Syracuse.com - Smartphone apps wave of future for outdoors enthusiasts

[HuntingNY-News]

They can be extremely helpful for everyone from hunters to birders.

Syracuse, N.Y.— A smartphone or iPad is not something that would normally be on an outdoors enthusiast's packing list.

But with the evolution of smartphone apps designed to make navigating the great outdoors online a cinch, everyone from hunters to birders are finding technology harder to resist .

Take Cy Weichert, a Skaneateles businessman whose passion is outdoor sports. He and partner Bill Little, of Fayetteville, founded the hunting and fishing website ScoutLook in 2010, and have now created several helpful ScoutLook mobile apps as well. ScoutLook's apps include ScoutLook Hunting Weather, Deerlog and Fishlog; as well as free apps Mossy Oak Hunting Weather and Bassmaster Fishing Weather.

"Nothing like ScoutLook existed," Weichert said. "We decided that this was so cool that we needed to spend the money to do it, even if only two people were using it."

ScoutLook serves as a reference point for hunters and fishermen, where they can find information about everything from moon and weather patterns to nautical charts to hunting maps that pinpoint where the best hunting stands and fishing spots are in the area.

The website has had over 1.5 million views and over 275,000 downloads of their mobile apps. Scoutlook app prices range from free to $3.99. Time Magazine featured Weichert and ScoutLook in a Feb. 25 piece called "How to Plan on Good Weather."

This is the ScentCone Wind Map on the DeerLog app created by Cy Weichert and Bill Little.

Photo by Ellen Blalock | [email protected]

 

"There are a million places on the planet to get weather from," Weichert said. "But as a hunter or a fisherman, there are other things that you care about besides the weather forecast from the newspaper."

Weichert said it is critical for hunters and anglers to be in the right place at the right time, and ScoutLook helps them do that by gathering useful data, including the user's own data from a previous trip, and storing it all in one place.

"ScoutLook integrates everything that hunters and fishermen weather consider when planning a hunt," Weichert said. "Rather than sitting at your camp breakfast table looking at six different pieces of media, you can log on to your aerial maps [on ScoutLook], get the forecast, and save your favorite locations there."

These locations can be private to one ScoutLook user, or can be shared between users, he said. Another way to save locations on ScoutLook Deerlog and Fishlog apps is to snap a photo of a fish or deer, and the app instantly pinpoints the exact location and saves all the location's weather data to the user's ScoutLook maps.

"Your logs save in the app and online where you can sort by any data point to see for instance, 'How many fish do I catch on a west wind versus east, or how many bucks do I see when it’s raining versus sunny,'" Weichert said. "Everything we do here is with a mind to help folks hunt better, fish better and plan for the very best results in the field."

Other outdoors-related apps follow. They are available for users of iPhones, iPads, Ipod Touch and Androids, depending on the app. Costs vary. Some are free.

HUNTING

MyNature Tracks: Searchable database that

stores photos of tracks and scat and their corresponding animal. Also includes

North American map of where animals can be found in the wild, and sound files

detailing different animals' calls. (iPhone and Android)

Primos Hunting Calls: Includes over 20 interactive

audio calls for turkey, predators, elk, deer, waterfowl and others. (iPhone and Android)

Ballistic: Calculates trajectory, windage, velocity, energy,

and bullet flight time for any range you plan to shoot at, ensuring the best

possible targeted shot. It takes into account temperature, humidity, barometric

pressure and altitude. Has over 3,500 projectiles and factory loads, a range

estimation calculator, GPS and atmosphere awareness. (iPhone and iPad)

TrophyScore: Allows hunter to snap a picture of his/her

target and score it based on antler and eye measurements. Records and tracks

trophy harvests. (iPhone and iPod Touch)

Hunting Light & Blood Tracker: Gives hunters improved visibility in all

lighting conditions. A unique feature s its "blood tracking filter" which enhances the visibility of the blood trail left by wounded game so you can quickly recover the animal's whereabouts. (iPhone, iPad and Android)

FISHING

Orvis Fly Fishing App: Includes a guide with animated knots, fly casts, common casting mistakes, a guide to common fly patterns, and lots more to make you a

fly fishing expert. Stay updated with an informative podcast, fishing news, and

reports from Orvis. (iPhone, iPad and Android)

Navionics 5.0: Includes features like route planning, up-to-date info on wind, tides, and currents, and downloadable charts for wherever you are. You won't find a more detailed resource for navigating out on the water. (iPhone, iPad)

North American Fish Guide: Includes detailed descriptions and illustrations for over 100 of the most common freshwater fish. (Android)

Fishin' Buddy Lite: (Free) Record location, time, weather, species, lure, and other information. Review past

fishing trips and events to guess when and where you might be successful on

future trips. (Android)

Field and Stream Online: (Free) Hunting, fishing, shooting and survival information

all of Field & Stream's award winning online content will be available

including blogs, outdoor news stories, photo galleries, videos and how-to

content. (iPhone, iPod Touch)

HIKING

AccuTerra HD by Neotreks: More than 5 million square miles of terrain and trail maps are included. Maps are zoomable and optimized for the iPhone. You can take and geotag photos, get real-time elevation and travel stats, and share your adventures through social media. (iPhone)

iSurvival: With information pulled directly from the U.S. Army Field Manual, this app has just about all the information you need to survive in the wilderness. Covered subjects include basic survival medicine, building shelters, finding water, edible, poisonous,and medicinal plants, cold weather survival, signaling techniques, knot tying,

and direction finding. (iPhone and iPad)

Moon: (Free) Comprehensive GPS from user's position to

the moon with info on distance to, illumination percentage, moonset and rise

times, phase, and compass direction. (iPhone and iPad)

GotoAID:Helps prepare hikers for emergency situations. This app has three different tabs to separate treatments for humans, cat or dogs. Furthermore, a wide range of topics are covered, including poisons, heat, cold, cuts/wounds, bites/stings, burns, and breaks/sprains. The app is created for the "non-professional responder," meaning the app takes you through exactly how to respond in an emergency step-by-step. (iPhone, iPad, IPod Touch)

Point de Vue: No matter where you are in the world, this app will supply

information for mountains that are within a 125-mile range of your current location. Able to download maps for any location in the world and search for summits, sorting them by elevation or distance. (iPhone, ipad, iPod Touch)

CAMPING

Adirondacks Come To Life: (Free) Gives info on lodging, campgrounds, dining, hiking, local attractions and water sports -- organized by region and theme. (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Boy Scout Handbook: 12th edition of Boy Scout Handbook, including both modern and vintage photos and drawings. (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch)

Coleman Classic Camping Cookbook and Meal Planner: (Free) Allows users to plan camping meals by entering trip duration and location. Includes cooking methods and a cookbook of recipes that users can search by ingredient. Creates a list of ingredients for planned meals so that you never forget something at home. (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch)

Leafsnap (Free) Makes use of visual recognition software to help hikers identify tree species from photographs of their leaves. Contains high-resolution images of leaves, flowers, fruit, petiole, seeds and bark. (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch)

MyRadar Weather Map: (Free) Weather satellite map that pops up instantly and can be quickly manipulated to show weather over your location or approaching your location. Has Pitch/Zoom capability to smoothly pan around the U.S. and see what the weather is like anywhere. (iPhone and iPad)

SKIING/SNOWBOARDING

Find My Friends: (Free) Helps locate your group on the hill or in the ski lodge. Provided you get decent cell phone coverage on the hill, you'll be able to track their movements and time when you want to call it a day. (iPhone, ipad and iPod Touch)

Ski and Snow Report: (Free) Allows user to set preferences and select all their go-to mountains. If three or more inches fall, they'll receive an alert. For easy sharing of snowfall numbers, Ski and Snow Report also integrates with Facebook and Twitter. (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch)

SnoCru: (Free) All-in-one app for snowboarding. Snow reports and a dashboard with max speed, total vertical height and distance are included. (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch)

iTrailMap 3D: Lets users see 3D maps of the mountain, track themselves as they try different trails, and upload those tracks to the web. Lets users flip from paper maps to iTrail 3D maps. (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch)

SkiTips3: Helpful for intermediate skiers who want to

learn new tricks or master new maneuvers. Includes videos for learning what to

expect from ski lessons and to refresh what you were taught during your

lessons.

(iPhone and iPad)

BIRDING

National Geographic Birds: Has same images as the National Geographic field guide. along with bird calls and videos. (iPhone and iPad)

BirdsEye: Uses data from Cornell Lab or Ornithology's eBird project and guides you to what birds are near you, or if there's any rare birds in your area. Same goes for any other area you're interested in. (iPhone and iPod Touch)

BirdLog: Allows birding enthusiasts to report their sightings to Cornell's eBird project and keeps track of when and where you've seen all your birds. Several versions available, including a world-wide one. (All Apple iOS and Android)

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog