Finding less pressure on Public Land

[540-Virginian]

Curious if anyone has experienced less or little pressure on public lands in the last 2-3 years.

I'm hunting Virginia and outside of opening weekend, I rarely ever see another person in the woods. I see vehicles but usually one or two and never the person.

Curious If anyone else find hunting public land not so daunting or am I just getting lucky...

 

[TSAMP]

Similar here in Iowa. The public is not that pressured. Archery anyway. I live in a decent sized city and an extra 20 minute drive cuts the parking lot size in half. Combine that with hunting days during the week or crappy weekend weather and it feels like....wait for it.... "My public land"

 

[Ozarkansas]

I can't say that it's universally light pressure in my state but I've found it's very easy to find solitude during the late season or if you just put a little bit of elevation between you and the road. I've hunted opening weekend of modern gun without coming across any other hunters (despite seeing their cars and hearing gunshots) because I was hunting about 200-400 feet above the road. Closer to the road or on less rugged public areas can be a real mess though.

 

[wannabemountainman]

I hunt in 3 main regions of VA and I tend to agree with you. For deer and small game there’s little pressure in most of the places I go aside from opening day. On the other hand, an old duck hunting spot my family has hunted for several decades has been chock full of people the last 5 years. National Forest has also had more people on it this year compared to some.

 

[Laramie]

That sure isn't the trend out west. I have never seen more hunters in the field that I did this year while big game hunting.

 

[peterk123]

I just drove by one of my spots on my way for a walk with my wife. Five cars. About 150 acres. Ya, that should be a lot of fun. Uggh.

 

[kloppy]

Im a weekend warrior in Maryland and have had the same experience - outside of opening day (which I didnt hunt anyways) I have generally had the woods to myself.

 

[ShortMountain91]

Hit or miss in TN. Sometimes it's pretty empty, sometimes it's pretty full

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[GunsAreFun]

In my state, it’s pretty easy. Avoid the state owned lands because those are the most well known. Stick to federal land. Four years now since I’ve seen another person in the woods.

I might see six cars on opening day and that’s for a couple thousand acres of public land.

 

[wind gypsy]

I’ve found it pretty easy to get away from folks in northern mn but the hunting (deer at least) isn’t worth a shit anywhere near the cities is pretty crowded from what I’ve seen.

I do fear it’s only so long before the exposure to all of the podcast, forum, and YouTube content out there makes the now quiet public land pretty crowded. I know a lot of folks in MN who think they need access to private to hunt.. More info out there screaming otherwise might change some attitudes.

 

[TSAMP]

I’ve found it pretty easy to get away from folks in northern mn but the hunting (deer at least) isn’t worth a shit anywhere near the cities is pretty crowded from what I’ve seen.

I do fear it’s only so long before the exposure to all of the podcast, forum, and YouTube content out there makes the now quiet public land pretty crowded. I know a lot of folks in MN who think they need access to private to hunt.. More info out there screaming otherwise might change some attitudes.

The whole " you need private to hunt" is the most popular excuse across the board. Being a land owner it's almost always the first thing folks say is they just "need somewhere to get out and hunt" when asking permissions and it tells me alot about the person im speaking too. I hunt public still, why? Because it's there, its convenient, and has opportunities. I will admit the idea of competition can be a intimidating if you look at it that way though.

 

[540-Virginian]

I do hunt weekdays but even on opening day Saturday bow season I was able to drive past all the trucks to a little spot and have over 5k acres felt like to myself. I’m hunting National Forest and the deer are not as plentiful but I too hike up 500-1000k ft and a mile or more in to find them. But I still see nobody on the way in or out.

 

[540-Virginian]

The whole " you need private to hunt" is the most popular excuse across the board. Being a land owner it's almost always the first thing folks say is they just "need somewhere to get out and hunt" when asking permissions and it tells me alot about the person im speaking too. I hunt public still, why? Because it's there, its convenient, and has opportunities. I will admit the idea of competition can be a intimidating if you look at it that way though.

I have access to 700 acres of farmland managers for big deer. It’s more crowded than the National Forest and easier to hunt the bucks in National Forest I found - there are fewer though, but still there. I agree I find it fun.

 

[manitou1]

I think they are all hunting public land in Wyoming. Getting insane!

 

[FLAK]

Lost my private access earlier this year. And I recently moved here so I figured I would try out the public opps (state WMA's). I've always hunted Nat. Forest Land, quite sucessfully.
But these WMA's are covered up with people.
Lets just say I gotta do something different next season.

 

[TSAMP]

Lost my private access earlier this year. And I recently moved here so I figured I would try out the public opps (state WMA's). I've always hunted Nat. Forest Land, quite sucessfully.
But these WMA's are covered up with people.
Lets just say I gotta do something different next season.

Which state?

 

[jlh42581]

PA is a zoo, Im pretty sure its getting worse every year on public. I dont get it, theres a lot of land in places here where I live but its night and day different between private. Read... its shot to shit. I can hunt my buddies camp of 1500 acres and if we dont see 40 deer in a day Im shocked. Im lucky to see 40 a season on public and I bust my ass all over the place.

 

[Laramie]

You guys not seeing people should think before you post any specifics. Loose lips have ruined a lot of good hunting.

 

[DanimalW]

I would say that the OP is lucky. But I’m from Wisconsin. We have a ton of public land in the northern part of the state where there aren’t a lot of people or deer, and we have a ton of deer everywhere else in the state where there are more people and far less public land.
There was a post a while back about there being more hunters now than ever in western states where there’s a lot of public land, but numbers of hunters are decreasing in eastern states because land access is becoming difficult and/or expensive.

 

[Brendan]

I live near Boston, MA. It's a shit show on anything easy to access and publicly accessible in the eastern part of the state. Getting worse by the year. But, if I don't mind driving a little bit away from the city, I can get plenty of solitude.