Hunting Pressured/Public Bucks
Posted by Bryan on September 5, 2007
With the ongoing discussion we’ve been having about hunting leases, private hunting property, and public hunting (see posts on leasing and landowners), I thought I’d share some tips I use to increase my odds when hunting pressured whitetails. As I’ve stated previously, I am able to hunt on private lands. However, since I cannot afford a lease, these lands are hunted by others. I never know when or where other hunters will be…or what they are doing. Here are some things I do to up my odds:
- Arrive at my stand 20 - 30 minutes before other hunters. This allows my stand to quiet from my entrance, and the other hunters will push deer toward me during their entry into the woods.
- Be mobile: I try to have several stands at my disposal. I used to move because of wind direction, but now I pay just as much attention to other hunters. I also try to be creative. If I have to hunt from the ground, I will. I try to follow the deer that are being pushed around.
- Keep one step ahead of the game. Have any of you had to deal with hunters using your stands? That’s been a big issue for my father and me over the years. Instead of fighting the issue, we just make new stands every year. Instead of becoming addicted to one particular stand, we are always scouting and rethinking how we hunt certain areas. This helps us keep our tabs on where deer are, and it keeps us a step ahead of other hunters.
- Hunt several properties. I like to have at least 3 completely different hunting properties at my disposal (with several stands on each property). This year, I only have 2 properties with multiple stands, so I’ve scouted local public lands just in case.
- Hunt late into the season. As a high school and college athlete, I’ve never had much time to hunt the early and rut seasons. For several years in a row, my first trip to the woods came after Christmas. I’ve met some hunters who choose not to hunt until January because hunting pressure dies down, and deer are on the move searching for reliable food sources. If you find yourself celebrating the New Year with your buck tag yet to be filled, be persistent throughout January. You’ll likely have the woods to yourself.
deer, hunting, January, late season, pressured deer, public landIf you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
All very good tips. I do often find myself doing the same things over and over again. I cannot for this year however, because the property is new so every stand out there is a treasure just waiting to be had. I cannot wait.
I am going to try and use a few of these different techniques, except for the January tip, since our hunts all end in January in Michigan…!:)
September 5th, 2007 at 10:17 am
Arthur, best of luck on your new property this year! I hope it works out well for you. I have found that I know a property pretty well by my third year hunting. Years 1 and 2 have a steep learning curve…but they also still have huge potential for rewards!
Glad you enjoyed the tips…
September 5th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Those are all very good tips and I am sure they will come in handy. Private land as well as leased property are getting slimmer by the year.
September 5th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
This will be my second season hunting deer. I only have access to public land here, so I really need to heed the advice of scouting out several promising areas. On both weekends of deer gun season last year, I had gangs of drivers walk right past me hootin’ and hollerin’ through the woods. I wished then that I had scouted another area as well as I had this one.
I have also been in the woods hours before sunrise, only to sit down and have people walk right over me to sit down nearby. I had walked over a mile into the area and still had people all around me. I can accept that with public land, but I really wish the DNR would limit deer drives to private lands.
September 5th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
Andy, I have had similar findings. Once I was hunting private property in WV that bordered some public land. The locals acted as if it was all public, and put a drive right under my tree stand…literally walked right under me. I have come to realize that it’s a bad idea to get into arguments with them…there are more of them than me, and there are weapons involved.
So what do I do? Well, there’s no simple answer, but I don’t think there is any shame in “cherry picking” these drives. I know that probably sounds bad, but here is my philosophy. They are messing me up and have no concern for me, so I’m going to do all I can to continue to hunt. I’m not intentionally trying to hurt their drive…just taking advantage of the current situation.
Rick, there is comment on another post by CDGarden (the Input from a landowner post) that offers a great perspective.
September 5th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Bryan, good post! Your tips are right on whether you’re hunting on private or public property!
September 5th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Bryan, another excellent article. As much as I try to keep a step ahead of others, I am a firm believer in wind direction. Just about each day I check the prevailing wind direction and that helps me make my decision on the stand I will choose to hunt. But this wouldn’t be very helpful if I am in a stand that has already been hunted been hunted by someone else. It’s all relative. Each piece of the puzzle is extremely important. Just focusing on one or two pieces isn’t very effective.
September 6th, 2007 at 1:23 pm