Thread: advice on Handheld GPS

Originally Posted by stretch

I've been looking at maps a lot today - mostly WAMS and DOC stuff. Came across the GIS data that DOC uses to produce the pretty (useless IMO) hunting permit maps like this one.

Download these two files,

DOC Public Conservation Areas
DOC Recreational Hunting Permit Areas

Open them up in Google Earth and you will find that they are NOT the same. There are bits of DOC Public Conservation Areas that your DOC Hunting Permit does NOT entitle you to hunt in. The "DOC Boundaries" GPS maps are built from the first file, so unless you check the overlap with the second file (hunting areas) in Google Earth, you may be hunting where you're not meant to - and none of us want to be that guy, right?

The "Hunting Areas" GIS data also has the following description/disclaimer:

Department of Conservation - Recreation Hunting Permit Areas. This dataset is the Department of Conservation's record of those parts of Public Conservation Land where recreational hunting may take place. If hunting within these areas you MUST obtain a hunting permit first; either online at Hunting or from your local DOC office. These data are based upon land parcels (cadastre) but are not suitable for accurate boundary definition.

That's DOC's legal advisors doing their arse-covering, but if that data is "not suitable" for making sure you're where you're meant to be and not where you're NOT meant to be, then I don't know what is.

I will endeavour to make a Garmin GPS map from the "DOC Recreational Hunting Permit Areas" and some data from WAMS. That way we can be more sure of what areas are:
a) Publicly accessible (via WAMS); and
b) Able to be legally hunted on (via DOC Hunting Areas).

Thoughts?

Agreed. I have noticed that the hunting areas are different around the internet. I just follow the DOC site then I know I can't go wrong. I downloaded a zip file from docs site yesterday with the boundaries. Just need to pick either 62s or Rhino. Probably will end up with the 62s I think looking at the feedback in the thread