From – Paul Erhardt, Managing Editor, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network
One of the most valuable hunting tools available today is the GPS.
The ability to identify exactly where you are out in the wild, where your best hunting spots are, where your game cameras are, and where your hunting buddies are, is critical both for a successful hunt, but also from a safety standpoint.
Long gone are the days of carrying a compass and having to master land navigation – though that’s a helluva skill to have, so don’t dismiss the old school approach.
Today’s hunters have gone high-tech. And with the nearly universal acceptance and use of smartphones, with their built-in GPS capability, the phone is replacing the handheld GPS in locales where cell service is available.
Why carry a specific piece of additional gear whose tech is already replicated on your phone? Especially if it’s on your phone in the form of an app that is designed for hunting.
For hunters of all skill and experience levels the onX Hunt app is an ideal solution for searching and mapping your hunts. And because it sits right on your phone it adds exactly zero extra pounds, or even ounces, to your hunting load out.
I have the onX app, and I use it. I am far from a super-user because my needs are fairly limited in scope. As a dove hunter I need to confirm my distance from the nearest structures and roads. I also need to mark my hunting spots, though none are what I would call a ‘prime spot.’
And since I live in Arizona, and I need to be out there and ready to hunt 30 minutes before sunrise, it’s kind of important I have my route mapped out. I am not hunting in a sunflower field – or any kind of field for that matter – but in the desert. A rocky terrain pockmarked with areas of uneven footing due to monsoon season erosion.
I prepped specifically for dove season the first year I used the onX app by walking the best, least restricted route to my spot and marking key points along the way so I’d know I was on the right path and not about to stumble down a four-foot drop in the dark to take a face full of rocks, or worse, cactus.
Knowing exactly where I was going in the early morning darkness is arguably a trivial thing, but after several seasons of high school basketball I have become a big fan of no spraining my ankle…particularly if it happens to be on Opening Day.
onX has two tiers for their Hunt app. The Premium level is what I used in the past and is limited to a single state for a $29.99 annual fee. This gave me access to Arizona’s land ownership maps, 3D, satellite, topo, and hybrid basemaps.
It also allowed for offline maps, customizable waypoints with optimal wind and is accessible on iOS and Android phones, as well as a desktop.
However, for this upcoming dove season I will be using the Elite membership version of the app which has several more features starting with access to nationwide land ownership maps, and Canada hunting maps…not that I plan on hunting in Canada, but one never knows.
The Elite membership has other advanced tools such as their Terrain X 3D Viewer, recent imagery, and Route Builder.
The Elite membership is $99.99 annually, and while it is far more than I need it does give me some cool features to test. The route builder is top of my list of features to try since with the Premium version I just dropped waypoints, which certainly worked but this will be better.
onX has recently announced a host of new features available in the app, and while they may be a bit of overkill for my purposes, they will be a welcome addition for hunters who are far more serious about hunting season than I am.
The new features available in the onX Hunt app are a veritable smorgasbord for hunters looking to maximize their time in the field. Read more
