State land can be some of the best Hunting areas around
State land/Public land can be some of the best hunting areas around if you do your scouting and time you hunts correctly.
I do most of my hunting on state land so you could imagine how much I have to contend with. I spend all year watching my favorite piece of state land to see who goes in it and where they go in it. Granted it is task that would make most guys give up and move on but I will testify that by putting in all that time pays off, state land is where I have harvested 80% of all the deer I have taken in the last 17 years.
The one thing that makes it even harder for me to keep tabs on is I have a nature trail that goes through my area from one end to the other. It usually has people hiking it or guys on mountain bikes at all times of the day. During deer season it can be very beneficial to have people on that trail. The deer are very use to this so they don’t get spooked but they do keep there distance which could make for well known stand locations if you have done your scouting.
You never know what your going to see or who your going to see on state land especially in my area. You have to be able to adapt to the amount of pressure that it gets during deer season. I have hunted this area for seventeen years now so I have a pretty good idea what spots get pressured the most so you can figure that I will be somewhere else.
One important fact that I need to mention is that you can not assume that you are always alone. I have been at full draw with a bow on a deer that was going to step out in my shooting lane when all of a sudden I had a guy with his wife and INFANT all dressed in white come walking up the trail behind me. Obviously I did not shoot and all I got was a ” We are sorry ” and a laugh as they walked away. There was this other time when I was sitting in my stand right at day break and in the swamp up above my location was some duck hunters blasting away like it was wartime and then the next thing I knew I had steel pellets bouncing off my tree stand platform, at that point I gave up and went home. There was this one time when a friend and me were muzzleloader hunting in this area. We were about 60 yards apart when all of a sudden we heard bells. It was a group of 3 guys with jingle bells that were doing a deer drive and they walked right between us like we were not even there. Let me tell you, I was really pissed off for one thing that was rude and for another it is illegal in the state of Connecticut to perform deer drives. So what I am trying to get at is you need to be aware of what is around you at all times whether on state land or private land.
Another thing I want to mention is that there are some people that don’t have the ethics that some of us have so if you hunt state land and you use a fixed position stand make sure you chain it to the tree and before you leave the woods you should take your tree steps out. Otherwise the next time you go out your tree stand might not be there and yes I am speaking from experience. I had my best tree stand at the time stolen so now I use a climber. It goes in with me and it leaves with me. I still use a fixed position once in awhile but it is something that I pieced together and if it get stolen than I am just out a stand that did not cost me anything.
Don’t let any of the bad stuff I mentioned scare you off. I have learned to take it for what it is and I have learned to use it to my advantage and if you can learn than it will pay off for you like it does for me.