Well, as you all know, hunting ground is getting harder and harder to find. I have found a lot of good public ground around my area, and plan on camping and hunting it quite a bit this year. I have a good topo- atlas, and plan to start there. I am just wondering if any of you hunt public ground for deer regularly, and how successful are you?

Own my own land and never hunted public land. It is too dangerous, there are people out there that don't belong in the woods!

Hunt Publc land about 95% of the time

Timbercreek,
I am sure that would be the first choice for most of us. However I don't own my land and besides my one honeyhole that is private land I have access to, I do hunt public land. I have good success but in 15 years of hunting have only saw 2 bucks that would I consider a shooter. A nice 10 point around 125" and a 8 pointer I harvested a few years ago that would maybe be 105 or so. I see a ton of yearling bucks but they all get shot every year by every Tom , Dick and Harry in the woods opening firearms morning. It's unfortunate but I do see alot of animals on public ground here in Minnesota. I harvest one every year. I am waiting for the day to find a good place to hunt where I could do a few chores and help out the landowner however I can because with the price of land here in Minnesota I won't be owning any anytime soon.[&o]

Trapper, how much luck do you have?

Tribal, yes, I know what you mean. Fortunatley, here in MO, a legal buck now has to have at least 4 points on one side, or at least for part of the state. The entire state will be this way in the next few years.

i usually am hunting public ground at least 80% of the time. I take a doe almost every year and have killed two bucks in the last 5 years.

I have hunted mule deer and/or elk for the 30 years and have hunted 100% of the time on public lands.

I hunt public land for turkeys 100% of the time. Most of my deer hunting is on public, too, but my friend and I hunt a bit on his folks' farm, which is about 15 acres or so.

I hunt public land 100 percent of the time (not by choice). Fortunately, Ohio has plenty of public land to hunt. I take a deer every year; sometimes a doe or two, sometimes a buck. I try to take a doe first and pass up the small bucks. I hunt first for meat, so if I pass up a small buck, that's one less taken that year (maybe, maybe not, but at least I tried to do my part). Biggest problem is the bozos that never enter the woods until the day the season opens and then tromp all over the place messing it up for the rest of us for weeks thereafter. If we could only limit public land hunting to those that really care about the sport and treat the land like it's their own (and there are plenty of those that hunt public land), it would make for a much more enjoyable time in the woods.

The deer in my sig pic is a public-land buck.