Public vs Private Trophy
 

The conception of a trophy white-tail deer differs from state to state and sometimes county to county, but does the conception of a trophy deer differ when going public to private land?

Personally, I think it does a little bit. If you can find a monster buck like some people have on their 1000 acre farms than that's when I think it changes. The public land has more people hunting it, which means more pressure and more killing per year. On a farm somebody could let a buck go knowing that heck...I'll give him another year to grow. On public land that buck could be shot the next day, or simply pushed to another part of the woods you'll never search. That's just my personal opinion though.

I dont know about trophys, but the deer on average get older on private land.

Trophy is in the eye of the beholder.

+ 2 :barmy:

NO KIDDING its in the eye of yourself... THAT'S WHY I'M ASKING YOU!!!

If I had a 1000acres under my own control there is no doubt I'd have a booner on the wall within 10 years.

Public land...depends...I feel like you can only hunt hard and smart on public land, managing the herd isn't really happening.

to me a public land diy trophy is nothing greater. but public land from state to state varies too, out west tons of guys hunt public land in their home state, east it seems to all be private...

That means that a trophy can be many different things to many different people. To me a trophy can be a buck that I worked really hard for 2-3 years to kill. It has nothing to do whether it was on private or public land but how hard I worked in my scouting and hunting to kill this buck regardless of what type of land I killed it on. To someone else a trophy may be a buck that was killed on public land and that meant something to that hunter so that makes it a trophy. Just because a buck s killed on public land may or may not make it a trophy as it depends on each individual.

I totally agree with you. But a lot of folks think a trophy is what the B&C scoring regs say it is. Kind of sad really....

My best "trophy" was a doe my son killed when he was 8 years old with his bow. I built the treestand big enough for both of us and had to reach over and help him get his bow to the let off point so he could hold it at full draw. He let it fly and looked over at me and said "I HIT IT!!!" I'm a grown man but don't mind to tell you tears rolled down my face that morning. That "trophy" wasn't a 170 class buck or even a buck at all but means more to me than any deer I have or will ever take. There are several good mounts hanging in my den but I go to that photo of him holding that little doe by the ears with a huge smile whenever I forget what a trophy is to me. I guess what I'm trying to say is a trophy is differant to each person no matter where they hunt.

I've never understood the concept of having the least bit of concern over how anyone veiws an animal I have legaly hunted and killed.

alot of huge bucks that get killed on the farms in iowa on t.v. look so much easier to kill than the big woods bucks I am used too up here. I have to work so much harder and feel very lucky to take 130" buck and they will have 2-3 170's down by then!

Depends on where you hunt... Not all land is the same... Some private land gets more pressure per squar mile than public... To me i would not consiter this private land... Some public land has great bucks on it and not a lot of pressure...

I hunt public land in the north east... It just so happens to fall in a tri state area were two other states are within 15 minute ride... So the hunting pressure is pretty much un real... You take a 20 inch wide 8pt off this place you done something!!! I've been hunting it for 30 something years and only shot one buck of this caliber... You take some nuckle head that just bought his first bow and put him on a nice private farm in Iowa, Kansas, Texas, Indiana, Missouri you get the picture... And he kills a P&Y buck and all of a sudden you got a deer hunting legend lol

Just turn on the outdoor channel sometime and watch the wild outdoors with jay gregory... His wife and his 10 year old boy are stackin P&Y bucks up like cord wood...

Big bucks dont impress me off of prime private land :wave:

I've killed good bucks off public land and private land.

For me, it is more rewarding to take a good deer on land that I own because of the work I put into it. It's funny when I hear people say you have to work harder to kill a trophy on public land. I guess that depends on what they consider work.

When I hunt public land, I'll look a satelite image of the area to get a general idea where I want to go. I may scout it once or twice prior to season. Then, I grab my climber, look for sign in the general area I chose to hunt and hunt. I'll fine tune my setup with each hunt and hopefully get a crack at a good one. I guess I would consider "work" on public land as walking in a mile and a half and having to drag your deer out since you usually can't take motorized vehicles on public land.

I consider the things I do on my private land to be harder work. Planting food plots in the spring and fall. Mowing some of them a couple times in the summer. Fertilizing them. Overseeding some of them. I manage cover, mineral stations and cameras. That's year round work. Then taking a nice deer off your property, that's a good feeling and more rewarding.

.....in my opinion, of course.

Mr. Longbeard.... I think you hit my thoughts right on the head!!! I would like to here some in the defense of private land being the same, if any think that way. Like I said, I feel like public land is extremely tough but I also know some private land areas are extremely tough. I think the exception is the large thousand acre farms. Don't get me wrong, shooting a P&Y anywhere isn't easy, but I would like someone to make a defense statement about a large managed farm being difficult? Again not saying its taking anything away from those guys who hunt on big farms because if I could I would.

Doubled 150... Great response and I think I would feel the same way. I have put in a food plot for a friend of mine. A LOT of work!!!

I think that the point is that, in general, the hunting pressure on public land is very high. In some places, extremely high...it can look like a pumpkin patch. Since this is the case, more bucks are killed per season because no matter where they run, there's a high chance there will be a hunter. The ones that do make it season after season and are big enough to be considered "trophies", are going to be smart. VERY smart. And very hard to outwit and kill. Probably much more so than a buck of comparable age on private land where the only person hunting it is you.

I hear you on the amount of work you put into food plots, etc, but I'm not sure it's relevant to the intent of the original post.

Completely agree. I introduced my best friend to hunting about 8 years ago and on every trip we took hunting he never got a deer. Finally four years ago he had a shot at a doe and missed. I know how bad he wanted a deer and couldn't seem to get one. He passed away in an accident early the next year and I would have given every deer I've shot for him to have gotten that doe. That doe would have been a trophy for me.

I think if you take 2 equal size deer and have one harvested on private land and one on public land, I think that the one that is taken on public land could be said to be more of a trophy. You know that many people have been after a deer like that and been trying to harvest it therefor it might be more of a trophy since you were skilled and lucky enough to take a deer that many people were trying to kill. A deer that gets that size on a big portion of private land may not have had the hunting pressure therfore not as wise as a public land buck. Bucks have to be smart to get big, but public land bucks have to be even smarter IMHO.

The conception of a trophy white-tail deer differs from person to person.

Right !?!?

Trophy
 

And from area to area as well. Like it has been stated above. One tract of my land is seperate from my other property devided by a state road. I only own about 11 acres on that side and all my neighbors are hunters. I don't allow anything below a 6 point, and it better be an OLD 6 point, to be killed on my land BUT my neighbors have an "if it's brow it's down" mentallity. The deer I make my friends let walk get shot as soon as they leave my land. Those deer are alert public land deer even thou they reside on private land. What I'm saying is a 6 point on that side of the road is as good as any 10 point on the side where I own about 30 acres and allow limited hunting and trophy or does only. IMHO

I would think that each hunt would play a large part in determinig whether your hunt on private or public land is tougher or the same. My hunts on private land require a lot of work as has been said all year long with preparing for the next season. A public land hunt can be tougher in one sense and that is the Deer are not as concentrated as they are on the private land I hunt. The Hoosier National Forest is vast and seeing Deer is tougher because you must travel farther into the woods at times. If I had shot my first Deer in the Hoosier rather than on the private land he still would have been a trophy to me. So I guess it's all a matter of opinion or your personal perspective in each new hunt and expierence that would form ones thoughts on your question. My first ATV race I finished in 5th place and even though it was not 1st. place it was a well earned trophy to me. Whether it happened at a local track on a saturday night or a National event it would differ in some ways but not all. A National event would have more and better riders and to finish in 5th. would be tougher than at a local track. But regardless of the seting to me my trophy was still a trophy to me.

Trophy????
 

I'm not a trophy hunter at all, as I've posted here before, I'm usually tagged out before firearm season. With that said, I own 72 acres surrounded by farms in the section, I'm a little better than 3/4 wooded, with a small creek/drain near the rear, I'm a rectangle. In the back corner, state land comes into contact w/ me. It's a pretty big cedar swamp back in there. The biggest buck I've ever shot in my life, was a 122 inch typical 5 1/2 year old, he came right off state land and none of us have ever seen him before. Up here in Michigan, not a lot of Popes and Booners, and in our area mostly small baskets, then up to 110 inch. Was he a trophy? For the area probably. We consider shooting older deer trophies. I've shot quite a few "monster doe" that I'm quite proud of. Pounds! baby, POUNDS!

Pubic land differs from state to state so it really depends on where you live and how long you have lived there. Why how long you have lived there? The longer you live in an area the better you know it. Lived here over 20 yrs, I hunt both and it's all with in 5 miles of my house or closer. I know it like the back of my hand and can take trophy just as easily on either.
Live it up! Doug