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Old June 28, 2018, 11:05 AM   #1
Doyle
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Looking for an app to manage stand sign-in/sign-out for hunt club

The club currently uses pins on a map board to sign in and out of club lands. Of course, safety is an issue as well as simply the quality of the hunt (don't want woods to be crowded). The problem is that the clubhouse is several miles away from some of the tracts and driving back and forth to the clubhouse just to check in or out is a bother.

What I'm looking for is an app based solution. It doesn't necessarily have to be an app specifically for hunting. Any app that allows a member of a pre-defined user group to "claim" a specific area would be a candidate. Of course, additional features like group texting, etc. would be a plus.

If anyone has used such an app, I'd love to hear about it. Thanks.
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Old June 28, 2018, 11:43 AM   #2
T. O'Heir
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I'd be thinking Google Map with GPS enabled on the phones. I think that'd work. A GPS based thingy will only locate to within 100 yards though. One of the biggest limitations of civilian GPS.
Assumes every member has a phone too. There are still lots of people who have no cell phone, tablet or a computer of any kind.
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Old June 28, 2018, 12:31 PM   #3
Brian Pfleuger
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Quote:
Originally Posted by T. O'Heir
A GPS based thingy will only locate to within 100 yards though. One of the biggest limitations of civilian GPS.
Is that a "theoretical" limit or, perhaps, Canadian? I haven't had a GPS that located that poorly in a very long time, phone or dedicated. I routinely expect (and get) accuracy within a few feet.

The problem with an app is that many folks won't have compatible phones (iphone vs android vs windoze vs many that still aren't "smart") or be able or willing to use them (like my dad and countless others like him).

In any case, two apps I know of that might work are Glympse and FollowMe. However, both (and virtually all others) would have privacy concerns that would make me hesitant to use them for this purpose.

While likely to be financially prohibitive, it is likely that a custom programmer could easily make you an app that would also be able to be used on any smart device as well as the clubs desktop computer, or even from each users home computer. I would expect a minimum of several thousand dollars invested. My uncle does that very thing, and could easily do it for you but charges a minimum of $75/hr in 10 hour blocks, last I knew.

For what it's worth, I used to hunt in a program much like you describe, controlled by Cornell University. It started out as paper sign-in and out at a single station, sometimes as far as 10 miles or so from the hunting spots. Eventually they added a second sign-in closer to (and exclusively for) the farthest spots. Finally, they went to a computer based sign-in... and it completely ruined the program, IMHO.
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Old June 29, 2018, 12:25 PM   #4
T. O'Heir
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Civilian GPS units have always been limited to that. Military doesn't like us using their satellites.
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Old June 29, 2018, 12:56 PM   #5
Doyle
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Quote:
Civilian GPS units have always been limited to that. Military doesn't like us using their satellites
The deliberate "inaccuracy" of civilian GPS was eliminated under the Clinton administration. Civilian GPS units are capable of sub 50' accuracy (some claim 15').

However. that being said, a GPS app is NOT what I'm looking for. Brian understood the question. I'm looking for an app that allows members of a group to "claim" a spot, then "unclaim" it at will with all members of the group being able to instantly see what spots are taken and what are open. The spots themselves don't need to be shown on any kind of map. They are all named so they could appear in the app as a simple list.
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Old June 29, 2018, 02:45 PM   #6
Brian Pfleuger
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I only partially understood.

I’ve asked my uncle if he has any prewritten software that will do what you want. It’s little more than a database that allows check marks.

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Last edited by Brian Pfleuger; June 29, 2018 at 02:53 PM.
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Old June 29, 2018, 03:41 PM   #7
buck460XVR
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doyle View Post
The deliberate "inaccuracy" of civilian GPS was eliminated under the Clinton administration. Civilian GPS units are capable of sub 50' accuracy (some claim 15').
^^^It became a moot point once there was equipment readily available to bypass the so called "deliberate inaccuracy". I used to help out with elk monitoring after their re-introduction here in Wisconsin. It basically consisted of monitoring trail cameras set up by state wildlife biologists on large parcels of public land. They gave you an aerial photograph of the approximate location in the woods and a GPS coordinate to go and find your three(or more) trail cameras. I thought it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack to find a game camera set out in a strange woods by someone else. But even with just a phone GPS, it would walk me right up to the camera, accuracy was within 3 feet.
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Old June 29, 2018, 10:54 PM   #8
Doyle
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Buck, yes civilian GPS units have come a long way. I bought my first one when I had an offshore boat. It had a Loran C unit on it (very accurate) but the government had already decided to start phasing out the Loran system. At that time, good GPS units came with a WAAS system. That was (maybe still is) some kind of an supplemental satellite signal that helped the GPS get closer.

The big problem back then (and still today if you want to go back to the same spot) was not "accuracy". Accuracy being how much you are off from true latitude and longitude. The problem is "repeatablity". I.E. getting back to the exact same spot you marked before.

If you have a GPS with a large enough screen that enables you to zoom in really close and just leave it on (with a spot next to you marked as a waypoint), you will see your relative position "wander" all around. Depending on signal strength and the quality of your unit, that wandering circle may be measured in a handful of feet or in several yards. When you are trying to find one certain rock reef in a featureless ocean of sand bottom, that kind of repeatablity becomes VERY important.
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Old June 29, 2018, 10:59 PM   #9
Doyle
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Oh, and Brian I sincerely thank you for thinking about the custom app. Like I said in the PM - likely outside our willingness to pay (cheapskates that we are). I've found a few apps (some even free) that might work - Huntstand, Hunt Checker, Knockdown, and one even by our local Mississippi State University Forestry school. I'll start evaluating these in the absence of information from anyone who might have used something already. If I find one that works, I'll come back and post it here so that others might benefit.
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Old July 2, 2018, 02:02 AM   #10
bamaranger
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oh gosh

Geez,......... I'd have to have an I phone to hunt with you guys? Guess I'm out. Bamawife finally INSISTED I start taking my flip phone to the woods, and I see the merit, but somehow, it seems......wrong.

We use a peg board on one lease, it can be a hassle, but beats no system at all. My other lease has no system (but a lot of members) ,and it is a pain to hunt there most times, as you never know who is where, and guys are always bumping each other.
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Old July 2, 2018, 07:58 AM   #11
Doyle
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Ranger, that last sentence is why we use the pegboard system. It works well when everyone is actually in camp. The problem with this club is that there are only a couple of sections of woods adjacent to camp. The other sections start a mile away and the furthest is over 10 miles away. There are a couple of us who live locally and it would be nice to be able to drive directly to those more distant sections without having to drive all the way to the camp first just to check in and then do it all in reverse just to check out.
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Old July 3, 2018, 02:13 AM   #12
bamaranger
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got it

Hey Doyle. Understand completely. Some system to figure out who is where is not a bad thing. Helps with stand selection, and helps when somebody does not get back to the camp/truck when they should. The clubs I've been in with boards have mosly all operated smoothly. Seen some monkey business now and again, but mostly it runs OK. Your situation with tracts here and there is a whole different thing. All I can think of is peg boards at each tract. Bummer to drive 10 miles and find out somebody else is pegged in. But I can see where a digital system could be abused. Somebody signs in even when they can't hunt, 'cause they've seen a deer/gobbler there and don't want anybody else to kill it. Seen that a time or two with a pegboard.

My lease with no system gets worse every year. We have to take on a few more new members every year to afford the lease. MOre crowded than ever. They ol'boy who runs the thing wants no part of any type of peg system, due to trouble he had years ago with the sort of thing I described above. So we just do what we can.
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