How far is the hike to your stands?
 

Unfortunately I don't have the greatest of places to bowhunt and this year I am thinking of trying public land once again. After studing some aerial photos and thinking back on past scouting trips I have located a funnel between two large areas of woods deep off the beaten path that I think would be a dynamite spot for a stand. The bad thing is, it's a good mile hike back in, crossing over ridges, creeks, woods, etc.. I generally hike in to stands approximately 1/2 mile. This stand however, would not only be a longer hike, but will be more difficult to get to. So I'm just wondering what the rest of the hunting community is doing, especially on public lands. I know the experts always say this type of strategy usually pays off, but this seems a little extreme. So what do you other public land hunters do?

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

When I hunt public, I like to be as far off the beaten path as possible. It's not uncommon for me to hike upwards of 2 miles to get back there. Having said that, I missed a doe 2 years ago 100 yards from the truck....[&:] True story.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

For god so loved the world that he gave me private land and four wheelers. lol...not far.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

I am thinking of trying public land this year however I will need hip boots for my hike!! Not sure if I'm really excited about that or not??

Tall Pine

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

public land i HIKE...even still i see others, but closer to the roads would be worse...spots that i normally hunt at the one state game lands i hunt is about a 30minute straight walk....not a slow walk..a pretty good speed walk..it gets me to the backside of the thickets...most of the guys hunt the front side and push deer my way...bowseason will be a new ball game..its a popular grouse hunting spot because of the giant thickets and the guys will be in the thickets chasing the deer around. still think the backside will be best..less people and hopefully if i cant catch them doing what deer do i can catch them trying to sneak away from the others. thats one thing thats important hunting heavily hunted public land. learn other guys habits...find the funnels and saftey routes of deer. though the deer wont be running from heavy gun fire like im used to in rifle season i bet they are still sneaking away from the bird dogs and small game and fall turkey hunters. im still going to stay in the funnels in or near the thickets..

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

Well...my stand is about 200 yards from the front door of my house. Not really a bad deal. I can come here after a day of school or a day of work, change into camo, grab my bow and be on stand in about 10 minutes.

Not a bad deal at all...;)

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

I only have about a 200 yard walk....and i'm pretty sure i wouldn't want to drag a deer out of the woods 2 miles[:'(]

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

About 50 yards when I hunt at home , probably half a mile at most of the other places .

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

Well since I been hunting the same area for a couple of years now I learned some shortcuts along the way.
It really doesn't matter anyway for me I like walking and its good for ya.
To answer your question: from where I park my truck to my treestand is about 1 mile, I like to get in to spots that the devil wouldn't go.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

On our own property, my fathest stand is 500 yards as the crow flies.
When I walk in to it I usually take theround-about way, say 1600 yards, along the edge of the property.

Going on my cousins property..........
Well they have 2000 acre on a long narrow piece, so up to 2 miles to the back corner

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

The closest spot is less than 75 yards from my bedroom. The furthest ones are about 1/2 mile or so from where I park my truck.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

I have 1 stand that is a mile back in the woods and with stands back packs and all the goodys its a hike, but the rewards are worth it!!!! Walt

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

My shortest "hike" is about 15 minutes in, I have a couple of spots that take at leat 45 minutes of hard walking from the truck, only 1 or 2 that take a true hour. The "hour" ones really hurt when draggin a deer out as you can bank on 2 1/2 hours of dragging. Funny how it sounds worse than doing it though, as I never seem to mind dragging them out!

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

Well I have several stands. My furtherest one is about a 600 yard walk from my truck and my closest is about a 100 yard walk

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

well from the ranch its only about 1 minute to the hunting grounds and then the pic will show you my hikes to all of our stands. Yellow dots are bow stands and blue are rifle stands.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

At home......about 1/4 mile at the most.

At the other spots.......less.

It's wher ethe deer are on my tracts......so I'm lucky.

jeff

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

Anywhere form 200 yds to 1 1/2 miles.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

Anywhere from off the back porch to 2 miles....

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

about a 15 minute walk

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

I hunt almost exclusively on public land. I used to always go in as far as possible to get away from the people, a lot of time that meant walking 1-2 miles. That's gets old when you hunt every day and especially when you kill and have to drag a deer out for 2 miles. So I spend one night studying aerial photos and topos trying to find something everyone missed. I found a spot on the map that was only 200 yards from the parking area that everyone walked right by but offered good cover and easy access to food sources. I decided to give it a try and it has been the best spot I hunted on that public tract. I ended up taking 4 deer last year in this spot and the best part is the only other hunters I saw were ones I brought with me. The morale of the story is, you don't always have to hunt harder than everyone else, sometimes its better to just hunt smarter than everyone else.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

On the same piece of public land I have stands as close as200 yards from the road and as far as a good hour longhike (no idea on distance since it is pretty hilly). I have seen good bucks from all, but only one I have gotten there was right by the road. At home my farthest walk is about 600-750 yards but it is nice and flat.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

This year I have three main hunting spot's two for archery and one for riffle. After hearing how far you guys walk I don't feel so bad anymore. The spot I hunt during the week after work is about a 200 yard walk from the road on a trail, the spot I hunt during the weekend is about a 1/4 mile from the road and the spot I have picked out for my stand for opening morning of riffle hunting is about 1/4 mile down an old logging road from where we parkand then about 1 block down and old four wheeler trail. I am hunting some brand new land for riffle season that I leased which is 163 acre's in size so I will try and find another couple of stand sites for riffle season and there areabout 10 square miles of state land to the west and south of my land so I'm sure it will take me a couple years to find a few more good spots. This year will really just be a learning year to see what the deer do and where people hunt the public land.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

1/4-1/2 mile has been my average. Few years back I was driving by some public land that lined both sides of the road. Several people hunted it often espeically on the weekend, seemed like every time I drove by there was several does dang near within bow range of the trucks. A guy could have parked the truck, walked 30 yards, crawled up a tree and shot a deer in that spot.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

Lucky for me all i get to hunt is public..haha...well the further away from roads and people the better... Scout the area well and see if the spot is better for morning or evening hunts...I ride my bike about 4 miles then hike about 1 mile to my location....with that i am able to get around the area the deer are in and slip to my stand...best advice is to scout and see where the deer bed and feed then make a plan to get to stand or hunting area based on that..good suggestion if you use scent blocker or other simular products, put them on once you get to the location or near it that way you don't swet a lot on your hike...

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

when i hunt public land i hike for miles but it takes 5 minutes to go to one of my stand of course its behind my house and the other is 30 mins

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

The largest track of public land I can hunt is about 840 acres so it's not very big. My average walk is between 1/2 to 1 mile. I did see a nice 8 pointer about 40 yards from the parking area though.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

I have some stands I have to maybe 1/2 mile walk to get to, but some of my better ones are actually less than 100 yards from the truck. Tight funnels where deer cross roads. If everybody walks 1/4-1 mile in the deer move out to the edges. And I hunt mostly public ground. Just an option to consider...

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

any where from 100 yards to 1 mile.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

Same Here.. Only because I choose to park that far away though.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

Lots of good replys here. Unless something better shows up, I'll for sure make the effort to at least give the spot a better look. I have a nice 2 wheel game hauler so getting the deer out wouldn't be a huge chore. However, I would only consider taking a P&Y buck from this area. No need to make the long haul for a doe or small buck.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

Hey wis bow huntr. Is that ariel your own making or is that from an online company? Almost did that last year. There are some hunts I'd like to document better. Nice looking place! I see your fond of those inside corners. You got a box out in that field? Some of those rifle stands don't look like you would need one.:D

Thanks for the view. I enjoy looking at maps and places people put stands.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

400 yards

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

I've hunted any where from 20 yds off the road to about 600. Typically I am 200-400. The stand behind the house is 180 yds from my door.

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

Depends on the season. I hunt public land too. During bow I don't have to go very far. Probably anywhere from 400-1000 yards to get to a good spot. But gun seasons I need to go a little farther and to a few places that are more hidden where the people hate to go and deer frequent. :-)

RE: How far is the hike to your stands?
 

I don't get off of work until 4:30pm so during the time change i don't have alot of time to get to my stands so both areabout 100 yds on a feild edges.