this really is a helluva subject....
i am with ya shatodavis on the part of liking to be where ya see no other hunters. i try to elk hunt in those areas every year. its a different kind of hunting for sure. i live near the black hills of wyoming. people elk hunt there every year. elk are VERY skittish, due to lots of pressure, so in a way that makes a very difficult hunt.....on the other hand, i have been close to a lot of high country elk, some let me get away with a lot of little mistakes due to not being pressured, but its difficult too, walking miles everyday at 11,000 feet.
it can be tough anywhere. here near town, my favorite little muley area gets a ton of pressure. its a prairie area, and in a general seaons for locals, easy draw for non residents. what tips it in my favor is that 95% of the hunters are lazy road hunters, and i hunt on foot. i know the bedding areas, i know the get away routes. and i see and get near nice deer every year. i do agree with a lot of what manboy is trying to say. around here, we have HUGE tracts of private land. HUGE tracts of public too. on some of these places, the only hunters are the owners. they usually get some really nice animals. i DO NOT feel that they are even decent hunters, as most of them are road hunters. do i wish i had the same oppurtunity? hell yes! if those places let me walk in and hunt it right, what kind of animals might i have the chance at? mindboggling.
there should not be separate record books however, these animals are free to move as they please, and i have done this enough to know that although few and far between, the big ones are on the public too. i see em every year.....just find a way of not getting an arrow into them
however, rather we want to admit it or not, those of us who hunt private do have some sort of an advantage over the regular hunter. i get some permission on some decent places sometimes, and have shot some pretty nice animals there that i wouldnt have got on the public. like it or not its the truth.
brad