HuntWise: A Must-Have Smartphone App for Whitetail Bowhunters

Digital mapping apps are a must-have hunt item. Period. Not many days go by — in the woods or scouting from the comfort of my living room couch — that I don’t troll hunt locales. Sound familiar?

It should. Bowhunters are digital mapping nuts. Being able to pull up hunt areas, or possible hunt areas, on a cell phone, tablet or computer and view those areas in modes of topographical, satellite and others is priceless. Finding public lands — from designated Walk-In access to BLM to National Forest is simplified. Found a piece of private dirt that must be accessed to trek on land-locked public dirt? No problem Many of today’s digital mapping apps provide land ownership intel as well as contact info. The list goes on.

What if, though, you came across a digital mapping app that was much more than, well, a digital mapping app. What if that app used an advanced algorithm that showed bowhunters what actually matters, scientifically, when it comes to having a quality sit for white-tailed deer and other species?

Enter HuntWise. Though the app can be used for scouting and predicting movement for multiple species of big game, whitetail goers are the target, and once you’ve used the app and played with its many advanced features, you’ll see why it is a must-have hunt tool.

First, you’ll need to decide between Pro ($60/Year) and Elite ($120/Year) membership options. I highly recommend dropping the extra $60 greenbacks and going Elite. Why? The list is long and distinguished. You get land boundaries for all 50 states, landowner contact info, 15-Day HuntCast 2.0, Peak Kill Times based on your hunting area, and you can compare your stand and blind locations by wind, have those stands ranked, and know exactly where to strike.

As I pen this, HuntCast 2.0 is telling me, based on moon phase, temperature, wind direction, barometric pressure, and other details, that peak movement for Colorado’s October 1 bow opener is 6 p.m. This information is specific to my pre-loaded Hunt Area, and HuntCast is predicting a 9 mph ScentDrift pushing out of the east and a temperature of 70 degrees. The Waxing Gibbous moon will rise at 6:37 p.m., and the barometric pressure is slated to be 30.2 inches and on the rise. What a wealth of information, but we’re not done yet.

Being that I have all of my stands and blinds saved in the HuntWise App and have created a Hunt Area by simply hovering a provided-by-the-app square over my area and clicking the save button, HuntCast posts a stand-by-stand ranking of which stand/blind will provide the best sit based on previously entered data for each stand/blind locale. It’s so easy it’s crazy, and with just a few clicks, I know when and where to strike. The guesswork has been eliminated. You can also, if you prefer, draw lines around your Hunt Area, and multiple Hunt Areas can be created across the country.

One feature, before we dive deeper into what this app will do for you as a bowhunter, is the actual wind visualization it provides. The first thing I do when arriving at a hunt location – before walking in – is send a few puffs of windicator into the air. I like to see the wind take it. An arrow on a screen means very little to me. The HuntWise app uses a simulated wind graphic that looks like windicator, only this windicator is on a screen and has little white arrows showing its direction. I love it!

HuntWise also allows you the ability to share your locations with family and friends and gives registered users a safe social space for to share success stories and ask questions that need answering. When something goes wrong, or you just have a hunt question that’s been on your mind, put it out there. With thousands of registered users, it’s likely you’ll get some sage advice. Users can also keep a detailed hunting log and share your favorite hunting gear.

Backed by 30 years of hardcore data harvested by Team HuntWise and whitetail guru, Jeff Sturgis, of Whitetail Habitat Solutions, the app allows you to set HuntCast Alerts. In laymen’s terms, you set and customize alerts for the species you’re hunting, wherever you’re hunting, and alerts will come directly to your smartphone. These alerts, by the way, are far from guesses. The advanced algorithm takes everything into account to provide you with the best intel possible.

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We all lead busy lives, and time, perhaps more than ever, is at a premium. This innovative app allows you to save and maximize precious time. You’ll know when to be in the woods and when to be at home with the family. You’ll know when to plan your bowhunting rutcation and that out-of-state black-top burning mission you’ve been dreaming about.

Still on the fence? I get it. There’s a lot of smoke-and-mirror gimmicks out there. HuntWise isn’t one of them. It’s simple to use, effective, fun and I truly believe it will up the amount of meat I put in the freezer with my stick-and-string this fall. Give it go. Visit huntwise.com and start your free trial. Yep, for no out-of-pocket coin, you can test and tinker with both Pro and Elite modes for seven days. If you decide, after the elapsed time, the app isn’t for you, simply cancel it. I have a feeling, though, especially if you truly take the time to play with the apps many advanced features, it will become a necessary piece of your bowhunting arsenal. Oh, and Elite members can plan on savings up to 50 percent on top outdoor brands. How can you beat it?