I have hunted public my whole life and it is no diffderent then hunting anywhere else. You have to find the freshest sign to kill deer. If you want to kill big deer you have to find the big sign. To me their is no difference besides in some areas that you don't have reservations the areas can get a little more pressure. I have killed 3 very nice deer the last 3 years on public land. Keep moving around early so you don't burn out your best spots before the rut comes. I hunt further from the parking lot then most men want to walk and basically have a whole area to myself. I let the small bucks go. Public land hunters get a bad rap from everybody but 99 percent of the guys are good guys and good hunters they just don't have the money to spend on leases and such. Public land is no where near as bad as most hunters talk about.