mtowns209
Active Member
Public Land Poll for opening day. I'm new to the area and only have public land to hunt. If you HAD to make a choice and had no where else to go this weekend.
Public Land Poll
- Thread starter mtowns209
- Start date
MickThompson
Well-Known Member
Have you scouted any of them? If not, do that first
mtowns209
Active Member
I've only used my ON X looking for thermal hubs, ridges and pinch points on topo but haven't got out and scouted. I planned to hit the woods at Cedars of Lebanon and creep around to the areas I think look good from the map. Saturday morning to see if I can find a spot for that afternoon. Maybe I can get on one scouting and hunting at the same time.
tree_ghost
Well-Known Member
Good luck
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Not in immediate area and hadnt hunted any of the three so dont have much to contribute. Good luck hunting!
Only way to find deer is by searching for them. That adventure is the fun part for me. Just be sure to spray your clothes and boots down with permithrin to keep ticks away. Tick bites can be terribly consequential.
I'd go to Priest, alot more deer there cause the habitat is better, alot better. Cedar forest, (not the park, no hunting in the park) is all scrubby cedar glades on top of bare limestone or all even age timber that started regrowing in the 1930's. There's not many deer there and never has been. I've been squirrel hunting there since 1975 and the deer population now is about the same as then.
mtowns209
Active Member
That's good info thank you for the reply
themanpcl
Well-Known Member
I have to hunt public this year. Lost lease I had last few years. My plan is to walk many of them (within 2 hrs of nashville) and hope for the best. Will be good exercise anyway...lol
mtowns209
Active Member
That's my plan too, just didn't want to do it in the summer. Maybe we will run into each other lol
mtowns209
Active Member
If you see that orange and camo truck, you'll know it's me 
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2014
- Messages
- 8,687
I don't know exactly how to say this, but you'd prob be better off asking this in a more private setting. Not that the guys here don't want to help folks out, but sharing public hunting areas in an open forum can lead to burnout, and more overcrowding in these areas.
Best of luck to you out there.
Best of luck to you out there.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
Never hunted any of those. I wouldn't rule out Cheatham due to its vast size. Agreed with others - aerial and topo scouting will only get you so far.
mtowns209
Active Member
Well, I wasn't really asking for private hunting areas. Just wanted to know which one of the WMA's would be better. Those are the only three that are around me and I'm new here just looking for some advice. I can do my own scouting.
It really depends on what you're after. If trophy hunting then you'll need to do a lot of scouting on every piece of ground available to you, and wouldn't be a bad idea to start knocking on doors for private ground permission.
If you're just looking to get some meat in the freezer then you're in the right place. Middle TN isn't lacking in deer. You'd be hard pressed to hunt anywhere within an hour of Nashville and not have opportunity to kill a deer. I've not hunted every WMA inside that perimeter but I've hunted several of them and can't recall many sits when I didn't at least see a deer. Usually I see several and probably 1/3 of my sits puts a deer within bow range, so if I were non selectively hunting for meat I could fill the freezer pretty quick.
If you're hunting meat I have no doubt you'll do fine whichever place you choose. If you're after a trophy rack you'll have to work at that, and really there's no advice on where to go. I scout & monitor multiple local WMA's plus a couple real nice private farms and most years I'm fortunate to find a small handful of shooter bucks to focus on, of which I generally am able to kill at least one. It's a lot of effort but eventually it'll happen as long as I don't relent or quit trying. Where I find a buck varies year to year, which is why I search so many places.
That's the gist of it from my point of view. Welcome to the area and I wish you well!
mtowns209
Active Member
Man I really appreciate the feedback! Good luck this weekend!
MS_Strut
Well-Known Member
I guess this may come across as rude but you're going to wait until opening day to go roam around opening morning on the property that I'm sure others have scouted and put in work to know where they plan to go only to have some guy stumble through their setup?
mtowns209
Active Member
Well I'm not new to hunting public land, I also would not just go roaming through the woods aimlessly especially if I seen signs of a human anywhere near the area. I have courtesy and would be pissed if that happened to me. I've had that happen to me and I'm not that guy. I'm 43 years old and don't plan on hiking through the woods lol. I will be looking for areas people ain't going. I plan to find a place to go put up a stand Friday to hunt Saturday morning. I work a lot so I don't get much time to scout. I'm just trying to get back into the woods and learn the land around here. Not trying to impede, or ruin other hunters hard work
Why not head up to Cordell Hull?
MS_Strut
Well-Known Member
Not trying to call you out or accuse you of being "that guy". You just can't really rule out the chance that you will stumble up on someone because you've hunted your whole life.
Heck one of my main things I scout is maybe where other people "ain't going" to avoid this exact situation. I'm sure most people take that into account.
Signs of a human in the area being what? A boot print? Trail cam? The guy in the tree stand?
Scouting in a sense is essentially hiking through the woods. While not totally aimlessly, it will be fairly aimlessly if you've never stepped foot on the properties. You going to find a high traffic trail and not follow it to find an intersection or other sign?
I'm not trying to be "that guy" on the internet telling people what to do either. Enjoy your hunt. It won't affect me regardless because I won't be hunting those WMA's.
I'll get off my soap box. Hope everyone including you has a good opening day.
mtowns209
Active Member
mtowns209
Active Member
Well I did say in the post you responded to that I will be mainly looking for places people ain't going…..
I doubt that you will find that on any of those areas. Being close to major metropolitan areas means that they are heavily hunted. Scouting probably should have been done a month ago.
Urban_Hunter
Well-Known Member
All 3 places hold deer. All 3 places get a ton of traffic. Ever since THP got big the boat traffic on OHL and Priest has EXPLODED! I finally gave it up and joined a lease.
mtowns209
Active Member
I agree, but please explain how I'm gonna scout public land a month prior to hunting and expect that to be the same spot I can go on opening day? Without someone else claiming it lol? How am I to know a month in advance no one else is there.
To be clear, I don't plan to scout on opening day I plan to go hunting. I may not have any luck but I will get a chance to get in the woods, I originally asked in my very first post. If you HAD to make a choice on opening day and there was only one you could choose. Which would it be? Without scouting the area.
I'm asking for advice from others that live near the area or have hunted these areas before in hopes people would pick which they would choose.
I'm not asking how to scout, when to scout, how to avoid walking on someone's spot on public land how to not mess up someone's hunt on opening day. That's all common sense.
I was hoping to get a general consensus of which WMA was better.
Hunting public land includes having someone stumble through your area, and includes all of us stumbling through other people's area. It happens even if scouting was done. Heck I once climbed a tree one morning and bumped my head on another guy's boots before he said anything. I was embarrassed and we both had a laugh. We both had scouted and thought we had a spot nobody else would possibly dare go to. It happens. You're not going to find a spot nobody else will go and if you find huntable sign then so has everyone else. It's public land. The deer are used to it too or else they wouldn't be there.
mtowns209
Active Member
mtowns209
Active Member
I've been looking for a lease all year. Can't find one I have co workers that are in leases but they are full.
How did you find the lease to join?
You bumped your head on his boots? Lol that's a legit story?
Lol sad but true. Well actually I grabbed a boot thinking it was a branch. Apparently he was whispering but I didn't hear anything until he spoke with his man voice as I grabbed his boot. I heard his voice about the same time I felt shoelaces and would've fell if not for my lineman rope. All either of us could do was laugh. I felt like an idiot and im pretty sure he thought I was an idiot.
I try not using any light while climbing in the early morning. I had scouted and picked the tree so I knew what to expect. A size 13 wasn't something I anticipated lol
