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Public Land, OH

A.GunA.Gun Member Posts: 1,326 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited October 2015 in Bow Hunting and Target Archery
Recently lost permission to two "honey holes" that were easily accesible and great during the rut. What I am left with is a highly pressured private land and a non pressured 5 acre slot. I recently talked to a buddy who did his vast majority hunting on public state land. He asked me if I would be up for a hike and gave me a great location to try. It was literally 8/10 of a mile to where I went one way and setup. I did see deer but next time I think I will take the lighter climber! [;)] Anyone have any great success stories from public land? He swears by this area, basically its a large thicket with a small corridor of tree-lines for the deer to travel to get to the food source (private land). It seems he was being honest, I saw a small buck and 2 does my first sit on opening day.
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Comments

  • dcso3009dcso3009 Member Posts: 2,350 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Until the last 2 years all of my hunting was done on public land. I will admit, the areas I hunted are not pressured very hard at all for bow season, and only lightly during the firearm season.

    My best advice- find the spots no one else is willing to go into. Longer walk is usually better. It keeps the lazy hunters out. Also a barrier like a creek (more than boot deep) tends to keep many out. There are great deer taken from public land every year. You may need to adjust your expectations to fill tags, but the hunt can still be a great one.
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  • MN HunterMN Hunter Member Posts: 2,299 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by dcso3009
    Until the last 2 years all of my hunting was done on public land. I will admit, the areas I hunted are not pressured very hard at all for bow season, and only lightly during the firearm season.

    My best advice- find the spots no one else is willing to go into. Longer walk is usually better. It keeps the lazy hunters out. Also a barrier like a creek (more than boot deep) tends to keep many out. There are great deer taken from public land every year. You may need to adjust your expectations to fill tags, but the hunt can still be a great one.



    i also do a lot on public land, but unfortunately where i hunt it gets hammered. its been bad enough some years once the sun comes up you look around see that you are surrounded by orange (gun season) or look over in a neighboring tree and see that someone else is literally 30yds away. we always look for new places that dont get as much pressure, but being we are pretty close to 601, that proves more difficult every year.

    bow season is not as bad, but gun season..not even worth trying.
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  • wolfpackwolfpack Member Posts: 1,252 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have a friend that before his health failed would hunt the Shawnee state forest. Some of the deer that he took from that parcel of public land would more than make any show on the outdoor channel. He did not bowhunt this land but took them during gun season with a shotgun.
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  • A.GunA.Gun Member Posts: 1,326 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I plan on taking my summit bushmaster (about 14 pounds). I also have a light hang on with lone wolf sticks that can put me about 17-18 feet up. I figure while still scouting I can roll in with the climber but once I find a good area with rubs and scrapes I might hang the stand and lock it up and leave it. Carry the sticks in and out with me however. The spot I would like to get to this weekend is 1.3 miles one way with a creek in the way.
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  • A.GunA.Gun Member Posts: 1,326 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Success on the first hunt, saw a few small bucks (nothing worth shooting), but it was a good night. Here are a few videos of the munchkins, sorry no audio!

    http://tinypic.com/r/xoha2a/8


    http://tinypic.com/r/jg6wsg/8
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