Hunting public land

[drake123]

Just want to know what ur thoughts are on hunting public land around Wyoming, Stacy, Pine City and else where. I am playing on going out saturday morning in Carlos Avery. Does anyone know if Pine City has any public land that has some deer around, with less people??? Would it be worth a shot to try around that area as apposed to hunting with the zoo around Carlos!!?? Thanks

[Archerysniper]

I'm pretty sure in the pine city area rifle season runs through this sunday might want to check that out first. There is a big chunk of state land east of pine city called chenguatana sorry probable miss spelled it but it's public and I know people who take deer and bears out of there, I have only hunted it for grouse and snow shoe rabbits.

Carlos can be very good you just have to put your leg work in with the snow it will help.

[Archerysniper]

Also if you don't mind the drive shurburne refuge by zimmerman can get really good this time of year and is closed for blackpowder hunting.

[drake123]

I looked on the map at Chengwatana forest, and might give it a try. I hunted Carlos many times this year and have yet to see a nice buck in bow distance, so thought i might as well do some exploring on different land.

[1eyeReD]

I'd recommend you "Google Map" your target areas using the Satellite view. It will list most WMA areas (especially those that have been around) when you zoom in. I found a few using Google Map and have visited them afterward with ok results. I've found that most will have deer at the beginning of the season, but haven't seen much for bucks.

I scoped out Carlos Avery both years in a row and saw does and fawns within shooting range, but again that was early in the season. I checked out the Pine area with Google and saw a few dots of WMA's that I'd still like to visit some day and I believe there is a larger stretch of land that I believe is state forest east of Pine bordering WI.

I did see bucks, however at one location I've been frequenting and that was during the rut. At first, I was sure not to go back to this spot when I first went cuz there were more squirrel hunters and weekend warriors than what I was comfortable with, but that was on the opener (which is squirrel and archery opener on the same day). Anyway, they were shooter bucks... Not 150" and up bucks, but decent bucks. Biggest one I saw and flippin missed (deflected arrow off of twig) at 25 yds went about a good 140" - a giant in my 2 year career of bowhunting whitetails.

Key to the public land game is be the earliest to go out, go in the deepest and come out latest. The guys I talked to that went in no more than 1/4 mile didn't see much. I went in about 1 mile and got my climber up 1 full hr before sunlight. The walk in was a good 1/2 hr or more due to terrain and just as spooky everytime I went in there.

[1eyeReD]

Holy crud, 4 replies before I could finish. Yeah.. Chengatawasomethin' State forest. I wanna visit that place in the early season.

[drake123]

Well tried Chengwatana forest today. We sat in the woods for the whole day, and did not see one deer, nor any wildlife. It was dead out there today. It got hammerd today with pressure as you could usually see a dif group of hunters walking around every 30 min. It was freezing!!!!

[matchset]

go to the MN DNR HSOforum and look up WMA's. thats a great tool to help find public land

[MUSKY18]

If you look up the WMA's on the DNR webiste, there is a file you can download and then upload into Google Earth. It will show you every WMA in the state and it is very good tool. Lots of WMA's that I never knew about in my area.

[matchset]

Also if you don't mind the drive shurburne refuge by zimmerman can get really good this time of year and is closed for blackpowder hunting.

too bad a 21 pointer was already killed in there....geesh that was a nice buck! 199 5/8th!

[Wanderer]

Yeah, he was beaut!

My brother gave me the down low on that buck. It's a friend of his who shot it. I suppose the area will draw more attention now that a monster was taken there.

Not to discredit Glen (the shooter) at all; he has taken fine bucks in the past and knows how to hunt, but it was a classic case of picking the right spot to be when a rut crazed buck had a nose full of hot doe. Knowing where it was shot, it's hard to say if that buck lived on Sherburne or was just "dating" at the time.

Nonetheless, he was on public land and good for him.

[birdswacker]

Do you have to wear orange (in sherburne forest)if the muzzy season is on?

[nonteepical]

post a pic of that monster

yes you have to wear orange during muzzleloader.

[sticknstring]

There's no muzzleloader season in Sherburne NWR so you do not need to wear blaze orange.

[Bear55]

Yeah, he was beaut!

My brother gave me the down low on that buck. It's a friend of his who shot it. I suppose the area will draw more attention now that a monster was taken there.

Not to discredit Glen (the shooter) at all; he has taken fine bucks in the past and knows how to hunt, but it was a classic case of picking the right spot to be when a rut crazed buck had a nose full of hot doe. Knowing where it was shot, it's hard to say if that buck lived on Sherburne or was just "dating" at the time.

Nonetheless, he was on public land and good for him.

Those big public land bucks know how to survive at all costs, you have to be really good or really lucky to bag them, or sometimes a little of both. Not to take anything away from private land bucks but I like to give guys a little extra props for getting it done on public land. The odds are always against you.

[Musky Buck]

Yo Bear hear ya on the extra props, get this I have an uncle and he brings his daughter and between the 2 of them have bagged like 45 bucks on public land and roughly half of those I'd easily consider shooters, many dress at or over the 200lb mark, neither got 1 this year but uncle lost a real trophy, first buck he's ever lost, he's still not sleeping over that 1, they saw 14 bucks this season but only 1 shooter and the others may have been repeats, you can doubt me all you want anyone reading this but it's family legend in our family and so many know of this but he's just left alone on public land, I once thought I should beat him to that spot and see what he says lol, do your research and homework, he's got the cats meow costing him 0$ at tax time, when he passes on there will be family fistfights for his spot lol.

[Wanderer]

post a pic of that monster

He was in the Strib Wednesday outdoor section on either the 10th or the 17th. The pic I have on my cell is just the head/cape on the floor at the taxidermist. Not real good but enough to say "DANG!"

I give props to public land deer also. I know how tough it can be since I do the majority of my deer hunting on either public land or private that is accessible by others. I rarely if ever have total control of the areas I hunt.

With the Sherburne buck, the hunter had the sense to pick a good spot and made the shot count. Maybe that's all I should have said in the first place. Some of the rest of the story was about all the taxidermists that have called offering to mount it for him for free and he reportedly got a call from "Buckmasters" asking for his story. Glen reserves the right to tell it his way vs. hearsay reporting from me anyway.

Good luck everyone.

[Bear55]

Yo Bear hear ya on the extra props, get this I have an uncle and he brings his daughter and between the 2 of them have bagged like 45 bucks on public land and roughly half of those I'd easily consider shooters, many dress at or over the 200lb mark, neither got 1 this year but uncle lost a real trophy, first buck he's ever lost, he's still not sleeping over that 1, they saw 14 bucks this season but only 1 shooter and the others may have been repeats, you can doubt me all you want anyone reading this but it's family legend in our family and so many know of this but he's just left alone on public land, I once thought I should beat him to that spot and see what he says lol, do your research and homework, he's got the cats meow costing him 0$ at tax time, when he passes on there will be family fistfights for his spot lol.

No reason to doubt you Musky, I really think some of the best hunters in the world are guys you have never heard of before. They put the TV guys to shame in a lot of ways. I know a guy who gets a very nice buck every year with the bow. He hunts both private/public but he usually scores in a different location every year. He just goes out and finds these deer and hunts them down. I finally connected on a nice public land buck with my bow this year, all I will way is I spent close to 12 hours scouting this area and only a couple hours hunting before I connected. The more I learn about deer the less I hunt and the more I scout.

[sticknstring]

Here's a shot of Glen's deer.

Here's a different one, I think that first HSOforum is being overhauled.

[Bear55]

I can't see a photo stick.

[mrklean]

what a beast

[elkhuntingfan]

I would wear orange in Sherburne Refuge anyway. The DNR has 224(Sherburne) listed as an area where deer were taken by muzzleloader. I've run into several people who think it's open to muzzleloader. They didn't believe me when I told them otherwise. A lot of people don't read the regs or just aren't too bright.

[Bear55]

There it is, yep best is right on.

[Wanderer]

There's a pic in ODN this week also.

[Bear55]

There's a pic in ODN this week also.

Oh no! Now everyone will say our public lands are full of monster bucks.