Hunting apps private boundary accuracy?

[bigmike23]

How accurate do you generally find where the private boundary is compared to what apps say? There's a private sportsmens club that bumps up against the public I hunt. According to Basemaps and Onx, they have their posted signs almost 150 yards past where the apps say they should be.

 

[Exhumis]

I find HuntStand in Virginia to be far more accurate boundary wise and ownership wise vs ONX. ONX has burned me so many times I no longer use it.

 

[krub6b]

I wouldn't count on it being more accurate than posted signs, but your DNR office could go out and check

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

 

[Westdesign03]

I find HuntStand to be pretty accurate most of the time. I like that they put the disclaimer up there to make sure you understand it may be different when you’re looking at properties. But usually it’s within I would say 10-15’ or so of whatever sign or boundary marker I’ve ever seen.

 

[roosterstraw]

I think it’s dependent on the state and their gis system.

 

[huntin_addict]

How accurate do you generally find where the private boundary is compared to what apps say? There's a private sportsmens club that bumps up against the public I hunt. According to Basemaps and Onx, they have their posted signs almost 150 yards past where the apps say they should be.

More accurate than 150 yards, usually within 25 yards or so. However, are these gamelands? If so, I know the PGC routinely goes and marks the boundaries of the gamelands (at least in my area) with white paint on the trees.

 

[GCTerpfan]

How accurate do you generally find where the private boundary is compared to what apps say? There's a private sportsmens club that bumps up against the public I hunt. According to Basemaps and Onx, they have their posted signs almost 150 yards past where the apps say they should be.

Thread 'Mapping with property lines'
https://saddlehunter.com/community/index.php?threads/mapping-with-property-lines.4077/

Having surveyed in PA, a tax map boundary of two large tracts being off 150’ from evidence on the ground doesn’t surprise me at all.

 

[Kayl]

Thread 'Mapping with property lines'
https://saddlehunter.com/community/index.php?threads/mapping-with-property-lines.4077/

Having surveyed in PA, a tax map boundary of two large tracts being off 150’ from evidence on the ground doesn’t surprise me at all.

150 yards is a massive difference though.

 

[GCTerpfan]

150 yards is a massive difference though.

I read 150’. 150 yds would be less common but doesn’t completely surprise me. I have seen tax maps show a 20 acre property literally miles from its correct location.

I would call DNR, they most likely have a person or department that deals with their boundaries. They will want to know if someone is posting part of their property. Not sure how good PA is about marking their lines but MD almost always has State boundaries painted.

 

[Bowtie747]

So what I’ve found is it’s normally good but can be hit or miss. I’d always recommend finding a federal or state boundary line posting and comparing it to whatever app you’re using.

I had an instance in kentucky where it was way off. Like a lot, compared it to the Kentuckys published map to confirm.

I also like to leave about a 50-100 yard boundary between what my app tells me and what it may or may not be. I do this for a few reasons. If I shoot a deer and it runs onto the neighbors. If I say “hey I was hunting on the boundary line can I go find my deer” they’re gonna be like nope. But if I say “ hey I tried to respect your boundary line but the deer ran further than I intended can I go look for it” maybe you’ll get a better response. That’s just in my head, maybe not have merit behind it.

 

[LtMoe66]

How accurate do you generally find where the private boundary is compared to what apps say? There's a private sportsmens club that bumps up against the public I hunt. According to Basemaps and Onx, they have their posted signs almost 150 yards past where the apps say they should be.

I was recently asked by a friend to check his boundary lines because he had family members that were upset that join his property about a field he brush hogged. He has roughly 175 acres of hills and creek bottom plus some fields. So I went down one day and walked the property and marked basically his property corners and boundary in areas. The family member actually was even more upset because it changed several boundary lines he thought were his! So my friend ended up paying a professional surveyor to mark his property. After all was said and done my marks were within 10 yards or closer of the professional surveyors marks!! I’d say that’s pretty damn accurate!! All done with OnX maps!

 

[HuskerInIowa]

I was testing my OnX when I was pheasant hunting last weekend on a couple places where it was clearly marked and I’ve checked it on public where I knew a clear boundary earlier this season, I get nervous about it being wrong am me being somewhere I’m not supposed to be. Was darn near right on, like 10 yards or less for sure, on every occasion I’ve checked.

 

[Nutterbuster]

Huntstand has always been close enough to not be a problem for me. I always defer to signs unless they're obviously wrong. I have found cases where owners deliberately mismark areas, and where other hunters do so as well.

This year I've switched to Spartan Forge, and their boundaries are dismal. The property I'm on now; the line is off 300 ft.

 

[Skunkworkx]

Having an issue with a neighbor cutting trees, I stopped him and claimed they were on my property and he should leave them alone...a few days/week later, I see these orange curb markers for snow removal zig-zagging the property line (sort-of).
I go on MD.Gov property search and put my info in, now having a state map of my lines I went to compare, he sees me looking, comes over showing my the OnX map thing. 5-20' isn't good enough for me in this situation.
I pull out my phone, overlaid the Google Earth pic with the property map...showed him the difference and told him to not cut another thing unless it gets surveyed by a reputable company...no trees been harmed since.

I have since found 2 corner markers.

 

[BuckTown]

Just walked the majority of my 20 acre parcel. Each stake/corner is within 10ft of the advertised boundary on HuntStand. I have found them to be pretty dead on at public land here in central VA as well. Public here (WMAs and State Forests) are very well marked in the field. To “mistakenly” cross those boundaries using an app and your eyeballs, would almost have to be negligent. I hunt many areas that transition from State Forest to WMA (regs change within the 2 so it matters) and I am well aware when I cross those borders, without using my app. Again, I am only speaking for about 5-6 counties in central VA. Funny thing is, I can be 10ft on the wrong wrong side of the border and it not be open to either sex, or have an antler restriction. So I’m constantly planning my walk by boundaries when going into these type of areas.

 

[AttackMode]

I would call the game commission and ask them to look into it. If the private club is overstepping their boundaries they are in big trouble.

 

[dalton916]

The boundaries ALL the apps use are Tax Parcel shapefiles created by the individual governments (99% counties) that have jurisdiction over that parcel. The lines can change between apps based on how current they are and projections. And then you toss in aerial photos. You can’t take a flat picture of a round earth so the photo itself can NEVER be perfect.

I had a GW straight up tell me right of the gate that myself and the 3 folks with me were going to get trespassing to hunt waterfowl tickets. That’s a LOT of money and loss of license here. Because he was so arrogant and cocksure right out of the gate I didn’t tell him **** and my it as hard on him as possible. 45 minutes later he was on his sorry way without any trespassing to hunt waterfowl tickets written. 44.5 minutes into it, just after he found out that the owner of the property was a Professional Land Surveyor and that we were NOT trespassing did I bother to clue him in on the fact that not only was the owner a PLS, but the man he was talking all his crap to, me, was the PLS that signed off on the owners experience so he too could get licensed.

Moral(s) of the story…..don’t trust GIS (the county GIS had this 32 acre tract drawn as 10.5 acres) AND if you’re an LEO how about don’t treat folks like criminals until you can’t find something to charge them with, your job will be a lot easier if you do the opposite.

 

[BuckTown]

And then you toss in aerial photos. You can’t take a flat picture of a round earth so the photo itself can NEVER be perfect.

This brings up another good point. Often times just overlaying the aerial to the property lines and you can see clear distinctions between two different properties. Such has field hedge rows, timber cuts, or fence lines. Again, there’s too aren’t always 100%, but using all the tools available should make sense of a property boundary.

 

[dalton916]

Yessir. I have this discussion regularly with the folks I work with.

If I give you a topo map and tell you to find a spring at the head of this draw where the hardwoods meet the edge of the pines you can go right to it.

If I give you an aerial and tell you to find a spring at the head of the draw where the hardwoods meet the edge of the pines you can go right to it.

If I give you an iPad with mapping software that shows the topo layer and the aerial layer and tell you to find the spring at the head of the draw where the hardwoods meet the edge of the pines you will follow that blue dot and tell me the map is wrong…… Every. Single. Time.

 

[Pyronole]

The boundaries ALL the apps use are Tax Parcel shapefiles created by the individual governments (99% counties) that have jurisdiction over that parcel. The lines can change between apps based on how current they are and projections. And then you toss in aerial photos. You can’t take a flat picture of a round earth so the photo itself can NEVER be perfect.

Yes sir 1000%! I use GIS software daily and frequently find parcels misdrawn, either by accident or by using the wrong projection.

I would look closely and see where the state land boundary is marked and if it doesn't match or you can't find the markers contact the managing agency.