bored at work ----- aerial photos

[bueller]

So I'm sitting here at work looking at aerial photos of my new property considering different ideas of what my habitat plan should look like. Since I don't have any history on the property yet, I start looking at historical photos to see what it looked like in the early 2000's before being heavily logged. Then an idea popped up in my head. I've already started a binder that will be kept at the cabin which will contain current aerial photos, trail cam pics, harvest photos, scenic photos, a copy of our MFL plan (good habitat and forestery info there), before and after photos, etc.... **LIGHT BULB** Why not include the historical aerial photos in the binder? So far I have been able to print out aerials from 2013, 2010, 2008, 2006, 2005, 2004, 1999, 1998, and 1938.

It's very interesting to see on paper how the property went from being completely wooded from the 30's through the 90's, to being 50% or more cleared in the early 2000's, and now back on the road to becoming all wooded once again. I definitely have some tree planting AND some tree cutting to do in the near future. Looking at the pre-logging aerials sparked an idea for me to create a new bedding area which I never considered while looking at the current photos. Before I wasn't sure what I was wanting to do with that particular spot and now it's clear as day.

And yes it's a slow day here and most of the bosses aren't around

 

[j-bird]

Bueller - yep I'm in your boat with work today. I was off on holiday thru the 1st so the first day back is today, a friday! My building has maybe 20 people in it and we typically have 100 to 150.

Since I came in late I may leave early to make up for it though!

I love satalite/aerial photos especiallyif you can get them with the topo lines.

The biggest thing I like these for is you can get a better idea of how your property fits into the overall general landscape from a deers perspective. You can see how deer may follow a stream or a stretch of cover from one large cover type to another or to an area of more open ground that may offer a different food source. These areas of general movement typically don't change much and can then lead you to a more refined plan on your particular property. One of the things I see is lots of people do is they manage a property as if they are an island - and that simply isn't true. Deer are going to come and go and you can use that info to your advantage.

Looking beyond my property helped me understand how my property "fit", how to take advantage when and where I could and it also helps me understand my limitations - which many of us don't like to talk about but the do exist.

 

[kabic]

http://www.historicmapworks.com/Browse/Maps/

A site for you to look at

 

[bueller]

Bueller - yep I'm in your boat with work today. I was off on holiday thru the 1st so the first day back is today, a friday! My building has maybe 20 people in it and we typically have 100 to 150.

Since I came in late I may leave early to make up for it though!

I love satalite/aerial photos especiallyif you can get them with the topo lines.

The biggest thing I like these for is you can get a better idea of how your property fits into the overall general landscape from a deers perspective. You can see how deer may follow a stream or a stretch of cover from one large cover type to another or to an area of more open ground that may offer a different food source. These areas of general movement typically don't change much and can then lead you to a more refined plan on your particular property. One of the things I see is lots of people do is they manage a property as if they are an island - and that simply isn't true. Deer are going to come and go and you can use that info to your advantage.

Looking beyond my property helped me understand how my property "fit", how to take advantage when and where I could and it also helps me understand my limitations - which many of us don't like to talk about but the do exist.

I couldn't agree more with your comments about people thinking they are on an "island". Having a small parcel puts me a the mercy of of surrounding landowners. Can be good and bad. If they don't do anything with a section of their land, that area becomes part of "my" sanctuary. If the hunt the piss out of their woods I need to take that into account. If they have food plots or other features that will attract deer I must take note.

 

[bueller]

http://www.historicmapworks.com/Browse/Maps/

A site for you to look at

Thanks, checking it out now.

 

[bueller]

Anybody else keep a binder of photos, maps, etc... or something similar at their hunting cabins? If so, what other kinds of things do you keep inside?

 

[TMIL]

I'm opposite from you, the aerial of my property shows it was nearly all clear farm ground in 1939. It was a great surprise to me when I saw it. Of course, everyone pretty much supported themselves with a few crops and some livestock. A man simply cannot do that anymore. Now there is so much CRP and not nearly the ag.

I think a book of info is a great idea. I've often thought of doing something similar. Historic aerial images would be a must, along with the Topo Quad. I'd also include pics of successful hunts, trailcam pics. Pics of you guys doing habitat work. I see properties listed everywhere that claim to be 'managed for deer' but who knows what that really means? Do you have an old abstract of the property? My abstract contains some very interesting info of a lawsuit from years and years ago that is an interesting read. Also, an old abandoned historic road cut through my property. I'd include some informative reading on that old road if I were to put something together. You could really put together something worthwhile if you kept up with it. I also believe it would be something to show prospective buyers if you ever decide to sell. Even pass it along to them. A journal of what you have done would be really worth something in my opinion.

I have always wanted to make a 3D scale model of the topography of my property. I would plot out big topo maps of my property, cut along each contour, lay each onto 1/4" foam board, cut out along the contour, and then place/glue them on top of each other in succession. Could even fill in the edges with clay or putty to smooth it out and then get as creative as you want to show the different features to make it look more real. I've thought about this for 10 years or more, but I've never done it. Maybe someday when I get a round to it. Would make a nice winter project.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Anybody else keep a binder of photos, maps, etc... or something similar at their hunting cabins? If so, what other kinds of things do you keep inside?

bueller, where are you accessing the aerial photos?

 

[j-bird]

I don't keep a binder, but I do have an excel file where I log all the harvest data for my place, my county and my state. I also log details of each kill as much as I can and keep a running total as well. I can quickly look back at this data and see when and where we hunt most, who has the most luck and settle arguements over who shot what and the like. It would b a good plce to also share yearly "hit list" or yor "Biggest Buck" or "Biggest Dope" recipiants as well. Have some fun with it. Have a camp photo added every year or even list your habitat activites in it with pics and stuff.

 

[bueller]

bueller, where are you accessing the aerial photos?

Google Earth has a tab up by the ruler in which you can access historical images if they have them for your area. The icon looks like a clock with an arrow pointing counter clockwise.
And this site which is Wisconsin specific but maybe other states have something similar?? http://maps.sco.wisc.edu/WHAIFinder/

 

[bueller]

I'm opposite from you, the aerial of my property shows it was nearly all clear farm ground in 1939. It was a great surprise to me when I saw it. Of course, everyone pretty much supported themselves with a few crops and some livestock. A man simply cannot do that anymore. Now there is so much CRP and not nearly the ag.

I think a book of info is a great idea. I've often thought of doing something similar. Historic aerial images would be a must, along with the Topo Quad. I'd also include pics of successful hunts, trailcam pics. Pics of you guys doing habitat work. I see properties listed everywhere that claim to be 'managed for deer' but who knows what that really means? Do you have an old abstract of the property? My abstract contains some very interesting info of a lawsuit from years and years ago that is an interesting read. Also, an old abandoned historic road cut through my property. I'd include some informative reading on that old road if I were to put something together. You could really put together something worthwhile if you kept up with it. I also believe it would be something to show prospective buyers if you ever decide to sell. Even pass it along to them. A journal of what you have done would be really worth something in my opinion.

I have always wanted to make a 3D scale model of the topography of my property. I would plot out big topo maps of my property, cut along each contour, lay each onto 1/4" foam board, cut out along the contour, and then place/glue them on top of each other in succession. Could even fill in the edges with clay or putty to smooth it out and then get as creative as you want to show the different features to make it look more real. I've thought about this for 10 years or more, but I've never done it. Maybe someday when I get a round to it. Would make a nice winter project.

I don't have an abstract of the property nor do I have any clue if one exists or where to find it. I also had two roads running through my property back in the 30's. One is now a powerline easement for lines that only service one farmhouse west of me on the opposite side of man made ditch (which I believe was constructed in the 40's). The ditch made the old road useless and the farmhouse now has a different access road which is not on my property. I have not seen any signs of the other road shown on the map from the 30's ever being on my property, not yet that is.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Google Earth has a tab up by the ruler in which you can access historical images if they have them for your area. The icon looks like a clock with an arrow pointing counter clockwise.
And this site which is Wisconsin specific but maybe other states have something similar?? http://maps.sco.wisc.edu/WHAIFinder/

Thanks bueller. I checked that out and mine only goes back to 1995. I would love to see my property going back to the 1938!

 

[CrazyEd]

Anybody else keep a binder of photos, maps, etc... or something similar at their hunting cabins? If so, what other kinds of things do you keep inside?

I use Microsoft onenote. I sync it to Microsoft onedrive and open it on my homepc, work laptop, phone, ipad , etc.

I have archived tons of info from the Internet, the other site, Paul Knox 's posts, all well organized and easily accessible, no matter where I am.

 

[biglakeba$$]

I checked several areas of MN and aerials only go back to 1991.

I was able to get scanned copy of an aerial from around 1940 from our FSA office several years ago.

That historicmapworks site is pretty cool. I found the scanned surveyor logs when they platted out the land in 1875. Amazing how much land the railroad companies owned back in the day.
My great great grandfathers name is on the original plat map for the area. Only him and about a half dozen other people in the township.... Hard to imagine what life was like back then.

 

[TMIL]

In Illinois, the state has archived aerials from the late thirties online. They are very hard to navigate and to find what you're looking for, but not impossible.

 

[bueller]

CrazyEd, that sounds way more organized and advanced than anything I'm capable of doing :confused:. The purpose of the binder is to provide viewing pleasure and education for everyone from the other hunters in my camp, to the family and friends that visit throughout the year. Just filled the missing gap of aerials that I had from the 50's through the 90's. I knew they existed just never took the time to locate and print them.

http://www.sco.wisc.edu/aerial-photography-catalog.html

Natty, I'm getting the older ones from my state cartographers office website. Maybe yours has something like that accessible.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Natty, I'm getting the older ones from my state cartographers office website. Maybe yours has something like that accessible.

Thanks bueller. Going to check that out!

 

[Buckly]

I have found an aerial photo of my property and surrounding area from 1929. It's not very good quality as you can imagine but, considering they only had planes for a few years and cameras what they were then it's definitely interesting to look at and helps put the pieces together of what was. The entire 1/2 mile to the next road that is all houses now, was just a hay field all the way and leads me to believe they owned the whole section at one time. I have deeds and records, plats of mine and neighbor properties I've bought back to 1854 so that helps with the puzzle. Pretty much the whole property was open farmland and you can see the fence rows. Very little timber. There was a house and barn of course but, the barn burnt in the late 50's. The red and white pine that are now over mature were not there yet and I figure were planted in the 50's. A planted apple orchard is obvious in the photo along with access roads I can still find. I figure that orchard to be responsible for the hundreds of apple trees I know have scattered about. We've owned the property now 50 years and it's funny it still looks about the same to me. That's changing now though. LOL

 

[biglakeba$$]

Found the MN historical ones.... Sent an email to the state and got this back.

Back to 1939 online.

For photos from the 1930s and 1960s, see the MN Dept. of Natural Resources’ Landview website:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/landview/index.html

DNR has scanned the original printed photos as gray-scale images; each photo covers about ten square miles. Note that the photos are not georeferenced. To find the photos, go to the LandView site, and check the box(es) for one or more decades under “Aerial Photography” / “Historic Air Photos”. You can zoom to the Vining area by typing “Vining” into the “Place” box at the top right, just above the map, and choosing “city” for Type. To retrieve a photo, click on the "info" button (an "i" with an arrow) and then on a colored dot showing a photo center location. You then have the option to download the photo. For more help using the site, click on "how to use" at the top left of the LandView screen.