Lots of Public Land..>>Where to Start!!

[alfsisaiah]

I have after three years almost given up on trying to keep trespassers off of our property we hunt. Live 2.5 hours away and too hard to control and do not have the time to make extra trips. Looking into hunting some public land this year to spread out hunting pressure on the properties I hunt. What I have found is that there is so much land I do not know where to start. I have been in touch with several conservation officers is my choice areas and they are the least bit helpful! What do you guys look for when hunting public land that ensures success? Not a lot of water barriers that Im finding and I am staying away from any parking that could lead to high hunter densities.

How far back are you guys hunting in the timber to get away from people?
Is there a such thing as too hilly country (lots of steep ridges running together almost like ravines)?
Any other advanced tricks that could be helpful to someone new to public land?
Help!

[dan]

Water... little known public... Adjacent to private known for big bucks...

[Jphunter]

Having that much land is a good problem to have:)
Some of my spots are a mile or more from access points and some are within seeing distance from the road but can be over looked.. Because they don't look good from the road. You might look for properties with limited hunting such as bow only or shorter seasons, public draw tags etc.. If your hunting a lot of hill country dans Hill Country video is really good and talks about breaking down this type of terrain to make your time more efficient when scouting and hunting.

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[ihookem]

ALfsisaih, Welcome to the smallest hunting board with the biggest bunch of guys that hunt public land more than anyone . Many here know what you mean by trespassers and this is why many, including me dont own hunting land, even though many here could afford it. A lot depends on where you live and areas you plan to hunt. I hunt in S.E. Wis and N.W. WIs. They are two different worlds. In S.E. Wis. it seems you can go a mile in and see signs of hunters. There are areas that just seem to get overlooked, like a spot I found today. It is tough finding areas in S.E Wis. that does not get public land pressure, even while bow hunting. In. N.W . WIs. there have gotten to be so few hunters even during gun season. Here is an example: My small parcel in Price co. Wis. is at the end of a dirt road where a walking trail starts and is all public land and 2 1/2 mi. walk to the next road. I went muzzy hunting the second week of muzzy and saw my old gun season tracks. To my dismay and delight, not one single human track went on to that track of land except 2 hunters that stayed inside of 200 yes of the end of the road. After that, it was all mine for at least 1,000 acres of land. This is how little northern WI.is getting hunted. The reason is, the deer numbers are down 75% in 10 yrs. This is something many can't imagine. You mentioned you dont know where to start and that is really hard but we have hunters here that are not the normal bunch. Every single one here will tell ya the exact same thing. SCOUT, SCOUT X 1,000. After a few hard years of an area you start to see areas that make sense and you start to tell the difference between areas that aint worth an hour long sit and a spot that will most likely produce deer sightings at least. Again, a lot depends where you live. In N.W. WIs., 40% of the land in the county is public , (300,000 ac.) We dont look up there how far back to go, we look for good spots that we think will produce and go there . Most of our spots are .75 mi. from our cabin. Many of them require crossing a river or floating down stream 1/4-1 mi. . Again distance does not matter, trying to find buck activity is the hard part. In S.E Wis. finding buck beds, rub lines is easy, finding them in unhunted or lightly hunted areas is the hard part. Hope this helps!

[PK_]

I would say your first mistake is avoiding the parking areas. I would say with a lot of land to cover, start by just scouting around the parking areas. Next I would check transitions especially transitions around swamps/marshes. Next I would check the points in the hills, leeward ridges etc…

If you have not seen Marsh Bucks or Hillcountry Bucks DVDs, purchase them immediately!

Welcome aboard and Good luck!

[dirt nap giver]

Topo and aerial is where I start. Terrain features, swamps, points, shelves on the leeward side etc. pic spots to walk on the maps, then lay down the leather.
Propel your knowledge with the DVD's mentioned above. You won't regret it. The basis of our techniques.
Then post maps(black out locations & landmarks)
Search the scouting portion of this site and read, read, read!
There's a lot of info on public land tactics.

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[dan]

A lot of the time its not about finding "the" one good hunting property and more about finding the one or two spots on each...

[JoeRE]

In hill country the steeper and higher the hills the better for finding old bucks. That is just one part of the theme of finding obstacles to limit other hunters. You can find overlooked spots too but in my experience those are more hit and miss. Give me a topo and arial photo of an area and I typically X out everything within half a mile of the access unless there are big hills, water or some other obstruction in the way...or its in a direction that you really think no one tends to head. That makes scouting a lot faster. Small pieces of public can be overlooked though. A couple years ago my brother shot a really big buck on a 20 acre piece of public. As far as I know, no one else ever bowhunted it....I have seen a squirrel hunter on it once or twice that is it.

A lot of the time its not about finding "the" one good hunting property and more about finding the one or two spots on each...

X2

[keb]

It's gonna be a progression if u stick to the public land, 5 years from know you will look back in dismay at the way u attempted to hunt it the 1st year and be like no wonder I did not make it happen.

So forget comvetial deer hunting wisdom, it will be different in each spot, the only way to learn is start doing it and build up your style of hunting it.

I will give you this, I have deer hunted from the Great Plains priarie, wood lot country, ditch and fence row country, hill country and big timber.

The common thing is the good deer were in places people did not want to hunt, lack of trees, water barrier, to far walk, to close to the road, have to hunt from the ground, not enough buck sign the list goes on.

After a while you will pick up on these things

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[keb]

The only advanced trick is

HARD WORK and woods SAVY this can't be bought or planted in the ground or sent to ur phone by email you gonna put in the time to earn them or your not, case closed

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[alfsisaiah]

Thank you guys for all of your help and advice. I have been hunting high pressure areas for some time and have had a decent amount of success given how much I prepare for season. public is new to me however so anything helps. will deer most likely be bedding near food early and late season like on private land or do they get further back into the timber because of years of hunting pressure? Or is it just site specific. example. you find a perfect saddle and some great bedding areas on topo 1 mile away from ag fields. And on same property you find a decent bedding area 250 yds away. both used with same wind. Are you hunting those beds differently on private vs public. I would hunt closer bed on private typically especially early or late. Thoughts?

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[justdirtyfun]

If you are currently successful in your terrain that can help you on public that is similar.
If you are used to mobile hunting than most public areas can work.
So...
If these are different than your current skill set please be realistic for early trips to public.
My main thought for you is learn\evaluate yourself and build a complete hunter then worry about which area to hunt.
I love the variety when hunting public and am improving my skills year by year.

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[dan]

will deer most likely be bedding near food early and late season like on private land or do they get further back into the timber because of years of hunting pressure?

Young deer will often bed near food over security, but big bucks tend to bed in the best most secure places rather than just to be near some food. If there is secure bedding near the food great, but if not you need to seek it out, and thats not just public, its anywhere big bucks live.

[johndeere506]

Young deer will often bed near food over security, but big bucks tend to bed in the best most secure places rather than just to be near some food. If there is secure bedding near the food great, but if not you need to seek it out, and thats not just public, its anywhere big bucks live.

X2

If there is any pressure at all, the big bucks wont bed anywhere near the food early season or late. By near I mean within 100-150 yards even with very slight pressure. If they do, and they are aware of even the slightest pressure, they will hold up in staging until dark. Thats been my experience...

[ihookem]

A buck can walk a mile in 10 minutes so it is no problem for him to go way the heck back in the woods. In a mile radius, that leaves a lot of land for him to lay down next to a log and sit till the sun goes down. Young deer stay close to food and that is why they get shot over corn all the time.