When hunting public land, you just never who, or what, you might encounter along the way.... Read more... The post Some Share Public Lands Better than Others appeared first on Bowhunting.com. Continue reading...
As a public land hunter I can relate to this article tremendously. To the point where I don’t so much hunt as to where I think the deer might be but more so as to where other hunters won’t. If I do run into someone I bail and never come back. If I even see as much of a boot track I move on elsewhere. Out of respect for that hunter. Now if only we could get everyone with that mindset. On a side note I have set random hunters up on deer also. Where I public hunt there’s 20,000 acres with a camp site but also happens to be 10 miles from my house. I have hunted it all my life and only know about 3% of the land. Of that 3% I have sent people to half of it knowing there are deer. I move on. It’s the journey of the chase. Granted this is whitetail in Ohio. Mathews Halon Black Eagle outlaws Magnus Buzzcut 4 blades Nasty combo
I'd never be able to hunt if I followed those personal public land hunting rules. There are gonna be boot tracks. Other hunts. Trucks showing up in your plan A, B, and C. Gotta role with it Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
I can’t stand knowing I have someone right over the hill starting a fire with their rattle bag or blowing on their call like a whistle. I’m fortunate to live where I live. When I know an area is being pressured I just go elsewhere. I scout a lot and it helps I’ve lived here my whole life so I keep options. Nothing worse than someone following your cat eyes in to you and setting up within 100 yards though. I don’t get mad, just finish my hunt that day and pack it up to move on. I like a change of scenery anyway every now and again haha Mathews Halon Black Eagle outlaws Magnus Buzzcut 4 blades Nasty combo
I certainly don't like it either. That is why I scout more than I hunt. Between my two public places, there is about 70, 000 acres. I scout like crazy so if plan A through D shuts down, Im on my way to plan E. I don't like seeing anyone else.
That’s probably close to what I have access to within a half hour myself so we are both very lucky haha I have harvested a couple of my better bucks on small pieces that I found that most people don’t even know about lol so I guess that’s cheating but it’s still public..got the one on my profile picture on the 20,000 though. Gotta love chasing those public land whitetails! Mathews Halon Black Eagle outlaws Magnus Buzzcut 4 blades Nasty combo
Each situation is different. Some parking areas lead to thousands of acres where in theory hunters shouldn't wind up on top of each other. Or even see each other. But we used to deer, pig, and turkey hunt by parking a canoe. No way in the world I would park next to someone else's canoe. For me, that's different. Why? I'm picturing a very remote area that someone might choose to hunt close to his canoe. It'd be too easy to walk in a hunter after parking the canoe. Maybe I'm wrong but that's my gut feeling.
That was going to be my next topic lol areas are definitely different. I know there’s areas I’ve pulled up to with 15 trucks sitting in a lot haha quickly noped and figured out where I need to be to be on the back side of all those guys haha and it pays off! It’s easy for me because the access roads are literally remote gravel roads that are there for logging the land. I also know guys there that get on their bikes and ride in for miles. I was 2.7 miles back in there at the end of October. Found a nice spot! Saw a lot of doe and a couple little guys and thought I hit the jack pot. On the way out I ran into cat eyes from a hunter coming in from the whole entire side of the property! He was 2.4 miles in there lol we passed each other and I told him I don’t wanna have to walk that far again with all my gear and wished him well ha. He was from New York and was only there for a week. It definitely all depends on layout. I just take it all on stride because it’s part of it! One cool thing about the public is the people you meet. Most of them are awesome and respectful. My troubles come from the other locals. They steal your stuff and will follow you...seen it happen many times before. So I try to stay to myself as much as possible. Man I’d so much rather be plotting tomorrows hunt than sitting at work all week hahaha Mathews Halon Black Eagle outlaws Magnus Buzzcut 4 blades Nasty combo
Our deer gun season opened this last Friday at noon. I was bowhunting and sitting in a stand fri morning. I moved my stand to a spot I seen a couple bucks chasing does. It was cold so I walked out to have some lunch and warm up. There was a guy in the parking lot and we chatted a little. He was waiting for about 10 other guys to show up so they could go push it. He asked where I was located so I pulled up my OnX and showed him. He said yup we will be pushing all that. I went back to my stand and wished him luck. A couple hours later I had a couple small bucks come by me. About a minute later they bolted back past me. Next thing I hear a lady talking into a radio saying “I git a guy in a tree stand ahead of me.” Then I see the orange army headed my way. They were all yelling back and forth trying to figure out who was where. I hooked up,the boat the next day and got back where I haven’t seen any hunters. I always look to get away from people and never hunt an area if I know someone else is.
Yeah gun season around here I already know what’s coming lol I’ll find the biggest clearcut I can and get on some sort of funnel coming out of it. That way when, not if, someone starts pushing it I’m there. Kinda like your situation. I think that’s only payed off one time though for me lol shot a doe that they must have just wind bumped. She stopped at 15 yards and looked back at them. They actually saw me sitting on the log and potentially ran that deer to me on purpose. They watched me shoot, waved, and continued their drive lol driving during gun season around here is a past time just like I’m sure it is everywhere else. I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t have a blast doing it when I was a little younger. It’s when my family and friends all got together and just had the best couple days I can remember in my childhood. Since then, almost all my family has stopped hunting other than a handful of us. So usually it’s just me out there with my bow on stand and those guys with their guns. I think they pick on me more than I could ever belittle them for it hahaha (even though I would never). But like you after that commotion I’d probably be out myself. Although the biggest deer I’ve ever seen on a drive was after the drive was over. My Cousin and I were looking for blood on a doe he shot at when I turned around and here came a monarch down the hill at us. He turns broadside at 30 yards. I let him shoot because he’s never killed a big buck. Completely misses hahaha still crack at him today about that one. But really you never know what can happen when you have 10+ guys tromping around the woods. I do however usually stick to the ground during gun season on public Mathews Halon Black Eagle outlaws Magnus Buzzcut 4 blades Nasty combo
the original article is a little different than whitetail hunting east of the Mississippi; but take it for what it is. Public hunters owe it to each other to respect each other. Our time, our personal property (stands, cams, drippers, etc) and our privacy. In my experience, most of us do. I have had maybe 1 cam stolen in nearly a decade of running them. A couple of cards taken. I've had a couple guys sit in my stands which is legal where I hunt but I would never do it. One guy immediately apologized and got down, said he'd been on the ground nearby for almost a week and not seen anyone in it so felt he might as well. Since I'd hung it over a month prior and it was my first time going in I believed him. I do get some guys from time to time refuse to keep walking when I shined them from my stand in the dark. That's pretty crappy. I also had a guy leave a note on my jeep for being pissed that I walked passed him on the main trail into the woods late in the afternoon and "scairt the bigest buck uv ma lyfe away". Yeah, I was running late but what do you expect when you hunt the field edge less than 200 yards away from the frigging public land parking lot? My biggest pet peeve is when people ask me if I am seeing any bucks. I don't like lying, but I'm not going to tell you even if I am. Sorry, I didn't ask you so don't ask me. But for the most part, everyone is pretty cordial. Whenever I run into someone at the parking areas I start out by saying generally where I am headed, where the rest of my party is, and that I am only saying that so we aren't stepping on anyone's toes. Ran into a great guy last year on Indiana public land. I shot a buck at last light at the edge of a bean field. Not finding any blood in the dark, I backed out and hunted again in the AM. Once it got close to lunch, I got down and started grid searching the beans. Guy walking out saw me in the field and walked up, introduced himself and ended up helping me search for over 2 hours. We never found a speck of blood, but it sure as heck wasn't for trying and he didn't know me from Adam. Good people out there still. Just stay outta my treestands.
I always know where I'm hunting the day before, and that's where I go, dosen't matter where anyone else parks or what I run into along the way. I've hunted public land my whole life (over 30 years) and that's just part of it, if someone doesn't like it, they can move along. I hunt where I want, when I want...if I spent the season tiptoeing around other hunters, I would never get to do any hunting, lol That said, I see people on my way in and out while I'm hunting, scouting, running cameras on a regular basis, but I never see anyone in the specific spots I set up to hunt. It's rare to see someone out on the public I hunt that knows what they're doing. They're always set up on a scrape, trail or in a funnel, (usually on some cold or nocturnal sign) chosen at face value alone, no regard for the wind. What I do has no effect on their hunt. Unless someone/or something accidentally bumps a mature buck or even any deer by them for that matter, their hunt was over way before it even started. They even set these same rut stands September through mid-October, and again mid-December through January. Kinda sad really.
This land is your land this land is my land. Every where is the same no matter where you are at. Public land is a place for everyone. As long as you meet respectful hunters you'll have fun. The ones that ruin your experience are the greedy hunters that are all for themselves.
