Sluggunner

Hunted the western edge of zone 5, spent 6 days in the woods. There was deer sign everywhere in the area I hunt. Chased a very large 8 point for the whole 6 days. Only saw 1 other hunter the whole week( helped to drag his nice 4 point out of the woods). I am hunting public land and had a great experiance.

jf5

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I am hunting public land and had a great experiance.
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Yeah, the past couple of years I have seen a dramatic change on MA's public lands. We have less hunters now, and they are much more spread out due to the easterly expansion of the herd. Hell, I saw a doe yesterday at the intersection of the Mass Pike and RT95. This is a mere 7 or so miles from the Boston border! I hunted public land in 1999 for a week in zone 4S, and never saw another hunter. Things are only gonna get better here deer wise.

Quilly

jf5...


the problem is not knowing where to hunt. it gets kinda depressing almost when i try to hunt and they are either posted or new developments are poppign up. my father and my grandfather used to hunt out in the berkshires from the 60's on. they say they land they used to hunt is all posted and finding new places are hard. especially whne i hunt the weekends only ( spend my vacations in maine rifle season ).
i think i will get into bow since alot more people would rather have you bow hunt than use a shotgu near there house.

BarnesX.308

Hey Quilly, I thought you hunted in Maine.

Scott Meier
White Oak Lodge

jf5

Hi Quilly,

Certainly more and more land is posted, thats a problem in every state. However, since eastern MA has gotten alot of deer and attention lately, you would be surprised at how some of the states existing public lands in the Berkshires are getting alot less attention. Also to mention is the fact that hunter numbers are way down in our state from just 10 years ago. I currently hunt public land (State Park) in zone3, although our access is through private land. I hunted Mon-Wed and never saw another vest of orange except my buddy. Sure, there are some guys hunting there, but not the hordes that you would have had in the past. We saw deer browsing and acting natural rather than running scared, which was refreshing.

I know that Zone 4S's public lands are getting very little pressure right now. This zone is NOT known for high density deer these days, and I feel thats the reason why. But, there is alot of land, and the deer average a bit heavier than the other parts of the state with higher densities.

Every year, MA F & W buys more land for WMA's and the DEM are also buying up lands. This is allowing new public lands to be opened up. Some of which may be worth investigating.

If your passing on small bucks in MA (wish I had your problem), you certainly must be a good hunter. Take a walk out in the snows post season out west and you can see what I mean.

Off course, almost any deer anywhere seems like dogs when compared to Maine's big bodied bucks.

PS Thanks for the links and good luck.

Quilly

barnesX..

i do hunt in maine and spend 99% of my time scouting and hunting in maine. but the 1% i spend on the weekends down here in my state.

BarnesX.308

I gotcha'. I do almost all of my hunting upstate in the mountains but, maybe one day a year, I'll hunt public land in SE Penna. It's usually because I can't get away (work or family obligations). We've been trying for a Maine moose permit for years. Maybe some day I'll get up to Maine. My dad went bear hunting up there once many moons ago. Nice country, he said.

Scott Meier
White Oak Lodge

Sluggunner

I can't agree with you on no place to hunt in the western ma. area, there has to be well over 1000 acres in the area that I hunt and the amount of posted land is less than 5 acres. If you go out and do some looking in the summer early fall time frame you can find plenty of places to hunt with no company. I do agree that the access in the eastern part of the state can be problematic( I grew up in Marlboro) but with all the attention being put out east the last few years the deer herd in this area has really started to rebound. Hoping for some more snow tonight gotta chase that 8 point some more.

Quilly

sluggunner..


i work in the HVAC trade and that is or buissest part of the year. he ( my father ) has not ben out there since the 80's. i used to go out there with them during fly fishing for brookies and rainbows out near springfield.but that land is all posted now. could you give me acouple towns for example so i can have a rough idea where to look for land.
but like i said before. i spend 99% of my time in maine so i don't have that much time to hunt down here. i guess you can say with only hunting the weekends i will not really put the effore to drive over an hour to scout that i will hunt 4 times in the season.

barnesX 308.

i just read they are dropping the tags in maine for moose hunting. from 3,000 and some change to 2,585. but they will expand the areas to hunt moose. i see a ton every year in the southern and middle part of maine every year. i also got a buddy and his fatehr who have been living in maine for 30 years and no luck for them

Sluggunner

Quilly

Try the Northfield/Erving area. There is a lot of non utilized land in the state forests. 98% of the land abuts private land that is not posted. Had 7 inches of snow yesterday, darn had to work. Heading out this afternoon all day tommorow.

sluggunner