Hunting down 10 iPhone apps for the outdoorsman

At least here in Colorado, the big game hunting season is mostly over for another year, except for a few late-season licenses. While many hunters may be nursing deer camp hangovers, maintaining their firearms, or telling yarns about the ones that got away, those who own an iPhone or iPod touch can still be blasting away at Bambi.

There are a huge number of hunting-related apps in the App Store, ranging from various deer and duck hunting simulations to duck and deer calls. Let's take a look at a ten-pack of apps:

Go out and blast at virtual deer, elk, caribou, grizzly bears, and black bears with 3D Hunting Trophy Whitetail [US$0.99, iTunes Link]. Four weapon types (Lever-Action Rifle, Bolt-Action Rifle, Scoped Bolt-Action Rifle, or Bow & Arrow) are available for your shooting enjoyment, and you get to use calls and scents to attract your prey.

If you aren't the best outdoorsman/woman in the group, it's easy to get lost and not be able to find your favorite hunting spot. Equipped with an iPhone 3G or 3GS and the "Where's my tree stand?" app [US$0.99, iTunes Link], you'll no longer need to embarrass or possibly harm yourself. Using GPS (not the cell tower triangulation possible with earlier models of iPhone), you mark your initial position at your camp or tree stand, then use the app later to get back to your base.

So taking potshots at deer and elk isn't exciting enough for you? How about using a grenade launcher to go after grizzly bears? If that hits your main nerve,3D Hunting Grizzly! Assault [US$0.99, iTunes Link] might be right up your alley. Not meant for PETA or Greenpeace members, this game also lets you shoot birds from trees and cut down trees with your chainsaw or rocket fire.

Have you ever spent a few hours at the local bar tossing down beers and shots, and playing Big Buck Hunter Pro? It's now available in an iPhone / iPod touch version [US$2.99, iTunes Link]. When the hunting becomes a little intense, you can switch over to Frog Flippin', Duck Hunt, or Gopher Garden for some fun relief from the pressure.

Hunters "score" their deer or elk trophies by points based on the antlers or "rack" of the male of the species. ShRACK [US$0.99, iTunes Link] gives you a little field fun by letting you calculate the unofficial score for your deer or elk. Your data entry is punctuated with the bleat of doe deers and the grunting of bucks, so it may be hard to keep a straight face while entering measurements.

When you're in the field, it's nice to have an inkling of when wildlife will be active and on the move. TimeToHunt Pro [US$1.99, iTunes Link] is designed to take your current location and factor in other considerations such as the phase and location of the moon to determine wildlife activity.

When a winged target makes more sense to you than a hoofed one, consider one of the fowl hunting apps in the App Store. To start with, you could try Duck Hunting [US$0.99, iTunes Link]. You need to shoot as many ducks as possible in 45 seconds to gain 250 or more points and pass to the next level, making sure you don't accidentally plug a couple of doves and lose points in the process.

Those turkeys gobbling around might be easy prey with the free Turkey Hunt [iTunes Link]. Despite the tens of thousands of low ratings, it's free, so it's definitely worth your effort to download. You can always delete it later if it turns out to be a turkey.

I have to wonder about the next couple of apps -- they're used to send out calls to attract prey. Knowing how weak and low the iPhone speaker is, you're definitely going to need to bring along a battery-powered speaker to blast out the calls -- the iPhone isn't going to have much range on its own. The first app is Duck Hunting Calls [US$1.99, iTunes Link], which provides seven different calls ranging from a "Lonesome Hen" to a "Pleading Call."

The next, and final of our ten hunting apps is Quik Hunting Calls [US$1.99, iTunes Link]. It plays more than 35 different hunting calls and animal sounds, including deer, turkey, ducks, geese, elk, moose, bobcast, raccoons, foxes, and wolves. Once again, it will be very helpful to attach your iPhone or iPod touch to an external speaker if you expect to attract any animals further than 10 feet away.

While I never hunt for any game more elusive than the TV remote, it looks like real outdoorsmen and women have a cornucopia of hunting-related apps to choose from. Be sure to leave us your comments on your favorite hunting or fishing related apps.