actually, they are GREAT well thought out questions....if every hunter asked those questions, there might be less trouble...
PA is different from most states...we have a fairly large amount of public land...but we also have near 1 million hunters...most of them hunt opening morning of our rifle season...it can be very crazy out there...
guys may THINK they can reserve a spot by putting in a tree stand or blind or whatever prior to the season, but reality is it is PUBLIC land...its open for everyone. if your not in your stand, its fair game to hunt that area. best spot is usually just out of view of those tree stands
deer learn to skirt around heavily hunted stands....you will hear of guys fighting over stands and that sort of thing...but thats the answer...even if you have a stand or blind its still fair game if your not in it....and, dont leave ANYTHING on public land and expect it to be there when you return...someone can and very well may take it...locked or not...living in PA it happens regularly on public and private land....
theres really no unwritten rules...have common curtosey and that sort of thing...if you see someone else stop walking that direction and sneak out of the area as quietly as possible so you dont ruin the hunters day...he was there first...if he can see me i will give him a wave and turn around...
i can write a book on hunts that were ruined by other hunters...i will tell my favorite deer hunting one...
dad found an absolute hot spot on public land...it was very deep back in the woods and a hike from the truck...the first few years we slammed deer back there...we were both meat hunters and usually shot the first does we seen, but we had a blast and ate well those first couple years..we only seen 1 other hunter in the area that actually hunted there, and he said we didnt effect him and didnt mind us hunting in our spot...we talked to him every year...one year we had a couple inches of fresh snow on the ground for the opener...dad shot a doe at first light..while he was gutting that one i dropped another...a short while later i killed my first buck...a small 6 point...but it was like 9am opening day...we packed up and knew we had a LONG drag out with 3 deer...on the way out on the trails, we naturally ran into alot of hunters wandering those same trails....we seen about 30 deer that morning before 930 opening day
the next year we got into our same honey hole EARLY like always...we were usually the first truck in the parking areas...we had a long walk and wanted to get into our spot so we had it...settled in and noone else around...right before first light here comes a parade of flashlights down the main trail...they all turned and split up and walked right at us...dad and i started shinning our lights towards them and whistling to get their attention...they thought it was a joke and blinked theirs back at us....they didnt care. light broke and we were absolutely surrounded by hunters...dad managed a doe early on....it wasnt till 1pm i seen my first deer and dropped her...i could hear deer winding those other hunters all day...they were setup all wrong and just totally ruined the spot and ruined our hunting...they were setup within 100yds of us all around...i actually had to let my doe run past me before i dropped her to have a safe direction to shoot...
cant prove it, but im about 100% sure they seen us the year before dragging 3 deer out and followed the drag marks in the snow to our spot....fair game after we left i suppose...but they should had the curtosey to go elsewhere after we shined lights and whistled at them....
best tactics on public land is to get deep and far from the roads and off the trails...i think studies show most hunters are within a few hundred yards of the road...dads honey hole was also effective because it was a bottle neck or funnel...an area that deer prefer to take instead of other areas...or an area they HAVE to come through...those 2 tactics work well for us...if you can find a funnel pretty far back in the woods, you can have a good chance at seeing deer....
not ALL public land expiriences are BAD though...dont take my post wrong...ive killed alot of game on public land...met alot of nice guys...that same guy that hunted near our spot every year offered me and dad to come up there and flintlock hunt with him and a bunch of other guys in the late season...nice guy...
if everyone had common curtosey and respected others it wouldnt be bad...but like always, theres some bad apples that can make things sour sometimes...
last year i was bow hunting...had FRESH snow on the ground that just fell...a guy was walking my foot prints right to my stand...what was he expecting??? i was over 1 mile from the truck and 300yds in the woods off the trail and he kinda looked shocked to see me...which he didnt see me till he was under me and i coughed to get his attention...funny how many hunters NEVER look around when they are walking..i always have my orange on or hanging from the tree and most times i have to alert them that i am there...they never see me for whatever reason....
good luck