Private vs. public. It's not always that simple!

[jonsimoneau]

Ridge runner. I wish u lived here. You and I are the same age and I am amazed at what you have been able to accomplish in what is likely the hardest deer hunting around. I know you could teach me some things. You are an inspiration.

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[headgear]

In my best spot...I can view 4, yes 4 raised box blinds and 3 tree stands. They are 200-500 yards off but its amazing how the hunters here have every tree and angle covered. It's a miracle anything survives..but some slip through

I honestly have about a half dozen spots like this, box blinds and perm stands surrounding the bedding area. I found a few guys that dive in a little bit but most of the time they don't do deep enough and I have the bedding all to myself.

[evangorp]

Before finding this site, I would have gone out, found a couple hundred acres and hunted it to death. I now find my self trying to scout out thousands of acres of public land within an hour of my home so I have multiple options when the time arrives. I was always led to believe that here in Iowa the public ground holds no big bucks, after doing my research on here, and the guy from Bass Pro informing me that there was a 200 class deer taken last year off one of the pieces I am looking to hunt, a light bulb went off. I know guys who own 1,000's of acres in southern Iowa, but yet never shoot anything of true size. It hepls prove to me that buying land doesn't equal success, hard work will help make you successful. If you don't hunt smart, it doesn't matter if it is private or public. In the past 2 months I have gone from someone who avoids public, to a guy determined to find every acre of public that exists close to my house.

[Jackson Marsh]

Before finding this site, I would have gone out, found a couple hundred acres and hunted it to death. I now find my self trying to scout out thousands of acres of public land within an hour of my home so I have multiple options when the time arrives. I was always led to believe that here in Iowa the public ground holds no big bucks, after doing my research on here, and the guy from Bass Pro informing me that there was a 200 class deer taken last year off one of the pieces I am looking to hunt, a light bulb went off. I know guys who own 1,000's of acres in southern Iowa, but yet never shoot anything of true size. It hepls prove to me that buying land doesn't equal success, hard work will help make you successful. If you don't hunt smart, it doesn't matter if it is private or public. In the past 2 months I have gone from someone who avoids public, to a guy determined to find every acre of public that exists close to my house.

Good thinking! I used to think I had to hunt my with my friend on private land to see nice bucks (never seen one during archery season). I have since changed my way of thinking, and have seen much nicer deer over the last few years.........all on public. It takes a lot of scouting, but I'm now hunting less pressured areas on public, than I used to hunt on private. Plus it is fun to have a change of scenery on every hunt.

[Edcyclopedia]

Just because a piece of land is private ground does not make it better.

... need three things. Food water and cover with cover being the most important. And they need all three.

A twenty acre piece of ground with no good bedding cover means that piece of ground will likely only be good during a magical few day window during the rut. It's that simple. It does not matter if you never step foot on the place. If there is no permanent bedding cover the deer will not live there. On the other hand a large chunk of public ground may be big enough that it contains all the ingredients deer need. Yes the pressure will be greater but if your buck relocates due to pressure you may have a chance to relocate him.

Take this into consideration before you waste a lot of time hunting.

[ Post made via iPad ]

X2 - good comments for sure...

3-stages of scouting to gain the most from a new spot or an "Old" new spot (re-think your spots...)
1) Mapping out a game plan for "blast scouting".
2) Perimeter scouting by foot.
3) Locating beds... (both Mature Bucks /& Does), not to discount food & water though...

[Bigb]

Great point Brad. But I will add that there are public places where it is absolutely impossible to get away from other hunters. I know Illinois receives less pressure than other areas but in northeastern Illinois the public Lands are small and there is nowhere you can walk to get away from them. For example. The Kankakee river state park nearby sees roughly "6,000" hunter efforts according to our DNR. This means 6,000 people sign up on the sign in sheets in total. Last season 23 deer were taken. This area is 1200 acres I think. To me that is intense pressure due to being so close to Chicago and the cover is long and narrow along the river. You cant get away from other hunters here and because the public is small I feel most of the deer simply leave as soon as season starts. So I think it is important to take a look at public areas and find one where you have a reasonable expectation of taking a deer.

[ Post made via iPad ]

That is actually a very deceiving number though and actually scares away a lot of deer hunters. I've hunted K3 state park and the reason that number looks so high is because the have put and take pheasant hunter there which is where a vast majority of those numbers come from. I've actually hunted K3 state park for pheasant (not deer) but i always keep my eyes out for potential deer spots. I can tell you there are a lot of deer there. Every time I've pheasant hunted there I have seen deer and a couple dandy bucks. There are people that deer hunt it, the problem is they don't think outside the box. I have found two spots there that have some of the thickest deer trails i've ever seen. People always hunt field edges or go into the deep woods. They don't think of trying to use the pheasant hunters to there advantage. With the pheasant hunting Wed through Sun, If you were out there Wed morning after the deer have spread out for a couple days and the pheasant hunters come in and push the deer around you just need a good escape route in the thick cover. Once those deer get moving, they will be moving all morning with the pheasant hunters. Get between a few of the parking lots, find some thick woods and wear orange and I think you'll have some luck.

Public land in Northern Illinois is a tough and with some having the put and take pheasnt hunting you have to think a little different. Its almost like deer drives are going on, except not for deer. The escape routes are the main thing. The good thing is a few spots keep records and just seeing that one 12 point was taken keeps a lot of people coming back!

[PLB]

Before finding this site, I would have gone out, found a couple hundred acres and hunted it to death. I now find my self trying to scout out thousands of acres of public land within an hour of my home so I have multiple options when the time arrives. I was always by led to believe that here in Iowa the public ground holds no big bucks, after doing my research on here, and the guy from Bass Pro informing me that there was a 200 class deer taken last year off one of the pieces I am looking to hunt, a light bulb went off. I know guys who own 1,000's of acres in southern Iowa, but yet never shoot anything of true size. It hepls prove to me that buying land doesn't equal success, hard work will help make you successful. If you don't hunt smart, it doesn't matter if it is private or public. In the past 2 months I have gone from someone who avoids public, to a guy determined to find every acre of public that exists close to my house.

Great post Evan!!

[ Post made via Android ]

[dan]

When hunting leases or private with permission its the land owner rules that drive me nuts, like having to let him know when your hunting and telling him where, or having to kill does, or don't shoot any does... Etc... I also hate showing land owners the big bucks I shoot cause then they want a picture to show all there family and friends and the next thing you know you get kicked out cause his good buddy wants in...

I like the freedom that you can do what ever you like and answer to no one on public land as long as you follow the hunting laws.

[Maple_Ridge]

In my area the private parcels are broken up very small. Add several hunters to each parcel depending on size and you have hunters sitting on top of hunters. It's crazy. In my best spot...I can view 4, yes 4 raised box blinds and 3 tree stands. They are 200-500 yards off but its amazing how the hunters here have every tree and angle covered. It's a miracle anything survives..but some slip through..often with injuries and we get some decent bucks the following year. The public land in southern Michigan is very over crowded. Finding a place to park is a challenge. Many go an entire season without seeing a buck or anything bigger than first year buck. I had my best success and sightings next to a very large piece of private land just into the public. Compare that to Ohio public where we found 6 sheds off 140" deer in a day and a half and very little hunting sign past the first 200-300 yards. Some of the guys never ran into another hunter there during the season.

Sounds almost the same as my area.

Private land is a great thing if managed right. But with combined pressure from neighbors, and other people that hunt the same land that you do, it can still be a challenge. I am not sure if lazy is the correct term. To get the job done on smaller acreage parcels, you gotta be sharper than the next hunter.

I said in my intro post, you wont hear me cryin about the hunter pressure and difficulty hunting in Michigan. And you wont. I started hunting in 2000 and killed my first bow buck that year. It was fun back then......and still is now.

My plan is to implement dans tactics into what i have already, and work from that.

I do need to scout some local public land, but its only a few hundred acres or so in size. Afraid itmay be overhunted, but ya never know.

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[keb]

I don't even ask permission to hunt private ground anymore, To much drama and games these days. The biggest deer I have ever seen were on some public land.

[ Post made via iPad ]

[UntouchableNess]

Last year I got permission from a farmer who owns 2,000 acres.

I concentrated on one parcel, roughly 240 acres. Most of that was corn field and there were multiple tree stands on the fringes even though I was supposedly the only person with permission.

Private at times is not, especially if the landowner doesn't want to deal with it.

[MN Legacy]

I hunt both private and public lands.Most of my private stuff gets more pressure than the public and I tend to see more bigger bucks on public.

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[Dor]

When hunting leases or private with permission its the land owner rules that drive me nuts, like having to let him know when your hunting and telling him where, or having to kill does, or don't shoot any does... Etc... I also hate showing land owners the big bucks I shoot cause then they want a picture to show all there family and friends and the next thing you know you get kicked out cause his good buddy wants in...

I like the freedom that you can do what ever you like and answer to no one on public land as long as you follow the hunting laws.

This is my number one reason for hunting a lot of public.....hate, absolutely hate, having to work around other ideas of how things should be. When it's private you have to.

[gjs4]

Great points/post....quality vs quantity...better to have the right 15 than the wrong 500.

I have a friend with 6 acres that trumps most ground i know....the local state land is pounded especially about 1/4 mi in and a mi in...the fat lazy guys tire quick the motivated ones have to beat each other to the center; I would guess less than 10% of the guys in there have a plan based on actual deer activity

[PK_]

A few years ago it was my dream to buy a small chunk of land so I had a good place to hunt. After reading about others and having my own great success hunting public land the right way, all I want is a small hunting cabin near some large state/national forest in a state with liberal buck limits. Just give me some room to roam. Even heavy pressured lands have enough good bucks that slip through the seams.