Public Hunting. I hunted this year at a National Recreation Area. It was not what I expected. It was not over crowded. Able t

[Eric Greene]

Public Hunting. I hunted this year at a National Recreation Area. It was not what I expected. It was not over crowded. Able to set up ground blinds. The tough part was not being able to set out corn or feed. Anyone have success on public land.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

I have been hunting public or publicly accessible private land for nearly fifty years. Been very successful and haven't resorted to baiting yet. Or for that matter sitting in a blind.

[Gary Devine]

Eric, I do all my black bear hunting on public land. Some states and canadian provinces allow hunters to hunt over bait. Check your game laws. I hunted three years for black bear in the late sixties without any bait and saw no bears. I have bagged four bears, two with a compound bow and two with a gun over bait piles. I'm not hunting bears in a state or province where every "Joe Six Pack" is baiting and I am not. I'm nobody fool. It's your choice and don't let other hunters on this site sway your decision with hunting ethics and fair chase. If your following the Fish and Wildlife laws, then your hunting with ethics and fair chase.
Public land is great if you walk deep into the woods to get away from the rat race of hunters. Good Luck.

[steve182]

I hunt lots of public land in NJ and PA. Have been successful in both states. This year i took two bucks with my bow on public land. One was on State land the other on Township owned open space land. I have taken a few bucks over the years off private land, but land where the owners let almost anyone who ask's nicely hunt. Like Gary said, If you go deep on public land you'll leave most hunters far behind and may find deer piled up, pushed in by the close-to-the-road hunters.

[Savageshot]

Public land is greAt to hunt, key word though is hunt. take the time to learn about the deer in the area you hunt and how they move and succes will follow. getting out of a treestand helps to in some cases.

[Treestand]

I have not Hunted P/land in 28Yr, But when I did it was some of the best times and Hunting was great, made some good friends that we still meat from time to time, some of them are lease holders on my "Ye Olde Hunt Club"in Jasper Fla. The Truth now P/land hunting here in Fla. is real bad, most are SLOB hunters( by 9:Am they will shoot at any thing that moves Birds,opossum,raccoon,Ect.):>(

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Yes, Gary, I should quantify that I don't hunt bears. Never have. Everyone here hunts them over bait and it's a good thing they do. We have bears crawling all over the place. They need to be culled - badly! And it's just about useless to go after them without bait in our heavy brush and flat country. Still, I have a lot of difficulty calling that "hunting." Anyway, this guy is using a ground blind so I really doubt he is hunting bear.

[DSMbirddog]

I do some deer hunting every year on public areas. It has been very productive and not necessarily crowded.

[357]

in my experience you have to get deep into an area to see good bucks but public land is the only place i hunt.

[Gary Devine]

O.H., One of my archery bears was taken in Ontario. The black bear hunt was about twenty or thirty years ago, and the guide's name was Phil Copp. His camp was below Algonquin Provincial Park. My two Brothers each hunted with rifles and one did scored on a blackie. My bow shot was only twentyfive yards from my treestand. The guide said wait till the bear is quartering away and your arrow will go right up in the vidals. Worked like a charm.
I love hunting bears with a bow and arrow, but my home state of New Jersey will not allow it. Maybe the state is worried about a bowhunter wounding a bear with an arrow, and the Bambi Lovers taking a photo of it for their anti bear hunting campaign.

[Montana]

I would say that I hunt between 85-95% of the time on some type of public land, be it National Forest, BLM, School Sections, and Block Management Areas. About 75% of the time I won't see another hunter but myself, but I park my pickup and walk in a good long ways. Did rattle in several younger bucks this year as well as a pair of hunters from MN, could have done without them "scoping" me with their rifles and told them so much when they came over to talk. We went 16 of 19 up elk hunting, three different camps that all help with the retrievals. Dad has harvested 3 bucks from our chunk of forest over the past decade that are giants. Some of the best upland bird hunting in this neck of the prairie is on public land as well.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Montana, you should clarify that Block Management is private land open to public hunting. Where are you located? I hunt up on the hi-line.

[Ncarl]

I wish I could say the same for the public hunting in my area. Its just to close to a big city. It really depends on where your talking about two. Here in the midwest everybody deer hunts and the the few public spots there are get run over. I hear the public hunting out west is about as good as any private ground because there is so much of it and its in such big chunks. That would be cool, never have to worry about having a place to hunt. Anyway, a guy can see some deer durring the first few weekends of bow season but once the deer get some pressure they can get pretty scarce.

[Montana]

OHH, thanks for pointing out my oversite. As OHH said block management is private land open to public hunting. I'm located in the southeastern corner of the state. Wyoming is below us and South Dakota is only a hop skip and a jump away.

[erikgilbert]

I like to hunt public land during less popular seasons- i.e. muzzleloader and bow season. shot gun deer hunting is hit and miss. look for a trailhead w/ out any cars