Well suppose that it's time to start replying to those that replied to my post. To JRW yes I am in 70G and the land I used to hunt connects to that public that you speak of on morse road. I used to live in that little white house on morse road. I have seen so much orange through that land in 3 years. More importantly though the other day when we had the snowfall, I walked all around that public all day and I didn't find one deer track. The deer seem to have taken up residence somewhere else. I know that there is a lot of public land in my area, but not knowing how to scout and especially not sure how to go about hunting the late bow season after gun hunters is my main problems.
To TreestandEd, it appears you need to go back and reread my post. I used to see between 15 and 30 deer a day on that land. 11 deer in 3 years is not a lot. I also didn't include the number of deer that I shot at and spooked off and the number of deer that I shot and lost due to various reasons. The landowner owns about 100 acres and the public next door is a few thousand acres plus the land I hunted is surounded by thousands of acres of private land. So once again 11 deer in 3 years is not that many. As for the landowner knowing about the deer harvested I took every deer I shot to the house and showed them. They were well aware how many I shot each year. They wanted me to be successful just as much as I wanted to be.
To Indianahick I do not believe in bragging. I believe very much in honoring and respecting all wildlife while it's alive and after it's dead. True I tell people when I am blessed by the guardian of the trail with harvesting a deer but it really only matters to one person. ME. Creator and I are the only ones who know how the scenario played out and how big the deer harvested was. I do not know why they decided to hunt here after all these years. But I still feel that the best thing to have done was to show the landowner the deer I harvested. If this is considered bragging so be it.
To nub, I have tried repeatedly to contact the DNR about the poachers and tresspassers. The landowner will not give me the neighbors names that are poaching or press charges when I do get trespassers names. So it's not for lack of trying on my part. I believe they have been poaching since before I started hunting the land. As for knocking on doors, since wisconsin has set so many records in the record books for bucks and also holds the former world record typical most landowners will not allow you on their property so that you will not shoot any of their big bucks. I understand how they want to be the ones to shoot the big bucks but what about regulating the deer herd and also allowing the sport of hunting to continue moving forward? All I have ever heard is not to expect to get onto private land anywhere around here.
To bandgod I don't have any problem with hunting public land. What I do have a problem with is lack of knowledge when it comes to hunting period. I haven't the foggiest idea how to scout or how to best decide where the deer are gonna be or where they are gonna go. As I said earlier I went out on the public land and didn't find one deer track. So what then? Do you just wander into the woods and sit down whereever?? let me tell you in 10 degree weather I'd like to at least put the odds in my favor that I'm going to at least see something when I'm out in that cold of weather. Considering we are through the gun season and muzzleloader season goes until Dec. 14th, I still have to deal with nocturnal deer and also hunting pressure. I am only allowed to hunt with a bow this year so the odds keep getting stacked higher and higher against me. If there was somewhere i could go to learn about scouting or if someone would be kind enough to teach me, things would be a little easier. Until then, I'm just gonna be hunting blind.
Thanks to you all for the advice and hopefully I'll figure something out. If not, I'll just take my memories I have now and hang the bow up for good.