Technical Support and Help

If you can't find the answer to your question or problem, the best way to contact us is to send us an email at "support" at FreeHuntingLand.com. Please include your Username and First,Last name that you signed up with if you are already a member.

Sign Up

1. Sign-up step-by-step.
2. What info do I need to provide when I sign up?
3. I never received the verification email.
4. I don't see a link in the verification email.
5. Sample sign-up screen shots.

Paying with PayPal

1. Why does it say Rack 'N Fin, LLC on the PayPal checkout page?
2. General guidelines for using PayPal.
3. If I pay for a membership, will I automatically be rebilled every year?
4. Do I need a PayPal account?
5. Is there tax on my purchase?
6. Sample PayPal screen shots.

Members Only Area, Logging in

1. How do I get to the members (for pay) area of the website?
2. I can't log in. I keep getting a invalid Username or invalid Password error.
3. I can't find the map data area of the website.
4. I'm at the map data page. Now what? How do I get to view the maps?
5. Sample Members Area screen shots.

Google Earth™ (GE)

1. Why do I need Google Earth™?
2. Do your digital maps work with Google Earth Mobile on my iPad, iPhone, or Android device?
3. How fast of a computer and internet connection do I need?
4. How do I print maps from Google Earth™?
5. I can't see the trees/land beneath the colored shape. How do I make the color coded land map layer more transparent?
6. Google Earth™ seems to be going slow. How can I speed it up?
7. The color coded hunting land shapes are changing shape and disappearing as I zoom in and out.
8. I can't see the color coded lands. Why aren't they downloading and displaying?
9. I am missing one of the colors (land types). Where did it go and why can't I see it?
10. I have other question about Google Earth™. Can you help me with Google Earth issues?
11. Sample Google Earth™ screen shots.

Sign Up

1. Sign-up step-by-step.

The sign-up process is simple and goes very fast. After clicking on any of the sign-up links on FreeHuntingLand.com. Step 1: Enter your name, email, username, password (twice) and click 'Continue'. Step 2: Look in your email (the email account you used in Step 2) for the Sign-Up Verification email (check span and junk folders too). Click the link to confirm your email address. Step 3: You will be directed to PayPal for secure payment (you don't need a PayPal account). Or you can watch a video of the sign-up process.




2. What info do I need to provide when I sign up?

We really only need a valid email address. This is required to be unique within our system. You can enter name or a made up name, we don't care. You will also need to come up with a clever username and password.




3. I never received the verification email.

Some people have 2 or more email accounts. Make sure you are looking in the same email account you used during the sign-up. Also be sure to check your spam and junk folders. Because we have the word 'free' in FreeHuntingLand.com, some spam filters automatically redirect the email to a spam folder. We can also resend it if it accidentially got deleted. Send us an email at 'support' at freehuntingland.com (with your user name) and we will resend the verification email.




4. I don't see a link in the verification email.

The line just after the line 'Please click on the link below to activate your account:" is the link you need to click. Some email programs don't allow links in the email so you might have to copy and paste it into your web browsers URL field to follow the link. Sometimes email programs that wrap the text of a line will not recognise a link. You may have to copy and paste the link into your broweer in this case as well. The link looks like this: 'http://www.freehuntingland.com/amember/signup.php?cs=345-43589347502a'




5. Sample sign-up screen shots.

Paying with PayPal

1. Why does it say Rack 'N Fin, LLC on the PayPal checkout page?

FreeHuntingLand.com is the name of the website. Rack 'N Fin, LLC is just the name of the business (a Wisconsin registered Limited Liability Company) we operate under. You will see the name Rack 'N Fin, LLC at the checkout in PayPal. You may also see The Rack 'N Fin name or logo (see image) on other copyrighted information and on the PayPal checkout page.




2. General guidelines for using PayPal.

Be patient and only click the 'Pay Now' button once. Use links on the page to move to the next page or to back-up a page. Never use the browsers back arrow. This should help make sure you complete the payment process and don't pay twice.




3. If I buy you product, will I automatically be rebilled every year?

Absolutely not. When your access period expires, we will let you know with an email. If you don't take any action and renew your product, you will not be able to access the "for pay" areas of this site. We will NEVER automatically bill you for a renewal.




4. Do I need a PayPal account?

No. It only takes about 2-clicks of your mouse to use the express checkout with yout PauyPal account. Without a PayPal account, you can still pay with a credit card through PayPal easily, you just have to enter a little more information.




5. Is there tax on my purchase?

After October 1, '09, we are required to charge WI sales tax of 5.5%. Our map files are considered a digital download which wasn't taxed, but will be after 10/1/09.




6. Sample PayPal screen shots.

Members Only Area, Logging In

1. How do I get to the members (for pay) area of the website?

You must first log in. In the upper righthand area of every page on the website is the 'Log On' button. First enter your user name (all lower case) and password and then click 'Log On'. You can watch a video of how to log in.




2. I can't log in. I keep getting a invalid Username or invalid Password error.

If you have paid and became a member, then the most likely reason is that you are typing in some uppercase letters in your username. Our system uses all lowercase to store your username. If you entered 'BuckMaster69' it is stored as 'buckmaster69'. Be sure to enter your username with all lowercase.




3. I can't find the map data area of the website.

Once you are succesfully logged in, you will see your 'Product/Membership Information' page. The link to take you to your map data page is a text hyperlink of the name of your product. On the lefthand side of the page is the title 'Your Purchased Access'. Below is a link labeled 'Wisconsin Statewide' or 'Wisconsin Guide' for example. Click that link. See the sample screen shots below.




4. I'm at the map data page. Now what? How do I get to view the maps?

On the Members Data (Welcome Member!) page, there are simple instruction above the map to help. Just click on the map region you want to view. Depending on your browser, the data will either download or automatically open Google Earth (you must have GE installed aready). If it didn't open automatically, you can click on the file after it is downloaded and GE will open. Or the other way is to open GE, and then do the 'File -> Open' operation from the menu and select the downloaded map data file. Remember, you only need to do this once for each region you want to see. Once the file opened and saved in Google Earth, you only need to open Google Earth. Watch a video tutorial of how to get the data and view in GE.




5. Sample Members Only screen shots.

Google Earth™ (GE)

1. Why do I need Google Earth™?

Google Earth™ PC version has taken maps, satellite imagery, and geographic information and made them 3D. If you ever needed an excuse to buy a faster computer or and excuse to get a faster internet connection, GE is it. We needed a medium to display our hunting land data online and GE was the best choice. You must have the full Google Earth version installed on a Windows, Mac, or Linux PC to view our hunting land maps. Download Google Earth if you don't already have it. We do not support or claim our maps will display on mobile versions of Google Earth.




2. Do your digital maps work with Google Earth Mobile on my iPad, iPhone, or Android device?

Currently our Google Earth compatible map files use a network link. A network link is fully support in all PC version of Google Earth and is used to keep the data in one place (on our servers) so updates are downloaded each time by all members when they use Google Earth. Our testing as well as other members, have shown that the mobile versions of GE for iPhone, iPad, and Android do not fully support the network link and do not display the data correctly. Some tech-savvy members have reported getting it to work on their iPad, iPhone and some Android tablets after some manipulation of the data. Unfortunately we cannot support or troubleshoot the hundreds of possible combinations of devices, operating systems, numerous mobile GE versions, and various memory configurations. We, and other developers, have been encouraging Google to get the network link feature working and we are optimistic that they will. Nobody can say if that will be in a week or in a year. This is an important issue for us, since we see the phone and tablets as gaining importance every day and will keep the members updated on any new developments.




3. How fast of a computer and internet connection do I need?

A general rule of thumb is a personal computer not more than 4 years old and a hi-speed internet connection like DSL or cable. See Google recommended system requirements.




4. How do I print maps from Google Earth™?

When in GE, click the printer icon from the toolbar, or select 'File -> Print' from the menu, or press CTRL-P. A Print window will pop up. You must select 'Graphic of 3D View' and Screen quality before clicking 'Print' button. See screen shot below.




5. I can't see the trees/land beneath the colored shape. How do I make the color coded land map layer more transparent?

The colored coded hunting land layer can be turned off or make semi-transparent. All transparency of all the hunting land types can be changed together or each one individually. In the Places window on the left side of GE. You should see the land region and land types listed. Click on the region name 'WI - Northwestern Region' for example, to select the entire region or click on the land type name, 'Forest Crop - Yellow' for example. When selected the white space around the text will be shaded. Next, click the Opacity Tool (looks like a shaded panel) to show the transpaency slider at the bottom of the Places window (above the Layers window) on the left side of GE. Click the slider portion and move it left or right. See screen shots below. Watch this video on how to set transparency and print in GE.




6. Google Earth™ seems to be going slow. How can I speed it up?

Yes, in most cases. Our map data is a lot of data and individual shapes and uses lots of RAM and CPU power to display. The first thing is to make sure that you have only downloaded one copy of each land region into GE. Next, make sure only the region you are viewing are 'checked' and displaying. Uncheck the the regions not currently looking at. Next find the Layers window in the lower lefthand corner of GE and uncheck (turn off) things like 3D Buildings, Terrain, Geographic Web, Places of Interest, etc. If you downloaded up updated GE since June 10th, 2010 and GE got slower, you might want to go back to GE version 5.1. First uninstall version 5.2 or later, then download Google Earth Version 5.1 by clicking here and selecting Previous version (5.1) as in the screen shot below.






7. The color coded hunting land shapes are changing shape and disappearing as I zoom in and out.

This is because of Terrain being turned on. The color is projected about the ground at a certain elevation. In rough terrain, the land sticks above the hunting land shapes and they dissappear. Find Terrain in the Layers window and uncheck it (turn it off).




8. I can't see the color coded lands. Why aren't they downloading and displaying?

Before the data is download from our servers, an authentication pop-up appears. You must enter your FreeHuntingLand.com username and password to access the data. Occasionally this pop-up is hidden behind the Google Earth window and the data never displays, since it hasn't been authorized for download. If this happens, just move or minimize the Google Earth window and look for the authentication pop-up window. Enter your username and password and the colored land maps should appear.




9. I am missing one of the colors (land types). Where did it go and why can't I see it?

There are a few things that could cause a layer to disappear...
1. Each region in your 'Places" window on the left side of Google Earth can be expanded to show the individual layers. Folders are expanded and hidden by clicking on the '+' or '-'. When expanded, then each layer (color) can be checked or unchecked to show that layer or not. Please click the '+' to expand any region and confirm that each individual layer is checked. Only the black (MFL Closed) layer should be unchecked.
2. Sometimes the transparency of one layer gets set to 50% and then all the layers again get set to 30%, and this has a compounding effect and makes one layer virtually invisible. So when using the transparency slider (to see the ground cover underneath the color coded lands) make sure to click on the whole region first so all land types are set to the same transparency equally. After confirming that step 1 is not the problem and that the missing land type is in fact checked, then click on each layer and make sure the transparency of each layer is 100%.
3. Sometimes just checking and unchecking a land type or entire region will "turn on" a hidden layer.
4. Occasionally it happens that a land type is accidentally deleted or even dragged and dropped somewhere in another folder and hard to find. If steps 1-3 didn't fix the problem, then try deleting the whole region file and downloading it again or just reload it into Google Earth again. To delete a region just click it and then right-click and select Delete.




10. I have other question about Google Earth™. Can you help me with Google Earth issues?

GE is a large and powerful program. We are not affiliated with or sanctioned by Google or Google Earth and cannot provide support directly related to GE. Please use Google Earth Help as a great starting point for GE support and help.




11. Sample Google Earth™ screen shots.