just out of curiosity?

[vister]

i was just curious. by reading some of the posts the past few weeks, how many of you guys, or gals, hunt on and own private property? seems like a lot of hunters hunt public land. I myself have access to about 400 acres of meadow/swamp/woods to hunt. My dad owns quite a bit of river bottom, which hopefully i'll have some day. I'd have to split it up with my 3 younger brothers though

[Shack]

I have mixed feelings about private, than public! I like my private land I hunt, but it has not produced a large buck in last 5 years!

I would like a mounter and I know they are out there! They just have to move during the day light hunting hours this time of year!

[Jameson]

I fear deer opener morning on public land. Fear it! So I will be hunting a subpar chunk of private land not owned by me opening weekend and 2nd weekend. During the week and 3rd weekend I'll be on public land.

[96trigger]

I hunt both private and private bordering state land. The state land has the biggest bucks, but I also fear opener of firearm. There are tons of shots that go off and if you don't get your deer right away opening morning, it is tough to see another. It turns into a ghost woods after opening morning.

I'll be on private land when the firearm opens up.

[harvey lee]

I hunt all private for archery and gun. It works out well for gun and archery as we are the only group to hunt these 2 sections.

[bigbucks]

Ripley is the only piece of public land I've been on this year. I occasionally hunt a small piece of landlocked state land with a buddy during firearm's season as it borders his property. I'm fortunate enough to own some land & have family & friends that own other properties. They all have plenty of deer, but get hunted pretty hard & very, very few nice bucks are taken or even seen.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I only bow hunt... I dont do the riffle thing... I will hunt WI during the MN gun season.. and will hunt MN for the WI gun season.

As far as where I hunt... I would say about 70/30 private to public...

[HuntFishDude]

As being new to the area ( almost 3 years now) finding private land is almost impossible unless you "know someone". Unfortunately, I don't know anyone, at least anyone who has land. Knocking on doors hasn't yielded anything. I haven't tried leasing yet, but I think that may be the way to go. I'm from VT where you could find places to hunt by knocking on doors and simply asking.

100% public land and fearing for my life during rifle season. I may not hunt rifle season for this reason, opting instead for muzzleloader, less people, better chances for snow as I like to track.

[Powerstroke]

JUst this year I got in on a Potlatch lease with another guy. Before that I hunted 90% public. I do not fear the public land that I hunted, but the land that I chose was further up north and not that close ot the crowds. Those who did hunt there had been going there for years and knew every new person who came in....unless someone got a new car that year.

In other parts of the state (west and south) where public land isn't as plentiful for deer hunting, I might be little more concerned because of the hunter density.

Even with having access to private land this year I've only hunted there one weekend so far.

[vister]

the potlatch land you have leased, is it pine, or hybrid poplar tree farm. we have many acres of it somewhat leased. we actually have lifetime rights to 6 of the hybrid poplar tree farms. those were the terms under which we sold our land to them. and we get first buy-back as an option, if they decide to sell.