Is Your Public Land Truly Pressured?
- funderburk
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Is Your Public Land Truly Pressured?
I think a misconception hunters can have (including me) is that all public land is pressured. No matter where you live. If it’s public, it’s pressured. Lately, I’ve been reconsidering how “pressured” my state really is. I’ve heard stories of hunter run-ins on public land in the north and midwest that I've truly never experienced here. Turkey season is a different story.
So, how do you know if your public land can be considered heavily pressured?
So, how do you know if your public land can be considered heavily pressured?
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- DaveT1963
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Re: Is Your Public Land Truly Pressured?
It also depends on how much public land there is. 10,000 on 100,000 acres is NOT as pressured as 100 on 500 acres.
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- ThePreBanMan
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Re: Is Your Public Land Truly Pressured?
There are plenty of spots here in my neck of the woods in MA where the land is public and receives ZERO hunting pressure. State land like the State Wildlife Management Areas - I mostly forget about them. It's combat hunting. But there's a lot of land owned by municipal governments, towns, etc. or land trusts that are open to hunting and not many know about it. A few - but not many. You have to know where/how to look for it. Most hunters around here just look at the state website for the WMAs and "places where I can hunt" and end their search there.
Even then, some of the WMAs - or large sections of them, receive zero pressure. That because they're impenetrable. There are no trails and the woods are choked so thick with brush that you would need a bulldozer to get through there. We have a roughly 4000 acre cedar swamp 10 minutes from my house that's like that. It's a state WMA, open to hunting, but there's no parking and it's so thick you would need a chain saw - at a minimum. I'm sure there are monsters roaming around in there that have never seen or smelled a human. That's how isolated the centrer of that swamp is. I know those woods have a lot of deer in them. The WMA is near a municipal airport and deer on the runways was a big problem until they erected an 8 foot fence around the airport. I keep saying - self - you need to get up in there. And when I try - it's epic fail every time. It's so thick you have to cut a trail. And at that point you're really just hoping to get lucky and cut a deer trail. Because you can't see 5 feet. It's tough tough going. So pressured - not a chance.
So - it depends. Accessibility makes all the difference it seems.
Even then, some of the WMAs - or large sections of them, receive zero pressure. That because they're impenetrable. There are no trails and the woods are choked so thick with brush that you would need a bulldozer to get through there. We have a roughly 4000 acre cedar swamp 10 minutes from my house that's like that. It's a state WMA, open to hunting, but there's no parking and it's so thick you would need a chain saw - at a minimum. I'm sure there are monsters roaming around in there that have never seen or smelled a human. That's how isolated the centrer of that swamp is. I know those woods have a lot of deer in them. The WMA is near a municipal airport and deer on the runways was a big problem until they erected an 8 foot fence around the airport. I keep saying - self - you need to get up in there. And when I try - it's epic fail every time. It's so thick you have to cut a trail. And at that point you're really just hoping to get lucky and cut a deer trail. Because you can't see 5 feet. It's tough tough going. So pressured - not a chance.
So - it depends. Accessibility makes all the difference it seems.
- Tufrthnails
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Re: Is Your Public Land Truly Pressured?
Florida is very dependent. If you go to the walk-in or high quota WMA's it is highly pressured not to say you can't get away from the pressure, but a lot of the WMA's have specific parking which tends to stack people in and of itself. If you save your points or get lucky you can draw same very low pressured WMA's, but it takes years and years to get the better units. In kentucky I have hunted several WMA's and the pressure is super low in my opinion. I have slipped into an area and found someone there, but both times it was a saddle in the rut. Now if you want to sit the edge of one of the food plots you will see other hunters, but that's not a problem for me I like it when I see the food plots covered up in hunters.
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Re: Is Your Public Land Truly Pressured?
Pressure can change alot based on square mile , wma size and location here.
We have less then 10 deer per square mile on public in my part of the state.
Hunting pressure did decrease last year and our state had the lowest harvest in many years. The officials claimed warm weather and didn't tell the truth
We had open season on does for the last 5 plus years and now theirs just very few does to breed and very few bucks and does being born. High harvest and poor management the last few seasons has wiped out the Deer herds in some public wmas.
I think when you think about pressure deer numbers need to really be discussed. Pressure tends to occur around deer sign.
We have I would say low pressure 10-15 hunters per square mile though theirs so little to be harvested. We used to see does everywhere now seeing a doe on public while in car on walking in the woods is like hitting the lottery.
We have less then 10 deer per square mile on public in my part of the state.
Hunting pressure did decrease last year and our state had the lowest harvest in many years. The officials claimed warm weather and didn't tell the truth
We had open season on does for the last 5 plus years and now theirs just very few does to breed and very few bucks and does being born. High harvest and poor management the last few seasons has wiped out the Deer herds in some public wmas.
I think when you think about pressure deer numbers need to really be discussed. Pressure tends to occur around deer sign.
We have I would say low pressure 10-15 hunters per square mile though theirs so little to be harvested. We used to see does everywhere now seeing a doe on public while in car on walking in the woods is like hitting the lottery.
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- Jonny
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Re: Is Your Public Land Truly Pressured?
All depends on access. I’ve been surrounded by guys, and move a mile and I haven’t seen a person in years because you have a half mile walk through swamp to get to big hardwoods.
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- funderburk
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Re: Is Your Public Land Truly Pressured?
Jonny wrote:All depends on access. I’ve been surrounded by guys, and move a mile and I haven’t seen a person in years because you have a half mile walk through swamp to get to big hardwoods.
Access is looking to be the common theme here...
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- elk yinzer
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Re: Is Your Public Land Truly Pressured?
I have in excess of 1,000,000 acres I can access within a reasonable one hour drive. It varies from very highly pressured to virtually none. There are quite a few factors that drive that.
Access is certainly one. The closest properties to population centers tend to be more pressured. The areas that have more trails and logging roads, same. People don't like steep hills, snakes, or getting their feet wet. All that stuff.
Generally people certainly aren't terrible at finding deer, also. There is somewhat of a trade off in that areas that have higher populations of deer do tend to receive more pressure. That's one factor I think people tend to overlook. I can hunt areas all season and have them completely to myself but they generally have all those going for them...tough access, long drive, and low deer populations. I mix in some of those areas and usually stick to them on busier weekends. But for logistics of after work hunts sometimes I end up hunting with the crowds. And as we know bucks can grow big even under high pressure if they can hide from the boomsticks.
Access is certainly one. The closest properties to population centers tend to be more pressured. The areas that have more trails and logging roads, same. People don't like steep hills, snakes, or getting their feet wet. All that stuff.
Generally people certainly aren't terrible at finding deer, also. There is somewhat of a trade off in that areas that have higher populations of deer do tend to receive more pressure. That's one factor I think people tend to overlook. I can hunt areas all season and have them completely to myself but they generally have all those going for them...tough access, long drive, and low deer populations. I mix in some of those areas and usually stick to them on busier weekends. But for logistics of after work hunts sometimes I end up hunting with the crowds. And as we know bucks can grow big even under high pressure if they can hide from the boomsticks.
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- thepennsylvanian
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Re: Is Your Public Land Truly Pressured?
DaveT1963 wrote:It also depends on how much public land there is. 10,000 on 100,000 acres is NOT as pressured as 100 on 500 acres.
I dont it has anything to do with size in my area. I hunt a 3700 acre public area that sees alot more pressure than a 130 acre piece I live to hunt. I truly believe that the amount of pressure a piece gets is mostly defendant on 1 how much access there is and 2 how open the woods are. Guys around here dont like thick stuff.
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- DaveT1963
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Re: Is Your Public Land Truly Pressured?
In states with little public land, nothing gets ignored. That was my point.
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- Jonny
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Re: Is Your Public Land Truly Pressured?
funderburk wrote:Jonny wrote:All depends on access. I’ve been surrounded by guys, and move a mile and I haven’t seen a person in years because you have a half mile walk through swamp to get to big hardwoods.
Access is looking to be the common theme here...
Access and amount of land. Down where I live it’s hard to find areas with little hunter sign. Do the same effort up north where I have hunted and I bet you won’t see a hunter for 10 years. But there is 10x the public and a tenth of the hunters. So you can hunt roadside hardwoods and have it to yourself most of the season.
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- Southern Man
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Re: Is Your Public Land Truly Pressured?
Most of the public I hunt has very little pressure now days
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- hoyt31786
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Re: Is Your Public Land Truly Pressured?
Amount of land, number of hunters and non resident draw. Ohio only has 4% public land which is pike 44th out of 50 states. Then you add our reputation for big deer and being closest drive for half the eastern guys Michigan ,Pa, New york, New Hampshire, Illinois, tennesse, virginia, west virginia kentucky, ive seen about every outta state plate here. Plus if look at hunters per square mile here its over 12
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Re: Is Your Public Land Truly Pressured?
They are just guessing based on license sales and
acreage amount of public.
Some wmas near big cities really get pounded and have alot of hunters per square mile.
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