Hey, I’m Alex Getty. I like to describe myself as an IT Security Goon, Hunter, Angler, Forager, and amateur chef. I grew up outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but have lived or spent time all throughout the mid-Atlantic region hunting, camping, hiking, and fishing. While I love hunting big game and spend a lot of time doing it, my real passion is upland bird hunting. Running my dogs in the field and spending time with family trucking around on forest service roads gives me satisfaction that’s hard to find anywhere else. Thankfully my day job as a federal employee gives me a chance to spend my leave taking far out trips spending time with family both blood and adopted in the woods doing cool things. I wanted to share those adventures and the nexus between my technology life and the outdoors, so I started this here blog.
APT Outdoors is the experimentation of one guy on how he can use modern GIS strategies, python scripting, and external data to augment hunting for whitetail and other critters. Using publicly available data and a suite of custom programmed tools, can it really help the way you hunt? This blog follows my journey as I teach myself Python and GIS (using QGIS and ArcGIS) to see if that can help me better manage my hunting experience while being able to geek out and augment my professional life.
I have a thing for all things maps, but I am neither a GIS expert nor am I a cartographer. However, I do know how whitetail use terrain funnels, so maybe there’s something there? This blog will have everything from book and gear reviews, to scripts, code, and how-tos. The idea is to modernize and augment one of the worlds oldest ways of obtaining delicious natural food and giving me a little something to do when the weather is nasty outside!
