bronko22000

Sitting here at my computer sipping on a cup of coffee I have been recollecting memories of my recent kills. I hunt exclusively public land and I've been successful every year with at least one deer here in PA.
As I look back, not only have I been lucky enough to kill a deer (and one elk), but the last 6 out of 7 I've shot have either died right on a road or trail or very close to one making recovery extremely easy with a cart. I guess God is smiling down on me in my old age and doesn't want me dragging a critter through the woods anymore!
Oh and BTW - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my huntingnet.com family.

Viking1204

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year back at you! That's quite an accomplishment on Private land let alone Public land and Kudos to you for making a good shot for those easy to recover animals! That's something I've been working on. Just went to the shooting range this past weekend to make sure all my hunting rifles were ready to go for my trip to MS after Christmas.

rockport

Having recently started hunting public land I can attest the recovery may be the hardest part. There are a lot of hunters here and not much public land so getting something close to the road is pretty much not an option. Mine was only 1/2 mile in though and not that bad but it could get ugly pretty quick in a few spots Ive hunted. Not looking forward to my first 3 mile pack out.

mrbb

I never get why so m,any BASH public lands, there are some down right awesome public grounds
I grew up hunting them, and still do, even with having private lands to hunt
all them that cry about idiots showing up and ruining things or??
hate to tell them, that STILL happens on private lands, all the more so in PA
where trespassing seems to be a Family tradition and learned behavior
I own and have managed a ton of land in PA< and couldn;t tell you HOW many people I have caught trespassing over the yrs, Heck, one farm I managed it was common to catch 50+75 DIFFERENT people every yr I was there and NOT just in hunting season, but ALL yr long would find folks wandering the lands, fathers son's grandfathers and grand kids you name it, even caught State workers and cops trespassing there
got SO bad, I Gave uop trying and left the place after 15 yrs of trying!
SO< game lands, yes they can have idiots, but so can private lands LOL

rockport

I think public lands can be very different according to your location.

mrbb

I agree and that was why I said SOME public lands can be great, NOT all, but there are good one's in every state I ever hunted and I hunted a LOT of states over my life time!
its like most things in life, you get out of something what your willing to put into it,
work harder than the average hunter and odds are you will be successful ! or been my experience!

bronko22000

mrbb I sure am not bashing public land. What I was referring to was referring to private land where owners put in food plots in and hunt over them.
There's no such thing on the coal company ground I hunt on. And when I refer to roads I don't mean those accessible by vehicle (some are ATV accessible). What I am talking about are abandoned strip mine roads or old trolley trails. The only exception to this is the elk I shot this year that expired about 200 yards and uphill from a road.
But I tell you this public land hunting does not come easily. Scouting takes a lot of time. Starting in spring during turkey season my main focus is still on deer travel. Then walking learning the lay of the land and putting out trail cameras. And more hiking in the fall looking for rubs and fresh deer sign then more cameras out.
Even with all this effort there have been years where the only deer I saw was the one I harvested after many days of hunting.
A couple tricks I've learned just a few years ago that I will share with you guys.
1. If you're like me and have limited resources (stand locations) after several unsuccessful outings with no luck change your tactics. I shot one of the biggest bucks of my 55 year career by sleeping in because of a light rain and didn't go out until about 11:30 sneaking into my stand about 11:45 and putting my tag on him at 12:30 after rattling and grunting him in out of his bedding area and into bow range. He never expected anyone to be in that stand during the middle of the day.
2. Don't overlook areas close to the highway or main road that has good cover. Most hunters think they have to go far off the beaten path to get a deer. And while many times that is true it isn't always the case. During one of my scouting trips about 4 years ago I found an area within rock throwing distance of a highway (and at 67 years old I can't throw very far anymore!) that was just tore up with rubs and scrapes. This area was full of briars and huge boulders. I hunkered down on my knees between one of these boulders and a nice size tree downwind of a deer trail for an evening hunt and shot a nice 8 pointer as he came in and had his nose buried in a scrape.

Hunting public land can be a pain but it can also be awesome.

Rob in VT

I have 8x10 prints of some of our better hunts. I love all the memories they bring back and talking about them with friends and family.

Merry Christmas to all. Here is to 2021 being a much better year. Cheers 🍻

Bocajnala

I do the same thing Rob. I like the pictures more than the "trophy" itself. The pictures bring back the memories.

-Jake

CalHunter

That's a neat idea guys! I like the room a lot Rob.