Pros and cons of using ON-X to find hard to access Public Ground

[2rocky]

Having just pulled the trigger on the ONX app, I'm curious how many of you have found more confrontations with Landowners when you access a piece they thought was Landlocked?

What makes it worth it to you ? Can you really enjoy your hunt knowing they are just waiting for you to step over the line?

I've skimmed the Durfee Hills posts so no need to re hash that.

Have any of you actually had a constructive discussion with a landowner as a result of finding public inholdings where you didn't feel like you were looking over your shoulder the whole time during your hunt?

 

[madtom]

All you can do is show them the gps and offer to call the warden if they don’t believe you. Pretty hard to argue with facts.

 

[Schaaf]

Pros: it’s really helped me find some gems.

Cons: all these other free loaders can find them too

The one thing I’ve learned is in areas of mixed land ownership, many landowners really have no clue where there property lines are and data doesn’t seem to fix that.

 

[MThuntr]

While OnX is a helpful tool the ownership boundary is not 100% accurate so keep some room between you and the boundary especially if a little corner touches a road.

 

[Bigjay73]

Pros: it’s really helped me find some gems.

Cons: all these other free loaders can find them too

Isnt that a freeloader calling a freeloader a freeloader?

 

[Bigjay73]

I have found no cons to using onX

 

[Schaaf]

Isnt that a freeloader calling a freeloader a freeloader?

Bingo

 

[antlerradar]

As a landowner I love ONX. Now when I catch someone trespassing there are no excuses. Used to be with out fail the offender would pull out a DeLorme Atlas and Gazetteer and claim to be on public.
Also I feel a lot more confident that hunters I give access to will not stray on to the neighbors if they have ONX.

 

[Tomahawk]

Have I had more landowner/outfitter confrontations with OnX? Yes.
Have I killed more bucks, bulls & roosters with OnX? Also yes.

A few landowner/outfitters have successfully bullied the public off accessible public land for years due to boundary location uncertainty. Now GPS/OnX is changing that and some are having a hard time adapting.

A few humble tips I've learned from dealing with these situations might be helpful to others:
1) Be polite, be professional, be firm.
2) Once you present your data, do not engage or argue any further. If the map does not convince the other party of the land ownership nothing you can say is going to.
3) Game wardens are generally more versed in land ownership software and access laws than the local sheriff.
4) Though the outfitter may tell you they have special exclusive privileges to this particular piece of public land, rest assured they do not (Colorado state lands not withstanding). They will say this after conceding it is public land.
5) Your phone has a 'voice recorder' app. I've used this discreetly twice and both times it turned the ensuing he-said-she-said game upside down and brought consequences down on the offending outfitter.
6) Make sure you're using your OnX Tracker feature full time to prove that you never trespassed. Leave some margin for mapping error to be safe.
7) If you're going to hunt out of sight of your truck after a confrontation it's best if it has locking lug nuts...

I also had a friendly landowner tell me he laughed as he watched us backpack up and down a steep ridge to avoid his small private land corner. He told us to go ahead and cross his place any time, so I've had positive interactions too.

 

[runningmt]

As a landowner I love ONX. Now when I catch someone trespassing there are no excuses. Used to be with out fail the offender would pull out a DeLorme Atlas and Gazetteer and claim to be on public.
Also I feel a lot more confident that hunters I give access to will not stray on to the neighbors if they have ONX.

What a great idea! I wonder if OnX promotes this?

 

[ImBillT]

I got OnX for my first out of state public hunt, so I can’t say if I’ve had more or less. I have hard arguments with as many landowners as I’ve had tags. Most dropped the issue in a huff still claiming that they “didn’t think” the land was public, but dropping it as if they gave in and just let me hunt “their” land, but it was easily seen through and I interpreted it more like “dang OnX won’t let me get away with running people of the public anymore”. I was flat run off by one land owner and his adult son. I felt like if I pushed the issue any further there was a high risk of it getting violent. I called the GW who supposedly took care of it. This year in the same unit I simply text that same GW a screenshot of where I was according to OnX, and every time he said “looks public to me, if anyone says anything tell them to call me”.

Yes I’ve hunted places that I would have avoided if I’d been using a paper map. Yes I’ve had conflict with land owners. No I’m not confident that OnX is going to win the argument, or hold up in court, but if you contact the GW
in advance and ask him about OnX you’ll find out how they feel about it, and if they go by it, then at the very least you know that if a landowner threatens to call the GW, you probably won’t be ticketed.

 

[ImBillT]

What a great idea! I wonder if OnX promotes this?

Myself and few friends have acquired hunting permission from a few land owners and it’s pretty rare for their explanation of boundaries to make sense to anyone else but them. OnX has been wonderful in that respect.

I was even headed back to my truck while hunting public land OUT OF STATE when a man pulled over and asked me if I’d seen anything. I said “no” he asked how far back I’d gone, and I said “back to the back corner of the state land”. Then he says “I own this ranch. You gotta go farther back than that”. I said “well I wasn’t gonna get off of public land without permission” He then gave me his name, phone number, and drew me a map that was completely incomprehensible to any human being on this planet. With OnX, I could easily avoid setting foot on any of his neighbors’ property.

 

[Wildabeest]

In the area I hunted last year, there was a logging road on the public side of a fence line. According to OnX, the road was on private. But the property owner told me his fence line was the property line. Not sure if it was GPS accuracy or if the fence line was actually not on the property line, but it was refreshing to have the property owner tell me I was OK vs what usually happens.

 

[MTelkHuntress]

I think after getting OnX, I definitely tried for a little while to talk to more landowners, at very least just to cross fence....I've been denied by all of them. One woman even scoffed at me because she didnt believe women should hunt, that was lovely. Luckily I havent really had confrontations with landowners out in the field. I think because most the private land that I happen to skirt, the landowners dont even live there or dont really check their property much. I will say it is kind of frustrating when a landowner doesnt put up a fence in some areas, but it is still my responsibility to check on the map and I do quite frequently so it's been nice having OnX for that.
I'm glad to see other hunters on here have had good luck with landowners and have some really great advice.

 

[Bigjay73]

I think after getting OnX, I definitely tried for a little while to talk to more landowners, at very least just to cross fence....I've been denied by all of them. One woman even scoffed at me because she didnt believe women should hunt, that was lovely. Luckily I havent really had confrontations with landowners out in the field. I think because most the private land that I happen to skirt, the landowners dont even live there or dont really check their property much. I will say it is kind of frustrating when a landowner doesnt put up a fence in some areas, but it is still my responsibility to check on the map and I do quite frequently so it's been nice having OnX for that.
I'm glad to see other hunters on here have had good luck with landowners and have some really great advice.

Women shouldn't hunt. They should hunt, fish, shoot, hike...............

 

[Flatlander3]

While OnX is a helpful tool the ownership boundary is not 100% accurate so keep some room between you and the boundary especially if a little corner touches a road.

Correct. It is GIS data which is approximate. I like to refer GIS as, Get It Surveyed.

 

[joelweb]

It's pretty damn precise in most places. Within 9 feet precise. Some states, especially old states in the east, don't have good data. In those situations the boundary info is less precise.

 

[Flatlander3]

It's pretty damn precise in most places. Within 9 feet precise. Some states, especially old states in the east, don't have good data. In those situations the boundary info is less precise.

It is crazy to see how close it is to the actual boundary corner/lines

 

[np307]

When we were in Wy, I used OnX to show a game warden that a road was private which he thought was public. It started off public but turned into a private drive at one point. That was an interesting moment. I was hoping OnX was wrong so I asked him about it. He verified it and came back to tell us we were right.

 

[Bob-WY]

OnX won't tell you if a road is public and some public roads go through private land. You need to overlay the country road maps with it.