A Maps App designed for Aussie Hunters with Frank Megali & Rob Campbell

This week Matty sits down with Frank Megali and Rob Campbell, the creators of The Hunting App

For years, NSW public land hunters had access to a free mapping option that allowed them to load their maps, see exactly where they were and head into the bush. When that disappeared behind a subscription, Frank and Rob saw an opportunity to give hunters that functionality back.

The result is The Hunting App. An app designed by hunters, for hunters… with a free version that actually stays free.

You can load your maps, download areas for offline use, mark waypoints, build geofences, keep track of hunting locations and start building your own database of what you're seeing in the bush. Then there are paid tiers coming for hunters who want to take things further with e-scouting, weather, property boundaries, terrain analysis and a heap more.

But what I really liked about this conversation is the thinking behind it. These guys aren't trying to take something hunters already had for free and sell it back to them. They wanted to give the community a useful free tool first… then let the hunters themselves help shape where it goes from there.

What We Cover:

• How Rob got into hunting through a mate's backyard target shoot before discovering R-Licence hunting and NSW State Forests
• Why Rob reckons new hunters should start scouting, setting trail cameras and learning animal behaviour before they've even got all their hunting gear
• How watching deer without the pressure of taking a shot helped Rob understand feeding, bedding and movement patterns
• Frank's background hunting rabbits, foxes and deer, and how he now hunts with big-game indicating dogs
• How Frank and Rob train their dogs to recognise deer scent, ignore non-target animals and work within a controlled range in front of the hunter
• Why Avenza's pricing change became the catalyst for creating The Hunting App and why keeping a genuinely free version mattered to them
• How the free version handles georeferenced maps, DPI maps, offline satellite and topo mapping, pins, notes and up to nine square kilometres of offline maps
• How private-property hunters can use boundaries, geofences, gates and no-go zones to make communication with farmers clearer and safer
• How the upcoming e-scouting tools combine property boundaries, routes, watercourses, terrain, slope, weather, wind forecasts and other map layers before you leave home
• How NSW public land hunters can store licences and permissions while still carrying the required DPI-provided maps to remain compliant
• How bowhunters can use points and distance markers for blood trailing, marking last blood and navigating back to where an animal was standing when the shot was taken
• How pins, photos and hunt history could build a long-term record of wallows, rubs, sightings, weather and animal movement so hunters can start recognising patterns over time

Key Takeaway:

Good mapping isn't just about knowing where you are. If you can combine scouting, wind, terrain, boundaries and years of your own hunting observations in one place, you can arrive at a new block with a plan instead of burning the first day figuring everything out.

🔗 Find Our Guest

Frank Megali & Rob Campbell

@the_hunting_app

The Hunting App

Apple App Store: https://apps.apple.com/au/app/the-hunting-app/id6763955844?utm_source=chatgpt.comGoogle 

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?hl=zh_HK&id=MAP+BASED+APPS+PTY+LTD&utm_source=chatgpt.com

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