I do hunt some State land, but I have a huge passion for bowhunting. There is nothing worse than putting tons of time in scouting a nice buck and getting his travel route and pattern figured out to hang your stands. And then the next time you come back if you are lucky enough that your stand and cameras dont get stolen, you find that some other yahoo hangs a stand 30 yds from yours. To me I never thought I would have to pay for land to hunt, but if thats what it has come in order to get your own piece of private land then I am willing to . I have had 4 treestands and 1 camera stolen while hunting public land, there is very little common respect left amongst most hunters nowadays. I hunted some state land this year that was very well maintained by the DEC . Almost everywhere I walked around I found beercans hanging in trees and thrown on the trails ,cigarrete packs and coffe cups all over the ground.
I was always taught to respect the land that feeds you, but I dont see alot of other people that think that way nowadays.