What is considered good sign on public ground?
06-04-2005, 08:11 AM
#12
Typical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Glenwood Iowa
Posts: 880
RE: What is considered good sign on public ground?
Depends.........if your hunting the rut, then the term "In the Timber" applys. Bucks pushing does and cruising. My buddy shot a 170 inch buck on public land this past season on public ground...100 yards off the gravel road.[8D] Course I didn't have a climber, had already filled my buck tag and was just plain tired of the every morning routine. That figures. We have several hundred acres of private land to hunt but it's over an hours drive. He shot this monster about 20 minutes outside a major metro area (million people is major to me).
My point is...don't let public land scare you away. As the Nike commercial says...Just Do It!
My point is...don't let public land scare you away. As the Nike commercial says...Just Do It!
06-14-2005, 09:02 AM
#14
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Columbia, Md.
Posts: 1,211
RE: What is considered good sign on public ground?
I will agree with bigbulls on this one. One of the areas I hunt is a 580 acre tract of public land that has 2 parking areas on either side of it. My buddy blew a shot at a nice 8 pointer while in a tree that was only 20 yards from the parking area. I missed a big 10 pointer about 150 yards in. The 8 pointer walked by at 10:30am but the 10 pointer was really a fluke. My buddy scared him while he was walking to his stand at 5:30 and I think he was circling back when I saw him at 7:00. I think that this buck was moving mostly at night but I had spotted a couple of his scrapes and had set up about 35 yards from one of them. He came in from behind me and I got all excited, tried to rush into position and got busted. If I had waited till he went behind a tree, he would be on my wall.
Other advice would be to look for sign just like you would on private land. This will tell you where the deer are. I try to follow the freshest signs that I can. Two or three day old sign doesn't seem to indicate where the deer are now. I have even seen fresh scrapes be left alone because another hunter has left his scent all over the area.
Watch other hunters while you are in your stand and you can start to see a pattern in the way they go into and out of the woods. Then try to adjust your hunting to the other hunters. I never hunt the same spot more than twice just because the deer keep changing due to hunting pressure.
You have to work a lot harder on public land but you can still get a lot of nice deer. Remember to shoot the does too!
Other advice would be to look for sign just like you would on private land. This will tell you where the deer are. I try to follow the freshest signs that I can. Two or three day old sign doesn't seem to indicate where the deer are now. I have even seen fresh scrapes be left alone because another hunter has left his scent all over the area.
Watch other hunters while you are in your stand and you can start to see a pattern in the way they go into and out of the woods. Then try to adjust your hunting to the other hunters. I never hunt the same spot more than twice just because the deer keep changing due to hunting pressure.
You have to work a lot harder on public land but you can still get a lot of nice deer. Remember to shoot the does too!
06-14-2005, 11:40 AM
#15
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 42
RE: What is considered good sign on public ground?
well there are a lot of variables, type of terrain dictates a lot. Person X could tell you what works on his favorite public land spot in west texas, but I doubt it will be of much use to someone hunting public ground in the Georgia swamps.
I like to hunt terrain transitions when the hunting pressure is low. The edge of a thick, several year old cutover where it butts up to some mature hardwoods, the edge of some young planted pines that butt up against some old growth pines. I usually find good trails from bedding areas to feeding areas that way.
When the pressure gets up, and people are walking around everywhere, find a good escape route and watch deer run past you all day long.
I like to hunt terrain transitions when the hunting pressure is low. The edge of a thick, several year old cutover where it butts up to some mature hardwoods, the edge of some young planted pines that butt up against some old growth pines. I usually find good trails from bedding areas to feeding areas that way.
When the pressure gets up, and people are walking around everywhere, find a good escape route and watch deer run past you all day long.
