nothing is more rewarding than putting in the time and hard work on public land. Had this deer for 3 years and finally got it done last day of the season January 5th 2014.
Opening weekend in Illinois started off like most of us hope opening day does. I went into the public ground where I found this shed I got in and set up by 3:15 Saturday afternoon a little later then I wanted to but still in good time. My shooting lane where I thought my shot was going to be was tight so I was keeping an eye on that when out of the corner of my eye the opposite direction I caught movement.There at 25 yards stands a nice 10, not the one I was looking for but one that was big enough, I grab my bow come to full draw and let her fly. I can see my fetching sticking out right behind the front shoulder as he ran off, he ran down the hill towards the road so I got down packed up and headed back to my truck. The time is now 4:40 a good 50 minutes since I shot him and I'm driving down the road where I think the buck went. I find blood on the road, I pull over and get out I figure I should probably see him from the road but no luck. I start the track job up the hill and it's pretty easy lots of good blood with some bubbles in it all the way up the hill. I again figured he would be dead close to there and again I was wrong, I'm 175 yards into this track job when I have to stop because of private land. I get a hold of the land owner and get permission to finish the job, we continue to find good blood but it's starting to peter out. Long story short we tracked him for almost 700 yards, he never bedded and we ran out of blood. The only thing I figure happened is the the shot was a bit low and back punched through the chest cavity and hit the opposite leg. The people that lease the land were kind enough to send me some pictures of deer that could be the one I shot and one of them was it.
Headed down to Josh/OH's hood to hunt some public tomorrow. Will be windy but other than that looking like a good weather day.
I'll be hunting 4 days of public ground coming up next Friday-Monday. This will really be my first hard public land hunt. We are pulling his camper up to the Conservation area and staying there. I've walked some of the land this winter and feel like there's got to be some great bucks living in here. There's probably some pressure on the edges during gun season, but I can't imagine there's a bunch of bow hunting pressure here. It's not close to any major cities, and there's very limited road access.
I wont be all that far, I will be in Muskingum tomorrow. I live in Trumbull, you can't be all that far if Guernsey is South for you too.
Temps are rapidly dropping here in northern Virginia. Was 80 degrees here yesterday...should be in the low 40's tomorrow morning with 20mph winds. Will give me a good shot at sneaking into a spot where I think a buck is bedding. Ground is still wet and quiet from the rain today.
Same conditions here in Ohio, tomorrow morning will be a great morning to be in the stand Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Big temp drop tomorrow so I'll be headed out to a WMA that has some archery only areas, hopefully it pays off!
I got a good feeling about it, but I really wish I was in a stand right now... This temp drop, rain ending and light breeze is frickin golden! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have a couple areas picked out that I feel will be hot with scrapes for tomorrow. Really looking forward to some tree time.
Just fund this thread. I hunt 99.9 percent public land.im a member of a gun club that lets me hunt there if I want along with other members so not real private to me. Managed to arrow a buck last yr that I never fund. And missed at two deer the past two yrs prior to that. Been out four times this year and seen three deer. Had a 4 pointer standing 18 yards that I passed up. Hunting central Wisconsin east of Madison. Last yr I hunted 6 different prieces of public land looking for my first bow kill.
I've been hunting public almost exclusively this year (and every year pretty much). My main hunting area closed for controlled hunts on the 22nd. I tagged this guy on the 21st Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
