soarkrebel

Can deer really tell the difference between private and public lands? do they know land lines? around here they dont!

ShortHair

Join a hunting club. I really enjoy mine. Deer hunting(still and dog), turkey hunting, dove fields plenty of wood duck action, fish ponds and Brier Creek. Not to mention a great bunch of guys. All for $370 and three work days a year.

halcon

Mr LB I hunt because I enjoy it and the people I hunt with. I just don't have the time to worry about who can afford a guided hunt and whether its hunting or not because I can't afford it . I don't know if that was the way you meant the post ,but that is the way it sounds .

cardeer

I noticed not one Texan responded to this post.I lived there for 7 years and them poor boys usually dont have a choice .They have to pay to hunt or pay to lease land or they dont hunt.If someone can afford it goody for them.If you cant well then public land is the option.I'd rather not pay if I dont have to though. Some of the prices are getting out of hand.5000 for a huge buck is to much for me ,but just check around there places that charge 10 and 15 thousand for a 180 plus score buck.Our country is a free enterprise country and huntin has become a enterprise.There must be people out there paying the prices cause them places are always booked up.weather we like it or not its here.And if someone can afford 10,000 for a trophy buck,well so be it.Its part of living in a free enterprise economy.Nothing is FREE

pabuckhunter

Glad I live where I do could not afford to hunt like that I would have to stick to fishing if it was that bad

Tazman

I hunt for the hunt, if I get a big buck it is a bonus, I have always been able (so far) to get permission to hunt private property. One mistake a lot of folks make is looking for 100+ acre places to hunt. I ask permission on properties as small as 5 acres, the place I killed my buck this year was only 12 acres. Deer have no concept of private or public property and they cross, eat, and bed on all property. Get out and do some polite door knocking, you will be surprised. I agree that if you want a trophy buck, the easiest way to get one is pay for it, but you can still get one by doing some door knocking also. You can as mentioned lease or join a club, this will increase your odds without spending a fortune.

The Tazman

Critter Gitter

Gee, and I was always under the impression that Texas had some of the best hunting. Glad I'm in PA.

Kanga

Well I am in Texas and there is a lot of public land where I hunt and I only hunt public land.
For me most of the fun is in the scouting working out where to put the stand learning the lay of the land where the deer bed and feed working out the trails.
99% of my hunting is done before the season starts the actual hunting is as I concider it only 1% of what I do.
To go on a guided hunt would be nice but not to do any of the foot work is just not for me
sorta takes all the fun out of it for someone to say go in that stand and at 7:45am a monster will come out over there and walk right past the stand.

Colo Wolf

Its all in what you want out of a hunt. I hunt public land, camp there, walk to my game, pull it out byhand and every head I have ever taken is a trophy. Nope, only one comes close to a "book" head, but everyone is MY trophy.

Theoly reason I would like to try a "trophy guided big dollar hunt" is to say I did it once. Other than that, I have better things to do with my money.

I hear people talk about competition in the woods for game, believe me there is no competition there except in yourself. If you really need to put yourself against someone else, just look at the statistics in success for everyone. If your not at the average, you learn to get better or quit.

Thepart of hunting I really enjoy, is that no matter how hard I try, how deep I go, no matter what shot or bullet, I always, ALWAYS feel like luck was for me when I succeed. There are no guarantees, its life at the most basic test you can find.

Adui13

Greets,
Seems I agree with the general consensus. It depends on how much you want to put into, and get out of your hunt. If you got $$ and just want to go somewhere you know you'll get a big deer, go get a guided hunt. As for me ( oh just for the record YES if I had the $$ I would probably go on one at least once )I hunt all public land. Most of its owned by the logging companies, so technically its still private land, but it is open to the public. I dont get to do near as much scouting these days as I would like to, and that probably explains my lack of a deer or elk this year. The only trouble I can see in my area is the hunting pressure, there is millions of hunters everywhere!! Its getting so that even if you hike 2 miles in you are likely to come across at least one other hunting party.

Just my uneducated opinion!
Terry