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Hunting Land Bordering STATE LAND- opinions?!?!

Sligh1

Sligh1

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Ok, I have a friend who doesn't hunt that owns land about 45 minutes from my land, he said to come and hunt a few days. About 295 acres with 200 being timber, other guys hunting it with permission which is of course fine by me. It borders about 145 acre of State Game area though which has a lot of deer hunting going on. The whole county has tons of habitat and timber as well. Guys who hunt 295 with permission supposedly pass young bucks very aggresively but I don't know how they do.

I over-analyze things FOR SURE, but do you think the state ground would really hinder ability to have GIANT GIANT deer compared to other managed areas. Not 3&1/2 year old 135" BUT rather fully mature 5-7 year olds. Of course my bigger worry is all the guys on the border simply messing up the hunting or tresspassing as well which will make a big buck nocturnal is some cases and screw up hunts which is frustrating at a minimum.

Seen situations like this with horrible tresspassing problems?

How concerned would you be that the 180" mature buck is just so much fewer and farther between & more rare because of State game?

Just seeing opinions to see if it's WORTH IT to spend a week out there.

Many out there also seem to think there's some giants on state ground, let alone bordering it too BUT I probably won't do much state ground hunting yet unless people really seem to think the pressure is low and amazing bucks (obvious private would likely be better thouh). Thoughts?
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Seen situations like this with horrible tresspassing problems?

How concerned would you be that the 180" mature buck is just so much fewer and farther between & more rare because of State game?
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The first question....YES!!

Second ?? 180" bucks are few and far between with or without state land but anything is possible.

I only know what goes on around here and state land gets pressured pretty hard during archery and it's a war zone during gun season with rampant trespassing.

Why any buck would want to live there let a lone a mature one is beyond me but your friends situation may be very different.

Some very small or more open (pheasant habitat)game areas may be overlooked and could indeed harbour a mature buck. I'd be doing some scouting first but it sounds like a risky place to hang a trail cam.
 
[quote Some very small or more open (pheasant habitat)game areas may be overlooked and could indeed harbour a mature buck. quote]

This is an excellent point. Public lands that don't look like deer cover are often ignored by a lot of people and can be very , very good.

I'm surrounded by public ground here in MN and I've hunted alot of public areas in WI and IA. My opinion is that some public spots can offer good hunting under the right conditions. Others can stink beyond belief.

IMO, the main thing is to never overlook any hunting ground as a potential hotspot. Deer are where you find them, and just because public deer see more hunters than bucks on lightly hunted properties doesn't mean they can't be killed.

I'd take a scouting trip or two to look the place over, then make the call. But I think you'd be silly to ignore the offer. It's tough to have too much hunting ground, in my book /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
All I hunt is state land. I wouldn't be worried at all. Most hunters that do hunt them are pushovers. Sure everyone sits close to the private, but you will find that is where the bulk of the deer are going to be. In fact my family owns about 500 acres of land, but I feel more confident hunting state ground. I guess it all depends on the ground, if you are hunting private land with a couple others, its no different than hunting public. The bucks get just as big as anywhere else.
 
Wonder if people on here shed hunt them and find some decent sheds, I am sure it has to happen but obviously trying to gauge, HOW OFTEN?!
I'd say the #1, and possibly only reason, a big mature buck would be on state land is, the state land has some of the best habitat in the state, they put $$$$$'s into it!!!! they look amazing, I would say most giant bucks aren't there cause they are DEAD or stay on neighbors place with LESS pressure. I am hoping that's what this is. Area's great & great deer numbers, quality is questionable.

What I am HOPING is that because it's only 145-ish acres it won't be as bad?!!??
 
Heck one of my favorite public hunting areas is 9 acres and not one deer lives on it /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
I'd say check it out and see what happens, never pass up hunting land before you've done your homework. I'd have to say seeing a B/C buck is lucky anywhere, not all deer given the chance will even grow antlers that big, so I would'nt pass on the property because of that. Good luck, fall will be here before we know it.
 
Agree, to clarify a bit- I actually don't care about score (seriously!!!), I truly care about AGE, I want deer to be at max and shoot at mature age (5,6,7+ years old). I'd love to shoot a 6 year old six-pointer! I'll look at it for sure BUT again, trying to feel out (which above has been very helpful!), ON AVERAGE, a peice like I described above, would it have the mature bucks run out or killed for all the above reasons compared to your average peice or has someone done really well for mature buck sightings on a similar description? Above is very helpful, thanks!!
 
Also, this is really besides the point and doesn't influence my thoughts at all BUT I found this shed about 200 yards from a state game area /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
The one on the left is state game...
Found the one on the right on my land (probably a year and a half old on right, you think????)....

http://www.thedeerhunt.com/ShedBigBase6_small.jpg
 
I would ask the owner if you can post "no tresspassing" signs thick enough on the bordering public land that no reasonable person could say, "I didn't know this was private property"

I would then look for setups a few hundred yards away from the property line and try to use that as an advantage when the public land gets invaded.

And if your finding sheds like that on that property, it's a no brainer to hunt.
 
I know a guy that borders a 600 acre state hunting area. He owns about 200-300 acres.

This guy kills giants every year! He says basically what happens is the smart ones just learn to stay on his ground or as soon as the real pressure starts on the state ground the old boys know how to get to his.

He claims that he basically gets to hunt the best bucks for about a 900 acres because of this pressure and food he keeps on his.

Like what was said before post the border very hard. Use a step ladder to put them out of reach. Also I like to put signs up that say "property under 24 hr video surveillance". I think this goes the extra step of making people think twice.

I certainly wouldn't be afraid to hunt that farm. One thing about a whitetail is they are adaptable and smart. I think public land hunting would be very predictable for the most part by a old buck too. 90% of the people hunting them do the same things over and over. If a buck gets to 3 1/2 he will be very smart and learned how to survive and that will usually be because he is going to the private land during the day.
 
200 acres is a big chunk of timber to me. Assuming trespassing is kept to a minimum the bordering state ground wouldn't bother me. Id be more concerned with the other hunters w/ permission on the property. Just one hunter putting on a lot of pressure can burn out a pretty big chunk , especially when hunting mature animals.
 
Scouted it out, across the street is primo area that many big deer could come from. The land itself is top notch. Big timber and crops. It sounds like I'd pretty much have it to myself bow season BUT there would be a few shotgun hunters with permission who would be in stands.
I am thinking I am going to post the border of state land hard and totally bag about 20-30 acres that's next to state land that I could hunt BUT figure most guys will goof that area up. I figure I can get 8 stands that are well over 1/4 mile to 1 mile away from state land.

When you have driven by state land, say 100-500 acres in peak rut, does it seem like it gets slammed hard with bowhunters?

IF the mature bucks are there (that's the part that makes me nervous with state land- everyone shooting any buck they can) I think it will be good, I guess time will tell, I sure hope there's several fully mature deer that were able to hide on this 200 acres of thick timber!
 
I've always read that private land bordering state land is always a good bet. The only thing I would be concerned with is trespassing, but you can put a damper on that by posting signs.
 
I wouldnt hesitate, i know of several MONSTER Iowa bucks killed on or near public land.....

/forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
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