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What can be done on public land?

Altiman94

Altiman94

Member
There's a bunch of threads about deer #'s and herd management lately. I feel a lot of that is specific to private land. I know there's a bunch of us (including me) who hunt primarily public land.

What can/ should be done to increase deer #'s on public land(s)? I'd like to see the antler less tags not be valid on public land. There's enough hunters out there that are willing to tag a doe with their statewide tag that it's not really needed.

I guess other than requiring a draw ( I don't think that is needed)...what can be done?
 
Some states make public bow only.

Gun pressure got so high it was dangerous on public land...
 
Baby-G said:
Gun pressure got so high it was dangerous on public land...
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I can vouch for that! Hunted Shimek State forest during gun season of 1984. I had a slug clip branches over my head. Haven't hunted much public since. :eek:
 
I know in WY that some of the reduced price doe tags for various species are valid on private land only. Like mentioned, some states have bow only areas.

I think for the smaller areas, they should be bow only.
 
Like above, here's my thoughts.....
-Certain public lands - bow hunting only.
-Draws for certain times of year.
-Somehow limit the amount of hunters. I am not sure how this could be done being public and of course a ton of guys would get their panties in a bunch BUT really, how could the pressure be lessened? An EXAMPLE of what I'm talking about... Colorado residents have to put in for points on the "better and less pressure" public lands. Maybe the lands in each county (ya, not a ton BUT....) some could be "limited access" - you start putting in for preference points and hunting is limited to XYZ out of the public based on preference points.
-Antlerless hunting on public, well that's generally just stupid right there. I'm NOT saying a piece of public couldn't get overpopulated BUT, there's a far far far greater problem with the public being blown to piss and WAY under populated compared to well managed farms down the road. I feel truly bad for animals living on Public but most the public I see has way too many does shot off it, then I feel bad for the hunters going in there. Sucks for everyone. Some way to balance this.... Maybe a draw or preference points for does as well?
-Last thought..... Public City grounds get managed pretty well around here.... A few guys allowed on various tracts. Like a guy I know, he can hunt Mon - Fri and another guy hunts Sat - Sun. Obviously it would need to be more in depth on large public but organizing and limiting some access would be better and safer for all. Props to you guys that can deal with public and be successful. I haven't done it for maybe 15 years but sure hope you come up with viable ideas to improve things.
 
I personally have had no issues on public ground the past 10 years. The places I have hunted I have not really noticed anyone shooting does either. Hunted shotgun season 1 two years in a row, 11 & 12, and not enough pressure to really get them moving.

I am sure it varies from public piece to piece though. There are a few tracts I would not touch at all.
 
Liv4Rut said:
I personally have had no issues on public ground the past 10 years. The places I have hunted I have not really noticed anyone shooting does either. Hunted shotgun season 1 two years in a row, 11 & 12, and not enough pressure to really get them moving.

I am sure it varies from public piece to piece though. There are a few tracts I would not touch at all.
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Ok, maybe I'm going way too far back in my memories of public. It could be a lot better than I recalled as I don't have the current experience on any pieces.
 
I guess the public spots I personally know of that got hit hard with shooting does was all done during the late rifle season down south. A lot of guys travel south from the North to hunt deer with a rifle and since most dont have land down there they hit public ground.

I do believe though that season just needs to be gone statewide not just public. I guess I just dont notice many guys shooting does on public ground during the normal bow season and shotgun seasons. These are also bigger pieces and hauling a ton of does out would be a pain. The rifle season on the other hand......

Like I said though, it is area specific. I know some public grounds that get hit just as hard as any private ground.
 
Part of the state land situation depends on where in the state the land is. If it's close to a large metro area, it gets hunted hard. Looking at the stats, we have 3X as many bow hunters as we did in the mid 1990's. I know a few guys in my area that were shooting 4+ does a year off public, so it is happening in some areas. One guy shot 5 does out of a really small piece of public last year. I checked it out this year for late muzzy and there was hardly a track to be found.
 
Go hunt some yotes. I know on most of my private land our dog numbers have exploded over the last 2 years.

sent from super hunters I phone
 
More refuge acres

I think more land should be designated refuge. If you have 800 acres of public land, make 80-100 of the parcel (refuge) to secure and protect some of the game?

You can hunt the edges of course, it is basically a sanctuary.
 
Hardwood11 said:
I think more land should be designated refuge. If you have 800 acres of public land, make 80-100 of the parcel (refuge) to secure and protect some of the game?

You can hunt the edges of course, it is basically a sanctuary.
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I like this idea. I suppose the sanctuary may need to be off limits during gun season or some would send unarmed pushers in.
 
Hardwood11 said:
I think more land should be designated refuge. If you have 800 acres of public land, make 80-100 of the parcel (refuge) to secure and protect some of the game?

You can hunt the edges of course, it is basically a sanctuary.
Click to expand...


Good luck trying to monitor that....especially with 1 CO trying to cover several counties.

Public is for everybody...it's all I hunt. I would be for having "public only" antlerless tags and limiting their quantities, but other than that let me hunt where and when I can.
 
I think there are to many parties with different priorities to do anything drastic to improve public land hunting. We just don't have enough public land to make something bow only or make an area a "trophy" only. As much as I would like to see it. I think the best we can hope for is a real attempt by the DNR to steady numbers and get a handle on the antlerless tags and harvest. To do this I really think the either sex tag needs to go to buck only. I would think that would allow for a more manageable accounting of the doe harvest.
 
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