shed33

Bottom line is. Animals that associate many/several stimuli with danger are going to be more alert and on guard than that of another animal that may not associate those same stimuli with danger. With that being said, in general, lands that get pressured highly whether they are public or private often hold less tolerant critters and be much lower in numbers for quality age structure. On the other hand animals that do not associate many stimuli with danger will often tolerate more human intrusion. Public lands as a whole tend to get a lot of pressure, yet we all know there are pieces of public that do not. For the most part private lands get less pressure and thus animals tend to be more tolerant of human intrusion and there is often a higher number of older mature animals. We all know there are exceptions to the private land scenario as well. Common sense to me says: Anyone hunting pressured animals that consistently takes mature critters for those areas whether it be private or public is doing something right.

Adding in many other variables for instance conditioning of animals that many hunters take part in. Feeding, baits and scents for example create another equation. Every place hunted has it's own specific variables and thus would hold different challenges/obstacles for a hunter.

Then throw in what weapon is used and we unload a whole other part to the equation! I hunt private land and public mostly with my bow, and some rifle. Both have made me a better hunter, but I have worked harder on most of the public lands than I haved had to on private pieces. I find that the public land animals in my neck of the woods are much less tolerant than that of the private land critters I too hunt in area, yet I do have a few public land spots that are not pressured like other public land spots and they do for a fact up my odds seeing a more "light" tolerant animal. Meaning I see critters in these hide a ways moving out in the open or even in cover more freely during daylight hours. I like hunting specific critters, so If I find him on public I am hunting him there, if he's on private then I am hunting there. The nicest buck I have harvested with my bow lived right on the line of public and private he used both lines daily. His feed was on private and his bed on public.

I realize and agree that most public lands offer more obstacles, other hunters for one. But I will say this, when I see a guy/gal whom hunts "pressured" lands consistently bagging quality animals for that region, I want to know what it is that works for them and how they approach their hunting. They must be doing something right. Public or Private, pressure creates obstacles.

Example, I learned more from Pat Ely about turkey hunting calling in one week than I had learned in 34 years. Pat comes from PA. He hunts very high pressured private land turkeys and is very successful. He came out west last spring and show me how to talk to a turkey from many different scenarios. The merriams here have never had the talk thrown at them like Pat had in his arsenal. He had them running to us. Two big gobblers leaving their hens we scored on in two days and one in the midst of a Snow Storm! Not to mention many younger toms. These birds as Pat said were less cautious and more tolerant of us. I think it was more skill than anything. He hunts mostly private land in PA, yet more pressured than the private timber company ground (public accessible by anyone) we hunted here.

High fenced hunting operations do not interest me. I have always felt a critter was intended to be wild and free not penned in any aspect.