I don't care how light hunting presure is on a piece of property, mature bucks have this innate ability to avoid danger. A buddy of mine makes a joke about mature bucks having a "chip" that makes them spook easily.

I've hunted both private and public land, and I would much rather hunt private land.

And I'm not trying to offend anyone so please don't take it that way. I'm just sharing my opinion but....

Most people out there that are "too proud" to hunt private land either don't have access, or don't have the means to. So they say "hunting private land is not really hunting" but when it comes down to it, if they had the means or the access they would do it in a heart beat! I guarantee you if any of you "public only" hunters were aproached by a member of the King Ranch in south Texas to go on a deer hunt, you would jump on it right away! Then you would be posting the picture on this billboard saying "look at the deer I shot this season!" Be honest now, would you rather work your tail off all season and MAYBE get a shot on something marginal because it makes you feel like you accomplished something more? I'm not buying that for a minute. I'd bet a paycheck that none of you would say "No, I'd rather not go to the King Ranch. That's not really hunting."

I've also hunted on private land where the hunters would shoot everything and it's the same thing. Not many deer, and hardly no mature bucks.

Private land / public land...if everybody could just get on the same page, everyone would benefit and have more and bigger deer.

It comes down to this....Why do we all hunt? We are all trophy hunters. If you hunt, that's why you do it. If you hunt because you NEED the meat then how can you afford to hunt in the first place? Let's face it. Hunting is an expensive hobby. We all do it for egotistical reasons. Eating venison is just an added bonus.