How OnX Maps Makes You a Better Hunter

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Notched tags, full freezers and taxidermy bills are not happenstance occurrences. In fact, chances are you know one or two individuals who, regardless of state, weapon or season, continuously find success in the field year after year. Sure, their skill set helps, but many of those opportunities are made possible by their actions and decisions during the ever crucial off-season. So, what are they doing that you are not? Perhaps they’ve mastered the OnX Hunt suite, which puts a bevy of powerful tools for hunting success right in your hand.

It is easy to point fingers at their success due to quality equipment, extensive practice with their weapon of choice and their physical conditioning. But without a tag in your pocket and a place to hunt, the fanciest gear, sniper marksmanship skills and a herculean physique might help you score at the bar but won’t do a damned bit of good in the field.

Unfortunately, due to simple supply and demand, tags are becoming increasingly more expensive and difficult to obtain, especially across the West. With that said, tag acquisition is not impossible, and there are millions of acres of public land spread across the West that, with some concerted effort and a little luck, can result in continued success in the field. Fortunately (and unfortunately, depending on what way you look at it) for us, we live in a day and age where an abundance of useful information pertinent to lining our pockets with more tags each year are readily available at our fingertips if we know where to look.

OnX Maps changed the game when they released their app, providing hunters with exact land boundaries and ownership. I can’t back this claim up with numbers, but one could make a solid argument that the OnX app is the most widely used hunting app across our great nation. Since their introduction, they have continued to provide useful tools such as pinning and tracking features, a variety of map layers, weather information and offline access to name just a few. All of these features are incredibly helpful once you get in the field, but not necessarily as potent at putting tags in your pocket—until now.

OnX Hunt Research Tool

OnX’s new Hunt Research Tool provides hunters with an intuitive “easy button”, extensively compiling any and all pertinent and useful information into one place regarding the expansive (and often confusing) world of tag applications across the West. This information includes season dates, draw odds, number of points required, past harvest success and percentage of public land in a given unit, along with several other tidbits of useful information for nearly every state and hunt in the West, including Alaska. I say nearly because the state of Washington has not been included in this pool of data. Armed with this information, hunters can study, evaluate and apply in states and units that best fit their hunting budget and goals.

The Hunt Research Tool is simple to access via your laptop or desktop and can be easily personalized, allowing hunters to select their residency and enter their bonus/preference points they have accrued in each state. When that info is inputted, your draw odds are automatically updated across the board according to your specific points values and resident/non-resident status.

For example, I currently have 23 points for Shiras moose in the Cowboy state. Going into the Hunt Research Tool main screen I select “Wyoming” under the state heading and then “moose” under the species heading. The Hunt Research tool then populates an intuitive table with every moose unit in the state, providing the forementioned information for each and every unit. With my 23 points, Hunt Research Tools tells me there is a handful of units that I can draw this year with 100% success, but unfortunately not the unit I have been applying for. One of the other useful tidbits this engine provides is the minimum number of points needed to draw each unit. Turns out I need 24 points to draw the tag I am hoping for. Close, but no cigar this year unless the stars align and I pull one of the very few random tags that are available.

Many hunts and units boast astronomical draw odds but offer an overall higher trophy-quality potential. Other units provide opportunity over quality, giving a surplus of tags and subsequently upping draw odds while overall trophy potential is limited. With that said, when looking for a hunt, choose a unit that fits your needs and make the most of it. Another important statistic to pay attention to within the Hunt Research Tool is the percentage of public land found in each unit. If a unit shows high draw odds, but has less than 25% public land, be leery as that will concentrate hunters and limit the area you can hunt.

If you have ever attempted the tedious and frustrating task of looking up harvest rates, draw odds and season dates on each state’s Fish and Wildlife page, you will undoubtedly understand the value the Hunt Research Tool provides. And, chances are, you are already paying for it with your OnX membership.

Elite Membership

OnX Hunt’s Elite Membership, which costs $99.99 per year, provides access to detailed maps, land boundaries and landowner information for all 50 states and Canada, as well as a host of other useful features. For most, myself included, the use of the mapping service has been the extent of my OnX Elite Membership.

Truthfully, that service in and of itself is well worth its price tag. However, it was not until recently that my eyes were opened to everything that an Elite Membership entails.

As mentioned quite extensively, the Elite Membership includes access to the Hunt Research Tool. Used correctly, this will put you ahead of the competition and put more tags in your pocket.

It also includes exclusive mapping tools such as Trail Cam Integration and Routebuilder, as well as a Huntin’ Fool digital membership and Hunt Reminder app subscription. As the name suggests, Hunt Reminder is a simple app that keeps us on our toes and makes sure we never forget an application deadline. For those that have applied across the West before, you know these reminders are much appreciated as dates often come and go, leaving you without a tag in that state for yet another year. The Huntin’ Fool digital membership opens the doors to a wealth of knowledge through their monthly magazine, breaking down state-by-state application strategies, top picks, harvest trends and regulation changes. Oh, and when you draw a tag, they can provide you with a list of past hunters (with contact info) who have drawn that unit for you to reach out to should you wish. And I would suggest you do; knowledge is power, or in the case of hunting, knowledge punches more tags.

Time for Enrichment with OnX

Wanting to better yourself as a hunter and hone your skill set? The Elite Membership also provides its users with unlimited access to a variety of educational courses including elk calling and hunting tactics, precision shooting tutorials, turkey hunting academy, tips for shed hunting the West and several others.

Last but not least, an Elite Membership opens up a sea of pro-deal discounts from dozens of premium hunting brands including Weatherby, First Lite, LaCrosse, Montana Knife Company, Exo Mtn Gear, Vortex Optics and more.

Long story short, an OnX Hunt Elite Membership provides hunters with information, access and gear that is sure to help you put more tags in your pocket and fill your freezers. Might even add in a taxidermy bill.

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