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Outfitter Spartanforge, is anyone using it and what is your opinion?

Shakeandbake said:
Ok, so just what the hell is spartenforge? I know it’s heavily advertised on all the podcast and YouTube channels I watch but it doesn’t really make sense. I feel like I don’t trust anyone’s opinion on it because they are sponsoring so many people (I’m sure on this forum too). All they say is you better sign up now before the price goes up. The app was due out a week ago but it’s still not released. The website doesn’t really say much about what it does but I did hear something about following radio collared deer? Is it me or does something seem off here? If so we should be warning members about this.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, classic fear mongering marketing strategies.


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Shakeandbake said:
Ok, so just what the hell is spartenforge? I know it’s heavily advertised on all the podcast and YouTube channels I watch but it doesn’t really make sense. I feel like I don’t trust anyone’s opinion on it because they are sponsoring so many people (I’m sure on this forum too). All they say is you better sign up now before the price goes up. The app was due out a week ago but it’s still not released. The website doesn’t really say much about what it does but I did hear something about following radio collared deer? Is it me or does something seem off here? If so we should be warning members about this.
Click to expand...
They're talking about using a technology and data that SHOULD be amenable to providing unique insight. From what those who have used their existing products seem to say...the current form is largely outputting and confirming what would pass for conventional wisdom among a well-informed group. Garrett provided one anecdote of a "surprising" result in his video where the app provided unique insight...but was honest and straightforward in representing that this anecdote may or may not be significant.

This discussion definitely sent me off on a bit of a fishing expedition - what would be technically feasible to provide and also provide a true game-changing experience? For me that would be combining ultra-high-fidelity terrain mapping and wind prediction WITH the dataset that spartanforge advertises having and machine-learning techniques that they talk about using. The "issue" with that is that all 3 of those are not really available in a consumer app at this point.

So they're just predicting movement level and the extent that they've seen deer "break patterns" (e.g. go on excursions) based on historical data...but to do so they're simplifying complete GPS tracking data to quantity of movement and whether or not the deer sticks to its core area. The good is that these are traditional items that we already plan for...and the bad is that we already have good ideas about what triggers this and we are already planning for it. SO the game isn't changed.
  • Topo mapping apps all suck and have what I would consider to be obsoletely poor levels of detail for this sort of thing
  • The best available widely-distributed wind apps have like 2-3 km resolution. I feel like you'd want to get at least 10-20x better (which is very possible at moderate scales, but computationally expensive.
  • If you have that level of detail about the landscape - you're now well-situated to apply machine learning to the very rich data that they have on deer movement.
    • Maybe in given conditions deer tend to cruise downwind of X, but in other conditions they have a tendency to cruise downwind of Y (as an example). This would be really neat data and a more legitimate game-changer. Not just predict excursions, but look for patterns into what types of terrain they occur in.

Of course the drawback is that there's so much new to get to that point that you need significant $$$ resources to make it happen, and there are like 2-3 other game-changing products before the true game-changer of "ideal spartanforge" is realized.
 
It's not long before people will be wandering around the woods staring at their phones while the deer are smiling behind the bush in front of ya...:)
It seems like the data and the deer (for the most part) are already there, we just need to learn how to interpret it. Does this app account for hunting pressure?
 
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Jtaylor said:
It's not long before people will be wandering around the woods staring at their phones while the deer are smiling behind the bush in front of ya...:)
It seems like the data and the deer (for the most part) are already there, we just need to learn how to interpret it. Does this app account for hunting pressure?
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It will once they get it on enough phones and track all of their customers.

(and to be clear I'm not making any claims or accusations. But do read the privacy/data policies for all apps that you use and always assume the worst)
 
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Shakeandbake said:
Ok, so just what the hell is spartenforge? I know it’s heavily advertised on all the podcast and YouTube channels I watch but it doesn’t really make sense. I feel like I don’t trust anyone’s opinion on it because they are sponsoring so many people (I’m sure on this forum too). All they say is you better sign up now before the price goes up. The app was due out a week ago but it’s still not released. The website doesn’t really say much about what it does but I did hear something about following radio collared deer? Is it me or does something seem off here?
Click to expand...
Seems like you are about as up to speed on the facts as the rest of us...
 
Been hearing a lot about this app lately. I saw something on their website that web users will be included in the beta test, and then only 500 new users?

I’m also generally curious about what the app will actually do. The website is kind of just an aggregate of a bunch of free info imo.
 
Just tried also and it prompted me to change my password. So I did but still didn’t let me in. Just sits there but doesn’t give any message that it worked or didn’t work.


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Westdesign03 said:
Just tried also and it prompted me to change my password. So I did but still didn’t let me in. Just sits there but doesn’t give any message that it worked or didn’t work.


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Same. I didn’t even have the option to log in prior to yesterday. Now login is there, and after the reset password prompt it doesn’t do anything.
 
Westdesign03 said:
Just tried also and it prompted me to change my password. So I did but still didn’t let me in. Just sits there but doesn’t give any message that it worked or didn’t work.
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MN_Bowhunter4 said:
Same. I didn’t even have the option to log in prior to yesterday. Now login is there, and after the reset password prompt it doesn’t do anything.
Click to expand...

Yup..that's exactly how mine went too. Password change & everything.
Hoping it means updates are coming. Kinda loosing interest till then.
 
I logged into the app no problem. Also no problem logging into the website version. First impression is meh. the map I’m seeing is over six years old. I can tell by looking at my house. I’ve lived here for six years and that’s not my car parked outside, and the landscaping is different. Also no property lines like onX.
 
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