Public Land Whitetail Hunt

[sneaky]

There’s a lot of WT in northern ID, and gun season opened 10 Oct.

Took this guy the other day on public.


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thinking about doing that hunt again around Thanksgiving. Hunted 10A last time I did it, but that was 2014. I like the change of pace that offers.

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[Smash]

You could always try Michigan. Not the massive bucks or herd like the rest of the Midwest but if you do your home work you can get on some nice game. I live in northern Michigan and pretty sure out of state hunters need to buy the base license for like 115 then the deer tag is like 25 bucks so not bad. The biggest deer I have seen come from the southern part of the state like Jackson and hills dale. Archery leaves lots of woods open but the rifle season November 15 until December is like world war 3.

 

[Desk Jockey]

PA or NY from the Hudson valley north. Close drive and Both states have tons of public land and easy tags and fit your timeframe. PA has the most public land of any eastern state. Get a mile or two from a parking lot and the crowd gets thin fast. Bow hunting season is long in both states.

 

[Glendon Mullins]

I would try Ohio or Kentucky for the size of the bucks, for the adventure I would look at the Adirondacks. those are a couple hunts i have my eye on for somewhat close to home adventures

 

[WV Mountaineer]

I live and bow hunt the 4 bow only counties in WV. If you got the will, lungs, and the legs, I'll point you in a direction. Week before Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving is the best time to catch a big one on it's feet. They are moving a lot and a long ways trying to clean up on the remaining does by then. Good luck and God Bless

 

[PAbow84]

I'm a PA hunter but travel all over in pursuit of whitetails. To begin with, you are going to have a much more difficult time finding an unpressured rifle hunt as opposed to muzzleloader. Not to say you couldn't find places, it's just not as easy. Between Kansas and Wisconsin, I would definitely choose to do a Kansas Muzzleloader hunt. The season starts early in September which means it won't interfere with your VA season. You will have to contend with standing crops, hot weather and bugs, but will not be bothered with other hunters. There is an abundance of public land and there are actually people in Kansas that will give permission to hunt their land (unheard of in PA). I've even had someone offer to let me hunt their farms without me asking them. Kansas is a beautiful state that offers a lot of diversity in the terrain and landscape depending on where you go. It's by far my favorite place to hunt and is on my list of destinations almost every year. There are Giants roaming around, but like anywhere, they didn't get big by being dumb. Early season means you'll being doing most of your hunting in the first and last few hours of the day. This is not a big deal because it leaves a lot of time for taking in the sights and scouting other areas. The biggest downfall to Kansas is that a Non-Resident deer permit and license is around $550. I'm not loaded and I think the price is well worth the experience. Rifle season doesn't have as much pressure as back east, but there are still more people than I'd want to contend with. If you would prefer to rifle hunt another state to maybe consider would be Nebraska. Regardless of where you go, any hunting trip is better than staying at home.

 

[D_Eightch]

For rifle season, and this is based on my extensive research, not necessarily first hand experience, I would think about throwing states like MT, ID, WA, maybe N&SD in the mix. I've done most of my hunting in PA, OH, and WV and here is why I say that....

Out East here, hunting can be tremendous for archery season hunting the rut, rifle season is pretty shitty in my eyes. The deer are worn to the ground from rutting. Most areas get a ton of pressure and the deer just lay low and wait out the season. Natural daytime movement on public is virtually nil. To succeed and kill deer, you need some hunting pressure to move deer around, otherwise the deer just lay up. So often trying to seek solitude is counter productive in those areas. Weekdays you almost have to team up and do drives. Out West hunter density in rifle is crazy low and I think most of those states have seasons that coincide with the rut. I don't travel to rifle hunt but if I did that's the kind of experience I would lean toward.

Not being the typical jerk just because I live here, but chances of Drawing in ND are fairly slim and the amount of public land we do have gets hammered by residents. There is a lot of option in the PLOTS so not saying there isn't opportunity out there, but ND would be down my list on out of states to hunt Whitetail.

 

[ncstewart]

If you decide on Arkansas shoot me a pm. I will try and help ya.


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[rayporter]

last year we took a trip to the chatahoochie nf in georgia. lots to land and never seen a hunter. the rangers were very helpful. there is a ranger check in station just south of blairsville to ask questions.

we were about 2 miles off the blacktop and near the applachian trail.
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[blackdawg]

Mississippi and Arkansas have big tracts of public land, good herds, late rut, long seasons and reasonable prices. You might even be able to make it a combo hunt with some waterfowl action. I located some tremendous mallard shooting once when I was sitting in a treestand. Those ducks had been living the easy life until I showed up and wrecked the party.

 

[VAHunter01]

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 don't have any suggestions for you, because I just deer hunt here in VA, but curious as to where you're at in the Western part of the state?

 

[bperdue21]

Bath County

 

[VAHunter01]

Bath County

Smyth Co. area here. Not far away.

 

[AdamW]

Man, you guys recommending MO must have had different experiences than my very limited ones hunting public land here in MO. I need to learn our own state's public lands better I think.

 

[Titan_Bow]

I'm from Colorado, and hunt public land in Nebraska every year. Lots of deer, but the age structure is pretty young on the parcels I've hunted. The rifle season is right in the peak of the rut.. My 12 year old little boy just shot his first archery deer, a little year and a half buck in our favorite spot. We hunted 4 weekends back to back, and probably saw more than 100 deer in those 4 weekends. We saw multiple bucks every time we sat a stand. The area we hunt, you can spot and stalk mulies in the middle of day, and tree stand hunt mornings and evenings. I shot a big fat mulie doe the day before my son arrowed his buck

 

[tthompson4]

I grew up in Wisconsin and still go back every year for the gun deer season to hunt public land. If you want to see a good buck I think the best option there would be scout the week before gun deer opens to find the deer. Then hunt Saturday and Sunday of the gun season. You will see lots of people though. The deer will not be moving much by Sunday afternoon. After that drives are the best way to see deer.


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[JustinSmith1754]

Illinois during the rut has been good to me, but you do have to contend with lots of people. I️ found success in hunting pinch points and escape corridors within a 1/2 mile radius of the best buck sign I️ found. Everyone piled in on the scrapes and rubs, and bumped the deer right to me.


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[Felix40]

Texas actually has quite a bit to offer. You can kill 5 deer if you spread them out over a couple counties. Plenty of decent bucks these days too. If I could get out as much as I like I think I could use all of my tags.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Man, you guys recommending MO must have had different experiences than my very limited ones hunting public land here in MO. I need to learn our own state's public lands better I think.

You really do. We have some of the best whitetail hunting anywhere.

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[sneaky]

You really do. We have some of the best whitetail hunting anywhere.

Live2hunt custom shelters

Yep. I've seen some absolutely great bucks on public land in Missouri.

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