sense a lot of hostility towards us who are fortunate enouph to hunt private land
 

since it is against the rules of the board to personally attack an individual, i will simply hunt for the truth. i'm wondering why certain people on this board are so hostile towards those of us who are fortunate enouph to be allowed to hunt private land. is it because we have friends?? is it because we have enouph passion for the sport and self respect to go knocking on doors if we don't know anybody who is a land owner?? personally i don't care where i hunt whether it is public land or private land.......... i scout, find where they are at, find out where they have been and hunt them. when i say "hunt" that's what i mean. not sit there and hope and pray to see something and when i don't.......hey i have an idea, let's blame the PGC, no let's blame Slinsky, NO better yet let's blame Dr. Alt! it's kind of like the budweiser "TRUE" commercial "hey it might even be your fault chuck". sorry that's just something that just rubs me the wrong way!!! the fact is that there are plenty of deer out there, if you can't find them, find another place to hunt.........period!!!!

RE: sense a lot of hostility towards us who are fortunate enouph to hunt private land
 

thelastboyscout, you may have a point about the private land jealousy. I have heard that complaint many times...I can`t get permission to hunt anywhere.

Maybe some people ask differently than others? I have permission to hunt more private land than I can cover. And I guarantee I could get a bunch more to hunt if I felt the urge.

If you are afraid of rejection, then asking permission may not be for you. Better stick to game land hunting. Not that game land hunting is all bad.

And boyscout, just to set the record straight, you ole mountain climbing varmint;), I did not blame Slinsky for anything. I simply pointed out a couple of facts concerning him. Never would have even done that if Mr. Mike hadn`t come back singing Slinskys praise.

RE: sense a lot of hostility towards us who are fortunate enouph to hunt private land
 

Amen Lastboyscout... I scout all spring and summer , i start even brfore spring turkey...If i dont see deer , i often do get bent outta shape , but that only lasts the walk back to the truck. But its not anyones fault , that is the deers personal choice where it wants to go that day. A big booner u could see one day may be 5 miles away tommorow if it wishes. But one thing i do get upset about is those who arent as fortuneate harping on us private land hunters. I hunt both , and see just as many nice buck on public land as i do on private.

RE: sense a lot of hostility towards us who are fortunate enouph to hunt private land
 

Just because it's "Private Land" doesn't mean you hunt it exclusively either. I hunt private property that gets as much, if not more pressure than some state land. I hunt farms, and the farmers usually let friends and neighbors on. When you get friends of friends and so on, it can get pretty crowded.
You need to spend time asking in order to obtain permission. Keep trying till someone says yes.

I'm thinking of hunting PA next season. I don't have a spot yet, but I've allready got a line on two possible properties. That's just from talking to guys at work who live down there. I'm sure I'll be all set by this Summer. Where there's a will, there's a way!!!!!

John

RE: sense a lot of hostility towards us who are fortunate enouph to hunt private land
 

i prefer doing my own leg work and hunting public land. i like walking in deep in the areas i know not many will hunt in. to me its as good as hunting private land except for one thing. i can go on some private lands with different buddies of mine and probably be able to take a doe every time i hunt there and a nice buck almost as often. im not saying all private land is like that but in new jersey hunting private land is like hitting the lottery. i wouldnt read into things too much. its just an easy excuse for someone jealous of those who hunt private land. 2 years ago a friend of mine just started hunting and he bagged a couple does and 2 monster bucks in the same year. ive been hunting for 27 years and im still looking for my monster buck. yes his dad lived on a farm. he has invited me several times but i just prefer to do it my way.

RE: sense a lot of hostility towards us who are fortunate enouph to hunt private land
 

j-bow you can come hunt down with us anytime. i live in tidioute, pennsylvania. if you look on a topo map of the area you can see that it makes for some mighty fine hunting and fishing for that matter. infact it is where the Pennsylvania State Fishing Tournament is held. i hear people, mostly campers, who say "there aint no deer up here" or "these mountain deer are small". you know what i say to that (as straight faced as i possibly can be) "yea buddy you sure are right". VERY NOT TRUE!! there are some huge deer up here. just a ton of places to hide. such as 90 degree mountain sides with thickets growing on them, swamps, islands in the middle of the allegheny river....many many places. heck, they swear there's bigfoot in these mountains too.

RE: sense a lot of hostility towards us who are fortunate enouph to hunt private land
 

I hunt a mix of private and public land, mostly private though. The private places I hunt I have pretty much fallen into. It is very difficult for me to knock on doors to find new places. I'm trying to overcome that. The private lands I hunt, are heavily hunted, both on the property and surrounding it. I see just as many if not more guys there than I have on public lands.

I feel a lot of the complaining going on is just people trying to justify not getting a deer, or making it out so that they have it so rough, etc. If more people would just hush up and hunt, they'd probably get more deer.

RE: sense a lot of hostility towards us who are fortunate enouph to hunt private land
 

TLBS,
Where is Tidioute in relation to Binghamton or the NY/PA border? Right now I'm looking at 80 acres in Little Meadows, just south of Apalachin, NY and another smaller piece directly south of Binghamton and a little southwest of Quaker Lake. I'm just a little northwest of Binghamton and I like to keep my travel time between a half an hour and 45 minutes one way. Both those properties are just over the border. I definitely appreciate the invite though, and might just take you up on it, depending on exactly where you're at.
You don't have to convince me that there are some nice Deer down in PA. A buddy from work has killed a slammer 10 point, maybe a 140 class buck, and a beautiful 9 point with a 17" inside spread in the last two years. That was gun hunting. He doesn't even bow hunt! That's one of the properties I want to hang a bow stand on.
With so much posted land and lack of serious hunters anymore, these boys are finally getting some age on them.(not to mention PA's three on a side rule) It's that way all over, even up here in NY. A lot of property owners don't even know what they have running around on their land. Some don't care. Just as long as you're cool and not a slob hunter, there's places to hunt. And don't forget them at Christmas. Even just a card goes a long way.

Ya Gotta Keep Trying!
John

RE: sense a lot of hostility towards us who are fortunate enouph to hunt private land
 

It's not hostility. Perhaps there is a tinge of jeolousy, I'd admit. I guess I'm tired of reading posts about guys passing up 8 ptrs because they see 10 and 12's running around, along with herds of does. 9 out of 10 times, they're hunting private land, though they rarely say so ( I hunted private land in NY years ago and there is a big difference in deer behavior). And what that portrays is a warped sense of the deer herd condition in this state. I don't watch Buckmasters or shows like that for that reason. My late uncle was a NY game warden, who worked with the old American Sportsman show, the one with Curt Gowdy. Even then, it was all rigged. I'd like to see Jackie Bushman hunt SGL 141 and come out with a hog. I hunted bow, gun, and now flintlock, from Oct 4th to last Saturday, and have seen a total of 14 huntable deer, in legal shooting hours (I'm retired and have nothing else to do), hunting state forests or SGL's in Carbon County. There are many other hunters on this board who shared a similar experience. And the guy who hunted 10 days of gun, and shot a 90 lb doe the last day on a state forest, is more of a hunter than those who hunt private honeyholes and pick out which deer they'll shoot.

RE: sense a lot of hostility towards us who are fortunate enouph to hunt private land
 

TLBS,

I hear you....I too hunt on private land as well as public. Some of the private and public land, I see more hunters than deer. I have access into 200 acres, 460 acres, 14 acres, 2 acres all private. The 460 acres is near my home since I am a member of a hunting club who doesn't pay. I actually work for the owner, not the leasee, and work for free watching his dam and I do some mowing, plus oversee the property since it is right next to mine.

I to have an excellent spot on my property where I get deer every year. Is it truely hunting, no, but I do enjoy the meat and share it with a friend. I also do try hunting and sometimes get deer but I have more luck near my home. Can I help it if there is a swamp, next to a lake, and a big funnel area in my back yard? So I have a tree stand on the fringe of the swamp in a high traffic area.

Yes I someines take advantage of it but I do enjoy hunting these other properties when I can.

T