Public Land Advice

[nockthru]

with my first year of bow hunting in the books (still have the unfilled tag to prove it) i was thinking about giving public hunting land a try this year, and was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to offer any advice to a newbie like myself. i have a friend who is kind enough to let me hunt his land, for which i am extremely grateful, but it is only about 40 acres. it is a good 40 and has plenty of deer on it but i don't want to over hunt it early in the season and thought i could pick up some valuable experience time in the tree on public land. all thoughts are welcome and appreciated. thanks in advance for letting me leach off you knowledge.

 

[JNRBRONC]

I find the DNR Hunting Atlas great for looking at public land, going to hunt a couple of parcels myself this fall.

Lots of public associated with the Coralville Res.

 

[AIRASSAULT]

Get as far back into the public ground you can.. find the toughest places to access. Its a lot of work but worth the effort.. i found a few spots last yr that were completely land locked by private ground except for river access (too shallow for a regular boat).. i loaded up a kayak and down river i went, but then had to put on chest waders and wade upstream a mile to get back to the truck.. it was a pain in the a$$, but I was covered up in deer both times I did it.. i didnt see anything huge but had a lot of 125ish bucks on range all day both days.. did almost get a shot at a 140-150" but he busted me in the tree..

 

[SWIADEERHNTR]

Get in there early before it gets pressured. Of course it depends on the location but some of the pieces I hunt will get pressured in early muzzleloader season by hunters that don't worry about remaining undetected (ie stand/walk in the open, don't care about scent etc) and it often will push the deer to the nearest neighboring private ground where they aren't pressured before it starts to get good around Halloween.

 

[BJohnson]

Try to anticipate how other hunters will access tracts of ground and figure out how the deer will relocate because of that human pressure. If you can find spots you can access (most likely to be physically difficult to get to) that take advantage of such movement, you will see quality deer. Don't worry about getting the buck out once he is down. If he is big enough, it's just part of the story once you punch an arrow through him.