Hunting public land

So my friend you are left with the unenviable task of hunting public land. Mongo and Tard have come close but not yet scored on public land. We have learned a few rabbit pellets of wisdom that may decrease your frustration.

First, know this - most people are idiots. Coming from a guy named Mongo that probably doesn't go very far. But hey if I'm dumb and I'm calling them idiots they must be pretty bad. They will tromp around like big foot. They will wear leather boots soaked in the drippings of 10,000 sweat socks. Hell, they might take a pot shot at you! So get to know the habits of your fellow hunters, because their activities will make or break your public land hunting.

If your competition is like ours, they will probably stay near trail, usually within a quarter mile. So you go deep. They will all be there opening day and on the weekends. So you hunt late season and during the week. They will all flock to one area of the park. So you go somewhere that isn't obvious like near a road or isolated cover. They will not hunt all day. So you stay long and strong and let your competitors push the dear to you. They will push deer to the exits. You will stand guard at the borders.

Trying to hunt public land adds the goofy dimension of human behavior. Not only must you know the deer and their habits but you must also know the strange and unpredictable human herd. Its kinda like 3D chess that they play on the old Star Treck show. Be Spock not Scotty. Everyone you meet is competition. Become paranoid of them - especially since they carry weapons!

Probably the best thing to increase your odds with public land is to find areas that are less pressured or newly opened to hunting. Check with your state's DNR for abatement programs or private managed forest lands that allow hunting. In one of our neighboring states there are programs that allow hunting on private lands in exchange for lower property taxes. In just one county I researched, they had 52,000 acres open to hunting. If you can read a plat map, you can hunt.

Good luck public hunter. We've gotten as far as seeing deer from stand. You could be the one to bag a public monster.