Guide · Hunting lease & ranch

How to Number and Map Deer Blinds and Feeders on a Hunting Lease

Every lease ends up with names like "the old box blind" and "the one by the tank." That works until a guest, a new member or your nephew has to find it alone at 5:30 in the morning. Here's a numbering and mapping system that takes one afternoon to set up and saves a lot of radio chatter.

By Henry Elsner (Hank) III, Von Ormy, Texas · October 23, 2026

1. Walk the place and list every spot

Before you assign a single number, make a full list: every box blind, ladder stand, tripod, tower, ground blind, feeder, protein feeder, game camera post, gate and water source. Leases that skip this step end up with "14" sitting next to "3" because a blind was added later.

While you walk, drop a pin on your phone at each spot. Stand right where the tag will go (the blind door, the feeder leg), wait a few seconds for the GPS to settle, then save the pin with a working name.

• Google Maps (iPhone or Android): long-press your location to drop a pin; the coordinates appear at the top of the info card and can be copied or shared by text.
• Apple Maps / Compass (iPhone): the Compass app shows your current latitude and longitude at the bottom of the screen.
• Hunting map apps and handheld GPS units: save a waypoint per spot and export the list.

2. Split the lease into zones

On anything bigger than a few hundred acres, numbering by zone keeps numbers predictable. A common approach:

Leave gaps inside each zone so a new blind can take the next open number without renumbering everything. Pair each blind with its feeder (blind 10, feeder 11) or give the feeder the same number with an "F" — whatever you pick, use it everywhere.

3. Make one master map

Put every numbered spot on one map: a printed aerial with numbers written on it, a shared map in your hunting app, or both. The master map is what gets texted to guests, pinned up at camp and handed to whoever is filling feeders. The number on the map, the number on the stand board and the number on the tag must all match.

Write the coordinates next to each number on the printout. If phones die or there's no signal, the paper still works.

4. Write the coordinates the same way every time

Coordinates come in several formats. Pick one for the whole lease — decimal degrees is the easiest to read over the phone:

• Decimal degrees: 29.12345, -98.12345 (sample) — this is what most phones copy and share.
• Degrees and decimal minutes: N 29° 07.407′, W 98° 07.407′ — common on handheld GPS units.
• Degrees, minutes, seconds: 29°07′24.4″N 98°07′24.4″W.

Five decimal places in decimal degrees is about one meter of precision on paper — far finer than a phone's GPS fix, which is typically good to a few meters under open sky. That's plenty to put a truck at the right blind.

In Texas, longitude is west of the prime meridian, so in decimal degrees it is a negative number. Dropping the minus sign moves the point to the other side of the world, so double-check it.

5. Tag every blind and feeder

A tag at the spot ties the map to the ground. Mount it where a headlamp hits it first: beside the blind door, on the ladder at eye level, on the feeder leg facing the road in. Engrave the number large, then the lease name, the coordinates, and a contact line. A QR code that opens the pin lets someone share the exact spot with one scan.

Our Lease Locator Tags are built for exactly this: numbered black anodized aluminum, 2.17 x 3.35 in, two mounting holes, with the number, lease name, coordinates, QR map pin and contact line engraved on each one.

6. Put up a stand board

At camp, keep a whiteboard or sign-in sheet with every stand number. Before each hunt, everyone writes their name next to the number they're sitting. It prevents two hunters walking into the same area, and if someone doesn't come back on time you know exactly where to start looking. The lease safety guide covers the emergency side of this.

7. Brief every guest

• Text them the master map and their stand number the night before.
• Show them the tag on their blind so they know what to look for in the dark.
• Tell them the lease name, the front gate location and who to call.
• Make sure they know the coordinates on the tag are what they read out if they ever call 911.

Quick checklist

• Every blind, stand, feeder, gate and water source listed and pinned
• Zones with room to grow
• One coordinate format, minus sign on longitude checked
• Master map (paper + phone) matches the tags
• Stand board at camp
• Guests briefed