I learned awhile back that there are public lands and then there are public lands .

Use an aerial photo site like TerraServer or others to locate smaller , less well known public parcels . Many times you'll have anywhere from 20 or 30 to several hundred acres all to yourself . At the very least you won't have the swarms that the larger ones do . Scout these hidden gems from above for funnels and other promising features without stinking them up , locate probable points of entry , and lock in their location for your GPS to find . I also like to figure out the probable points that other hunters might use so that I can "use them for drivers" if they do arrive .

The topo feature pinpoints stable water sources and elevation changes that might form a funnel , and defines the probable vegetation or lack of it . In most cases it also highlights the small publics as well as the large ones so that you can get directions to it from a mapping site later , and clearly defines the parcel's boundaries so that there can be no "Hey ! You're on my land !" I once solved just such an encounterwith a detailed topo map downloaded from a site that showed the landowner who challenged me that I was not trespassing after all . You can't argue with a GPS !