Newbie/Rookie E scouting and GPS questions

I have been searching the Web and this forum for knowledge. I am curious though from your experience should I be ordering wyoming blm and county road maps along with some topo to try to get a handle on a unit to apply for antelope. Or is it easier and more logical to pony up for onxmaps to find a unit (would be purchasing this before the hunt regardless). Then get paper as a back up. Or third option to join go hunt and use their odds. I really can't afford to purchase go hunt to help pick a unit when I will not use it again. Maybe I don't understand all its uses either.

Another question is onxmaps sold as a yearly deal that you join the membership each year? Is onxmaps a good handheld gps app for a iphone 7 or do I need to look at getting a GPS unit?

People I appreciate all of your time and advice thank you

I would get them all.

I honestly think as a good "starting" point, I would buy a delorme gazettere for Wyoming, or whatever state you intend to hunt, think they're around $20.

While I know they aren't perfect, they will give you a quick over-view of ownership, some of the main roads, nearby towns, all the stuff you would need to get a start. I use them a lot when starting my research and its nice to have the statewide coverage at a scale that allows you to see the "big picture".

Use that with the GF website legal descriptions of the hunting unit boundaries and other intel on the GF website.

From there, you will have enough information to ask more specific questions when you call various land management agencies, or GF biologists, wardens, etc.

I've found that the more specific you can be about a certain area, and locations within the area, the more information you will get back from biologists, wardens, etc.

The counties are getting better with their online GIS layers and maps that show things like county roads, etc.

1. +1 To the Gazateer
2. Go Hunt won't help you for the geography of the land.
3. Get a GPS and OnXMaps. I don't like the app at all, and it has limitations. If you won't hunt the state again, you can sell the chip, make 50-60 bucks back on it.
4. Still get the road maps, all that you can.
5. As Buzz said, do your research and find areas that might produce, then call whomever. They will answer questions more readily like "Is there a deer up that gulley in the No Tellum Creek off HWY 141" vs "Where are the deer in Montana?"
6. Use google earth and do internet searches for your hunting area. Info pops up all over.