Game Stalker

Took a ride out to the Charles City WMA in Va. today just to check things out.This area is 5,200+ acres.Saw a total of 8 vehicles.That basically means on this day,a person virtually has the place to themselves.How's the public pressure in your locale if you hunt such lands?

BOWHUNTERCOP

Here in NJ the public land I hunt is over 70,000 acres, in a 5 mile drive down one road I counted 4 trucks

Phil from Maine

Last year they open the area where I live up to turkey hunting for the first time ever.. So the pressure was on them once opening day hit. I am not concern on whether or not the other guy/s get a turkey or not. What had bothered me was a morning that I had set up and had a small group of turkeys heading my way and someone else saw them. So what do they do? They simply set up directly across from me. They were calling and so was I. I still had them coming towards me I felt uncomfortable at trying to take a shot with not knowing exactly where they were. It also made me think what if the birds went to them and they took the shot? We were both in long range of each other. So I got out of my blind and scared them away when I did that. I believe in being safe rather than being sorry. I have drove by there again this year and saw a nice tom with a hen but refused to hunt there after last years situation. So be safe it is not worth a turkey if the same situation comes up for you. The stretch of dirt road just before it is traveled very heavely right now. It used to be you would meet a truck once in a while. But, now it is 7 or 8 just going one way.

2eagles

I hunt small chunks of public land along Iowa river bottoms. I go to the baddest, farthest in places I can find. Not many guys have what it takes to work that hard. My favorite place I need to wear hip boots to get there.

snapper1982

hunt alot of public. i have noticed that the public dictats the pressure. my favorite piece is around 20,000 acres. there is other people that hunt it. this year i have seen 8 different vehicles(including one guy hunting out of his toyota celica lol). it is always the worst the first couple days of season. only have ever had 2 bad experiences the whole 5 yrs i have hunted public. one was a bird gobbling. i slipped on him and ran into a hunter set up on him. so i slipped back out but the bird came to fast and i was only 80 yds from the guy. i knew he was gonna shoot it. and i also knew the bird was going to come right between us before he shot. so i made a series of yelps so the guy would know right whr i was at. yep he shot the bird and yep his shot sprayed the woods 20 yds infront of me. the other. there was a big bird coming to a field with in 80 yds of the road. about everyday. so i got there early set up a blind just inside the woods and waited. it was rainy that day. bout an hour after day light a guy stopped up by my truck and used a turkey call. then drove by looking at the blind. then came back and used a call. he did this several times over the morning. the bird never showed up. then a couple days later he did it again at a different spot. this time i was walking out and caught him. i asked him why he did that. he saidf he can do what ever he wants because it is public. i told him that he was being unethical and creating a hazardous situation. that he is the reason ppl get shot. and said so if you pull up and hear a bird you go after it and someone is already there they are probably already after it but you dont care. he again said it is public i can do what i want.at which point i told him i dont like being put in a situation of being shot or shooting someone. long story short. we had words and he pulled his gun and i left. called the warden and nothing was done.

Average Joe

Same here! Although I've just started wearing the crappiest boots and camo pants I have because where I go to get at those "Soggy Bottom Gobblers" sometimes I'm wading through 3 or 4 creeks while holding my shotgun and turkey vest above my head. Seems like I'm always going in and leaving a different way in hope to find an easier way to cross, but haven't found it yet.

doetrain

The Sothern Indiana area Public Lands are vast, the further you are willing to go deep into the woods the less people you see. My buddy Kent and I have found that areas that have lakes and places mainly accessable by boat are honey holes for big old Toms. Thank GOD for Google Earth,it takes you to places few men have ever gone. We hope to use it to find new Deer sites as well. There is plenty of room for all to hunt Turkey but Deer season brings out far more hunters in our area,but still it is a vast area to hunt and plenty of game for all.

Zim

I'm on a trip right now in Wisconsin, visiting many different public properties using Google Earth & the WI interacive map. I've found too many boot prints almost everywhere I've hunted. A few hens, rarely a tom. What I did find is the public properties are not all marked well, access is often different than described. Unfortunately for me my cell company had zero coverage where I have been hunting so I could not easily seek help on these.

Anyway, my strategy also was to use quantity. Figured if I scouted and hunted enough properties I'd locate one without the pressure, which I did, Finally found one lower profile area where I saw 17 birds in 2 hours. Harvested a big tom with 4 beards. Planning to return there on my drive home next weekend.

I enjoyed lots of nice hiking along the way.

Game Stalker

I just found this situation odd.Pressure in this WMA is usually heavy because it's a central location for various cities/counties.Heat,mosquitos,ticks,whatever,it's not the norm.Will admit I like what I saw.Can't overlook such generosity.Plan on 2 or 3 field days before season ends.Happy hunting!

Mr. Longbeard

I can count that in a 1/2 mile