I hunt on private land but permission is free for the asking and hardly anyone is refused.This is no different from hunting on public land.

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I agree to what you are saying to an extent, deer are harder to come by on public land. But, I have to strongly disagree to your calling out private land hunters as not "true hunters" I work every day just like all of us, and by far do not have a "cushy" job, working every other weekend. I have been lucky enough to hunt my own private little heaven for about 5 years now, but it sure as hell wasn't handed to me! I would go out as soon as the season was over, (around the end of Jan.) and start knocking on doors asking for permission to hunt. If I did not recieve this permission from an individual, I would ask them if they knew of anyone who might consider the idea. This takes alot of hours and alot of gas. I would guess that I did this for the better part of 2 off seasons, around twice a week before I finally found a piece of property to hunt. Also, I agree with NORTHJEFF when it comes to "padding the pockets" of the owner. I am not talking money either, I am talking about giving the owner some help, by fixing fence, cutting down some unwanted trees, help put up some hay, giving them venison that you have taken. I haven't had any venison for the past 3 years because I always make sure the owner is taken care of first. I kill a deer or turkey, and pay for any processing myself, which is a VERY small price to pay to have this piece of property. and, believe it or not, just stopping by to say "HI!" in the off season is a big hit! Not to talk about hunting either, just to see how things are going! My personal cross to carry for the owner is that he requested a Sunday paper to read on the days that I am able to go hunting on Sunday. No problem! So please don't bash private land hunters just because they may have something that you may not have. With a little work,(or alot) you may end up with the "honey hole". In my opinion, around here,( N.W. Mo.) the death to really good hunting are the big time hunting clubs that pay giant money to farmers to lock up their property, not the private individual. But that is a whole different story.

Wow...

I don't think whoever HNI Visitor is this time meant to be insulting. I'm pretty sure I know what he/she meant.

I'm an ethical hunter, in every sense of the word, I believe. I'm not one of the slob hunters that have been mentioned on this and other threads. I am forced for the most part to hunt public land. Anyone that has an acre of land down here is tied to a hunting club and couldn't give me permission even if they wanted to.

I know that there are a lot of slob hunters out there on public land. I'm not one of them. I believe the "visitor" was making his comments from the ethical hunter standpoint. Give him a break, I'm sure he didn't mean to offend.

We all know that people that have gained access to some nice deer land probably work very hard at the hunt. There's no question there, but others (like me) who hunt public also work hard.

Public hunting is a different kind of strategy I think. Finding escape routes, being in position for bumbling hunters and daylight dummies to help rather than hinder your hunt. These are all different strategies from hunting on unpressured land. I'm sure most of you know what I mean.

Anyway, peace.

ok charlie p..i know what you mean about most public land hunters only walking into the woods a few hundred yards..i hunt public land and this is definetly the case...so i do walk into the woods at least a mile to where i hunt...i've gotten 3 bucks the last 3 years there and 2 have scored over 100..(110 8 pt, 121 10pt) and to me this land is just as good as private land. so if a hunter scouts the land well for deer and for other hunters you can enjoy great success on public land..it does get frusterating though when a squerril hunter comes stumbling through past my stand at 7 am....i love where i hunt and will stay there as long as the deer do.