Easily Customize Topo and
Aerial Photo Maps

Aerial photo maps, topo maps (topographic), local road maps, BLM maps and US Forrest Service maps are indispensable for doing scouting from afar, or at a hunting site.

Some hunting maps can be viewed online and printed for free, or printed copies can be ordered. They can be found on one single site, Mytopo.com. Waterproof copies of maps can be ordered.

Recent Articles

  1. Elk Nut (Paul Medel) Elk Communication Products Now Available

    Joe Carter's 2013 Bull 250
    “Elk Nut”, Paul Medel, has studied elk sounds for over 30 years. His products will help you have more “close encounters of the herd kind”. Available with free shipping on this site.

    Read More

Search for in

Build Your Own Hunting Maps

Mytopo.com makes it VERY easy to do online scouting of your hunting location from a computer anytime, anywhere. You can waste a lot of time online trying to open separate websites with aerial photo maps, topo maps, BLM maps and road maps all at once. I have! The goal of this page is to get you to free hunting maps quickly and to make the whole process easier for you.

Mytopo.com has free to view and print USGS topo maps, high resolution aerial photo maps and hybrid photo/road maps. Customized “TopoPhoto” maps, as well as BLM maps are also available. In addition to motor vehicle roads, these maps will show you roads and trails that are closed to motorized travel on the national forests on which you can traverse by foot or by mountain bike (sometimes bikes are excluded in Wilderness Areas). You will need to compare them to the simple Forest Service Motor Vehicle use Maps discussed below.

At Mytopo.com, with a simple click of the mouse you can instantly switch back and forth between the following views of the area you specify:

Topo Maps Personalized topographical map

Aerial Photo Maps Shows road and stream names with or without topography lines overlaid

Road Maps How to get around…

..all without having to wait for the page to reload. The change is instant from one view to another. The new view is in exactly the same place as the previous view was. So, if you are looking at a spring on the topo view, you just click on “Hybrid” as you keep your eyes in the same spot. You will instantly be looking at an aerial photo of the same spring. If you want to see a simple road map of the area, just click on “Map” and all the distractions are removed instantly.

US Forest Maps and Links 

US Forest Service maps can be found and purchased online, but are a little harder to locate. (Well, it is the government!) If you hunt on the national forests, these maps will show you travel routes and boundaries.

Motor Vehicle Use Maps (MVUM) tell you where you can drive and what kind of motor vehicle travel is allowed in an area. You can view these online.

Click on the link above and then click on the specific national forest listed under the state where you will be hunting. Select “Maps and Publications” on the left side. You will then have to select your ranger district map. (You can find out which one that is on the previous specific national forest page by clicking on “View Larger Map” on the right hand side.)

The limitation of these MVUMaps is that they don’t show the roads and trails you can’t use for motorized travel. In other words, the roads and trails you can hike in on are not there. (You CAN see those at Mytopo.com.)

Forest Service MVUMaps are simple, with little detail. They mostly just show roads that you can travel on with specified kinds of motor vehicle travel. They do not have terrain information like aerial photo maps and topo maps do. You need to be able to see the non-motorized travel roads behind locked gates that you can hunt from.

To see those, you can compare the MVUMap to an aerial photo view and topo map of your hunting area at Mytopo.com.

“Visitor Maps” can also be purchased from each individual national forest office. Some national forests have large maps of the entire forest (they used to be called Travel Maps) with seasonal road restrictions, but with the recent Federal mandate requiring very specific travel use plans from each forest district most of those are no longer in print. (See ATVs and Big Game Hunting page.)

Print an Areal Photo Map
and/or Topo for Your Pack

I would recommend that you take at least an 18 X 24 inch waterproof topo map, with your hunting area centered on it, in your pack. Those are available at a very reasonable cost of $12.95 at Mytopo.com. Color aerial photo maps and larger sizes, or laminated versions available at an additional cost. You can even add GPS files to your customized map.

At Mytopo.com you will also find maps of state and species specific hunting unit areas or GMU boundaries on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) maps that show public land ownership boundaries.

Mytopo.com has become a convenient one-stop shop for personally tailored, free hunting maps that you can order waterproof prints of at a reasonable cost. You can “center” your hunting site on the maps you view and order them. This eliminates having your area on the edge of a quadrant map, or continued on a separate map.

Montana Cadastral Mapping

For Montana there is a site with a thorough, but slow and cumbersome, private and public land ownership mapping system. It’s called Montana Cadastral Mapping. Start by clicking on “Property Map”, but be forewarned it is a little frustrating to get drilled into all the features you want to view, including aerial photo maps and topography maps. Once you get it like you want it, if you do something “wrong” it zooms back out and you get to start all over. I’m not sure what causes that, but it’s frustrating and time consuming.

I like to use it to find out the names of the owners of private land where I’d like to hunt. Sometime you can find out who to contact for permission to access their property. If anyone knows of something similar to Montana Cadastral Mapping in other states please send me a link via Contact Us and I will post it here. 

Google Earth for Hunting

Google Earth is a satellite view of the entire earth used to create aerial photo maps, or just for viewing. One benefit of going to Google Earth to see your hunting area is that you can do a “fly in” by tilting the view. The fly in gives you an idea of the terrain of the area by appearing that you are flying just above it. To do this, click on the navigation arrows at the top right corner of the view area.

For aerial photo maps, topo and other hunting maps, Mytopo.com is much better than trying to look at other map sites alongside Google Earth. I have spent many frustrating hours on Montana Cadastral Mapping and Google Earth, with BLM maps in my hand, before I learned how easy Mytopo.com made the process. You can pick how close to zoom in or out, give your map a title and other customizable features.

The map source date is clearly indicated, so you know how “fresh” the aerial photo is. It even calculates how many acres and square miles your map includes. 

I’ve set up a form for you to start building your map right here, if you like:

Search for in

Please subscribe to or our Quick Elk Hunting Tips and Updates newsletter or to an RSS feed (see left column for both) to be alerted whenever new information is added to the site.

We'd appreciate it if you would "Like" us on Facebook, or share this site with others.

New! Comments

Leave a comment in the box below.

Shop Our Store

Elk Tips Outdoor Gear Logo

406-431-0876

Newsletter Opt-in:
"I just get so excited talking about elk.." ~Tristan, CO



Search This Site Here:

Hunting Gear Reviews

ASAT Camo
ElkNut Outdoor Prod.
Bugling Bull Game Calls
HECS Stealthscreen
Montana Decoy
StringSling Bow Sling
Skull Hookers
Safari Sling Rifle Sling
Clip-Shot Mini Camera Mount

ASAT Camo

Free U.S. Shipping


Bugling Bull
Game Calls


ElkNut Productions

Free Shipping on
ElkNut Products Here


HECS Stealthscreen:
A New Type of Concealment!

HECS Stealthscreen

$199.99,
Including U.S. Shipping


Montana Decoy Elk/Deer
Available Here!

Montana Decoy

$59-$109.99 Free Shipping!


The StringSling:
Best Bow Sling Design!

String Sling Bow Sling

$29.95, Including U.S. Shipping


Clip-Shot: 1 oz. Camera Mount

$21.85 Free U.S. Shipping


Skull Hookers

Skull hooker

$34.99 & 59.99 Free U.S. Shipping!


The Safari Sling:
Best Rifle Sling Design!

Safari Sling Best Rifle Sling Available

$27.99 Free US Shipping


Share your elk hunting pictures and stories on our Facebook Page!

Go to Forums


Forum Topic Discussions:


How often should I use my cow call?, I am new to the sport of bow hunting elk and my question is how often should I use my cow calls?

295 yard kill with a Kimber Montana 325 WSM, by Don from Dallas: My ELk did not even twitch once. He was dead when he hit the ground.

325 WSM is worth considering, Palmer Lake,CO: I believe that the .325 WSM is the ultimate elk caliber...

30-30 for Elk? : I have a 30 30 with 170 grain round nose bullet. Will this work to shoot an elk ?

(More comments about Best Elk Rifle below)

Submissions

Unique Elk Talk by Idaho Steve (Hailey, Id ), In the middle of the night, a herd of elk came traveling through the drainage and right past my tent...

Smelly Elk Areas? by Jimmy (New Mexico), I've come across many areas that just stink of elk, literally. I have heard two somewhat contradictory stories...

DIY Gear List Must Have's! by Craig (Florida) "Here are some of the items I use on my DIY hunts in the CO backcountry..."

Elk and Deer Hunting and Mountain Bikes, by Skip Shepherd (Tucson, AZ)~ At 67 I am thinking a lot about investing in a mountain bike to get back into remote areas...


Solo archery hunting -- tips for calling/set up?, by Idaho Steve (Hailey, ID )~ I hunt by myself a lot...I'd love to hear your thoughts on strategic set-ups when solo hunting and calling.

Non- Lead Bullets for Elk?, by Dave, Elk Hunting Tips.Net (Garrison, MT)~ What do you ballistics guys think about the use of non-lead bullets for elk? According to this story...

Rage Broadheads by Chris, ...my buddy gave me a rage practice tip and when I shot it you could not pick out the broadhead from the field points. I was sold...

Recent Submissions:

Finally filled the freezer..., Colorado Rockies~ "I was bummed when I got to the property and no elk, nor any hoof prints in the snow. ...I pulled each of the elk into shade then started gutting..."


Wounded Veteran Elk hunts, by Joshua FL), I am a disabled veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and have always dreamed of hunting elk. I am posting this to see if anyone would know of any elk hunts free to disabled vets....

First Elk with a Bow, by Ryan H. (Colorado), ...Finally after many years of hunting with a bow "I got er did"!

First Elk!, by Tater (Sheridan, Arkansas) I took the advice I received from this website and was successful…I wanted to Thank You and Your Forum and the folks that share on here for the knowledge and information that helped me find an elk I was quite happy with.


Questions

Any success in Unit 14?, by: Dave (MI), "I'm planning on doing a DIY in Unit 14 for 2012..."


Share Elk Hunting Secrets


Bugle in Herd bulls, by Swiltbank (Az) The key to calling in a herd bull is to get into his bedding grounds and threaten his herd. Start off sounding like…


Best Big Game Rifle?

Best Rifle Caliber?, by Buglemup (Superior, MT), "I've been reading what people have been writing about rifle calibers and here is what 16 years of guiding elk has taught me."

7mm Remington Magnum, by Dean (Helena, MT. USA) I use my Liberty Ruger M77, 7mm Rem. Mag. for antelope, deer, elk... Comment: "What do you guys think about the idea of hunting elk with a 270? I also know a guy who kills elk with a 243."


338 Marlin Express, "Light, fast shooting, hard hitting, manageable recoil, and for a lever gun - very accurate."


Guns I like for Elk, by Mountain Walker (Kootenays east B.C. Canada),"I think the gun you shoot Elk with should be one you shoot a lot with... "


.35 Remington, by Bill Smith "...my .35 Rem appears to have dropped a medium deer flawlessly, but I now have serious doubts as to its capability to take an elk."


Arizona Elk Hunting

Where to hunt in Az unit 3B?, by Cliffjumper (Tucson, Az) ~ I got a late bull muzzle loader hunt in Arizona unit 3b. Does anyone know how to hunt bulls in the late season?...

First time elk hunter hunting Arizona unit 6A , by Rob Marchio (Omaha, Ne)~ I'm a first time elk hunter hunting Arizona's unit 6A. I'm planning on staying in the Pine Grove campground...


Elk Hunting Colorado

Help needed for 1st DIY Hunt w/Son, by Patrick (Parker, CO), "I was looking for some advice on my 1st DIY hunt for 2014 in CO with my 13 yr old son. I have countless hrs going over stats, topo maps & Google Earth"

Elk Hunting Colorado in 2013, By William (Midland, TX) "I am planning an elk hunt next year in Colorado and I wanted to know if hunting Gunnison National Forest..."

Unit 60 Elk 4th Rifle Season Nov 13-17 Either Sex 2013, By Chester "...Any general advice about the unit would be appreciated!"


Idaho Elk Hunting


Elk Hunting Idaho Unit 8 8A 11, This is my first year seriously trying to track down some elk. Is there anyone that has hunted in any of these units and can give me some friendly advice? Mitchell, Moscow Idaho

Elk Hunting Pocatello by Cameron (Pocatello) Where is the best place to elk hunt around Pocatello, Idaho? I'm a student at ISU and I'm looking for somewhere around here to hunt next season.

How is the elk hunting in unit 30A in Idaho?, by Terry (Richland Center, WI) Has anyone archery elk hunted in unit 30A in Idaho? What can you tell me about the area?


Elk Hunting In Montana

Hunting in Western Montana, by Mike A. (Alabama)

I did not draw a tag for Missouri breaks where I have hunted in the past. Having to start over and try western Montana.


New Mexico Elk Hunting

New Mexico Unit 49, by Silas (Los Alamos, NM)

If anyone has tips on areas to start scouting, I'd really appreciate it.

First Elk Hunt First Elk Hunt, by Big "R" (NM)

I finally got drawn for a late elk hunt in Unit 28, north of Road 506 and south of the boundary line of the Lincoln National Forest...


Elk Hunting Nevada

Cow elk in Nevada's unit 222:

"Any good places known in unit 222?"

Northeast Nevada Early Elk hunt, by John (Carson City,NV)

"Any suggestions on what areas I may see some signs of elk?"


Questions from Novice Hunters

Retired USMC MSgt Needs Advice, by Ken Wing USMCRET (Bealeton, Va)


Big Game Recipes

Popcorn VenisonPopcorn Venison with Maple Syrup?

Elk or Venison Steaks Grilled to Perfection Here's how to turn them into steakhouse steaks!

Spice-Crusted Grilled Venison Roast Recipe This Spice-Crusted, Grilled Venison Roast recipe works great for any red meat roasts, including elk, deer or beef roast...

Corned Elk Recipe You can easily make corned venison and elk, moose or corned beef from these instructions...