting your way to a new covert with a topo map and compass adds depth and breadth of experience.It makes us far better huntersthan if we just hit a button or turn a switch. Passdown the tried and true methods flrst,I say.And after the lessonsare learned,then passalong the technology. But back to the winter grouse woods and how we found the dog. After waiting for about five minutes, ffiy pal and I both launcheda volley in the air. Within a minute, his dog came running over to seewhat all the commotion was and what shemissed.We pulled out the e-collar transmitter and a screwdriver,pulled out the 9-volt baffery and put it in the beeper.No e-collar would be used on the way back, but the beepersoundedjust fine. It was a perfect sound while using the compassto go home. 6l+r
That said,we'll still be able to run our dogs in the event of a mechanicalerror. The sameprinciple holds true for navigation in the woods. If we know how to read the woods and we've mastereda topo map and compass,then a GPS unit addsicing to our cake.We'll get out of the woods safely should the electrontcsfizzle. A drive down a major interstateshows many kids using technology.They are texting,listening to music on an iPod or watching movies. Kids become so engrossedin technology that many miss the really sweetparts of life. They are so busy fiddlefaddling that they don't notice sunrisesor sunsets,mountains and valleys, oceansor rivers. Their reliance on electronicsmakes them numb to the environment.A recent example was all over that private movie screeningsystem,YouTube.A woman walking through a mall was answering texts and fell into a large water fountain. She never saw the fountain until she felt the water hit her face. Can hunting get that way? My fear is that unlesswe protect the traditions, it could.In fact, when was the last time you sang"99 Bottles of Beer" on a family trip, even if it was just to teach your kids that song was common prior to advancedtechnology? I believe we owe it to our legacy as bird huntersto connect our children with our roots. If you watch a kid who plays hours of video games,you will seea kid who is highly focusedin the game.His focus comes at the expenseof his being unawareof his surroundings.When kids zone out, they becomedisconnectedwith their emotions.and then life becomesa blur. It's a form of non52
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