RE: Hunting Public Land
On public land always have a backup spot because someone may be in your spot. One suggestion I have is to hunt in the spot you would "think" is theleast likely the deer would be in. Those are the spots noone else hunts and the deer know that. Therefore that is where the deer are alot of times. The spot I hunt on public land is right off the main highway running right down the middle of the forest. I see more deer withing 100 yards of the highway than I do way back in the woods. I have killed most of my buck closer to the highway.
I hunt close to the road when I only have a couple of hours and deer are likely to be up and moving. I have been patterning deer in this area for about 10 years now and I can pretty much know where and when they will be in the different areas. HUNT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY ON PUBLIC LAND! I see more deer between 10:00 and 2:00 that any other time. I have killed most of my bucks around 10:00. Most hunters hunt until about 10:00 and then go in for lunch and come back in the evening. Stay put and other hunter will push deer to you. If that doesn't happen then deer will move because there are not as many hunters in the woods. It took me alot of years to have confidence hunting the middle of the day. Once I started I see many more deer.
Good Luck!
Here is one I killed a little after 10:00 in late December a couple of years ago on public land.He had a 21" spread.