Locating public land

[Ben_BlueOx]

Hey, I’m not sure if this is the right spot for this, so hopefully I am asking the right crowd.

I’m new to hunting, now live in Illinois and grew up in England, so public/private and everything in between hasn’t been something I have come up across before.

so first, I downloaded the On-X app. How do I use the app to locate public hunting land (right now I only have the free setup) do I need to have the paid subscription to see this or is there an icon I’m missing or something?

secondly, is there a good resource for getting public land maps and info on where to go?

thanks, any info is great info.

 

[Dsnow9]

You need the paid version of onx for the property layers. Check out all of Randy’s videos on how to use onx, after all that you will be ready to figure out your given area. Most of them refer to elk but the skills learned can transfer to other species.

 

[Gerald Martin]

I can’t help with local knowledge but you might check out this organization. It has a lot of adult onset hunters in it nationally so the local Illinois chapter might be a good connection. https://www.backcountryhunters.org/illinois

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Most counties have an interactive tax parcel map you can access online. Can be very useful.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Hunter Fact Sheets - Hunter Fact Sheets

www2.illinois.gov

Here’s some listings for IL. Many state game and fish agencies have a list like this, an interactive hunting atlas with public land highlighted, or a digital book with map pages showing public ground. OnX is better for property lines, trails, and access points for public spots you’ve already identified.

 

[diamond hitch]

The public land issue is a very valid question. It seems to me that a Bozeman legislator killed an elk on an isolated parcel owned by Ted Turner in the middle of the pucker brush and was fined for tresspass. Homesteads, patented mining claims, etc. can lead to various surprises in the middle of public land with no boundary markers or fences. The opposite is also true where people have put up no trespassing signs on national forest land. State law says you must know the boundaries. Only some of the USGS quads have private land marked. USFS and BLM travel maps show private land and road restrictions. Be careful as there are land exchanges and older maps may not be current. I prefer a small gps with a chip because of size. It provides property boundaries and ownership. All of these systems are based on Cadastral surveys from the state including Onyx. Since I use these systems for my business I have enough errors to give me caution. In most places the corner or boundaries are within 5-15ft. In Granite county some of the boundaries are off as much as 500 ft. That was done while I was standing on the survey corner and asking the GPS to tell me where I was. Some places have limited satelite coverage due to trees and topography hence more error. I have had similar problems using satelite survey equipment in steep terrain where it simply would not work and we had to use a total station and survey in from known points. Most of these systems provide warnings saying that multiple systems should be used to provide checks on accuracy.

Like I said I use a garmin etrex 30, my backup is a topo map and an altimeter. My safety net is decades of experience when the tools are giving me conflicting answers. I have never been in the field in new ground that I didn't have a surprise. Be careful out there - any one of these systems is not foolproof.

 

[Ben_BlueOx]

I can’t help with local knowledge but you might check out this organization. It has a lot of adult onset hunters in it nationally so the local Illinois chapter might be a good connection. https://www.backcountryhunters.org/illinois

Great. Thanks for sharing.

 

[kwyeewyk]

For National Forest lands, the Forest Service has a data extract tool here:

ArcGIS Web Application

data.fs.usda.gov

You can zoom to an area of interested, select what data you want to download (everything from forest boundaries to roads, timber sales, fire history, etc). It imports as an ESRI shapefile. You can then open this file in Google Earth by clicking the "File" tab at top right, then "open..." and navigating to the location you save it on your computer. While loading it, you'll need to go to the bottom right and choose the file type drop down and select "ESRI Shapefile". I like the 3D aspect of Google Earth.

BLM has a similar tool, not quite as easy to use, I think you can find it by googling it.

Most of the western states I've looked at have an interactive web map that shows public land and associated hunting information as well, and some of them make it easy to get some of this data, such as game management units, etc.

 

[diamond hitch]

Thanks that is one I didn't know about. I would hope it is current. I had an FS map (Helena) and tried to take a road that had been removed and reclaimed years before yet it was on the map. Four years ago I tried to get maps of roads where I had filed a mining claim. My contact on the forest told me all of the old maps had been thrown out. Then she sent me a copy of the current travel map that showed the my area of interest was on a main road. I found that interesting since the so called main road wasn't connected to anything and no one had traveled on it since the 50s. It took us 12 days to cut enough alders out to get a horse into the property (1.5 miles). I guess on the basis of that it ain't necessarily so until you drive or walk on the indicated access road.

The same exists with USGS maps. The roads and trails on the 30 (1880s) minute series and the 15 minute series (1950s)are usually accurate. They may not be there now but they most likely were there. Now the 7.5 minute series (1970s and 80s) usually don't have all of the roads and the trails aren't guarenteed to be where indicated. They were created using aerial photos without field checks. Lidar would give better results but we are just starting to see coverage in many places in Montana. Before that I believe you had to contract that coverage.

Be pleased when it exists but be prepared for disapointment.

 

[kwyeewyk]

My experience has been that the roads are still hit and miss, I've had some trouble with roads in onX too, it's hard to beat on the ground knowledge for knowing the actual current status of roads.