Hunting Deep on public lands

[humblehunter22]

Hey Everyone, I would like to hear your thoughts on tackling the concept of hunting deep on public lands? I know the popular saying whenever someone ever asks about any type of hunting in regards to public or state lands no matter what state you go to the popular answer that is always mentioned out of the gate is go deep and hunt deep. So how far in do you consider deep? I will say for me the furthest in I have killed a deer on public land was right at 3.5 miles back on a particular piece of public that is local to me. I have found myself that once I started focusing my scouting efforts on any area after the 2 mile marker was hit on my distance tracker I noticed better signs and discovered that I was started to encounter more game in the field while on my trips out than before when I typically hunted within 500 yards of any roads or trails. Yes it is certainly both taxing and challenging making the long distance trecks in and out of the woods the same day with distances like such I mentioned but, at the same time I always find that thrill of exploring pockets and sections of woods that I feel good with the odds being that not many people venture into or on a regular basis more or less. With all of that being said and taken into consideration how exactly do those of you that really put your hiking boots on and go for a long walk back into the woods, how do you tackle these situations as far as hunting i.e. mornings, all day sits, afternoons, hunting out of a stand vs on the ground? Matters like these. I will say myself when I do plan on going deep back into an area I try to plan for an entire days worth of hunting or until i kill something so i am not trecking back and forth as frequently especially to minimize my presence within the area I intend to hunt, as well in times past I have found myself trying to navigate my way back to the spots I plan to hunt well under twilight hours to allow me plenty of time to make it to my location without having to rush but at the same time feel as if I'm doing more harm then good by stumbling around in the brush during the dense periods of darkness under minimal light, and lastly I do at times tend to find myself always on extreme caution as if the slightest little slip up will ruin the days hunt if it doesnt all go to plan how i have it played out in my head at least due to the conditions under which i am dedicating myself to burning an entire days trip for to be in a specific location.

 

[garveywallbanger]

been hunting management areas for 33 years. 100s of deer kills all over the state of Georgia. Ive gone deep and hunted road crossings with equal success. The key is location location location and the ability to get the crosshairs on deer quickly and take them. Did I mention location? Deer do not use the whole management area. My grandaddy always said never hunt deer too far from the church bell.

 

[BASS1FUN]

I believe it depends on the sign you find I killed one this morning and I was 1/3 of a mile from my truck, I killed one last year and shot another that I could see my truck (140 yards away)

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

Hunt the sign where you find it. WMA deer don't try to out run hunters, they try to avoid them. I've killed them with a bow so close to the road I could see what people had in the bed of their trucks when they drove by.

 

[strothershwacker]

I like going way back but have found that if I'm willing to walk, climb, slide and grunt my way back in there, then so will someone else. I don't care how deep you go your apt to run into someone else. I was 2 miles into cohutta and ran into a 71 year old man that had come even further than me. I enjoy the exploration and adventure of backpacking but like others have said there's plenty of overlooked game closer to the truck. I like hidden little overlooked spots for quick evening spots. Fixn to head to one now?

 

[Semi-Pro]

I got 100 ac. To hunt and i hunt beside the subdivision. Prob 100 yds to 2 houses. But the deer like their gardens and flowers. So i cut them off

 

[1eyefishing]

I'm too old to hunt deep.
Found this one within a quarter mile of the campground on a popular North Georgia WMA...

 

[livinoutdoors]

Hunt deep for the adventure, but more success close to the road in some places, just depends.

 

[7Mag Hunter]

IMO, the key to success to hunting public land, ether WMAs or Chatt/ONF is finding
places the deer do not feel pressure.....I largely avoid foot travel only trails, creek bottoms, HW flats , and other easy to park/access places that humans find easy trails into the woods..
I use topo maps and drive the roads to find difficult to access/thick road access areas
and park down the road and thread my way back around the thicket/briars to find hidden spots that others drive by shaking their heads , saying, "that area is to thick"...

Found a spot like that on a popular WMA years ago, and took a noon day scout trip
past a large briar patch about 100 yds into the woods toward a creek off the main WMA road and jumped/harvested a nice doe....

 

[gma1320]

Public land areas where one can walk 2 or 3 miles and not run into another road are few and far between. The best strategy i have is to just go where other people don't. It might be a thicket on the side of the road you have to crawl through or place where there is not a pull off to park. Or it might be a long walk in. Just depends on where the deer sign is. Key point, at a wma i like to hunt, I wanted to stay away from people. So found an overlooked spot. Walked in through a jungle and it opened up to a beautiful bottom with some great edge habitat that was covered in sign. I then proceeded to blow my opportunity at fine buck cause i seen the doe and not him. Also found a nice shed with decent mass and 5 points on the way out.

 

[Buford_Dawg]

My 2 best spots on a NE GA WMA are within seeing distance of the main road into the WMA. It is a thicket on both side of the road for about 200 yards on each side and seeing distance is about 40 yards, but get 20 foot up a tree and get ready. Use to be on opening day of the hunt, it was just a matter of time before a buck came by. Hadnt hunted those 2 spots in 10 years now, but I bet they would still produce.

 

[dpoole]

I shot a buck this year on a quality buck quota hunt that if all the leaves were off the trees you could see the check station it ain’t always required to walk miles to find deer hunted that spot all 3 days of the hunt never saw another hunter. I could hear them talking at the check station

 

[NCHillbilly]

The key isn’t distance from the road, but distance from other hunters. I sometimes go miles in, but most of my most consistently productive spots over the years have been little unhunted pockets only a few hundred yards in. The keys are lots of scouting after the season and having a good strategy to slip in and out undetected, both by the deer and by other hunters.

Often, it seems like the further in i go, the more people I run into.

It is also a lot more pleasant getting your deer back out when you’re a couple hundred yards off the road or water than when you’re three miles in and it’s getting dark.

 

[humblehunter22]

I wanted to provide an update on top of thanking everyone who provided alot of great tips, wisdom, advice and constructive thoughts regarding the topic I had posted about last season regarding hunting deep. That being said i took both aspects into consideration for both shallow hunting and deep hunting. To update regarding the concept of picking a shallow, overlooked setup i did manage to see a nice 2 2 1/2 yr old 8 point during my 1st set in an area I'd kept tabs on unfortunately a group of hunters across the way harvested his lady friend that he was working the woods with en route to where i was set up. Thus causing him to go into alert mode and i was never able to get him to stop long enough for a solid shot opportunity. As far as the concept of deep hunting I picked a location that was for the matter separated apart from the rest in terms of distance, access, and terrain it was a bear to get into. That being said i decided upon a lone hardwood ridge that ran the length and split a particular creek bottom of which on both sides of this 1 ridge in particular you could tell it had the "it" sign you would or at least i thought at the time you should look for. On 2 sides it had 2 distinct well worn heavily used creek crossings to and from this ridge in particular on 1 side there was a solid rub and scrape line that traced around the base of the ridge winding perpendicular to the established doe trails that were woven into the bottoms surrounding it. I decided to follow said rub line on up to the peak of the ridge to where i felt like i was in an optimal position to cover the high ground and had good depth on both sides enough to see what was moving around if anything did. Well the hunt itself didn't produce any activity. However on my way out for my lengthy hike back to the parking area I was headed back utilizing a series of access road for a powerline when all of a sudden a gaggle of 3 does came piling out within 50 yards of me close enough to wake me up. Being it was a buck only rifle hunt I stopped in place and got caught up watching the ladies cross over to the other section of timber when I realized they were looking back and above where they had ran out from to notice a really nice 9 point standing out on the woods edge about 100 yards or better from where i was standing and you could piece 2 and 2 together to figure out what he was doing. That being said the both of us being caught off guard I tried to steady myself and made sure I had a solid shot but unfortunately so I ended up missing trying to freehand taking a knee with stand and pack on my back still. But it was a great encounter he didn't spook to bad and ended up doing a slow trot to the other side of the woods to meet up with the does to resume his chase. And yes I followed him in my scope immediately after my shot and as he crossed over to ensure I had a clean miss and walked to point of impact to double check. Afterwards I marked where they came out at for future reference and followed up this summer by investigating the stretch of woods he came out of to find a killer set up thats equally as deep distance wise and thick. Looking forward to the coming season and trying my luck out.