I was never involved with huntings sites in the past. But a question that seems to come up a lot is getting a big buck on public land. you can’t put out cams and you can’t plant food plots. Just to help new hunters I was looking around for something about the basic 5 rules for public land, and I found this article.
http://www.gameandfishmag.com/hunting/hunting_whitetail-deer-hunting_gf_aa116501a/
Reading this is a great beginner point. It covers the big things you need to do.
But, don’t take this as anything more then a basis to use to get your basics covered. There are others variables. Other hunters read and do the same things. So deciding to get to your stand at 1AM isn’t a good thing to do.
When hunting public land, you actually have to hunt smarter, not always harder. Get to know the parameter of the land. What roads boarder the land and where are the places people are parking. Look for the place with no vehicles parked. This will usually be an area that will tough to walk in. Not necessarily an area with no deer, just an area where people don’t want to bother with, especially those carrying a tree stand, scout that area, and park a ways away to keep others away from your possible “honey pot’. Don’t be so worried about being out of the line if sight. Sit on the ground or a stump, maybe a rock wall ( for bow hunters, practice shooing sitting and on your knees ). Just try to sit where you have something at your back like bushes or shrubs. If you scout, you can make a really nice natural ground blind if you choose too. I have no factual proof, but I bet even setting up a small man made ground blind that you have sprayed with UV killer might even work on a day to day basis.
Learn to still hunt.
You don’t need to be two miles in either. It’s not a bad thing to get into the deepest nastiest area you can find, but remember, if you make a kill, you now have to drag that carcass out two miles. To test this, get a bag of sand weighing appx, a measly 50 lbs, drag it through the woods for a few hundred yards. See how you feel after. Then remember, a small deer will weigh twice that at minimum.
Patterning other hunters. I am sure I will get some flak for this statement, but……. If you are patterning other hunters, you might be a little to close to parking areas or in an area where you have 20 hunters to 1 deer. That will not help your cause. Are you hunting deer or counting flashlights?
There are some big deer on a lot of public land. I won’t say the deer are smarter, they just get move by pressure. So you have to make those adjustments as well. No one can teach you how to hunt public land, you might be out there day in and day out scouting, and setting up areas where you see the best signs, but come opening day on public land, you never know where the next hunter is. So take your shot. You might not get another. It’s public land, and you have no more right to the monster buck then anyone else hunting those woods.
