There are other problems with "store-bought" topos, not the least of which is that areas you seem to need most are often near the edges, compelling you to butt two, three, or even four maps together with transparent tape, creating a real nightmare. 

The solution to just about every problem involving standard "store-bought" topographic maps can be found in what I consider to be the best mapping software program available, MapTech's Terrain Navigator. As outlined below, Terrain Navigator mapping software deals with all the issues very handily.  

Terrain Navigator features every 7 1/2"-1:24,000 USGS and 1:100,000-scale map in the United States outside of Hawaii (plus all the 1:63,360 and 1:250,000 Alaskan topos) on CD, packaged state by state. Available through dealers and directly from MapTech at www.maptech.com -the state-by-state packages sell for about $99.95 per state, except for Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, which are bundled into one package, and New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington DC, which are bundled into another. (Bear in mind that for your hundred bucks you're getting every 1:24,000 and 1:100,000 topo for the entire state or region you choose in the lower 48 or every 1:63,360 and 1:250,00 map for Alaska, including Terrain Navigator's numerous features, which will be described shortly.)  

Once you have Terrain Navigator for whatever state or states you hunt, you can start "rolling your own" maps. Any decent color inkjet or color laser printer will do; in fact, the color inkjet printers produce a somewhat higher quality map.  

MapTech's website at www.maptech.com offers a unique feature. At no charge, you can download a full-featured demo of Terrain Navigator, which includes a single USGS 7 1/2" topographic map, one of the Colorado quads. Once you've read through the "Map Problems, Map Solutions" section, which follows next, you might want to print it out, then download the Terrain Navigator demo to get a hands-on feel for things.  

Map Problems, Map Solutions 
Map Problem - Due to its size, the 7 1/2" topo can be unwieldy to carry in the field. 

Terrain Navigator Solution - Just select the area you want on the 1:24,000 scale map (1:1 zoom ratio) and print it out at a rate of 48% on a sheet of 8" x 11 (letter size) paper, using either plain paper or special water-resistant paper such as that made by outfits like Rite-in-the-Rain. The result is a map covering virtually the same area of the standard 7 1/2" 1:24,000 topo, normally about 27" x 22," reduced in size to a sheet of typing paper readily folded and slid into a shirt pocket. (For the Alaskan 1:63,360 scale topo, just select your area and print at a rate of 126.72%.) You also have the option of Portrait or Landscape format - your choice, depending on your needs for the particular area. 

Map Problem - The standard. "store-bought" 7 1/2" topo must be gridded by hand to plot coordinates; in addition, a plotting protractor or other device must be used in order to plot a coordinate with any degree of precision. 

Terrain Navigator Solution - When you're setting up your map to be printed out at a rate of 48%, the option to UTM-grid the map is selected. The final printed-out 8" x 11 map comes out gridded and "rulered" along the edges in 100-meter increments, enabling you to accurately plot your position without the use of a protractor or similar device. (Refer to the maps and exercises you used in figures 1 through 3.) As a built-in plus, the grid and "rulered" edges also provide a distance scale in meters and kilometers covering the entire map.

In yet another plus, using the 48% printout setting on the 1:24,000 scale topo on Terrain Navigator produces a map gridded at exactly the standard military scale of 1:50,000, enabling the optional use of a 1:50,000 UTM corner scale for even greater precision. (For the Alaskan 1:63,360 topos, just select your area, select the UTM-grid option, then print at the rate of 126.72%, which will result in a UTM-gridded 1:50,000-scale mape, enableing the use of a 1:50,000 corner scale, if so desired.) 

(The optional use of the UTM corner scale - especially the one built into the Brunton Combi compass - will be covered in the compass section of the essay.) 

Map Problem - Due, once again, to its size, it is difficult to spread out a standard 7*" topo and plot a position as provided by a GPS. 

Terrain Navigator Solution - With the letter-sized, UTM-gridded map produced by Terrain Navigator, plotting a position from a GPS-supplied coordinate involves nothing more than opening the map and "eyeball calculating" the UTM coordinate as supplied by your GPS. This is feasible because the map is already gridded and "rulered" along the edges in 100-meter increments. (Refer again to maps and exercises used in figures 1 through 3.)  

This process works equally well in reverse. A location of interest - a small meadow, say, or a timbered bench - is identified on your topographic map. In the field, accurately determining its coordinate on a "store-bought" 7 1/2" topo can be challenging. With our letter-sized, UTM-gridded map produced by Terrain Navigator, however, determining the coordinate is easy because our compact map is already UTM-gridded and "rulered" along the edges in 100-meter increments. 

In Figure 7 two small meadows are circled and marked.

Take the westernmost meadow first and calculate its Easting by drawing an imaginary (or real) plotting line from it down to the "rulered" bottom of the map - this will give you an "eyeball calculation" Easting of about 12 5 74 800. Now draw your imaginary or real plotting line from the meadow to the right to the "rulered" right-hand side of the map to determine your Northing - about 48 81 550. Now you have a complete UTM coordinate for the meadow - 12 5 74 800 E, 48 81 550 N. 

Use the same process for the easternmost meadow, and you'll find its UTM "eyeball calculated" coordinate to be 12 5 76 150 E, 48 82 300 N. (Remember - it's important that plotting lines be drawn parallel to the UTM grid lines, not the lines bordering the edge of the map.) 

Map Problems - Marking and/or penciling standard topographic maps - and/or performing compass triangulations - is difficult under field conditions due to map size and lack of any sort of writing surface. When handling a compass triangulation, another problem often arises when the landmark or object that is being used for the triangulation is distant and requires an impractically-long straightedge to draw the line of bearing on the map. 

Terrain Navigator Solution - The map size problem is solved by the UTM-gridded 8" x 11 map. The writing surface problem is solved by packing along a compact Saunders memo-size clipboard. (Dimensions app. 6"x9," weight about 5 ozs., cost less than $2.00) The need for a long straightedge to handle compass triangulations is eliminated by the map's small size - the edge of a small map protractor serves perfectly (the standard military issue is ideal) or the baseplate of the Brunton Combi compass works equally well. And the UTM gridlines provide beautiful right angles, handy for compass triangulations / resections. (Some feel that GPS eliminates the need for compass triangulations in order to plot a position - plus it isn't usually workable at night and the topography doesn't always cooperate - but it's a skill that jumps into sharp focus if your GPS suddenly becomes a casualty. I very much recommend knowing how to do triangulations / resections as a backup at the very least; we'll cover them in the "Compass" section of the essay.

		(Figure 8 features the Saunders memo-size clipboard with a Brunton Combi Compass and Leatherman Wave Tool, included for scale. A clipboard - even a miniature one that weighs only 5 ounces - usually doesn't make anybody's backpack-hunting list, but it can be handier than an extra pocket and does double duty in many ways around the Tipi, especially in the camp kitchen.)

Map Problem - For some perverse reason, the areas on a standard topo map the hunter needs most are often near the edges, compelling him to butt multiple adjoining maps together with transparent tape, which is a real headache. 

Terrain Navigator Solution - Terrain Navigator's "Seamless Mode," in which the map boundaries are defined by the user. When creating the UTM-gridded 8" x 11 map, you simply select the "Seamless Mode," which eliminates the standard "store-bought" topographic map boundaries. Select the area you want, then print out the map at the UTM-gridded 48% rate previously described. In the "Seamless Mode," the program ignores the standard map's borders and provides its own. 

Figures 9 and 10 - Terrain Navigator's "Seamless Mode" in action. In Figure 9 themap's southeast corner is southeast of Deep Lake.

In Figure 10 the "Seamless Mode" has been selected, enabling you to butt two, three, or even four maps together, printing out a UTM-gridded, "rulered" topo combining areas of all.

 

Map Problem - In the field, maps get soaked, torn, otherwise rendered unusable, or even lost.  

Terrain Navigator Solution - Print out two or three copies of each map you'll need for your hunt and leave the copy or copies in camp, ready to replace any that are damaged or lost. Cost: a few sheets of paper and some printer ink. 

Other Terrain Navigator Features and Advantages 
- Finds maps and place names quickly; if a the place name of a creek, mountain, river, etc., appears on the USGS map, then Terrain Navigator's search mode will find it. It will also find the location of any coordinate that you tap into it. 

- As you move the cursor over the Terrain Navigator map, it's providing grid coordinates and altitude in whatever system you've chosen. 

- Terrain Navigator's maps can be viewed in either a conventional 2-D or 3-D mode. 

- "Waypoints" and "Landmarks" (depending on which brand of GPS you're using) can be transferred manually or electronically from Terrain Navigator to your GPS and vice versa.

- Terrain Navigator calculates and displays distances, lines of sight, terrain profiles and other data almost instantly. 

Map Datum 
One more very important factor in working with Terrain Navigator (and later, when we get to the "GPS" section in the essay) concerns a thing called Map Datum. Though the Map Datum issue will start out sounding complicated, it's something that is dealt with very quickly and simply. 

Map Datums are of tremendous importance in surveying and mapmaking - they are the system or model that was used by the surveyor to relate the actual location of ground features to coordinates and locations on the map or system of maps.

 

Your GPS will offer up a very long list of options under “Map Datum.” What’s important here is that the Map Datum option you select for your GPS matches the Map Datum on the map - the individual topo - that you’re working with. New GPSs come from the factory defaulted to WGS 84 (World Geodetic System 1984), but because virtually every "store bought" USGS topo for the United States uses the NAD 27 Map Datum - I’ve yet to encounter one that doesn’t - select NAD 27 (North American Datum 1927) if you're using these off-the-shelf maps. (As it happens, you can double-check. Every USGS store-bought topo map identifies its Map Datum, usually near the lower left-hand corner of the topo, as shown in the 7 1/2 " topo in Figure 11.) 

If your GPS offers different breakdowns of NAD 27, choose NAD 27 CONUS (North American Datum 1927 Continental United Sates) if you’re in the lower 48 and, if you’re in Alaska, select NAD 27 ALASKA. (If you're in Alaska but your GPS doesn’t offer the NAD 27 ALASKA option, just stick with NAD 27.) 

In any event, you can always double-check the Map Datum for your particular "store bought" topo. Every USGS topo map identifies its Map Datum, usually near the lower left-hand corner of the sheet. 

In Canada, the situation is a bit more complicated, as the Centre for Topographic Information’s National Topographic System is currently revising all existing Canadian topographic maps (1:50,000 and 1:250,000 scale) from NAD 27 to NAD 83 (North American Datum 1983), which, for all intents and purposes, is identical to WGS 84. The principle is the same: always check the map you’re using and make sure its Map Datum is matched by the Map Datum setting for your GPS.  

If you opt to use MapTech Terrain Navigator, you'll find that you can set the program's Map Datum for NAD 27, WGS 84, or NAD 83. Again, it's important that everything matches. If your GPS is set for NAD 27, select NAD 27 in Terrain Navigator. If you're running WGS 84 on your GPS, choose WGS 84 in Terrain Navigator. (The same thing applies to NAD 83). The importance is this: if your GPS Map Datum settings don't match those for the map you're using, you could end up being off by hundreds of yards.