WI Public land. Stories, tactics, recommended areas.

[Jslotter]

The recent topic about treestands possibly being allowed on public lands has got me wondering. This last bow season I hunted almost the entire season on public land. I actually found some good areas on smaller parcels. One 80 acre section in northern Dunn County I set up in has been awesome early bow season. Its a bottleneck of standing timber in between two marshes. Google earth helped me find that area. This spot allowed me to see 4 different bucks. 3 of them will be big if they survived this season. It might be different next year though. Who knows. I Haven't seen any other hunters at all during bow season. It was different for gun/deer season. Some of those areas got raked out good by hunters. A friend of mine hunted in the Chippewa county forest right around bow season opener. He didn't have much fun. Ran into all types of people I guess... I introduced him to the area I been hunting, and so far, he is enjoying his time alot better than where he was before. We drive by those thousand acre plus public lands and every weekend, the parking lots were always filled up. So, far, we have stuck to the smaller parcels. It has been working well for us. Anyone else have anything to share?

[DairyLandDeerHunter]

The recent topic about treestands possibly being allowed on public lands has got me wondering. This last bow season I hunted almost the entire season on public land. I actually found some good areas on smaller parcels. One 80 acre section in northern Dunn County I set up in has been awesome early bow season. Its a bottleneck of standing timber in between two marshes. Google earth helped me find that area. This spot allowed me to see 4 different bucks. 3 of them will be big if they survived this season. It might be different next year though. Who knows. I Haven't seen any other hunters at all during bow season. It was different for gun/deer season. Some of those areas got raked out good by hunters. A friend of mine hunted in the Chippewa county forest right around bow season opener. He didn't have much fun. Ran into all types of people I guess... I introduced him to the area I been hunting, and so far, he is enjoying his time alot better than where he was before. We drive by those thousand acre plus public lands and every weekend, the parking lots were always filled up. So, far, we have stuck to the smaller parcels. It has been working well for us. Anyone else have anything to share?

I'm experiencing the same sort of situation you are. We were fortunate for a number of years to hunt an 80 acre piece of private land in Adams County, and six years ago our friend who owned the property's wife passed away and he sold it to pay for her medical bills and funeral costs. He passed away shortly after her. We have now been hunting a small piece of public land in lower Adams County near our cabin, it's about 60 acres I would say, and have had some good luck. However, this past gun season, there were more people hunting it than I have ever seen. It used to be my father, my sister, and myself and maybe a couple other hunters, but this year there were almost twenty people hunting there.

We had a problem with one of the groups this year, but the rest were very nice and respectful. The good group we shared the land with also had problems with this other group I mentioned. We are mostly meat hunters, but if we get a chance at a buck we definitely will take it. I was fortunate enough to get a nice doe on the opening morning, and a nice 8 point buck on the last day of season. Most of these guys just come up for opening weekend and then head back home, and I believe this really helps with our hunt. We stay up all week, and only take Thanksgiving off to spend time with family, and the lack of hunting pressure the middle of the week through the closing weekend has really paid off for us.

Like you said Jslotter, you meet all kinds of hunters out there. Most are respectful, but some just should stay home. They can really ruin a hunt for others.

[Jslotter]

We ran into a few guys during gun season, they seemed cool. Last year, we went thru some public land over by where I used to live during gun season. The hunters in there before us left garbage everywhere in the woods. We found a garbage bag full of trash stuffed into a hole in a tree, empty pop cans everywhere. Some people can be idiots out there. I could have taken two bucks this year with a bow on public land that would have been the biggest I would have shot in my life. But, I filled my bow buck tag in Oct. . Had to let them walk. I took video of them too. One had one antler, he would have been a good buck if he had all his headgear. Here are the links.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVHy2DDB ... NgvlQZSavx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X81GjtOJ ... AnZjHDIvoS

[DairyLandDeerHunter]

We ran into a few guys during gun season, they seemed cool. Last year, we went thru some public land over by where I used to live during gun season. The hunters in there before us left garbage everywhere in the woods. We found a garbage bag full of trash stuffed into a hole in a tree, empty pop cans everywhere. Some people can be idiots out there. I could have taken two bucks this year with a bow on public land that would have been the biggest I would have shot in my life. But, I filled my bow buck tag in Oct. . Had to let them walk. I took video of them too. One had one antler, he would have been a good buck if he had all his headgear. Here are the links.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVHy2DDB ... NgvlQZSavx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X81GjtOJ ... AnZjHDIvoS

I liked the videos Jslotter, did you gun hunt out there this past season as well? If so, how did you do?

[pgchambers]

"We are mostly meat hunters, but if we get a chance at a buck we definitely will take it."

Any deer you take(on a public land hunt especially) is a trophy, so I will consider you a trophy hunter as well, if that is okay.

[DairyLandDeerHunter]

"We are mostly meat hunters, but if we get a chance at a buck we definitely will take it."

Any deer you take(on a public land hunt especially) is a trophy, so I will consider you a trophy hunter as well, if that is okay.

Haha fair enough pgchambers, and you're right every deer I am fortunate enough to harvest is a trophy in my book. My first deer was a large doe, and she holds the biggest place in my heart because she will always be my first deer.

[Jslotter]

We ran into a few guys during gun season, they seemed cool. Last year, we went thru some public land over by where I used to live during gun season. The hunters in there before us left garbage everywhere in the woods. We found a garbage bag full of trash stuffed into a hole in a tree, empty pop cans everywhere. Some people can be idiots out there. I could have taken two bucks this year with a bow on public land that would have been the biggest I would have shot in my life. But, I filled my bow buck tag in Oct. . Had to let them walk. I took video of them too. One had one antler, he would have been a good buck if he had all his headgear. Here are the links.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVHy2DDB ... NgvlQZSavx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X81GjtOJ ... AnZjHDIvoS

I liked the videos Jslotter, did you gun hunt out there this past season as well? If so, how did you do?

After opening weekend, I took a stroll through some those same public land sections. Wasn't expecting to see anything. Just wanted to go in and still hunt a little, and also went into some other sections I haven't seen yet to check it out. Seen no deer at all. They were there for sure before the orange army came in. Found some good rubs and marked some of those areas for next year's bow season. We spent one solid day hunting on public land with a gun this year, the other days were just still hunts. Kinda, "walk in, walk out" deals. Pretty much trying to bump some deer around. Nothing though.

[Bukmastr]

I hunt both public and private in Wisconsin. Mostly public. I have taken about 2 dozen bucks that would be big enough for P&Y if I entered them. I hunt all over the state, but mostly Southern Wisconsin. I live in S.E. Wisconsin so thats where I do the majority of my hunting. South central, and south Western Wisconsin have better hunting, but it was better here before the DNR started slaughtering the herd by giving out unlimeted cwd tags. In Western and South central Wisconsin I do my best hunting hilly terrain. In S.E. Wisconsin I do better in marsh's. The great thing about cattail marshes is a lot of deer hide in the cattails during gun season and don't get killed in massive gun drives like bucks in timber. So you have more deer that make it to maturity. I hunt about 5 or 6 days every week of the season unless I tag out, then I usually do an out of state hunt.

[Jslotter]

Most of the public land in my area has some form of swamp or marshy areas with it. I like to get on the fringes of those areas. I did that this year, and I was impressed what public land has to offer. Like I said, bow season in those areas are hardly visited by other hunters. I think the nasty swamp makes some hunters think twice sometimes about trying to get in and set up. Thats ok, My friend and I have taken advantage of that. Im looking forward to next season, and maybe get a chance at one of those bucks I seen this year. Like you said Dan, those cattail marshes hold the deer. I believe it. We found some cow paths for deer trails in those type of areas. I had doubts before about public land. Now Im a fan of it. If anyone here is a doubter, try it out yourself. Here is a link that I use to find good public grounds.

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/facilities/d ... pping.html

[Jslotter]

Here is an aerial map of a section of Public land I hunted this last season. Its a stretch of timber extending into a swamp. I found some massive rubs in the area inside the red lines. These rubs are about 20 inches in length on trees about big around as pop can. The white line is the public land boundary, the green dots is the swamp, the brown line is the edges of the timber, the blue is a flowing creek. Sorry for the depictions. Any advice, observations?