Tactics on Public Land vs Private Land
 

For those of you who hunt both, do you hunt differently? Obviously on private land, there is generally going to be little human traffic. On public land, there is going to be a ton more. You may spend days scouting for the perfect spots, but you don't know who else has been scouting the same areas (possibly carelessly) and possibly spooking the deer you are trying to track.

So far, I'm pretty much relegated to public lands. A lot of the hunting advice I read seems to make a lot of sense, but it doesn't account for the "other humans" factor.

get in early, go in deep, stay on stand all day

Don't have a stand. :)

public land i look for deer signs and human signs on private land i look for deer signs..

i only hunt public land now.. Bowhuntercop got it right and dont get to mad if you see people stalking around thats why i go in deep, that and its a bedding area back there with acrons close and water...have a few areas selected cause you never know who else is there...i hunt from the trees usually but from the ground i like to find like three trees that i can tuck in between or brush piles fallen trees...

lots of hunters will leave by 1030 or 1100 seen some good deer movement after these times so pack a lunch..if you can try and not leave markers to your areas or drag marks if you get one..good luck have fun, i know public land in okla. is good to hunt plenty of deer..

You did not say if you were bow or gun hunting. I do pretty well gun hunting the second week. The woods is empty except for Saturdays. You really can't sit them out though. Move around slowly during their feeding times and try to catch them moving before they see you. It is too hard to move and catch them bedded without snow, so figure out when they are bedded and take a break at those times. You have to remember they are spooked bad during gun season, so you have to watch as far out as you can see.

Public land--as has been said go early, go deep, and go during the week. On the small 600 acre plot of public land I hunt, if I climb to the top of the ridge and get about 1/2 mile from the parking lot I am all alone, and the other noisy hunters moving in drive the deer towards me.

One other thing, if the hunting land borders some residential housing areas, as mine does, I have found that close into the housing areas is usually deer rich as the residential areas provide a good food source.

Thanks for the tips, all. I don't have a bow yet (next season, hopefully!), so for me it's muzzleloader and general firearms. Muzzleloader starts 10/29 (too late!) in my part of Virginia and firearms starts two weeks later. This will be my first season with a muzzleloader, so I'm pretty excited about that.

The area I hunt is fair sized...not sure how many acres, I'll guess around 1500. I've gone as deep as possible on the weekends (which is doubly crowded since it's illegal to hunt on SUNDAYS) and still encountered people. I've also gone during the week when it's significantly less crowded and still have trouble seeing deer (ANY deer). I think they get spooked pretty bad by the hootin' and hollerin maniacs that frequent on Saturdays. :)

I usually find the escape routes where the deer leave. Think about it, if a bunch of hunter start moving in an undisturbed area, where do you think the deer will go? Everywhere else besides the public hunting area and many will leave even before it gets light. So I like to fine the funnels where the deer are leaving the public areas.

7.62NATO, I see you're from Virginia. Small world...so am I. I am in Richmond and absolutely, totally, refuse to hunt the nearby local WMA's. Been there, done that, don't want to die... Public land WMA's get hunted so hard and so heavy, they actually become DANGEROUS!! :eek2:

I would look at going west out towards the George Washington Nat'l Forest. That's where I go, and have a deer camp out there. There's good points and bad points though:

Pros
It's not crowded at all.
It's peaceful and quiet.
The deer are monsters (if you know where to find them).
1.8 million acres (beats the crap out of a cheesy WMA doesn't it?)

Cons
It's a looooong a.$.$. drive out there.
You gotta hike a long way, over somewhat steep terrain.
Study a topo map, 'cause you could get turned around and not know where you're going.

yes but sounds like you're talking about gun season. what about early, early bow season. don't know, never been there :confused0024: