Illinois_outdoorsman

i was wondering if anyone had advice on how to hunt public land with a bow. since i cannot leave stands in over night i wasnt sure how to go about that. ive been on public land for 2 years now and have only killed one deer. i used to hunt private land but the owner passed away and i lost that so im pretty new to the public land game.

JNTURK

best advice i can give coming from someone who has only hunted public land all his life........do LOTS of scouting..i am not sure of the amount of public land you have, but if it is small you should scout it well..know what kind of deer are in it..use trail cams etc....on the opener see where the other hunters are and how they came into the woods...most, not all, but most don't prepare right (staying scent free) and will push deer into thick cover....that is where you will want to be......use yahoo maps or google maps (areiral views) to check the area over..

if it is a large area where there are spots hunters may not have ever gotten to....then do lots and lots of scouting away from roads and paths where hunters lurk....the bigger mature deer will not be anywhere near the other hunters (most of the time)....look for food sources in the woods or water, use the maps to check out the terrian for natural funnels, springs, etc....again not sure of where you are going but that should get you started.........but the biggest key is LOTS of scouting

Illinois_outdoorsman

i have to different spots, one is siloam springs state park, its a big state park with lots of hillsand oaks, its got alot of food plots but it also receives ALOT of pressure. the other is a federal land recreation area, its all river bottomsand receives little to no hunting pressure but its HUGE.

Cougar Mag

Riverbottoms should be excellent, especially if there is little pressure. Is there a reason for so little pressure there? If its strictly hard to access........go there! Most hunters in my area would give their eyeteeth to have access to riverbottoms.

Illinois_outdoorsman

the main reason is that not alot of people know about it. but also there is so much public land around me that were all pretty well spread out. last year i couunted 10 vehicles parked along the road during the entire shotgun season and its vacant during bow season. id guess its about a 500 acre plot.

Arthur P

PUBLIC LAND HUNTING RULE #1: NEVER even hint at your spot's location unless you want to elbow your way through the crowd to get to your tree.

PUBLIC LAND HUNTING RULE #2: If you want the crowd to show up far away from your spot, let it leak out that you've found a hot spot no further than 25 miles away at a different public area. (Lazy clods who intend to capitalize on your scouting will drive up to 25 miles. Any further than that and they'll not bother with it and show up at your spot anyway.)

Rookie Bowhunter

I also hunt public land only, and IMHO you need to get as far from roads and trails as possible, so you can get away from other hunters...Here in northern CA I like to hike 4-10+ miles into the wilderness trying to satay away from the crowds...

Illinois_outdoorsman

ya i hiked about 2 miles last year, definately dont want to do that with out some kind of deer drag again. shot a doe 2 miles from road with 6+ inches of snow on the ground.

Rookie Bowhunter

You could always bone out your deer and carry out meat and head in a pack, but then again that is not for everyone...

DUMB BASS

If the area you hunt has water, and you have a boat, use it. And to expand on JNTURKs comment, do your scouting immediately after the season until about May. Those who wait until before the season starts will find deer in the Summer patterns, the woods are thick. and if you haven't noticed it's hotter than Hades out there. Not to mention you're pushing deer around right before the start of the season.