Read my posts please definitely not all about The kill, but why hunt if that isn't The main goal!! Shawn

Thank you guys for the advice and I thank those for the pm's.
I will try to hit on everyone's key points and try to explain about each. So bear with me. My post was mostly about guys who are huntin public land or are in situations like me to keep at it and don't give up. Keep the faith. The faith that the next week, day, hour, minute will be your chance. That chance you try so hard for all season. And to show you where I stand so you get an idea what some go through and are up against.

When a man gets off work and is able to hunt he going to. Instantly you hit a road block. Time... By the time you get home from work, change, drive, hump it in. Your time on stand is way limited. And that's before the time changes. When it does like it does right before the rut. You are REALLY limited in how far you can go. And it also matters how far from home a man works. So he is in a bind. You have to find spots that can fit. That means within a reasonable distance and with a reasonable walk.

We have parking areas and most places it's a huff to get to a decent place away from others. So you can't get too far during the week. Or you will be walking through the area at a time deer are moving.

We I have found there is very few places you can get back and away from others. I think you would be surprised at how far guys are going in. Most others are going deeper too. And you can only get so far back before you run into private ground meets state land or your into a place that others can access it from another side. And I'm telling ya guys are goin in. This is pennsylvania. We hunt deer this is what Pennsylvanians do. Sisters, brothers, mothers, paps, even grandmothers. Everyone and there brother hunts around here it's unbelievable. Unles you experienced it you don't understand.

That leaves a guy with the weekend. Now we can only hunt Saturdays in pa. No Sunday hunting. And you can bet everyone is out there on Saturday. That is really the only day a guy with weekends off can travel to a spot out of my circle. My circle being where I can drive to hunt after work and still have time to do it. And our season starts sat oct  and ends sat nov. 16th.  that's 7 days to hunt an area out of my circle. That is time to get it done. But scoutin and putting in enough time to learn a far away area from home for a sat hunt. You have to weigh the odds and figure. And you guys know how much time you have to put in to learn your good areas let alone areas a few hours away or even more. By we have talked about really trying to do that. I'm not driving hours and hours away to hunt.

Finding private land is really futile. It's hard. None wants you hunting. Cause they all mostly hunt. And you can bet there family or friends do as well and there not going to let you in there. Themselves, family or freinds. Even most private ground around here guys are not seeing nearly the deer. I talk to them and its no hit spot. Now there are places that are good but there no way your gettin access. Best I can hope for is to really luck out and stumble upon some sometime. And believe me I'm allways ears and have my eyes open. To give ya a point. My freinds best friend owns land n he will not let him hunt there. Just way it is. My brothers farther in law owns about 70 acres. The hunting honestly stinks and they use plots and do habitat stuff and they barley hunt it. They now have been leasing ground out of state. I for one will not pay to hunt a lease. ESP not in this time with my family. Maybe someday.

I`m with Shawn on this one respectfully of course the same way he intended his post. Hunting is about killing and thats what I go to the woods to do. If I had to move or something to a place with no critters I would hunt the best land I could find there but save vacation time and at least make a trip somewhere there are some game every year. I admire you guys that hunt poor land and keep going.If I hunt a week on public land around here and don`t see critters I get mad at myself because my scouting had been poor. Good post and great job of keeping it nice.RC

I keep going cause I love bowhunting. And it is tough in have though of quitting and just hunting with rifle. But I come around places like trad gang and it helps keep the fire burning n helps me "keep the faith." Please don't knock these other and come down on them. It really is tough. And it's hard for those to comprehend just how we can grunt it out, day in day out season after season.  We may be missing something we may be doing something wrong too.  That why I'm constantly trying to learn all I can. But I really think high pressured public land deer are a different animal. They are survivors! When I take a deer be gun or bow I just sit there and admire it. They are unbelievable. ESP in the places they live here and how hard they are hunted. I honestly don't even know how a deer can make it through state land In a hunting season around here.

I absorbs all that is said and try to put it together. I am currently trying to adapt and fingers new things out. When I get it. I'm probably going to write a book.( always tell myself that) this season as I said in other threads I'm going to hunt the odd places or places along the roads where other drive or walk by. I will still him my deep areas. But this is you to be a real trial year for us. I will continue trying and adapting new things until I get it.  Or I will eventually stumble onto something. Thanks guys a appreciate the advice!!!

I could be doing stuff wrong. But when everyone is saying the same thing around here it's hard agree. I maybe doing something wrong n I don't know. But like I said unless I get into animal. It's hard to learn when your always making mistakes it seems like. And can't get on deer to learn from.
Thanks guys! Your brother of the bow, RedShaft

I'll never get my view said as clearly as it's already been said by RC.. "Thank you my friend!"

I enjoy every hunt....I don't kill stuff most of the time but it's not for lack of wanting to, it just didn't happen that time.

I also soak up all of the other "good stuff" while I'm out there wanting to "kill" just as I am sure Shawn is.

On a different note, there isn't ever a need for personal attacks... I don't care who you are or how long you've been here or how long you've been hunting.

Keep the respect even when there is honest disagreement.

Nuff said...off my soap box.

God bless,Mudd

PS: accept my apologizes if anything I've said offends you.

RC and Mudd nicely put! Redshaft ever thought of taking a few days off of work to hunt? I know you said you don't want to travel but even if you just went a few hours away where there was good hunting seems like that would make up for a whole seasons worth of poor hunting. Just a thought. Good luck to you.

I think Shawn and Redshaft have a lot in common.  For both, I think, the hunt is all about hope.  Killing is the realization of that hope.  Having that hope is what drives you to hunt, but the experience (though still worthwhile) is incomplete without the realization.

Redshaft, I feel your pain. A lot of folks don't realize the hunting pressure/culture of Pennsylvania, and no hunting on Sundays has always been a point of contention for me.  Getting to hunt during weekdays is a key. Whatever you can do to accomplish that will help.  Even with all that pressure, the deer will be somewhere and can be had.  Good luck.

No hunting on sundays!?  That's basically sharia law!  You guys should do it anyway, get the citation, and take it to court!  How can you let religious beliefs of 200+ years ago dictate your life and state law!?  I'm no atheist, but I'd support them if they fought this law.  Crazy.  You don't have to put up with it, fight it!  It's what makes this country great.

Very few people get to hunt as much as they want.

Add things like big woods, and heavy pressure and the odds quickly stack against you.

ADAPT!...

Hunt only during the most productive times. If you are not seeing deer in three or four sits, do something different. Shooting skills are paramount...if you only get ONE shot opportunity in a year, then you cannot afford to miss.

In everything we do, there are sacrifices to achieve a goal.

Choose what you sacrifice as carefully as a stand location. It`s true that you cannot kill a deer from the couch....UNLESS you put your couch in the right spot. FIND THAT SPOT!

Victory hunter
I do take vacations. I usually take a week off either the last week or second to last during the rut. Last year I was off and see 3 deer. On dark to dark hunts during the rut. And this year I promised myself because of years of this I decided to spend that week with my family instead. I saved 3 single days for archery. Will see what happends.

I know what you guys are saying but I get on so few a deer I really can't figure them out. I'm trying like hell though. I'm trying to adapt. I'm tryin..

Some of you said about poop. That's funny because on Sunday I walked and scouted for just over  3 hours and found 1 pile. I told myself that place is a last resort. But at times during the rut. That place will produce. Because deer will come off posted ground into the state lands looking for or chasing does. Few... But I luck into one here and there. Because they won't live on the state lands in this place. Only come over at night to eat the white oaks.

Redshaft  - -where are you in PA?

South central pa. Blair county
If you go to my post about funnels there is a link to map. You can look around and see the state lands in green. It's similar to google maps. Acme mapper

It depends what each hunter wants. In Michigan, there's some really good public land and some really poor public land. Around my land in the central NWLP, public land hunters have as good a chance as private land hunters, if they plays his cards right and research the lands with habitat improvements. In fact, habitat wise, much of the local public land is BETTER than the local private land, since much of it has been recently timbered and managed.

Hunters are often creatures of habit and tradition. Many times, hunters will go to the same public land someone in their family has been hunting for 40 years. However, the deer habitat/hunting is nothing like it was 40 years ago.

Unless you want the solitude of hunting the "big woods" of the UP or "farther north" northern Michigan and don't really care about seeing much game, if one goes a couple weeks without seeing a deer in most of northern Michigan, they need to do some legwork and find a new spot, even maybe a new county. The public land by my land has as nice of deer on the buck pole every year as the private land and sometimes more bucks and better bucks, as the public lands around here are patchworked in between private farms and much of the public land has good aspen management, thus deer.

You really need to find somewhere new to hunt...that is the best advice you have been given. I rarely go a hunt without seeing a deer, and have deer in bow range most hunts. Not because I'm so great, but because there are plenty of deer where I hunt.

Best of luck to ya!

Mojostick, I agree completely. We have a wealth of good public land here in central and lower MI.

Gringol, I certainly wouldn't advocate that strategy. Aside from eating up a bunch of money for legal fees and fines, it would accomplish nothing except eventually some jail time and loss of hunting privileges. Some intense lobbying for Sunday hunting would be far more effective, especially if the local conservation organizations could be encouraged to back the idea.

If i was in your shoes i would get a few game cameras to see what is going on in my spots. I also would find a spot out of state, depending on where you are in PA, Ohio could be close or NJ etc. Then i would do some long weekend hunts out of state. My hunting spot is 1 1/2 hours away from my home and i leave for work at 6:45am and don't get home until 7:00pm so weekend hunting and days off are all it is for me. I plan on being a lot more productive this year since the cameras tell me which spots the deer actually move through during shooting light.

You're probably right, bladepeek, but you PA guys should not take that no hunting on sundays lying down.  There is no game or land management reason for it.  It is purely a vestige of religious zealots pushing their beliefs on everyone.  And it sounds like it cuts redshaft's hunting time in half.

Agree