#2971026 - 10/06/12 02:02 PM
Public Ground
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bowriter
Non-Typical
Registered: 08/31/02
Posts: 40305
Loc: Lebanon,TN USA
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There was a guy at the Co-op last week talking about hunting public ground like it was some sort of handicap, like he should get a Dewy button for killing a deer on public ground.
Booshway!
Up until I got sick and needed the convenience of hunting close to home with easy access, I hunted a lot of public ground even thought I had a ton of private land to hunt. I killed a lot of deer. I killed as many or more than I did on private land.
Until I began to travel and hunt so much, I hunted more WMA than I did the land I had leased, killed more deer. I had one tree on Cheatham WMA, that if memory serves, we killed 38 deer out of and another I know I killed eight out of in six years.
What is this BS about hunting PG such a bad deal? You just have to know how to hunt PG.
_________________________
Constipation has ruined many a good day. Not as many as stupidity, though.
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#2971041 - 10/06/12 02:15 PM
Re: Public Ground
[Re: bowriter]
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catman529
spiderboy
16 Point
Registered: 11/10/10
Posts: 10895
Loc: Franklin TN
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the last sentence you said, I think that nailed it. I have basically learned to hunt on public land and as you know am still learning. When I get onto private land that I can hunt then it's more relaxed because the animals aren't on edge so much.
I killed my first deer ever on public land during gun season... no I don't want a Dewy button, I got my set of antlers on the wall and that's all I need.
_________________________
A good day in the woods is best finished off with an ice cold Sun Drop.
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#2971045 - 10/06/12 02:22 PM
Re: Public Ground
[Re: catman529]
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Kevin
8 Point
Registered: 09/25/07
Posts: 1610
Loc: Jackson, TN
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I have more access to private ground this year than ever before and I'm still going to public ground this afternoon. I love it! It's new places and new Challenges. I'm still looking for my first kill on public land, although I have passed on ALOT of deer on it. And let one walk by right to my wife for her first kill.
_________________________
A country boy can survive.
A bad day fishing is better than a good day of work.
Roll Tide
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#2971068 - 10/06/12 03:16 PM
Re: Public Ground
[Re: Kevin]
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nate17
8 Point
Registered: 08/06/09
Posts: 1154
Loc: Illinois
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I think what I enjoy the most about hunting public ground is that its just you against the deer...
No property lines and 9 times out of 10 there are no hunters if your willing to hunt week days or walk more than half a mile.
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#2971100 - 10/06/12 04:19 PM
Re: Public Ground
[Re: nate17]
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ImThere
8 Point
Registered: 08/24/06
Posts: 2107
Loc: Lewisburg, Tn
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I kill plenty of deer of public land and would kill more if knew how to hunt no complaints here
_________________________
I'm a little TIRED of "Maturing as a hunter"
I have never "Harvested" or "Taken" a deer
but I have KILLED many.
Ricky
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#2971123 - 10/06/12 04:47 PM
Re: Public Ground
[Re: ImThere]
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ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER
16 Point
Registered: 11/12/10
Posts: 10000
Loc: FRANKLIN COUNTY
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it would be cool to see some of your kills over the years,you seem to have really enjoyed yourself
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#2971172 - 10/06/12 05:33 PM
Re: Public Ground
[Re: bowriter]
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bowriter
Non-Typical
Registered: 08/31/02
Posts: 40305
Loc: Lebanon,TN USA
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Another note on public ground. There are things you can do to increase your odds but the number one thing is to wear out boot leather and never, ever think that the deeper in the woods you go, the better your chances. That is usually the worst mistake you can make.
It took me about five or six years to figure out Cheatham and how to effectively hunt it. Once I did, I averaged 4 deer a year there, three with bow and one with a gun.
Not sure about now but some years back, I killed and I guided a friend to the two biggest bucks killed there up to that time. That is as far as the manager knew. We also killed seven that were not far behind. I would never tell where we killed them because I already had guys following me trying to find out where I was hunting. But I will say this. All of those bucks were killed from a tree that was so close to the road, you could look down into the trucks going by. The tree was just about 30-steps off the road.
(I'm rambling but it is a good for it.)
I had 640 acres leased in Hickman county. It was nothing but up and down hardwood ridges. No road, no houses, no fields, just a section of timber. I loved that place, it was my classroom. One of the toughest pieces of ground to hunt I ever saw. I learned so much from that place it made hunting other spots easy.
I had the lease for 10-years then they sold it. By then, I knew every rock and oak tree on it. I literally lived on that ground, camped in a tent or in my truck for days at a time. I cried when they sold it.
All of that, all of those years, all of those blood trails, allow me now to tell someone over the phone where to look for a wounded deer and be right about half the time. There is no substitute for hours and days and years in the woods and doing it day after day until you get it right. Two days scouting and dead deer won't teach you meadow muffins.
Killing one or two or six deer does not mean jack as so many hunters learn when something changes or a switch flips and suddenly, "they jes aint no deer cause the bears ate them." That is what a guy at Cheatham told me after hunting nine days and not seeing a deer. I never did find out how he explained the four we had hanging up 
Thas e-nuff fo now.
_________________________
Constipation has ruined many a good day. Not as many as stupidity, though.
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#2971356 - 10/06/12 08:49 PM
Re: Public Ground
[Re: bowriter]
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JSPAL270
6 Point
Registered: 11/13/08
Posts: 760
Loc: BLOUNT CO
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I love cheatham wma it's a pretty good ace to hunt , and a very good place to hang out around a campfire. One tip I was given by a older man was if you can't see the road you have gone to far!!!
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#2971510 - 10/07/12 05:07 AM
Re: Public Ground
[Re: JSPAL270]
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bowriter
Non-Typical
Registered: 08/31/02
Posts: 40305
Loc: Lebanon,TN USA
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Smart old man.
_________________________
Constipation has ruined many a good day. Not as many as stupidity, though.
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