By: Kendra Broome
Public Land hunting can become a challenge for hunters during Quota Hunts. It’s when hunters start coming out of the wood work looking to put meat in the freezer or put that big hoss on the wall during a four day hunt. In my state of Georgia bow season is the ideal time to hunt without overcrowding from other hunters on public land.
Here are just a few tips that I’ve learned over my 21 years of hunting public land. The further off the beaten path you go the better your chances of getting a big bruiser of a buck, but many hunters now days have begun to venture further back into the woods. The public land that I hunt is mountainous, so most of the hunters that travel deep into the woods stick to easy terrain, therefore I drop down to the ravines and gulfs into the dense overgrown areas. It’s a lot of work to get a huge buck out of which deters most hunters, but the payoff is the reward.
When you find yourself covered up with company deep back in the woods you can also back track. Everyone is looking for the shortest walks to your stand to be over populated. So it never hurts to check these places out when the pressures on way back off the trails.
Pressure also works in your favor on a four day hunt. The last two days of the hunt is always the busiest. That’s when I’m hunting the escape routes. These are easy to find if you think about it. If you don’t won’t to be seen going from place to place, what do you look for? Terrain that will keep you hidden and thick cover. There’s always breaks in both where you’ll get your chance sighting for a shot.
Early in the season on public land if you can find those tempting foods that deer just can’t pass up. I’m not talking about white oak acorns either. I’m talking about persimmons, muscadine, chestnuts and apples. That’s where you’ll find your best chances for a bruiser on public land before the rut kicks in.
Most public land hunters find big rubs and scrapes and hang their stands over these during the rut. Even if the sign looks very fresh, it doesn’t mean your going to fill your tag. Most sign from a big buck on public land is done after the sun goes down when the pressure is on. Find your biggest congregation of doe tracks and sign. Look for what I call the nursery. Does like to raise their fawns and hang out in the same areas year round. Finding fresh doe and fawn tracks during the rut will put you right on top of the action.
Last tip as far as public land hunting goes. If you can get to know property owners adjacent to public land and let you park your vehicle all the better. These are access points where other public hunters won’t have access to, especially when it comes to mountainous public land, which usually only has a limited amount of access and roads. Even better if the property owners give you permission to hunt. You would be surprised how many deer are pushed off a mountain in a 4 day period.
