PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

A post on another thread got me thinking about the constant reference by some about the deer hunting on public vs private land. Many here claim that hunting on anything other than posted private land is far less likley to be productive.

even with all the public land we have, it's a miniscule percentage of the acreage in this state. What is far more common is privately owned land that is kept open to the public. I think most reasonable people will agree that private land that has been open to all for hunting can be considered the same as public owned land for the intent of this thread.

Please post your pictures of your bucks taken from "public" or "opento the public ground but private" Lets see just how inferior these public ground deer are.

This one was taken on private ground just a stones throw from public ground. I saw him several times in his three years on this earth and most often it was on the public side of the line.....

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

Another. had 4 encounters with this guy in 2005. saw him 3 times on the public side and once on the private side

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

I gotta gather 'em up Bob, the pictures that is.
I'll get back to you. Here's one I've got handy.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

Of course, these two just posted on the other thread:

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

My public land buck. Doesn't compare to the others but still public land. It was my first archery deer.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

I really love that muley/whitetail hybrid looking buck you took Bob. Very unique trophy.

That's a very nice buck Villeman. Congrats!

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

One more. shot on private but unposted ground. The place where this one was shot is NOW posted because of treestand theives but it was not posted when he was shot...

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

thats a nice buck Villeman! No need for a disclaimer!

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

Thanks Greg. He was only 2 1/2. Imagine what he would have been in another year!

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

Thanks guys. I probably will let a buck like that walk from now on. I have a 7 pt taken in 2001, and an 8pt taken last year (both in rifle season) up on the wall already, about the same size racks. Need to let these little guys grow up.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

If you dont have any pictures to post, maybe one of us can lend you one;)

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

I don't remember seeing this one, Bob.


That one is awesome! I love stickers and trash on a rack.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

Welcome to the brotherhood!

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

BT- so you are saying all of those bucks where shot on private?


around here there are some big bucks on public but not anywhere close to the numbers that are on private land.

none the less they are all nice bucks and ive seen big bucks taken on public land

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

Yes all three were shot on unposted but private land.To be fair, one of them was shot on unposted land that was not readily accesible to anyone but me and one other hunterbut that buck was seen in season on the "open to the public side" more often than where I shot it.

The point is that all three of the bucks I posted were available to hunters withoutany special permission on private land that has been open to the public for years. As a matter of fact, two of them had previous supeficial woundsfromother hunters. One wound was from an arrow and the other from a gun.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

here is my 05 public land buck. i should have let him walk but since it was a nice hunt how it all worked out i took him.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

Nice wide rack there Pa Gobbler!

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

BT- for real im not trying to start anything. but i do talk alot about the differences between puplic and private IN MY AREA.
my question is the land you talk about open to all hunters noted that way. or do you need to ask to hunt.. most areas around here have the yellow signs everywhere, but every now and then i see a place that dont, but i dont just walk in and hunt. just because its not posted doesnt mean you can hunt it right?

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

thanks, it was 17" inside.. just lacked the height

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

To tell y'all the truth, the private but open land I hunt near home gets hammered by slug hunters every yearbut I seldom run into a hunter on public land up at camp. Always makes me wonder. More expansive land and fewer hunters makes hunting the big woods more of a challenge, and not because there are no deer there because there are. I think the old school stump sitters relied too much on the young and the restless to push deer to them. There are fewer hunters in the big woods to push the deer all over. Just a sign of the times and not related to deer density. Time to get up off the stump.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

That's my experience Livbucks.Hunting pressure is minimal on the public land s where I live.Mainly because these areas are litterally hundreds of thousands of acres.most of the private land not open to hunting are small areas are the deer don't just hang out in there because they get hunted hard by the few people that are allowed access.We have many big parcels of private property open to the public but they get hammered.I'll take the vast areas of public land any day over any private property.I don't seean overabundant amount of deer on these public areas because there's no one moving them and the food sources change constantly.however,I know they're there and if I stick with it,I always score.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

Thats a fair question.

When I say "open to the public" I'm talking about land that is hunted by many without their seeking permission and no landowner has ever raised an objection. In most cases, I suspect the hunter doesn't even know who owns the land. We all know of and have likely hunted such properties. No yellow signs no welcome mat either but more impotantly a long history of anyone and everyone hunting there freely without express permission and without objection by the landowner.

Around here there's a lot of land that fits that description. Not as much as years ago but still plenty of it.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

I'm sorry BT but I'm just flat out too lazy to scan pics and put them in photo bucket which has been slow as molasses on a day like today.
The last five or six bucks I shot were on private land open to hunting.Do you guys consider public land as SGL's,DCNR and such?

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

I consider public land as SGL's,state forests and even land owned by big timber companies that have never been posted.In some areas of the state,public land is a rare commodity so those areas problably get hammered alot worse than the private land.Around here,we have more public land than private land so the pressure is less on the public land.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

Same here Doug.We also have water company land nearby that I call public land.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

I get weirded out going to places that are known to be open land, but I don't know who owns it. I did that fairly often years ago, but I have a tough time bringing myself to do it anymore. I know some good spots I just don't have the guts to go and hunt. Plus a lot of times that land get HAMMERED.

These 2 bucks were taken from heavily hunted private ground, with all the surrounding ground also heavily hunted and mostly not posted.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

Wow Rybo! Neat Buck!!! How long is that brow tine?

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

nice PA bucks there.

i hunt public land in jersey... kinda like vietnam...

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

That long brow tine on the one buck is probably the result of the buck injuring and splitting that beam while it was still in the early stages of velvet growth. I say that with some reservation though since this buck has a rather long brow tine on the left antler too. This could be just an odd antler configuration but I am leaning toward the injured beam being the most likely cause.

When a buck splits the beam it isn’t uncommon for it to then grow a double main beam though one beam frequently doesn’t get any points on it. I just had a rack in my hands today where the main bean was split early in the velvet stage and it grew a main beam with no points. The brow tine though had three points developed off of it.

R.S.Bodenhorn

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

I have the exact same computer desk Ryan.
This was a dumb post huh?

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

This is my Archery 2003 buck.
Taken on VERY heavily hunted private ground.
That same year I missed a bigger 10 pt. on heavily hunted Game Lands.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

Here's a better idea of his age. You can see the "roman nose" on him.
The butcher aged him @ 6yrs. He dressed at 176lbs.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

Some nice deer there. Looks like AR is paying off?

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

Morraine State Park

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

Wow, great bucks guys, but where are they really from, I see on here all the time that there are no good deer left in PA:D

Seriously, I hunt Public land in NJ and can relate, if you put in the time the big boys are there! Heres my *NJ* public land deer for 2006:

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

BT,
It's 9 3/4".
RSB,
Could it have been from and injury to the buck?
Livbucks,
your post cracked me up:D

Here's a little better pic of the brows, that extra point on the good side also shows up on the messed up side's brow tine.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

Archer58: 6 years old, WOW! I'm impressed A6 year old on public ground is like hitting the lottery! No, wait, that implies luck. I'm sure luck had very little to do with it! Be proud my friend!

PA Trophy: I've often wondered about the hunting at Moraine but never tried it CONGRATS!! NICE BUCK!!!

Bionic: From what I've heard, public ground is even tougher to hunt in Jersey. How much did that bad boy weigh? His rack is really nice and the der looks fairly heavy as well.

Rybo: This view makes him look even neater. That is one coooool buck.

RSB: I'm curious, is injury often the suspected cause of flattening blading or palmation on individual points? (whatever we should call it) This buck disp[alys a blade type configuration on both brows

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

I don't see anybody in here winning any beauty contests in the near future.:D:D

Nice bucks there fellers.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

I cant speak for the other guys there Germain but I'm just fine with the idea that you don't find me beautiful.

RE: PA Public land bucks, please post your pics!
 

LOL.yeah I wouldn't be the best judge for that BT.I always found the person to ask is your mom.She always lied to me and said I'm the best looking man around.:D