I own a farm with multiple parcels and onX shows one of the parcels (approximately 90 acres) as the neighbor owns it.
Like the old saying goes “trust but verify”.
OnX once had the ownership of my house and my neighbor’s house switched. I actually checked the deeds, and at the first reading I thought OnX was right!!! On a more careful reading, the deeds were written in a very confusing manner but indeed, my house does belong to me. OnX has since corrected it.
This year in NM I was hunting state trust land when a truck approached and a gentleman who spoke no English handed me a phone. The man on the other end claimed to the be landowner and said that the property I was on was private, that OnX was wrong and the state trust land land was one section over, AND that I needed his permission to hunt on state trust land. Once I explained that I did not need his permission, he continued to insist that I was on private land and that he would be calling the sheriff. He claimed to have a deed for that land and recommended that I go to the county tax assessor and check it. He also said that if I didn’t leave, the sheriff would be there promptly to arrest me. I got his name and number and walked back to my truck(parked on a county road) to make phone calls. The GW confirmed that according to his maps, I was on state trust land, but he would check with some higher ups and get back to me. I called the state land board who double checked their maps and also said that I was in state trust land. I called the county tax assessor, who verified that the land owner had a deed for the section he told me was state trust land, AND had a LEASE through the state land board for the section he claimed was private. I then called the sheriff who told me that he would defer to the GW if he received a call about me, and that if the call required that he come out, he park on the county road, and would not attempt to make contact with me until the GW also arrived, then he would not cite me with anything if the GW said I was good to go. The GW then called me back and said that the higher ups at game and fish, as well as the state land board had all confirmed that I was on state trust land and the land the land owner claimed was state trust land, was absolutely not state trust land. The GW also mentioned that the land owner was conveniently not answering the phone. I called the land owner repeatedly until he answered and informed him of what the sheriff, GW, state land board, and county assessor had told me. The land owner proceeded to tell me that the sheriff would arrive shortly to arrest me, just as he arrested everyone else who trespassed on that section of land. I proceeded to go back onto the state trust land to hunt. A younger man who had driven past me while I was on the phone and who had been working on some equipment inside the ranch proceeded to get into his truck with a rifle, a shotgun, and a handgun, then drive down a ranch road to the county road(not accessible via public road) to my truck. He stopped, got out, walked around my truck got back in, drove off, and showed back up about thirty minutes later. I didn’t see any deer sign, so I left. This time OnX was right, but I’ve seen them be wrong before, and when you have a landowner getting that worked up over it, I would definitely not stake everything on OnX.
