So despite my handle, I'm fairly new to public land. I use it a lot for squirrel hunting with my young dog, but all of my deer to date have been on private land. My goal is to change that this year. I'll likely still get a private land deer or two but my goal is to spend more and more time on public. With that, I'd like to get better at scouting maps and then putting boots on the ground to confirm and find even better spots. I'm not looking for anyone to give me the answers to everything, but I'd like some help to point me in the right direction on what exactly I'm looking at, and for. I've watched the THP videos on picking apart maps, but I'm still struggling. I know fresh sign when I see it, but I feel like I'm stumbling upon it more than I'm finding it successfully.
I'm looking for assistance on the map below. It's public land and a plot that I've not hunted, set foot on, or even laid eyes on. I picked this one as an example as there is varying terrain, a water source, some open fields, and different trees. It's a good representation of what we'd find all over Michigan until you get to the UP. I'd like, if anyone is willing to share, their thoughts on potential setup spots and what I'm looking at. My goal in this is to take this knowledge and begin to transition it to other new plots, and even the existing state land that I hunt to have more success.
Thanks everyone!
PS - In case anyone is unfamiliar with OnX, the light green area is fair game, the section in the bottom right and the little section near the top right, is private land. This chunk of public is about 200 acres. The bottom right private chunk is 80ish and the top right little private spot is 5, just for reference.
I'm looking for assistance on the map below. It's public land and a plot that I've not hunted, set foot on, or even laid eyes on. I picked this one as an example as there is varying terrain, a water source, some open fields, and different trees. It's a good representation of what we'd find all over Michigan until you get to the UP. I'd like, if anyone is willing to share, their thoughts on potential setup spots and what I'm looking at. My goal in this is to take this knowledge and begin to transition it to other new plots, and even the existing state land that I hunt to have more success.
Thanks everyone!
PS - In case anyone is unfamiliar with OnX, the light green area is fair game, the section in the bottom right and the little section near the top right, is private land. This chunk of public is about 200 acres. The bottom right private chunk is 80ish and the top right little private spot is 5, just for reference.
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