In addition to all of the other practical suggestions,put your self in the hooves of the animal you are pursuing.Where would you go if someone was looking to turn your lights out.How would you approach that area to detect any threats to your safety.Security,the need to feed and the need to breed all are to be factored in to the equation.Topographical maps are a great resource to identify funnels and saddles and other terrain features that animals will utilize to get from one area to another when they are receiving pressure.Hunt hard,hunt smart,hunt long!

Scout 4 days for every one day you hunt. Learn how other hunters hunt the land, sometimes they are easyer to pattern than the deer. Never hunt the same tree more than once every 3 weeks. move around alot. Look for overlooked spots that are not obvius to other hunters, such as a patch of thick stuff right up against the road that everyone walks right past. Don't limet your self to just hunting the rut. Some of my best bucks were taken opening week and in late December.

LMAO,He said sugar walls

I gotta agree with this, but I'll add the next three most important things are;

1. Knowing when to keep your mouth shut.
2. Keeping your mouth shut when you get things figured out.
3. Don't let any one else figure out you have things figured out.

A lot of public land is only any good on opening day.

I've got one spot that's like a shooting gallery all day long on opening day. 2 or even 3 of us have sat there together on the ground like a picnic watching for a deer to show up. We always draw straws for who get's to shoot in what order.

I hunt national forest about 70%of the time. It has private land mixed up in a lot of it. I try to find small tracks and hunt close to private land boundaries. Have never seen any sign of other people and have seen A LOT of deer. Also exclusively hunt thickets. Some guys think they need to be able to see 200 yards. I also have some spots way out but that’s what most people do. What I’m really saying is that you don’t necessarily have to walk 3 miles off the road to get to a great spot. Most people wont hunt the areas next to private land because they think there will be other hunters there. That works in my benefit. Just do some scouting. The best time is just before spring. That way you can see the lay of the land well before all the leaves sprout and all the trails, scrapes and rubs are easier to find.

I hunt in the Big Cypress swamp in south Florida. Its hot and wet and buggy. Not a lot of competition from other hunters, especially in the archery only areas, even on weekends. There are almost 750,000 acres of contiguous public hunting land so the key, as with anywhere else, is to find where the deer are. It's a little more challenging with so much area, but it is possible. There is no substitute for boots on the ground and time in the trees. Luck and snake boots helps too.

Seems like the first question another hunter on public land asks is, did you see anything? My standard answer used to be, Yes I saw a doe. You could just about bet the next question would be, where are you hunting? So now my standard answer is, no I didn't see anything, the deer haven't been moving where I'm hunting.

I look for water that is available during the heat of the early part
of deer season,checked out old sloughs,etc.after that work the
approach to the water hole good action.see lots of critters,works
for me,good luck.

Well,

I bowhunt almost exclusively on public ground.

The area I've been hunting the past two years is mostly Federal big timber. In the past two seasons, I've yet to see another hunter during bow season. But, once the first gun season opens up—the area is pretty much "shot" until late December/January.

As for how to best hunt public land—it depends. Where I hunt, it's big rolling ridges and draws of nothing but timber. No fields, and very few low areas. I've found that the deer are a bit harder to pattern—simply because they have so many "natural" travel routes that they may or may not use on any given day. One thing is for sure, a good heavy mast crop certainly makes the hunting easier.

Like someone stated earlier—some of the best bowhunting I've done in my area was in locations that the gun hunters overlooked—thick choked out "bottoms" and thickets that no one else wanted to hunt—or simply thought wouldn't hold any deer.

I'd say if you're not familiar with an area—spend as much time as possible learning how to "read" a TopoMap—then spend as much time as you can studying the terrain of the area you're considering hunting. I just recently had a friend from Georgia decide to come up and hunt with me this next Fall. I decided we'd try an area that I hadn't stepped foot in for over 12 years. Spent a few weeks in looking over a Topo of the area—and by the time we actually put feet on the site in March—I had a "plan" of how to scout the area. With only two days for my friend to scout prior to his trip up in November—had I not reviewed the Topo beforehand—we likely would have wasted a large portion of that weekend stumbling around trying to scout the 2500+ acres "blind."

In the end, in two days, we saw over 31 deer. Used the "keys" from the Topo to dial in on some consistent areas and were able to develop a good plan for this Fall.

Depending on the size, terrain and previous experience in a given location—I'd say a TopoMap is a public ground hunter's best friend!