I recently was hired as the foreman of a WMA in Western Kentucky where I essentially have free reign to do what I think will be best for the area. I am doing my best to create the best habitat I can for wildlife, while also creating ample access for hunters to have quality outings. What are some things that my fellow bow hunters like to see on public land that some places do well, and what are some things that piss you off and wish were changed? Anything that y’all would share from your experiences on public land would be much appreciated and could be implemented to help us all out! 1 month til Kentucky bow season! -Joe Soil
This might seem weird, but less roads and less access on the wma. Too many times I see dirt and gravel roads down every ridge on public land. That's overkill and hurts the hunting. Second thing would be the need for thicker bedding areas.
Here in NYS I know I'd like to see more areas to park. We have as an example a large swamp area and it has a parking at one end and on one main road side. But there is a few mile dirt road on the other side of it that has zero parking. The other two parking areas are at the walking trails. Do not necessarily need more trails just a place to get off a plowed road. It's like that along many public areas in NYS. You don't have that problem in Kentucky, but I'd assume just getting off the sides of a road would be good if parking is an issue there.. Also NYS does not log enough on public. In a state where disease is killing multiple species of hard woods getting in and management of timber is needed. So if you guys have either issue there you have it Congrats and good luck
The number one thing for me is the same thing Virginiashadow said above. Close down all parking spots but a couple and fill in all access and roads. It's needs to be easier for the deer to live on, not easier for hunters to roam. What it boils down to is harder it is on the hunter the better the hunting. What size parcel is it? Any water located on the property? Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
How about a garbage can at the parking areas, just incase somebody didn't want to be a slob and dispose of properly.
Trying to keep vehicles out, 4 wheelers or actual pickups. Fencing off the roads and parking lots is helpful. As others I think have been alluding to the most important factor isn’t necessarily the habitat it’s human pressure. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I like the limited ez access mentioned. One thing that stuck out to me when I moved to MO from NC, was that MO had game crops that rotated and I never saw food planted on public in NC (this was early 2000's). I was impressed by that. I always wondered if that was common in other states and NC just sucked and never really spent money on the food aspect of the public habitat, especially in the mountains where food was pretty sparse in diversity.
No doubt! And it gives guys like me a place to dispose of the trash I picked up, instead of the bed of my pickup.
Agree on less roads and less parking. Parking in less traffic areas have become a haven for drug users and catalytic converter thefts. Some of my favorite areas also don't try to just appeal to a single form of user - like deer hunters (blasphemy I know), but have a variety of other small game, big game, waterfowl, fishing, fur bearers, etc. Though there are practical limits (parcel size, native wildlife, etc)...and also recognizes limits - no motorized vehicles, horses, etc. Trash cans and illegal dumping are problems, if you can't regularly service/monitor...
Oh ...I don't know about other states but I wish NYS would clearly post and enforce a rule against flagging . Every year the road side of state lands are covered up in surveyors flagging . This is like a dog lifting his leg on trees around and area marking "his" territory on PUBLIC STATE LANDS. . So if that happened there .do something to stop it for all hunters benefit
I will agree with less roads on the actual WMA but less parking seems odd to me. WMA's are meant to be used by hunters who don't have access to private lands. You may not like more people being able to park, but it should be considered if you are managing it. You should want more hunters to be using your WMA.
How many acres is the place ?? what kind of terrain ?.......do NOT allow vehicles on trails(unless designated), that should include those damn Ebikes/regular bikes, LIMIT ACCESS ......... if you can plant crops, add in some rape/forage turnips, clover in select locations .. also look at making a large area BOWhunting only, *** also no stand can be left over night(carry in/out or ground hunt), dont let them fill the place with f'n ladder/portable stands ! ...the FWA I hunt has a nice area (well over 1000 acres out of the 9000 acres that is bow only, no small game hunters/no gun for deer, only Bow and waterfowl hunters (turkey in the spring), the waterfowl guys MUST STOP and leave the marshes at 12 noon .... I like that, as some of my stand locations are with in a 200-300 yds of their duck blinds and I dont want a 10 ga. blasting around me in the PM which is usually when I go into the area, after the waterfowl guys leave ....... the "Waterfowl Resting Area" is also closed to scouting/hiking/fishing, etc. in the closed hunting seasons as to not disturb the nesting waterfowl and Eagles .... it reopens 2 months before deer season for scouting ...
I wasn't meaning it for less hunters, but less ease of access. For example if you have 400 acres and 2 parking spots, it hunts like two 200 acres, not 400 acres. Now take same property and have 4 parking spots, now it becomes even smaller with people being able to access same areas from multiple parking. I run into this all the time. Hope this makes sence. I personally would prefer 2 large parking lots over 4 small ones all spread out. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Makes total sense. A lot of the public land around us doesn't even have parking lots. Just dirt roads to park along.
I’d like for people to not be able to leave their stands up longer then the day their hunting them, have some guys I just ran into in Ohio in an area where there are 5 abandoned stands and he goes on to tell me him and his boys have been hunting that exact spot for 6 yrs and no one else dares to hunt there. I just laughed and wished him good luck, I hunted around that spot many times and saw no signs of human life. I just think he was barking at me bc he felt I was a threat in “his” area. I also told him he should replace the straps on the stand b4 using em bc they were blown out from the trees growing.. and to check the cables bc I had one fail on me b4, he blew it off with “ya, ya, ya we hunt outa climbers” some people crack me up. I know this is off track and outa control of what your wish list is, but it is a “wish” of mine. I would like no roads or walking access trails in public lands, the best spots I have to hunt I navigate around using natural corridors.
Hey all, thanks for the feedback. Too much access is definitely one thing that I will be buttoning up on this property. There are too many roads for my liking that I got the approval to throw a couple gates up to allow walking traffic only. I understand not having any unnatural trails whatsoever, however many of the spots require a tractor access, so gating them will help with some of the road hunter traffic (which is my biggest pet peave of public land). As for daily tree stand pulling, I have to respectfully disagree however I see where you are coming from. We do have a rule that stands need to be out before season is over or we will dispose of it. My reasoning for disagreeing with the daily stand pull is 1) I don’t want to take the ability to slip into a stand quick and quietly from locals who regularly hunt the area (myself included), 2) from a safety standpoint, if every hunter hung and extracted their stand every hunt it would create a much higher chance of us having a serious injury on our land, especially guys having to hang stands in the dark. 3) I don’t mind seeing stands in the woods during season, gives me an idea what areas are getting pressured. we do have a rule that stands must be tagged with the owners name and number, and it is 100% legal to hunt someone’s stand you come across if they are not there. If they show up then it may lead to an awkward situation, but reasonable minded people should be able to navigate that situation pretty easily. @0317, this WMA is a little over 11,000 acres that is broken up into 6 tracts. About 50% of the land is swampland for duck hunting, the entire region is prone to annual flooding from the Ohio river which adds a unique challenge in management. It’s a muddy SOB! We have a few thousand acres of crop field that we lease out for corn/soybean rotation, and the cool part is I can plant cover crops every October, which I will be planting a winter wheat/clover mix. Sent from my iPad using Bowhunting.com Forums
That sounds awesome, especially the swampland for ducks!! Good luck with the management, a lot of good ideas in here. Restricting access to walk in only seems to always be a great thing!
