I hunt almost exclusively on public land. I have to say that this year I have seen more deer then in most. The first two days I saw at least 5 deer each day. Of those there were three buck mixed in. On Wednesday I took a doe out of a group of 9 nine deer.

I think that you need to treqat hunting private land a bit like archery hunting. Get out and scout it before the season. Know where the deer travel, especially if there are moved by other hunters. My friends that complain about not seeing deer are the ones that don't get into the woods until the first day of the season.

I also believe that the lack of snow has put a major crimp in the number of deer actually sited.

Just my $0.02