Ember
OpenHuntData
Status: Draft · spec in active development
OpenHuntData is an open, vendor-neutral format for importing and exporting hunting data — so a hunter can carry a lifetime of harvest logs, stands, and scores from one app to the next without losing a thing.
Ember is building it in the open and adopting it first. But it isn’t ours to own: any hunting app can implement it, and that’s exactly the point.
Your data outlives any one app
A hunting log is a lifetime of hard-won knowledge. It should survive an app shutting down, a subscription lapsing, or you simply moving on. An open format is what makes that possible.
Any app can read and write it
OpenHuntData is a published, vendor-neutral format — not an Ember house file. The whole point is that other hunting apps can adopt it, so your history isn’t trapped in one company’s database.
Leave without losing your history
Export everything you’ve recorded and take it with you — to another app, to your own backup, wherever. Leaving clean is a right the format guarantees, not a favor we grant.
What OpenHuntData is
Most hunting apps keep your data in their own private shape. Move to a different app and your years of records usually don’t come with you — there’s no shared language for them to speak. OpenHuntData is that shared language: an agreed-upon way to describe the things hunters record, so any app that implements it can read a file another app wrote.
It’s a specification, not a product. There’s nothing to buy and no account to make. An app adds an Export to OpenHuntData and an Import from OpenHuntData, and from then on your history is portable by default.
What it covers
The format aims to carry the record a hunter actually builds over the years — a high-level summary is below; the exact schema lives with the spec.
Harvest records
The animals you’ve taken — species, date, location, weapon, and the details that make each one worth remembering.
Stands, pins & waypoints
Your saved ground — stand sites, blinds, trail cameras, access points, and the marks only you know the reason for.
Scores & observations
Scoring inputs and results, sightings, and field notes — the running record of what you saw and what you learned.
Seasons & preferences
The season, zone, and unit context around your hunts, so an import lands with the right dates and rules attached.
Photos & attachments
Photos and files tied to a harvest or a spot, referenced so they travel with the record they belong to.
Where it stands today
The specification and its reference schema are being written in the open, and you can follow along in the public repository today. It’s an early draft — the format will keep firming up in the open. When the details change, we’ll change the page, not the story.
For developers
Building a hunting app, or maintaining one? OpenHuntData is meant for you to implement. The spec, schema, and issue tracker live in the public repository — read it, open an issue, or send a pull request. It’s an open standard, and it gets better with more apps at the table.
Start with the specification and reference schema in the repository. Have a question, a use case we haven’t covered, or want a say in the format before it settles? Open an issue on GitHub, or email us and we’ll get you plugged in.