Backpack hunt on public land

[Tree Stand Chronicles]

I have a couple private farms that I've been hunting in Kentucky for about ten years, and it has given me the opportunity to develop a serious addiction to hunting whitetails. I'm now thinking about expanding my options to out of state public land hunts. Looking to get out in the middle of nowhere and hunt deer that have never seen a person. Don't care how far I have to hike, how long I have to be out there, or what state it's in. Would love to have a conversation or 2 with anyone that has done this or has any info to point me in the right direction to any places that might make for a good spot to try and pull this off next year. One buck tag a year just ain't doing it for me anymore.

 

[Rober2wt]

lLooking to get out in the middle of nowhere and hunt deer that have never seen a person.

This may be harder to accomplish than you realize. Maybe the boundary waters in MN?

 

[tkhuntsman]

I have a couple private farms that I've been hunting in Kentucky for about ten years, and it has given me the opportunity to develop a serious addiction to hunting whitetails. I'm now thinking about expanding my options to out of state public land hunts. Looking to get out in the middle of nowhere and hunt deer that have never seen a person. Don't care how far I have to hike, how long I have to be out there, or what state it's in. Would love to have a conversation or 2 with anyone that has done this or has any info to point me in the right direction to any places that might make for a good spot to try and pull this off next year. One buck tag a year just ain't doing it for me anymore.

Go west young man! MT, WY, Easter CO. Plenty of open space decent deer numbers and there's even a few big ones. Do your research scout it lace em up and you can hike till you drop if you so desire. They all offer rifle seasons during the rut. The list goes on and on.

 

[Macintosh]

Tons of fairly accessible places to do this. Do some searching on this site and you’ll find lots of options. The west has a lot to offer in this regard but tags are much harder to come by, so my advice would be to start researching tags in the west for future trips and make that happen, but also to find some trips you can do that involve OTC tags. The hunting that I know of in the east that meets your description is all fairly far north and will have pretty darn low deer density but a pretty high adventure quotient being mainly off trails, etc. I know there are larger areas of national forest, etc all over that could work, Im just not as familiar. But search around for info on hunting in northern maine, N new hampshire, the Adirondacks in northern NY, northern Michigan, Wi, Mn and boundary waters, etc. Just pick somewhere that grabs your attention and go. I just spent my birthday weekend camping several miles from the nearest road and hunting in a public land area like you described that is a 1.5 hour drive from home for me with my wife, brother and another friend; 2 people got deer in our group of 4, and all four of us got tags for cumulatively less $ than the price of one NR WY or CO deer tag. The deer had seen people, its not mega-huge wilderness, but we were there on the opening day of a gun season and saw 2 other people the entire trip and found the deer acting very un-pressured. If a trip like that works for you theres oodles of places you can do this.

 

[timekiller13]

Plenty of places within a couple hours drive of you. Deer densities may not be high but if you want solitude and adventure then you don’t have to look far.

George Washington and Jefferson NF in Va is nearly 2 million acres.

The Monongahela NF in West Virginia is almost 1 million acres.

Adirondacks in up state NY is a few million acres.

Or you can go to the deep woods wilderness of northern Maine. That’s something around 10 million acres of nothing but woods.

 

[WCB]

If you are looking for specifically whitetail hunts like this out west....eh. You can hoof it in deep and kill whitetails but generally aren't gong to be in the type of solitude you describe. Like others have mentioned I think Northern Maine and BWC in MN would be your most wild wilderness solitude experience.

 

[Steve300xcw]

About the time you think you are way back there and nobody has been there before. You will find a stump

 

[Leverwalker]

I have a couple private farms that I've been hunting in Kentucky for about ten years, and it has given me the opportunity to develop a serious addiction to hunting whitetails. I'm now thinking about expanding my options to out of state public land hunts. Looking to get out in the middle of nowhere and hunt deer that have never seen a person. Don't care how far I have to hike, how long I have to be out there, or what state it's in. Would love to have a conversation or 2 with anyone that has done this or has any info to point me in the right direction to any places that might make for a good spot to try and pull this off next year. One buck tag a year just ain't doing it for me anymore.

Watching. Funny, timing; basically asking the same thing on another thread.

 

[KHNC]

You will be back to thinking how great Kentucky is before long. I love KY public land myself. Private is even better tho.

 

[Macintosh]

^^maybe. But that’s half the reason to travel sometimes. When you know for a fact that YOUR grass is greener than it is across a lot of other fences based in your personal priorities and aesthetics, that isnt a bad thing. But you have to experience it for yourself to know it.

 

[Tree Stand Chronicles]

Plenty of places within a couple hours drive of you. Deer densities may not be high but if you want solitude and adventure then you don’t have to look far.

George Washington and Jefferson NF in Va is nearly 2 million acres.

The Monongahela NF in West Virginia is almost 1 million acres.

Adirondacks in up state NY is a few million acres.

Or you can go to the deep woods wilderness of northern Maine. That’s something around 10 million acres of nothing but woods.

Thanks for the advice I'd rather do more walking than driving. I'll definitely check in to it.

 

[KHNC]

Once you get "5 miles in" you will have it all to yourself.