I hunt public land. And always struggle with how long to give a particluar spot before giving up on it. (The reason I mention about public is I have no way of knowing if someone screwd me up or cut me off somewhere, was hunting it the day i wasnt. Or wether a guy was in there blasting squirrels the evening before stinkin up the place.) obviously if its all tore up I'm going to give it a go until it dries up or the deer tell me otherwise. But say you find a area with some sign.. not hard, heavy sign but its there, this is the case most public areas cause I find very few beaten paths or heavy scraping or rubbing or tore up feeding areas. You find your hide or tree and do all things nessesary, how many times will you hunt it without seeing deer until you figure they either left the area or you got screwed up somehow??
If I find a very promising spot with all the sign I am looking for, then I will continue to hunt it throughout the season or until the sign level decreases. I may hunt it with different time patterns, but will never hunt it more than 2 -3 times in a row. Eventually, I will hit it right when the deer are more than likely to use it in the daytime hours when I am there.
:campfire:
Sounds like you have some solid ideas already. Ill try a few morning sits and a few afternoon sits if I'm not sure when the deer are using the area. If the sign was promising but I had no success ill move on but check back late season. A lot of guys quit by then and whatever drew the deer in early season may bring them back when the pressure is off. Good luck. TonyZ.
Don't forget too guys. I'm not talking a funnel... As Tony Z pointed out. Going back later in the season can prove itself. But I have only personally found this true in funnel type areas. And these are the areas to find and concentrate on during the seeking phase of he rut. ESP if you do find does there also.
Carry on... :campfire:
I hunt very similar situations as you. public land with lots of pressure. what works best for me is to hunt funnels and topography and pick trees in those areas based on wind direction. I actually bring the stand up and down the tree each time i sit a spot. a good way i found to beat pressure is to either hunt deep 1/2 mile or farther in. or hunt super shallow. I have killed alot of deer with in 30 yards or road, powerline, 2 track etc. since most hunters go into the woods and hunt someweher between 50-100 yards from a road or powerline, etc. alot of deer will use the thck brush choked edges as low pressure travel routes.
As long as the sign remains strong and most importantly the COVER is thick I will continue hunting a spot off and on thru the season. If the cover thins with falling leaves and it opens up too much i know the deer sign is most likely only made at night.
I'm in the same boat. I haven't figured it out, so ttt.
A couple years ago I put in 80+ hours in an area(3 stands) on public land with awesome sign. I finally decided enough was enough and started moving around with my climber. First day after moving I was on deer and shot deer the 2nd and 5th day. I really don't know why I stayed so long.
Now I hunt the ground and bounce around free from the restrictions of a tree and a lot less likely to hunt an unproductive spot very long.
Rob
About 35 minutes!!
On hard hunted public land if I find fresh sign I hunt it that afternoon and next morning and continue until I don't see deer. That may be two half day hunts.
Hunting buck sign on public land you never know when you're hunting a dead buck. There's a good chance I might be hunting about 2 of them this year.
Keep scouting until you find a( patternable )situation or an area or trail from food to bed then keep alternating hunts at these sites.Develop a good scent control program and when you find FRESH SIGN hunt it, don't wait.Unless it's a really hot spot, I don't hunt the same stand twice before hunting a different area and different group of deer.
The scent you leave today will be the buck you miss tomorrow!
Despite good "sign", many locations get burned out for daylight deer activity. Sure, there can be lots of tracks, rubs and scrapes, but if an area is pounded with human activity and scent, most will likely be from after dark.
While our camp log book data is for private land, it's bordered by public on both sides, so there's significant human pressure. My property is in a region with some of the most intense deer hunting pressure in the entire USA.
That said, over the past 40 years it's remarkable how many kills came from the very first time a stand was hunted.
What else is remarkable is, despite a location having lots of kills over the years, deer sightings crashed at those same locations, no matter how seemingly great they are/were, after a stand has been hunted 4-5 times in a season.
Of course, with public land, one has zero control of others hunting an area.
My suggestion is, if you have no access to private land and only hunt public, look for public parcels that were clearcut within the past 10 years or are marshy, with no good treestand spots. This will eliminate most compound bowhunters, who primarily hunt only from treestands. From there, hunt the ground and get ready!
I let the deer dictate when and where I move my climbing stand.I would like to think that I pick the best spot for activity on their travels,but sometimes im off a little on placement,or they are off their routes.Seems im always playing chess with them
I seem to key in on the faintest trails,that flank a known doe travel route.
Usually, when I had to come down to pee. I tend to hit my boots when I try it off the stand. someone stole my hand climber off my widow maker so I no longer have that problem.
I've been bowhunting for 35 years, I'm part of a property that has been bowhunted since the first years of legal Michigan bowhunting and the property has accounted for many 100's of bow killed deer over the decades.
I was in the sporting goods business for some 15 years and I don't much care for most "outdoor celebrity" types. Most are huckers trying to brand themselves.
But with that said, one of the few industry people that really helps some bowhunters is John Eberhart. While many "expert" bowhunters already employ what he suggests, many with less than expert status can learn a lot from his books.
I understand that many people take up bowhunting, and particularly traditional bowhunting for a certain aesthetic and spiritual attitude that most firearms hunting doesn't offer. So many bowhunters enjoy the nature, the time with family, the quiet, etc and a deer is just a bonus. Many don't have killing a deer as the main priority.
And that's cool, if that's your thing.
But I'm a "killer". LOL I'm very serious when it comes to the hunt. I'm working on stands and habitat improvement, year round. I just prefer to do my bow kills with traditional bows, because compounds are simply too easy to kill deer with.
So, if you're one who is far more interested in blood trailing after dark, than sitting by the campfire telling old stories, I suggest you get this book...
Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails: Expert Techniques for Taking Big, Wary Bucks
http://www.amazon.com/Bowhunting-Pressured-Whitetails-Expert-Techniques/dp/0811728196
I know you want to know about non-funnel areas, but I've never had any luck trying to hunt food sources or scrapes on public land. Where I am I have large unbroken areas of woods interspersed with low swampy area and bogs. They can pretty much feed anywhere but have to travel along certain corridors to avoid the sloughs.
I don't think I've ever had a good shot opportunity at a buck hunting a non-funnel area. I try to pick a pinch point between two sloughs or even just an edge along a big slough with some kind of terrain or blow down to focus their movements.
For me on the public land I hunt it's purely travel that I key on. I will abandon a spot after a few mornings or evenings of no action under the assumption that the travel sign I'm seeing is all after dark. You just never know with a good funnel though, sometimes it takes a lot of patience.
Good thread guys, I know I didn't start this one but I'm learning a lot from it thanks.
Hunting public land can be very difficult to say the least. My success hunting public lands only comes after I learn the patterns of the other hunters. Such as known parking areas and easy access to the land. I find most people take the path of least resistance when hunting. After I figure out the other hunters patterns, I start figuring a strategy to use the other hunters to my advantage in relation to pushing deer towards me. I try to find the deer escape routes to thicker cover. I try to approach my stand with as little impact as possible and sometimes that requires a canoe or boat to get to these places. Mobility is the key so a climbing stand is a must for me when hunting public lands. I hunt those stands all day too. That's because most activity on public land in my parts are between the hours of 9am to 3pm. And I found out when hunting public land, deer are not always where the deer sign is, they are where hunters don't want to put in the time or effort to go. The best of luck!!
QuoteOriginally posted by Rick Richard:
If I find a very promising spot with all the sign I am looking for, then I will continue to hunt it throughout the season or until the sign level decreases. I may hunt it with different time patterns, but will never hunt it more than 2 -3 times in a row. Eventually, I will hit it right when the deer are more than likely to use it in the daytime hours when I am there.
Rick I agree. Especially when the rut kicks in, you never know what will come by and what.
On public land, I'll give a spot a morning and evening, then I'm off to another spot if I haven't seen deer activity. I used to stick it out at a given spot, but my success has went way up since I've started moving around. It helps when you have access to tens of thousands of acres and have a good working knowledge of several hundred acres.
If fresh deer sign is there I like to give it 3 days from daylight to dark. Then I will try a different area close to that vicinity. I like to keep tabs on the first place and may hunt it again a time or two if fresh deer sign is still there.
I always let the wind determine whether I sit a stand. I almost never sit the same stand two days in a row, and if I don't see deer by the end of the third sit (half to full days), I move.
Great posts guys, thanks for good advice!
Lots of good stuff posted.
I think you really have to hunt the deer as they hunt / react to the hunters in your area. It would be easy to just hunt the deer if I didn't have so much competition. I spend way more time trying to figure out how to work around other hunters even on private property I have to share.
Well if it looks good and it is easy to find you can be sure someone besides you will be on it also. Good sign can be sign of good nighttime activity spot. Even on private land you can burn a spot out quick. I kill deer way more often the first hunt or two than the rest of the time. So just about anywhere, I don't hunt more than two good days with the right weather.......... It is time to move if I am not seeing anything. Maybe come back later for another try after it cools down or activity timing changes due to time of year, food....
The best bet is to look for the spots most people don't and find spots that are on travel routes away from places of activity. Catch them coming from or going to bed. Working escape routes is great in heavy pressured areas. A good escape route funnel will have deer moving from presser from a lot of areas. Your chances of seeing something is way higher than setting the activity spot. Look for a spot where deer travel to go to a protected areas like private land, preserve, residential area and so on.
Work downwind areas of sign with hunting pressure. Deer will often stage where they can see what is going on. They will wait there until dark for the area to clear out. One of the best spots I hunted years ago was about 100 yd downwind of a big bait pile hunting spot. The guy on the bate saw nothing over a couple days, and I was in the deer every night.
I have seen deer walk into a good feed areas with sign using the parking lot drive for the hunting area. They wait until the parking area is empty and then walk in. I found tracks one time doing this. We had fresh snow, and I noticed a couple deer were crossing into the drive to the parking areas a couple days in a row. I was hunting down the road a ways and seeing the track as I passed. Finally I figured they were crossing at night so I back tracked them into the cover on the others side of the road, and I set up to catch two bucks staging in the evening waiting for everyone to clear out.
The first times are usually the best, so 2 or 3 times (2 hours each time),after that,if nothing move,I move.
One more note on public land hunting.
I find there are not many spots left where folks will not venture off to.
We all read the same articles about going "way" back or finding that secluded spot and it seems with this thought process we end up all in the same areas.
I have changed my ideas because of that and find myself hunting closer to the "front" where most folks walk by on their way to the "back".
I can't tell you how many more deer I now see within site of a parking lot, major roadway and the number of bigger bucks...they too adapt to the increasing hunter pressure.
I will hunt the little hideaways and watch everyone else walk by.
Last year i thought i found some great spots but didn't see anything. I put out a camera and found that they had changed their pattern from earlier in the season. Thats what I plan on doing now, using a camera to see if the spot is worth staying at if I haven't seen anything in a day or two.
One spot that i found i thought it would be great but the camera showed that deer were moving through but not many at all. I did some more scouting and found that there is a heavy trail going close to the houses and avoiding walking through the thick cover i was hunting. I guess the deer figured it was safe to go by the houses so why walk through the thick cover if they didn't have to. I'll be there this year waiting for them just on the outside of that thick cover before they veer off to the houses.
10-20 minutes.