FNG from MD

NB7

WKR
Joined
Jul 8, 2020
Messages
365
Hello all. Checked out this site a bunch over the last few months in I guess what others call "lurking". It's a great site with lots of useful information. Seems to be a lot of guys willing to help each other out...when the proper etiquette is followed. Figured I'd go ahead and jump in and join and post so I can get to the point where I can get past those 10 initial posts.
 
OP
N

NB7

WKR
Joined
Jul 8, 2020
Messages
365
So I’m gonna go ahead and start working towards those initial 10.
 
OP
N

NB7

WKR
Joined
Jul 8, 2020
Messages
365
Yes, I’m an east coast flatlander, but I actually began hunting blacktails in NorCal as a kid, hiking and camping with my dad. Never could forget the smell of pines in the western mountains, looking for them in the Shasta-Trinity area. Avid bowhunter since I was 13. Made my way out for a successful archery elk hunt on a P&Y bull in the Gila a few years ago. Knew I’d be back out west for more western hunting as soon as some more things fell into place with family and work life. This year’s been upside down and plans for 2020 got changed but I’m already planning a few potential trip possibilities 2021 pending next year’s draw outcomes and OTC fallback plans.
 
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NB7

WKR
Joined
Jul 8, 2020
Messages
365
Last few years I’ve been becoming a little, guess you could say, disenfranchised with hunting in the mid-Atlantic. I’ve got access to some decent spots and I manage to kill a nice whitetail here and there, but the factors are grinding on me…lease fees, trespassing problems, increasing pressure, and all the BS associated with it…..pressure to manage farms like miniature ranches in which everyone’s gotta out-do their neighbor with food plots/attractants/bait, constantly dealing with other a-holes trying to move in on your spots and hunting rights, guys acting like killing a 140-150” mature buck is amateur and that they would have passed on it when you know darn well they wouldn’t have, etc, etc, on and on.
 
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NB7

WKR
Joined
Jul 8, 2020
Messages
365
Decided I’d rather hunt the handful of free small spots here at home on occasion and spend the lease money instead on funding a week or two of western road trips every year instead. I’d just as soon log the experience with family or close friends doing that, even if the success rate is lower than the sure thing here at home. I’m constantly researching things to make these trips happen and hopefully be successful and hope this forum site only adds to that.
 
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NB7

WKR
Joined
Jul 8, 2020
Messages
365
I know those problems I’m complaining about above are more and more common everywhere, and I suppose it will make me the very guy adding to the pressure part of it to someone else’s western area in whatever state that may be. But I’d rather switch it up and put my time in out west, at least until I can hopefully move out that way as soon as I can retire 9 years from now. In the meantime, I hope I can continue to learn from this site and maybe once in a while contribute. I’ve got a few questions I’d like to post now and then so we’ll see how it goes. Thanks in advance.
 

jmh00043

FNG
Joined
Jul 3, 2020
Messages
60
Hello all. Checked out this site a bunch over the last few months in I guess what others call "lurking". It's a great site with lots of useful information. Seems to be a lot of guys willing to help each other out...when the proper etiquette is followed. Figured I'd go ahead and jump in and join and post so I can get to the point where I can get past those 10 initial posts.
They guys will offer a piece of small advise here and there. Small advise. Most of the time an out of state guy will say “I’m wanting to do this“... followed by the members or native westerners saying how stupid there are to hunt that unit.
 
OP
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NB7

WKR
Joined
Jul 8, 2020
Messages
365
Well, I mean more in line with guys willing to discuss opinions on gear and technique. I always keep expectations low when it comes to nything involving intel, and then evaluating counter-intel. I'm not going to be fishing for unit specific info, I know better than that. But hope that maybe some general things may get a genuine answer now and then.
 

jmh00043

FNG
Joined
Jul 3, 2020
Messages
60
Well, I mean more in line with guys willing to discuss opinions on gear and technique. I always keep expectations low when it comes to nything involving intel, and then evaluating counter-intel. I'm not going to be fishing for unit specific info, I know better than that. But hope that maybe some general things may get a genuine answer now and then.
I know not to ask about units too just from reading. I understand people put there time and money into it but I mean dang... if someone wanted to come hunt or fish down south and asked me I would let them hunt my private land... guess that is just how I was raised though
 

GrayGoose

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 19, 2020
Messages
147
Location
Minnesota
Welcome! I just needed this post for 10. But as a fellow flatlander in the midwest I agree. The white tail world has become crazy with the leases, food plots, and everything else. I luckily have a small patch of family ground to hunt on but cant ever see myself investing in food plots and what not to. I like to hunt deer not raise them.
 

hartigjosh

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 28, 2019
Messages
107
I am also residing in Maryland. Lived in California, Texas, Iowa, Ohio and now here. Your posts got me thinking about "locals"
Its amazing how different every state is when it comes to hunting. In California growing up there was a lot of public land but it was always so limited for various factors. And the hunting community felt like a silent minority. The hunting culture just wasn't front and center. Then I moved to Texas and it felt like if you didn't hunt you weren't from there or acclimated yet. And everything was private. Felt like everyone either owned or had a relative who owned a "ranch." It was a great place to learn to hunt shoot fish. It felt like the opposite of California in a lot of ways bc it was.
My biggest takeaway from all of my experiences living in all these states is there will always be locals and they will always have their local info that they keep tight and cherish. And they dont like sharing with outsiders on public forums like these. BUT when I have met them face to face or at a bar in a town before my hunt they couldnt be any nicer and more accommodating. I think social media has ruined the reputation of "locals"
The closest thing you will get to face to face with the "locals" on this forum is the private messages. Many locals have reached out on posts i have made and been more than helpful.. Dont let what you see on the public forum discourage you, the locals are here and helpful.
 

Peterony

FNG
Joined
Jun 30, 2020
Messages
24
New guy from md also. I fortunately in an area where we have a little bit of land so I can’t sympathize there, but many of the farmers around us lease and I think it’s crazy what they charge people to hunt maybe 10 acres of woods. It’s no wonder hunting numbers are down across much of the country. I’m hoping to get somewhere and try my hand at public land hunting be it locally for white tails or go out west, so we’ll see what happens. If nothing else, we should learn a lot and see some cool new country.
 
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
8,823
Location
Shenandoah Valley
Welcome.

I can understand inviting people to hunt your private land, I do it all the time. Wait til you take someone in on public ground to a spot it took you years to find, only to come back later to find they returned and brought friends. I see both sides of it. Gets tough to find animals on public. A lot of the reaction comes from it seems like people are just trying to take the easy road. If you want a diy experience, you got to put in the time and miles yourself.

I'll regret saying it but make the drive down into the valley. We have a good amount of public land. Gotta find the animals tho.
 
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