How accurate is ONX?

[dfanonymous]

How did you determine this? We're you standing at stone or cap? I'm not sure I agree. It's the hunters responsibility to know where they are. Ignorance isn't a good tactic when saying well I thought.

That's how every trespassing dispute starts. I'd be ignorant to say your wrong on something that is not personal to me and myself, but a lot of these disputes, courts have sided with Onx.

If onx gets its information from GIS, tax records, etc then it's more than likely your county records are wrong too. If there's no consistency with property boundaries across multiple sources, then it would be very unlikely to be in your favor in court as the property owner.

 

[MT257]

That's how every trespassing dispute starts. I'd be ignorant to say your wrong on something that is not personal to me and myself, but a lot of these disputes, courts have sided with Onx.

If onx gets its information from GIS, tax records, etc then it's more than likely your county records are wrong too. If there's no consistency with property boundaries across multiple sources, then it would be very unlikely to be in your favor in court as the property owner.

But I don't know if the gis,tax records,etc are completely accurate. Most don't have survey records for every place input into their system. Yes the general reference of the boundary is close. But you phone isn't a survey grade gps. Can it be accurate to within a few feet yes, but there will also be times your 50 feet off based on the surroundings at that place and time. No different than a hand held gps made by garmin.

 

[dfanonymous]

But I don't know if the gis,tax records,etc are completely accurate. Most don't have survey records for every place input into their system. Yes the general reference of the boundary is close. But you phone isn't a survey grade gps. Can it be accurate to within a few feet yes, but there will also be times your 50 feet off based on the surroundings at that place and time. No different than a hand held gps made by garmin.

Law enforcement isn't going to be concerned with survey grade equipment. If there is a dispute, the records pulled will be whatever is filed with the county. Which will match onx. Dispute ended.

If wrong, then you get a trespassing change, and OnX has a nice little disclaimer saying they aren't liable for inaccuracies…because it isn't survey grade.

 

[MT257]

Law enforcement isn't going to be concerned with survey grade equipment. If there is a dispute, the records pulled will be whatever is filed with the county. Which will match onx. Dispute ended.

If wrong, then you get a trespassing change, and OnX has a nice little disclaimer saying they aren't liable for inaccuracies…because it isn't survey grade.

They will be concerned when you tell them according to my phone I'm not trespassing. Especially if the landowners say I want him cited for trespassing.

Also the records used by county for tax purposes are likely last years and are not current.

What I'm saying is onx is a great tool to get you close, but it's not worth much weight that will be held especially if to prove the point you say I used my phone and am sure I'm not trespassing, which will make the landowners hire a surveyor to mark the line, and find out you were trespassing by a few feet. You'd end up with a trespass citation and a not so cheap land survey you didn't intend on paying for.

 

[cabelasken]

How did you determine this? We're you standing at stone or cap? I'm not sure I agree. It's the hunters responsibility to know where they are. Ignorance isn't a good tactic when saying well I thought.

I was standing next to the landowner's property manager who pointed out a surveyors monument hidden in the grass. It was one corner of a thousand acre parcel next to national forest. A second monument was pointed out about a mile below this one and the access road that was public the accessed both the private and national forest. I had to apologize for walking the fenceline which was 75 yds inside the private property. It was all good as the public land provided as good hunting opportunities. This all led to the offering of a tresspass fee for elk which was minimal, but did not allow the taking of a buck should I ever be fortunate enough to draw that tag.

 

[dfanonymous]

They will be concerned when you tell them according to my phone I'm not trespassing. Especially if the landowners say I want him cited for trespassing.

Also the records used by county for tax purposes are likely last years and are not current.

What I'm saying is onx is a great tool to get you close, but it's not worth much weight that will be held especially if to prove the point you say I used my phone and am sure I'm not trespassing, which will make the landowners hire a surveyor to mark the line, and find out you were trespassing by a few feet. You'd end up with a trespass citation and a not so cheap land survey you didn't intend on paying for.

And I'm saying people have referenced onx, and it's worked out for them…law enforcement will not be "concerned," unless by concerned you mean involved, and by context, they are already hypothetically involved based on what we are talking about.


Yes, the accuracy is only as good as the last update but and individual boundary isn't moving a lot on average. I mean if you want to go by vague generalities then I can just argue to argue and say that "some surveys aren't accurate." Or worst, the survey wasn't filed with the county as required. Now what?

Now we have no information to go off of.
If one disputes a trespassing charge, there's a high probability you will get the case thrown out. The people trying the case work for the country, the information is there, at the county. The property owner pay taxes on the boundary that are on record. Law enforcement aren't going to survey your property. If the survey was done properly, then the county has it, OnX has it…now you can worry about your 10ft of survey grade accuracy.

 

[Lee Deming]

In wyoming we found many property lines not adhering to fence lines. It seems they used the easiest terrain to put up the fences. We found fences as far as 75 yds from where the property actually started. ON X sometimes caught this and sometimes didn't. Should there be a dispute, the property owner has the duty to put up signs to remove all doubt. Without signs or accurate fences or cultivated crops, the courts will most likely rule in favor of the hunter.

In Montana, landowners are allowed to fence the most convenient place so the actual boundary may be as far as 1/4 mile off. A game warden showed an example of that two years ago. But, remember that the fence is the boundary, no matter where the actual line is. You cross that fence you are trespassing, plain and simple. So, OnX has been extremely accurate for me with property boundaries all over Montana but you can't blame the company if the actual fence is off. The landowners here are under no obligation to post where the line is as far as I can tell in MT. On our property, whether or not fenced, or marked, the obligation is on the part of the trespasser to know where they are.

 

[Trooper1]

I like it, but the property lines can be a smidge off-- see my pic below-- the red lines are where onx says the prop lines are, but if you look at the sat imaging, you can clearly see the fence lines/prop lines are a bit off.
Sometimes roads (mainly dirt/fr County roads) are off too. On my map pic below, that dotted white road is 3 properties over, so it's not even close to where it should be)
I've also noticed it takes them some time to update property owner info when a transfer takes placeView attachment 307982

Updating property owner info usually depends on when the state updates it. For example, Wyoming posts the changes only once a year.

 

[Millerish]

It is important that it is a tool, has limitations like all others! As long as you keep this in mind it is one of the most useful reference tools out there. As a private land owner that has both stock and line fences, with several of them up to 75 yards from the property line it is important to know where the true property line is, this will get you in the right area. With multiple surrounding/neighboring land owners with , extremely useful tool to utilize and show them reference points when you do not have pins, cornerstones... Bottom line, fences build good neighbors and OnX is another tool to utilize, definitely worth the money!

 

[Lee Deming]

Once more, I use it all of the time. Currently running for a seat in the state legislature. I use it to find the locations of people I want to visit with about the campaign.

 

[Gundog74]

Hunt Stand. $35 a year. Accurate and easy to use. I have used in Colorado, Ohio and West Virginia and found lots of ground I didn't realize I could hunt.

 

[bigngreen]

It's a solid tool, the property lines in Onx are better than anything else you or a Game warden will have. I've never seen a game warden go against Onx, there are a lot of fences out of wack, I have a fence that is hundreds of yard of and I was able to find the original survey pins using Onx. Now days when fence building you get it right on to a little inside private, back in the day they kinda just went where the easy dirt was.
There is a lot of ground painted orange in MT that is huntable due to fencing issues, I have no problem taking full advantage of that!! I've sent more than one pin to a game warden and got an instant ruling when accosted by a new ranch owner who thinks they own everything they see a fence around!!

 

[Lee Deming]

It's a solid tool, the property lines in Onx are better than anything else you or a Game warden will have. I've never seen a game warden go against Onx, there are a lot of fences out of wack, I have a fence that is hundreds of yard of and I was able to find the original survey pins using Onx. Now days when fence building you get it right on to a little inside private, back in the day they kinda just went where the easy dirt was.
There is a lot of ground painted orange in MT that is huntable due to fencing issues, I have no problem taking full advantage of that!! I've sent more than one pin to a game warden and got an instant ruling when accosted by a new ranch owner who thinks they own everything they see a fence around!!

bigngreen: two years ago while signing up with a warden to hunt a giant block management property in HD 702 we were told that the fence is the line no matter where the actual property boundary is. I think FWP would do well to clarify that for consistency. While he was telling us this, he pointed to a fence that he said was a quarter mile off of the property line. We would be trespassing on it even though it clearly showed on OnX that he was correct about the misplaced fence. I've always been **** careful about respecting those fences. In fact, I may have to contact the FWP and ask for them to issue a state-wide clarification. Another interesting fact I recently learned about fences and State Sections; you have to get permission from the landowner to cross their fence to get to public property. So, if you are hunting a block management area and there is a State Section or a piece of BLM across it you'd better ask if you can access it through the BM area.

 

[bigngreen]

I have zero issues taking a line dispute up the ladder, we had one out here where the ranch tried to claim several boundaries, painted them up and patrolled them the whole bit till Onx and they were forced to remove the orange and drive line post on the line and paint them orange to show where their real line was!