Should I stay or should I go? Public Land Hunting

[HaunSolo]

All,

I'm hunting public land for the first time this year. I've probably spent 80 hours scouting a couple different tracts before the season opened and I've hunted twice.

For my last hunt I was setup on a ridge top above some steep ravines. This ridge top bordered some fields with prairie mix and clover. I setup in this location because I found a 5 or so rubs and two active looking scrapes all within 80 yards of each other. When I hunted the spot I spooked a spike buck and a few does on my way out. I also had another hunter setup about 100 yards of me.

My question is this - if you were hunting this tract would you go back to the same spot or would you move further back away from the pressure and look at fresh sign? How many times do you sit in the same spot? My initial thought is too get back in further, even though its quite a hike.

What about hunting over steep ravines? Do deer tend to bed at the bottom of ravines? Do they use them as travel corridors?

Thanks for the advice. Hunting public is definitely different than private.

 

[Bigterp]

All,

I'm hunting public land for the first time this year. I've probably spent 80 hours scouting a couple different tracts before the season opened and I've hunted twice.

For my last hunt I was setup on a ridge top above some steep ravines. This ridge top bordered some fields with prairie mix and clover. I setup in this location because I found a 5 or so rubs and two active looking scrapes all within 80 yards of each other. When I hunted the spot I spooked a spike buck and a few does on my way out. I also had another hunter setup about 100 yards of me.

My question is this - if you were hunting this tract would you go back to the same spot or would you move further back away from the pressure and look at fresh sign? How many times do you sit in the same spot? My initial thought is too get back in further, even though its quite a hike.

What about hunting over steep ravines? Do deer tend to bed at the bottom of ravines? Do they use them as travel corridors?

Thanks for the advice. Hunting public is definitely different than private.

Adjusting for hunting pressure is as important as fresh sign. I’d adjust, it’s definitely different but super rewarding to pull off.

 

[Will Harris]

i try really hard to only hunt fresh sign. if i dont have fresh sign, i really have no confidence in the spot and dont enjoy the hunt near as much. smoking fresh sign gets me to go in earlier and sit longer.

for 1/2 day hunts, i scout for a several hours and then move into best sign for afternoon sit. i'm also scouting for the next morning and will mark trees that are climbable in the area that has good sign. i use onx to mark access in/out of stand sites using the tracks feature so i can quietly go in in the dark.

i'm weird. i hate hunting a spot twice. the only exception is a morning following an afternoon and i leave my platform and all but bottom step. but i rarely do this.

you go where the fresh sign is. that may be miles back in, but also may be within a couplea hundred yards from the p-lot in an overlooked spot.

 

[Glenn]

Walk till you find less people sign and more deer sign. But I've also seen where folks in an area I hunt were hitting setting up on all the ridge top stuff and I could be 100-200 away seeing deer they never knew existed. I know because I used to be the "Holy crap look at all this fresh sign" dude and was missing all the daylight movement 100-200 yards away, sometimes less.

A technique a friend of mine uses here in SC (maybe he'll chime in) is he burns a morning of hunting to drive around and mark every gate or parking spot that has a truck. Then he does the same in the afternoon. He'll do this a few times to get an idea on which areas are getting hit the hardest. He X's those areas out and looks where he has few to no trucks and goes an hunts there.

Now he don't kill a whole lot but it makes sense in theory!

 

[dalton916]

 

[ScottL]

As a general rule I've found more people = less deer during shooting light! I'd move back!

 

[bigmike23]

It's tough for me to hunt an area unless I know there's something around good to shoot. Cell cams are huge for this. I remember there was this swamp way back away from any access point or trail. And there was an "I" shaped bit that jutted into it that was loaded with sign and trails. I was excited at what I found so thru a camera there. After 5 months of soaking the biggest deer I had on cam was 80 inches.
Sign doesn't tell the whole story. But I'm also aware that cameras are just a snap shot of the woods. They're a blessing and curse for sure

 

[HaunSolo]

Thanks for the advice everybody.

At what point do you just ditch a property, or a portion of a property all together? What kind of things are signs that a property is holding a lot of deer and bucks?

I scouted probably 500 acres of fields/woods last night and covered quite a bit of elevation change. Saw maybe 10 rubs and one or two scrapes and spooked one doe. I guess I figured I would've spooked more deer, at least. I'm thinking of just moving onto another property that I saw more deer at when I scouted in the summer.

 

[philsanchez76]

The private to public transition is an interesting one. I did it 5 years ago so I remember what youre going through. I rarely hunt a spot twice on public. With the exception being if I hunted a morning and saw deer going to bed that didn't know I was there, sometimes ill come back to that spot and try to pick them off coming out of bed. Other than that, I've found the first week of season I can hunt 1/4 mile from my truck and see deer. By the second or third week, those spots are all burned. I now have to walk over 1/2 mile to see deer and deer sign again. By November im walking 1-2 miles in to see the deer. They just readjust to the pressure and you have to follow them.

Is your goal just shooting some meat for the freezer? then id go to the property where you saw more deer. GL out there and enjoy the public land learning curve! IT is steep for everyone!

I also dont stress about another guy set up 100-200 yards from me as long as I know I am in the right spot and that his wind is not gonna mess me up.

 

[HaunSolo]

The private to public transition is an interesting one. I did it 5 years ago so I remember what youre going through. I rarely hunt a spot twice on public. With the exception being if I hunted a morning and saw deer going to bed that didn't know I was there, sometimes ill come back to that spot and try to pick them off coming out of bed. Other than that, I've found the first week of season I can hunt 1/4 mile from my truck and see deer. By the second or third week, those spots are all burned. I now have to walk over 1/2 mile to see deer and deer sign again. By November im walking 1-2 miles in to see the deer. They just readjust to the pressure and you have to follow them.

Is your goal just shooting some meat for the freezer? then id go to the property where you saw more deer. GL out there and enjoy the public land learning curve! IT is steep for everyone!

I also dont stress about another guy set up 100-200 yards from me as long as I know I am in the right spot and that his wind is not gonna mess me up.

Thanks for the advice. My goal is to shoot a decent buck off of public(3.5 year old). I have lots of opportunities to shoot does on my private for meat. Ultimately I'm trying to become a better hunter by hunting new properties and new terrains with different challenges.

 

[Bigterp]

If it’s wooded with terrain just try to find some flats & benches with some buck sign. Scrapes are nuts right now. That should at least give you some starters for finding feed sign. Plus it’s about to get right for movement in the next few weeks. If you’re not seeing sign that screams hunt this now, then you haven’t found the spot yet….. keep scouting & scouring until you find a good pocket, it’s there!

 

[philsanchez76]

Thanks for the advice. My goal is to shoot a decent buck off of public(3.5 year old). I have lots of opportunities to shoot does on my private for meat. Ultimately I'm trying to become a better hunter by hunting new properties and new terrains with different challengers.

oh gotcha. that's a more unique situation. Most guys I know who have private access are hunting does on public and then trophy hunting on private. You are definitely challenging yourself!

I guess during October, id be trying to located a buck and hunt any buck sign I found. During November I'd be on the property with more does and hunting around doe bedding. For me, that definitely is different properties.

Very cool that you're taking that on. GL!

 

[phorizt]

I have a good hunting lease here in Texas with a lot of mature bucks on camera and I skipped opening week there to go hunt public land. I like having the lease to have a place to go whenever I want but it doesn't do much for me as far as getting me excited about hunting. When I hunt public if I had anyone even remotely close to me i would move to another location. Now there areas I hunt are usually limited entry draw hunts where there's plenty of room to get away from people. The place I hunted last week for 2 days I literally was the only guy hunting about 2500 acres of the property. Saw several nice deer within range but couldn't get a shot or they weren't quite legal(have to be 15" spread where I was hunting).

One thing though and I've seen a lot of studies about this sort of stuff is I don't believe the deer all just move away when they sense pressure. Sure that happens some but the studies I have seen suggest that they mainly just adjust their behavior and stick to the thicker cover more closely. So either go further back where the deer might feel less pressure or go thicker cover near where you already are hunting.

 

[Iron_llama]

Generally the other hunters I've talked to on public land have been gracious and cooperative. Nobody wants to get bumped by another hunter. I've had multiple offers to hunt someone else's stand mid-week if they only get out on the weekends. Might be worth trying to talk to the guy at the trailhead. Maybe he's only able to get opening weekend off and you'll never see him again this year.

Also on public land I tend to take the "if it's legal I'm killing it" approach... kinda sucks but I've also passed on deer that I've seen in the back of someone else's truck later that week so kind of an exercise in futile vanity.

The only time I've ever really given completely up on a public parcel is if I encounter poaching/baiting or otherwise unsafe or illegal hunting. I want no part of that.

 

[OSUTodd]

Having someone set up 100-200 yards away doesn't mean you can't kill a deer there. I've had plenty of people kill deer while they're that close to me.

 

[brc54]

Because you scared off some deer and another hunter is nearby, it's smart to move to a new spot with recent deer activity. Check if deer use the ravines for walking and resting. When hunting on public land, it's important to be flexible and change your plan if needed. Best of luck!