The lull in recent activity around my property has me strongly looking at hunting public lands. I've found a couple places here in the state that are small and rather unknown unless you really look hard. Some places are within a half hour, some a couple hours away. So this brings a whole new world to light. Do you guys use stands? Climbers or hang ons? Climbers would be easier to pack, however, hang ons are much more versitile. Do you all go in a do scouting or just google the terrain and get there early to check out a few spots that look promising? If you do use a hang on, how do you pack it in? I know to a lot these would be "duh" questions, but i've always hunted my family land and it is just down the road or out my back door. I've never had to deal with this type of stuff.
I hunt public land and use both a climber and hang-on at times. My general rule is if I have a long sit planned than I most likely will take the climber because of the comfort, shorter hunts I take the hang-on. As for packing the hang-on, I have the Lone Wolf Alpha and it packs up nice and easy with sticks and weighs the same as, if not a little less than, my climber. I generally do my most heavy scouting right after the season is over. I'll visit those spots again closer to the season to see how they look. I also use topo maps to locate spots of interest for new public areas to hunt.
I hunted public land outside of Kansas City for a couple of years, and I used climber; however, a climber will dictake where you hunt not you. Finding a tree to use a climber is very difficult some times. Some of the newer hang on are so light that its easier to carry them in and set up then a climber; unfortunitly, they are even more expensive. I strongly recommend scouting these areas out before you show up. Google will not show you tree rubs, or hot bedding activity. I would recommend walking through there and just look around; perhaps, take photos of the areas that you find the most appealling, then you can review them later on to determine the right area to set up in. One important task you must complete while walking through these public lands is always be watchful of trees to set up in. This is normally how I determine what area I'll hunt. If I couldn't use my climber there I moved on. I hope this advise is helpful
I hunt the PA state forest and I use a climber. We scouted the area for a season before making any real efforts to hunt it. With huge forest, Its difficult to know the best spots, but just look for rubs and scraps and the trail usually becomes obvious. I set up about 20 -30 yrds off a trail and see what you get. Sometimes its good, many times its not. I found the key is to go farther in that most hunters are willing to go. Stand or no stand, when the pressure is on, the deer go deeper. that's where you need to be
Another thing I should mention, be the first one in, go deeper than other hunters, stay longer and be the last one out.
I use a climber for most of my hunting. A very light one. Used a ladder stand one year because it would be harder for someone to steal. This was on property were we could leave a stand up during the season. On the downside, it's hard to keep others from hunting out of it. A deer cart and a studly boyfriend helped haul it in and out. I look at topos and do some scouting (wandering about/squirrel hunting). I look for deer sign, obviously, but also what the other hunters are doing. I did best on some super high pressure land when I concentrated on escape routes. It was difficult stuff to hunt but the deer used it because the hunters didn't. If the land isn't so pressure a standard approach to hunting should be fine. Good luck!
