So I'm hunting all public lands and I know that the deer are going to be pressured, I get that. My first day out this season with a bow and I saw a small fawn at about 40 yards. I passed on the shot and let a friend shoot for a couple of reasons. Then I see a deer about 10 yards from me, but on the right and I am right handed so I had to let him go. That was 3 weeks ago. I haven't seen or heard a deer since. Last Sunday I was hunting and a guy walked right past me at 8am in the morning. Just strolling along carrying his bow. A week ago I had a lady walking her dog in the woods come within 20 yards of me. I was literally floored by that one. I'm honestly at my wits end here. What seemed like a great start to my bow hunting career is just crumbling around me.
Stay at it. Stay positive. Maybe next time someone will jump one right to ya. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. Especially this time of year. Just be happy you get the time out there. Some of us only get out 3-4 weekends a season. -D
Hang in there. The public land hunts are tough in your area. If you are hunting (can't remember the name) the place off of County KD, I can tell you several horror stories of; dogs, PETA weenies, bird hunters, hikers and shutterbugs screwing up good hunts. Shoot me a pm and I can put you on to some private land that is open to public hunting in Delavan.
I feel your pain OP. I hunt public too and seem to run into the same issues. I try finding harder to get to spots and go during the week (when I can). To be honest though, I have walked past afew other bow Hunters treestands without noticing until I was right under them.
I'm going the extra mile to get in deeper. I actually have an area I am hunting where there is a hwy on one side and a river on the back side. Last weekend I took a canoe to the back side hoping people from the hwy would push deer towards me, but other people had the same idea lol.
I hunt public land in Kenosha semper and you gotta just keep at it buddy. It's part of hunting public land!
3 years ago I had a group of elderly people completely lost on some public land I was hunting and they walked right up to my tree stand. They did not see me until I asked them if they needed help. I knew they were lost because they were 1000 yards from the trail they should have been on. I opted to climb out of my tree at prime time and walk them out. Gotta love public.
Some of the biggest deer i've seen have been right after someone walked under my stand way after daylight. You can only hope that they mess around and push deer towards you.
