Austin/WI

So far I've noticed that the better public grounds by me have all been little patches (50 acres or less) that are seperated from the larger public grounds. I drove by a little patch for like 5 years without even knowing it was public until this year. I feeling not many people regard these little spots as worth hunting. I didn't until I started walking around in it. I scouted it once, then hunted ittwice this gun season, saw 5 deer and killed one. During this time I never had anyone else stop and hunt this tract (I could see the parking area from my stand!)

I had stomped around a few other places and did a few silent drives/stalks and saw absolutley no recent deer sign at any of the places that had been off the wall during the rut and on opening day of gun season. I hit this one little section and there were a couple spots where it looked like the rut was still going on - fresh scrapes and rubs and trails that dwarfed the interstate that's a couple of miles away! Everyone passed this little spot up because of its size - that's the reason I picked it. I didn't have time to find one spot on the other 10,000 + acres of public land. This little area was quick and easy to scout, maybe thats the key to the end of the late season when everything else is still pressured. Who knows?