Public Land Whitetail Hunt

[Kindo]

I would shy away from wi public land for gun season. The amount of public in wi is not much compared to the number of hunters. Bow hunting is another story but I won't hunt public with a gun in wi. And where there is a lot of public in the northern part of the state, overharvest and wolves have made for a poor deer herd.

I'm from the Trego, WI area and I can second this wholeheartedly. Finally got out bow hunting last weekend and saw more deer than I did all of last season (and that still wasn't all that many deer!). Our deer herd is still recovering from mismanagement along with a few tough winters and predators. I should further note that this is up in the northern region. There are still good deer in many place but I'd recommend staying south of Highway 70.

 

[Murdy]

Anybody ever look at Minnesota? I know they have an earlier gun season than most and I'm sure more public land than a lot of states, but I haven't really looked into it beyond that.

 

[Virginian]

Which state would be the best to go to for a public land whitetail hunt? I live in Virginia and hunt the mountains on the western side of the state. I'm not really concerned if I have to walk several miles or anything like that. I would prefer to not have people all over me or be all over someone else. I was looking at Wisconsin or Kansas but would like to hear your thoughts or preferences. I should probably add that I would be interested more in seeing a good buck than just a bunch of deer overall. Also, I would want to hunt either rifle or muzzleloader season and an added bonus would be if it wasn't the last two weeks of November/first few days of December so I wouldn't miss any season at home.

I'm in the same boat, being from Virginia and trying to put together a hunt out of state somewhere. I looked through all the responses and I didn't see anyone mention Indiana. I have actually been doing some research on a bow hunt there. I'm not sure if you are into archery but I think that would be a good semi-close hunt. North and South Dakota is another good option that seems pretty good. Kentucky would be good but most of the big bucks come out of the western part of the state which is mostly private land. Shoot me a PM if you want to chat a little about this.