After two conversations with Curtis Copeland, I don't think I'll ever look at a map the same way again.

If you missed Part One, he walked us through how the Smithsonian's Ozarks map came together. A pretty wild story in its own right. So if you missed it, strongly suggest you go back.

In Part Two, we got down to practicals.

If you use mapping platforms like OnX, Acres, or even just Google Maps, this one will seriously upgrade your scouting game (and how they play a vital role in conservation).

In this week's edition:

Let's get into some maps!

— Kyle

🎧 If you like platforms other than YouTube, find The Ozark Podcast on Apple, Spotify, and all the rest.

I've always thought of maps as neutral.

Authoritative. Like, this is just the information. This is just the world, drawn out flat. But when you get out into the field, you realize that what you saw on paper or online can be as different as night and day.

You may have even found yourself saying, "These maps have betrayed me."

Curtis has been in professional mapping work for 28 years.

What he helped us see is that a map is never neutral. Every single one—from your OnX habitat layers to the county property boundary lines to the topo you pulled up last fall to plan your public land hunt—was made by somebody, for a specific reason. And that reason shapes what you see.

It also informs what you don't see.

The cartographer decides what gets shown, at what scale, with what symbols, using data from when. All of those are decisions. And every decision reflects the intent of whoever commissioned the map, or the limits of the data it was built on.

So apply that to how you use maps to scout hunting spots. We'll pull up the acorn-producing oak layer, find a spot that looks like a perfect setup, and build a whole plan around it. We trust it. But that vegetation data? It might come from aerial photography that's fifteen or twenty years old. The oak stand that looks green and productive on your screen might be a clearcut today.

The map wasn't necessarily lying, but it was just showing you the past.

Scale does the same thing. Curtis put it simply: a bluff that drops twenty feet over ten yards looks identical on a topo map to a gradual slope. You don't know there's a cliff until you're standing at the edge of it.

No matter how good your digital scouting gets—and it's gotten really good—the real world is always going to throw you a curveball when you get there.

That's why boots on the ground still matters.

But there are a few things you can actually take into the field differently...

A few things I'm actually taking into the field differently after this conversation.

1. Check the age of your data before you trust it.

Every map layer has a "when" behind it.

Aerial photography, tree canopy data, vegetation layers, property lines—all of it gets collected at a specific point in time and doesn't always get updated. Before you plan a hunt around a layer in OnX, find out when the data was collected. Fifteen-year-old canopy data can send you straight to a clearcut. Outdated property boundary lines can put you on somebody else's land without realizing it.

The data source and collection date are usually buried somewhere in the layer info—pull that up before you drive two hours into the woods.

2. Start using Lidar overlays when you scout.

I knew Lidar existed, but after this conversation—and watching what Derek Dixon has been doing with it over at Whitetail Research—I want to actually start using it.

Standard topo maps are built from data points that can be spaced many feet apart. Lidar blankets the surface with billions of data points and strips out the trees, giving you bare earth with enough resolution to pick out a two-foot drainage that never shows up on a standard topo.

That stuff matters for deer movement. It's right there in OnX. So use it.

3. Ask who made your map, and more importantly, why.

Before you trust a layer, think for a second about the organization behind it.

A hunting app wants to look comprehensive so you'll subscribe. A county assessor might be working from survey data that hasn't been touched in years. A developer wants to make land look flat and buildable. Every map has a perspective. Know what it is before you trust it.

Going in with that mindset makes you a smarter reader of the information and a smarter hunter when you get on the ground.

Thanks for reading, folks! We’ve got some incredible guests lined up these next few weeks, diving back into one of our favorite topics: the Neosho Bass. We’re in for a real treat.

Till then, get outside.

— Kyle Veit