Top Hunting Apps: 22 Ways HuntWise Elite Improves Your Hunt

Maybe you've dabbled with a Basic subscription and enjoyed having a bit of help to scout. Or, maybe you're a Pro user wondering why you should consider upgrading to Elite. Or . . . perhaps you just stumbled onto HuntWise for the first time and you're looking for some information about what you can do with it.

No matter how you use HuntWise (or are thinking about using it), we're glad you do and that you're here! If you're looking for what could be the thing you need to improve your hunt, being "elite" could be it! So, today, we'll talk about twenty two of the app's best features and the top ways HuntWise Elite improves your hunt.

1. Spotting and Marking Hunting Paths

One of the most important aspects of a successful hunt is getting to your location for the day. Sneaking in undetected is often the first challenge of the day.

HuntWise helps you scout and mark a potential path into your hunting area. Use our mapping layers to identify a trail to the spot that looks like the best way to get to your blind or stand, then mark it in the app and follow it when it's time to get out into the field.

2. Paying Less for the Best Gear

One of the best reasons to go Elite is to unlock bigger discounts on gear from our partners. With the best gear recommended by our staff, you have better tools for better hunts.

Our gear program can help you save hundreds on clothing, tree saddles, bow releases, optics, trail cams, and much more! Elite subscribers save up to 40%.

3. Sharing with Friends

Hunting with buddies can make your hunt more fun and successful. When everyone in your group has access to the same markers, paths, hunt areas, pins, and notes, it's easier to plan a successful day in the field with that collective knowledge.

Use HuntWise to create a game plan for a specific hunt area using input from your crew, and share that information through the app.

4. Finding Potential Bedding Areas and Food Sources

Taking down a buck means finding one first! You're most likely to find deer if you can locate their bedding and feeding areas first.

With an Elite subscription, you have access to additional map layers — including LiDAR (or Hillshade) — to help you really scrutinize the land and identify feeding and bedding areas, and even pinch points so you can fine-tune where to set up and maximize your time in the field.  

You can also use HuntWise to map out your food plot, track what you plant, and monitor deer feeding behavior. 

5. Identifying Travel Corridors

Understanding deer movement and how they travel is "elite-level" insight that you can incorporate into your planning. Again, the LiDAR map layer in the HuntWise hunting app is the best overlay for recognizing where deer travel through specific areas.

Plus, the app's satellite imagery delivers detailed insight into the lay of the land, so you know more about how deer travel than your average hunter without the best hunting GPS app!

6. Finding the Best Place to Climb a Tree or Set Your Blind

Not just any old tree will do, but how can you find a tree so you face the right direction for the wind and in a path where deer are likely to travel by?

HuntWise helps! Our Elite users use the app to e-scout potential locations for blinds and stands. Then, when scouting in person, the app can help you set up downwind from where deer are likely to be so they don't smell you waiting for them in a tree or in your blind.

7. Dropping Pins to Mark Scrapes, Tracks, Scat, and More

One of the best aspects of hunting technology is the ability to remember things for you.

You no longer have to remember where you think you saw that scrape or those tracks during your last scouting trek. HuntWise remembers for you when you drop pins and markers (with descriptions) to commemorate what you saw and where.

You can tell the complete story of a specific area with the notes, pins, and markers you add to the app!

8. Knowing Where Public Land Meets Private Land (and Who Owns It)

Can you hunt there? Know for sure with landowner boundaries and contact information.

While this isn't a strictly "elite" feature, our Elite users put this information to good use to always hunt where they have permission on private or public land.

9. Pre-Scouting Before Hunt Day

We've touched on this, but it deserves its own spot on the list. While all subscribers can scout using the HuntWise hunting app, Elite users can really get deep into map layers and overlays to understand the terrain, access points, and more. You'll have better insights into where and how to hunt a location than others who don't hunt with HuntWise!

Plus, with Field Guide+ access (which we'll touch on in a bit), get expert tips from our friends at Rooted TV and a video series about finding new land, communicating with landowners and building relationships, and optimizing your hunt area with the HuntWise app.

10. Placing and Marking Trail Cams

Have you ever lost a trail cam in the woods? Knowing where to place them, when and where to move them throughout the season, and where you left them are all parts of improving your hunt.

Never lose a cam again! Mark the locations where you place each one and drop in some notes about the side of the tree that captures the best deer activity. Refer back to that information next season when it's time to start the process again.

11. Getting 15 Days Ahead of the Weather

Not many hunters can drop everything and get out in the field when the weather suddenly breaks. A solid hunt requires planning, often many days or weeks in advance.

While all subscribers get access to some weather forecasting features, Elite users get a full 15 days ahead of the weather. Knowing what the weather could be with that much lead time helps you make sure you're in your stand on the dates you blocked on your calendar or helps you adjust with plenty of advanced warning if a blizzard is blowing in when you plan to hunt.

12. Targeting a Specific Window of Time for an Ideal Hunt Based on Animal Movement

Along with the weather, knowing where the deer are and how they're moving through your hunt area helps you set up at the right time in the right spot for a clear shot.

HuntCast tracks animal movement and gives you a probability score with a timeframe to help you know the best timing to be in your hunting blind.

13. Planning a Rut Hunt

Hunting the rut is exciting and challenging. With a HuntWise Elite subscription, you unlock our RutCast feature to help you plan your day in the field based on rut activity.

Get insights into every phase of the rut and adjust your strategy for a successful hunt.

14. Making Notes After a Hunt

Becoming a better hunter requires building on what you learn every time you go out. It's hard to do that if you just try to remember what worked (and what didn't work) from season to season.

Again, let HuntWise remember for you! After a hunt, write about it in the app. You can choose to keep it for yourself or share it with your buddies. But fresh insights, feelings, what you saw and heard, and other details about a successful hunt (or one that sent you home empty-handed) can help inform your next hunt so you can tag out.

15. Access to Maps Offline When Deep in the Woods

All users can download maps for access while offline — but we wanted to highlight it on this list because it's a go-to feature for Elite hunters.

You never know when you'll lose online access to your phone, especially if you're in deep woods or high in the mountains of a western hunt. Elite hunters make a habit of downloading maps, notes, pins, and markers before leaving the wifi so they don't lose any insights while in the field.

16. Uncovering "Hidden Gems" on Public Land

Struggling to find an out-of-the-way spot for a hunt with less pressure and plenty of deer is challenging without the right tools.

Elite users have every HuntWise app feature at their fingertips to examine public hunting land using 3D mapping, layers, and more. These features make it easier to find those hidden gems for successful hunts.

17. Creating Customized Hunt Areas for Efficient Hunts

You're not limited to the land boundaries you'll find in our mapping layers. Draw your own customized hunting area that you feel is ideal for your next hunt based on map layers and insights you discover in the app.

18. Quick Access to License and Regulation Information

This feature is also available to Basic and Pro users, but it's worth a mention as a feature that helps Elite users hunt better.

You might have experienced a change to the hunting regulations in your area from when you first started planning a hunt until the day you head out for it. With HuntWise, you always have access to the latest hunting regulations so that you can double-check the dates and bag limits the night before your hunt.

19. Plan Ahead with Alerts 15 Days in Advance

HuntWise helps you be a proactive hunter. With an Elite subscription, you unlock HuntCast Alerts up to 15 days ahead of peak hunting times in your area.

Pick the animal you want to hunt and a timeframe during which you'd love to get out for a hunt and create an Alert in the app. Then, HuntCast lets you know when the forecast, animal movement, and probability align with your criteria so you can gear up and go!

20. Mark Trails When Tracking After the Shot

Getting lost in the woods (or losing your buck) after the shot as you track an animal is the wrong outcome for a hunt.

HuntWise makes it easy to mark where you shot a deer, where you first see a blood trail, and track your journey while you track the deer you hit with your bullet or arrow. Find your buck, then find your way home. 

21. Using the Wind to Your Advantage

All users have access to the HuntWise WindCast feature that shows real-time insights into wind direction based on where you place your stand and other factors. You can use these insights to plan your approach or change your strategy based on extremely windy conditions or just a normal breezy day. 

However, as an Elite user, you can level up these insights through the Ideal Wind Report based on criteria you set within the app. These deeper insights can help you target specific windows of time to get into your stand and tag out. 

22. Accessing Field Guide+ Exclusive Content from Pros

We've pulled together an exclusive content library with videos from our HuntWise Pros, like John Dudley, Rooted TV, Jeff Sturgis, and others — exclusively for Elite users. These pros cover tips and tricks for better hunts, prepping for a hunt, using tree stands, food plots, bow care, and more in a growing library of content you can't find anywhere else.

Become a better hunter with insights from professionals who share their best tips only with HuntWise and our Elite users through Field Guide⁺.

It's Time to Be an Elite Hunter With the Best of the Top Hunting Apps

HuntWise is the ultimate hunting tool, and these 21 insights are just some of the ways our Elite level hunters improve their hunts through the app.

So, whether you were looking for a reason to start a free trial and choose "Elite" to explore all the app offers or you've been wondering how you can get more out of HuntWise, we hope this resource encourages you to maximize your experience and your hunt as an Elite user!

It's always a good time to upgrade, whether we're coming up on late season for deer or you're looking ahead to everything you plan to get after next year.