Ages ago, I’d go into the woods, get lost, and after hours of bush-whacking and fun, find my way out by sheer luck and a healthy dose of outright determination. It was the sort of Type Two fun that I used to, and sometimes still do, enjoy.
But that sort of carefree (and careless) attitude doesn’t work when you’re trying to find big game while hunting, or when you're attempting to get home after a trail ride atop a dirt bike, or an ADV, or while you're driving an ATV or UTV.
It’s basically like a shotgun versus a rifle, with lead spread far and wide as compared to more surgical precision. And if you’re just traipsing through the woods, either on foot or by machine, it’s a surefire way of blowing the animals out of the country or breaking your machine.
And no one wants either of those. I sure as hell don’t.
Lately, I’ve been using the mapping app onX, both for hunting and off-roading. If you’re unfamiliar with onX, the software uses up-to-date satellite imagery of all 50 states and includes both topographic and hybrid topographic data to show users the world around them.
There are also marked trails for hiking, off-roading, and camping, as well as water sources, and more. In fact, I could write an entire post just listing all the functions onX has within its confines.
And both onX Hunt and onX Off-Road have been hugely beneficial in terms of my moving through the backcountry. But lately, though I’ve used each for the past year, I’ve felt as if I was missing something, some key ingredient that wasn’t turning up as many animals, in the case of my hunting pursuits, or trails to explore in my off-road readiness.
Now, you can learn a lot online, but there are some cases where experience is far more beneficial. So, I called up onX and spoke with the brand’s Joe Risi. I was prepared for him to just show me more of what the app could do, how to use Terrain analysis, the app's Route Builders, Off-Road's Discover Trails feature, or get into the fine nuts and bolts of every little feature. But what he actually relayed was far more impactful than just, “You should turn on (X) to find more elk” or “You should’ve had (Y) on to go around this mud pit on your ATV.”
Guess what? It turned out that I've been using onX wrong. Yes, use all those built-in features, but the app only works to its highest potential when you also incorporate what’s already swimming around your head.
You know that old saying about repeating history?
Talking with Joe, what was emphasized throughout our conversation was using whatever historical context you have to inform your decision-making within the app. And that goes for both onX Off-Road and onX Hunt, as you use your history in the woods to help you figure out what you’re looking at and whether or not it’s a good idea to go into.
“This is where I learned to hunt elk,” he tells me with onX Hunt open in the background, saying, “I kept going to the same spot. And then it became apparent, I keep going to the same spot and the same drainages, but I asked myself, ‘OK, but how am I doing it differently?’ and making sure that I am doing it differently [to learn from those outings].”
He then told me, “I recently took my daughter hiking” in a different location “and I was able to figure out similar terrain, not on trail, but we were able to get in on this wallow. It was hard to see just from imagery scouting, but I knew that the down trees, and how the water bent, I could see that it was going to be quite wet.”
Hence the presence of an elk wallow. “We then spooked a couple elk. So I’m definitely going back there.”
Though Joe will tell you that he’s still new to hunting himself, he’s been out in the field for the better part of the last decade. So, he has more data points that inform all of his decision-making and how he builds out his routes and uses the app himself.
It shows as he’s looking at slope faces, elevation bands, tree cover and the types of trees within, as well as when he's using onX’s topographic overlays to determine where animals get water to such a degree, you’d think he worked in the bio lab of a state Department of Natural Resources.
“If it’s dark and heinous [to get to] I can almost guarantee there’ll be animals there,” he tells me. But it's all coming together because both his history and the app's abilities are working in concert.
And that same historical insight helps him build his off-road trails, both in helping him access the backcountry on dirt bikes or for things with four wheels, but also in helping him get to where he wants to hunt. He uses both Off-Road and Hunt informed by the insight and knowledge he’s gained from years in the field.
Showing me an old hunting track, Joe says, “This is a perfect case for using onX. I know I can park outside the highway. I know I have to stay off this private property. I knew I had to stay off it, so I drew these two [boundary] lines and that was the note for us to stay off that face.” He then adds, “I also know that I can do 840 yards in just under an hour [thanks to past tracks]. I can get up it.”
That’s an insight I know I can use based on my own experience, both with onX and my Garmin smartwatch. I can take that knowledge and apply it to my own potential trails or scouting.
Now, that knowledge isn’t something you can just download. There’s no button for “Deer here” or “Good trail, won’t die.” I wish there was, it’d make my off-grid adventures that much easier and my freezer fuller. But between the Masterclasses onX puts on each month, the information within forums and websites and biology texts on big game, as well as using whatever experience you have navigating the backcountry, I can see how you could build out a lot of what Joe has and use the app better than I have been.
But again, you have to use whatever knowledge you have to inform your decision-making within the app to fully get everything out of it. onX has so many pieces of the puzzle that could help you along the way, including slope analysis, route builders, pace trackers, wind direction, range finders, and more. But you won’t be able to use them to your advantage without understanding your past experiences.
For example, take the rides I’ve done in my family’s Can-Am Maverick X3. We’ve gone so far throughout the national forest behind our house that, after my talk with Joe, I can now comfortably look at the satellite imagery within onX and start to figure out how that translates to new areas I’ve never been to before.
I’ve encountered fallen logs, steep rock gardens, mud pits, and gnarly drop-offs and I know where they are, so I can look at those spots and then compare them to new areas I want to explore.
And, maybe, I’d go around certain portions that I don’t want to hit with the kids and the dog strapped inside. Or based on a dope single-track trail I found while riding, I could see other potentially great trails that I need to hit on the back of a bike. In other words, onX works best when you use your personal outdoor history with all the features in the app and the web platform.
I’ve now been using onX for the last week with Joe’s words ringing in my head. I’ve turned up a handful more spots that I want to scout for my upcoming hunts this year, as well as a number of trails I want to explore both with my family and by myself. I’ve also found spots where I absolutely don’t want to go. The type of thick shit that would just be unbearable to move around in or so freakin’ rocky that it’d rattle my fillings loose even with my Can-Am's Fox Shocks working overtime.
Yes, this all may seem obvious when said out loud, but have you ever actually said it to yourself out loud? I haven’t.
I can’t wait to get into the woods and see how my experience stacks up to this new-found knowledge.
