jdhave

With trails and tracks everywhere what would you guys consider good sign on public ground?

psychowolverine

Probably a place where it looks like few people or no people visit. This would also be key to seeing more bucks. On public land many people infest the areas especially during prescouting and during the season causing the bigger smarter bucks to travel else where or go nocturnal. You may also look for a thick area for a lot of hunters go for the easy access.

datamax

go for the thickest most out of the way place - there you will find the better hunting IMO

PABowhntr

I tend to agree as well. I hunt heavily pressured public land almost exclusively. The one thought on my mind when I see a heavily used (deer) trail is whether or not it is likely that someone else is going to notice it/hunt there. If I believe they are or I eventually see someone there then I won't hunt the area. More often than not a hunter in this situation has to pattern the hunters and not the deer.

As DM stated, find the thickest area nearby and coordinate your hunting from there.

bigbulls

Don't immediately think you have to find the most out of the way place to find deer. Deer go where there aren't people. If that is 20 yards off a main highway or 10 miles back in the woods it doesn't matter to them. As long as there aren't people.

Many times you will find that everyone is walking into the woods as far as they can cause that's what they read in the magazines only to walk right past where the deer are holding up withing 50 - 100 yards of your truck.

I remember walking back to my truck last season with my son and about the time we got 75 yards from the gate where I, and everyone else, park two does casually crossed the road at the gate. Had I been in the oak tree that was next to the gate I would have had a short drag to get her loaded up.

fl.huntress

avoid trails that are marked with ribbons or tacks..even if they appear to be old...some use them season after season.....if you can get out before light you'll be able to see the bright eyes that light up the woods.
ask the other hunters around to explain where abouts they hunt so you can avoid those areas...most of the hunters i hunt with know where the regulars hunt and they'll be more than happy to tell you where to go...then just start lookin' for the critter sign.
good luck.

JoshKeller

A secluded funnel between two bedding areas..

Or even better, seeing a deer more than one occasion on the same trail during or slightly before season!

PABowhntr

I would love to show you folks some of the areas I hunt. You can drive by at night spotlighting (legal in PA) and the woods light up like a Christmas tree. It is quite funny actually as I have no idea how one guy differentiates his tacks from somebody elses.

nodog

Pick up some fresh scat and break it apart. Look at what they have been eating and find the source.

Set some strings (thread) high and low on a trail and see if it gets broken. High and low, buck. Low, doe/fawn. The original deer cam.

adams

Luckily our "public land" isn't nearly as crowded as it is south of us but we also don't have the herd numbers either. What I look for is sign from last fall. Old scrapes and rubs are the key to deciphering old travel routes. I've found in areas with low deer density that you can pattern the animals travel routes and plan accordingly.

Buck "runs" tend to be less visable then those made by doe and fawns. If I can make out a faint trail and their is old rut sign on it I get that warm and fuzzy feeling.