I'm not limited to public land anymore , but I'll never understand why folks think that they'll automatically do better on private land . Some of my best hunts have been on smaller public parcels , and nearly all of my worst have been on private land . Sure , the larger and more popular publics can be crowded , but many times you can go to a smaller , less used one and have it largely to yourself . Once the guns start banging all land is about equal , but with diminishing numbers of bow hunters public land can often be better than private . Use a topo map to look around where you live and I'll bet that you'll uncover some forgotten little gems out there . Remember , it doesn't have to be big to hold a big buck .