Using GPS to mark property boundry

Tollster · Dec 16, 2011

Any one ever try it? I have 2 pins about .25 mile a part, unable to maintain a visual on marker due to elevation changes and thickets.

I gave it a shot today, went to the southern most pin and plotted a way piont to the other. Hung tagging every 20-50 yards or so, then saved the new tagging locations as waypoints.
Came home and imported the image in Garmin base camp, then drew a straight line from pin to pin, through the new tagging waypoints.
They are pretty close, I have 4 tags that are out about 10-30 feet or so,but about 50% are spot on.

I have a garmin Oregon 400t, but had trouble setting it up.I could not find a course deviation setting anywhere in the unit. I also could not set it up so the course was aways facing up.
I recon I could get a topo map and do it the old way, charts and compass...

Heres one for ya'll. Just got the property and traced the boundry, the neighbor is over the line by about 150', he actually has no hunting signs and a large portable tree stand. Any ideas on how to be neighborly but not a smart *** on getting his **** back on his land?

I was thinking about removing the signs and hanging some sort of letter on the stand. Bottom line is I wanna get a long with the neighbor and I am the new guy in the area. Don't mind him hunting, but the postings are ....over the line!

nybirdman · Dec 16, 2011

You may have to hire a pro surveyor.You didn't when you purchased the property?They will use a GPS also but,he is more apt to believe their lines.
After that;just notify the persons involved.The longer it goes the worse it will be.
In NY...we have access on the web to property lines;useing bing maps and tax maps.You may want to check if this is availble in your area.

Combustix · Dec 16, 2011

I agree have it professionally done, then you can walk next store and say you just had the place surveyed, show him your maps and were he has posted. If you don't mind him hunting, I would tell him that's okay but you are not good with him posting your land. Don't know how you feel about posting your side and if that works for you he should be good with it to. You may want to give him something in writing about the hunting priveledge as well, so later he can't come back with any claims or send his buddies your way.

twinjayhawks · Dec 16, 2011

Tollster said:
I have a garmin Oregon 400t, but had trouble setting it up.

I have the Oregon 550 I use for Geocaching. I have tried to mark things on my property with it just for general locations... anything more will require a surveyor.

Gordon Gould · Dec 16, 2011

If he is a neighbor its best to just go talk to him first. Ask him how he figured the property line. Them say what you have to say depending on what he tells you. It is possible the previous owner of your property was fine with his markers. Can you find any evidence of where the line should be. Blazes, old fence, stone walls ? I did a rough survey of my property with my GPS so I could make a map. I use a MapTech program to import markers from my GPS. Then I can transfer them to Google Earth and draw a line. Maybe you could see something that way if it is not just all homogenious woods. If it comes to an arguement the only answer is a surveyor. I would want a 1300' line marked properly and legally if it were me.

s219 · Dec 16, 2011

I have done it, but the trees are so thick on my new property that line of sight to the sky is marginal, so the GPS accuracy is not great. What I normally do is just shoot a bearing from a known marker and then follow it, leaving intermediate ribbon markers.

A pro surveyor gets around this sort of tree problem by using differential GPS. They set up base stations where they can get a clear line of sight to the sky, and then triangulate back to the base stations with other techniques.

Using satellite imagery, it's possible to correlate location to tree types. I can walk my forest, and make note of certain tree types or groupings. Then pick them out on the sat image later and draw in a marker. I often use this as a sanity check on other measurements.

I have found that the "Theodolite" app for the iPhone is really helpful -- it's like using a surveyors transit without having to rent the real equipment. I also rely heavily on my Brunton Pocket Transit.

Recently I used all these techniques to walk the perimeter of my new 4 acre property. I came back out to the starting point and was within 6" of the pin. I thought that was pretty good, but I imagine a real surveyor can do much better.

Tollster · Dec 16, 2011

Gordon Gould said:
If he is a neighbor its best to just go talk to him first. Ask him how he figured the property line. Them say what you have to say depending on what he tells you. It is possible the previous owner of your property was fine with his markers. Can you find any evidence of where the line should be. Blazes, old fence, stone walls ? I did a rough survey of my property with my GPS so I could make a map. I use a MapTech program to import markers from my GPS. Then I can transfer them to Google Earth and draw a line. Maybe you could see something that way if it is not just all homogenious woods. If it comes to an arguement the only answer is a surveyor. I would want a 1300' line marked properly and legally if it were me.

Thats pretty much what I did, the two southern pins are clearly idnetified, I plotted a straight line using waypoint to waypoint, then saved the flagging locations to my GPS. Came home and used a straight line tool in the GPS program to see how the lines fell. Exported to Google earth.
The neighbor does not live in the area, and only uses for hunting. I will remove his signs and leave him a kind note on his tree stand. Introducing myself and leaving my phone number as i would like to speak to him. I see how that transpires.
Either he'll call me, or pack up his stand and hide. That will tell me his place on the property and give an indication on what he knows.

toddbailey · Dec 16, 2011

Hire a professional surveyor! I do this for a living don't waste your time trying to mark your lines yourself or what you think are your lines. Hire a local respected/established professional tell him to mark your lines and every couple of years recut and mark the lines yourself. There is almost no way a layperson can mark a line anywhere close with a consumer grade GPS unit it just doesn't have the accuracy built in to it. And if the lines are in the wood your professional will not be using GPS.

riptides · Dec 16, 2011

I thought commerical grade GPS had a +-3 Feet accuracy scope.

Isn't that a bit much for a property line? Especially over many acres?

tallyho8 · Dec 16, 2011

Combustix said:
I agree have it professionally done, then you can walk next store and say you just had the place surveyed, show him your maps and were he has posted. If you don't mind him hunting, I would tell him that's okay but you are not good with him posting your land. Don't know how you feel about posting your side and if that works for you he should be good with it to. You may want to give him something in writing about the hunting priveledge as well, so later he can't come back with any claims or send his buddies your way.

Do not give anyone written permission to hunt on your property. In most jurisdictions this makes you legally liable for damages if an accident occurs.

In Louisiana it is illegal to hunt on someones property without written permission so if there is an accident, they are trespassing and it is much harder for you to found at fault even if you gave them verbal permission.