Originally Posted by
DeerandbearhoG
Couple things Ive learned about deer hunting on public land.
1st, sleep late and drive around at 1st light and see where guys ARENT parking, thats where you wanna go if you dont wanna bump or get bumped, I dont worry much about getting in early these days cause I almost never see deer at 1st light, its always an hour or 2 after 1st light, heck I see as many deer mid day as I do early.
2nd, other hunters get the deer up and moving, I love the guys who walk back to the truck in squads with their rifles slung over their shoulders, as if theyre convinced no deer could possible be hiding in the woods they picked to sit in that day
, alot of times deer are bedded close by and those guys kick them right to me, I love it
You dont have to hike a mile or even more than a few hundered yrds from your car to find deer, in fact I find deer like hanging out closer than farther to the road, its the hunters that seem to like treking deep in the woods.
In recent years my experiences have borne this out 100% much to my chagrin-I've hunted alot of back there spots which feel "deer-y" to me ,only to see them feeding comfortably on front lawns on my way home. I'm convinced deer , at least in my rural area, prefer the company of people!
I was lucky enough to start finding private land to hunt after several years of public only. These past few years, I can't tell the difference anymore.
Frankly, I've bowed out of rifle season of late in favor of bow & muzzy; I refuse to compete for turf w/ guys when none of our names are on the deed
.
I've heard there are fewer guys hunting now, but you can't prove it by me. What concerns me is where we may be headed: either hunt public or pay-to-play (lease) private. Honestly, many land owners here may
need that cash to pay their property taxes.
One issue in my locale, and I'm sure in many others, is that the Family farm was sold and sub-divided with most owners posting every tree on their boundary. Unless you can string a few of these 5-10 acre parcels together, it just doesn't seem worthwhile,IMO.
I recently became aware that in my brief 40-something years, the world's population has
doubled. That changes things.