In PA I hunt 85% on Public Land. I don't feel I'm compromising anything other than there is little I can do to "help" the herd.

bump. for longbeard

just kidding. sorta. Early season i hunt a some on public land that bumps up to some of our land.

I've hunted public land quite a bit in the past. There are both bad and good things about it.true you have less control and sometimes someone will get on top of you,but sometimes it can work to your advantage.Sometimes other hunters may move a big buck right to you when most likely you would never have seen him.On the flip side it is harder to zero in on a paticular buck because someone else may push him out.The one thing I hate about the public hunting in my area is that the overall deer numbers are so low and you just don't see the deer we used to see.With that being said you never know when that big boy is going to show up.

Public hunting land has some great opprotunities out there if you dedicated enough to find them. And as far as other hunters my learned experience is get out there before they do, go further than they do. And if you have done your scouting you will know where to set up deep in the woods to intercept those deer when the nouvice hunters scares them on top of you.

I do 99% of my hunting on public land and have discovered one fact that overrides all others.... Public hunting land is a heckuva lot better than having no hunting land at all.

I hunt a State Park that is bowhunting only, except for a one day a year shotgun hunt. It has plenty of deer, and the pressure is minimal. I do go back further than most, so Isee very few hunters.
By the way, I think Longbeard is getting more attention than he deserves![:@]

Hunting on public land is like anything else "You get out what you put in"--I've hunted many years on both and its the same--The only advantage of hunting on lease property besides being able to bait,is you usually know the guy messing around your spots.

Last year I hunted public land and private. I like the public land better because there is more room to move. Off-season scouting is also more fun. The private land where I hunt is on a pipeline right-of-way and there are 2 box stands and a ground blind within 1000 yards of the stand I use. So I actually see fewer hunters on public land. I'll probably have a couple of new places to hunt on private land this year that should be less crowded. Land parcels here are pretty small as a rule, with blocks over 100 acres being rare. The deer get lots of pressure on private land because most of the (rampant) poaching around here is done on private land. They know better than to hunt at night or in July in the national forest where they are sure to be caught. It seems like public land deer have a more leisurely off-season than do the ones on private land. I also have the advantage of having the largest portion of our national forest 2 1/2 hours south of me, so most folks that drive north to hunt stop somwhere in between. Arkansas borders us to the north, and nobody from there comes here to hunt deer.

Sorry OMKP, didn't mean to steal your line for Fraley's thread.[&:]

No worries, can't believe he hasn't enlightened us with a response.