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onX Hunt: Find More Deer, and Landowners

By Bow StaffNovember 4, 20171 Comment

Having just returned from a western do-it-yourself big game hunt out west, I have some fresh and exciting ideas about how to make one of the tools that was crucial for me out there work for me here in the Midwest.

One of the first things to cross a Midwestern or Eastern deer hunter’s mind when considering a trip out west is a GPS or GPS app of some sort. This is for good reason. Head out there without one and one of two things, or both, can happen. You can get lost. Yep, it is seriously easy to do in the big, mountainous country of the west. And getting lost out West is not like getting turned around back East. The other thing is that you may inadvertently wander onto someone’s property that you don’t belong on. There are plenty of areas where private parcels but right up against BLM land, and without a GPS, you wouldn’t even know it.

A good GPS app can eliminate both of these from happening, and there are a couple of other cool features they have that help make your hunt more memorable as well. They can also help you mark where you saw game, sign, etc. Should you down an animal, they can also help you get back to the carcass for one of the many pack trips you will have to make to get the goodies out.

hunter-with-onxmapsl-gps

onX is a great tool for both the GPS and the smartphone platforms.

I don’t have an actual GPS unit. Well, I guess I do because I have a smart phone. I prefer an app over an actual handheld GPS unit. This is simply because it means one less thing I have to carry. Why carry an actual GPS when I already have my phone which is capable of being one? Plus, seeing as how I don’t already have a hand-held GPS unit, why incur the expense? That being said, there are a couple things to consider. First, most GPS apps are not anywhere close to as good as an actual GPS unit when it comes to their ability and options, and second, apps can drain battery life.

For these reasons, I chose an app called onX Hunt. With features designed to not drain my battery, and it’s off-grid capability, I also never have to worry about being out of cell service. Once my maps are saved, I can easily use my phone as a GPS device even when I don’t have service. If, however, you prefer an actual separate GPS device, onX Hunt also has a chip available that can be loaded right into your GPS.

Besides being compatible with smart phones and GPS units, the app can also be used on desk

The onX is very powerful tool for hunting the west, but I’ve also found a plethora of ways in which the app will help me take my Midwestern deer and turkey hunting to the next level as well.

So, how does this all apply to a small-tract whitetail hunter in the Midwest? Simple. While you may not get lost on your “Back 40” when deer hunting, you will certainly love the advantages the app will give you.

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Log all your favorite hunting locations and destinations into your smartphone with onX.

While getting lost may not be your biggest fear in your home state, trespassing should be. With onX  loaded on your phone, you will never have to worry about stepping foot on the wrong property. You won’t be struggling to find portions of the fence that has seemed to vanish over the years.

The app will also make you a more effective hunter in a number of ways. For one, you can keep tabs on all of your stands by marking game sightings, shot opportunities, where game was seen, etc. Over time, patterns will develop, better allowing you to set stands strategically based on actual deer movement you have observed. You will also be able to determine the best travel routes to and from your stands based on the topographical map in the app. Lastly, you easily spot funnels, pinch points, etc. from the app as well.

For turkey season, you can easily mark roosting areas, travel patterns of the flock you are hunting, and mark some likely ambush sites.

And don’t forget the benefit of such an app for tracking wounded game. By setting markers in the app, you can mark things such as where the shot was taken, where it was last seen, the spot where you marked last blood, etc. Pretty valuable stuff.

But by far, what makes this app so valuable to us small-tract private land hunters comes in the form of finding landowners.

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onX even has a feature that details Boone & Crockett entries by county and state.

Gone are the days when the owner of that prime looking piece of ground lived in the house right on the property. Nowadays, more often than not, the owner may not even live in the same state, let alone around the corner! For this reason alone, the onX app has more than earned its keep with me.

The app displays parcel and landowner information for every piece of private land. A very useful tool for trying to find out who owns that piece of property you’ve been wondering about the last few seasons. Just considering what it saves me in gas, wear and tear on my truck, and time, pretty much makes this app priceless.

So, if you think that apps like onX  are only useful when planning a hunt out west, think again. You could be missing the boat by ignoring them right here in your own back yard.

Just about all such apps have a fee. The membership for onX  is quite reasonable at around $100 per year. Check out their website at www.onxmaps.com for more information.

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