Bow hunting: public or private?

[Doc]

Where do you do most of your bowhunting?

 

• 
   
• Private land that you have control over (Ownership, lease, exclusive landowner permission to invite or exclude hunters, etc.)
  

 

• 
   
• Guest on land owned or controlled by others
  

 

• 
   
• Wide open private land that has no controls, maintenance or restrictions
  

 

• 
   
• Public land (all kinds)
  

 

• 
   
• evenly divided between two or more of the above categories
  

 

Doc

[Doewhacker]

This year it was split between state land and land owned and controlled by the farmer who lets in a couple of other guys. I had better luck seeing and getting chances at deer on the state land as NO others were on it and the acorns were heavy. Although my two does have come from the farmers land, only because that is where I made it count.

[Fantail]

The thing that sticks out with private land / lease is you can somewhat hunt around what forms of management or work you put into it. And for me it's the extra time camping out and just plain enjoying the place. There is on occasion the urge to take the climber and hit a few old favorite spots on some wma.

[Doc]

There is a bit of a pattern starting that shows that most of the people on this forum own, lease, or in some way have complete control of the land that they hunt.

Also, I am surprised how it is beginning to look like fewer people are using state land. I know state public land has gotten some pretty bad press in terms of hunting conditions and safety and maybe people are starting to feel that if they are going to hunt it will be on their own land or not at all. During gun season, I have noticed fewer and fewer people hunting the land that I hunt. That is a big change from just a couple decades ago. Sometimes that's good and sometimes that's bad. Bow season is still pretty crowded, and not just with bowhunters either.

I wish there was some way to expand this poll outside of the forum just to see if there are some actual shifting patterns as far as public land usage is concerned.

[WNYBuckHunter]

I put down that I mostly hunt private land, but that would be a just barely percentage. I hunt state land quite a bit, particularly during bow.

[Doc]

That was what the last category was trying to indicate. I realized that there may be some that get kind of close to 50-50 so I figured that I should include a choice that handled that. My hunting is somewhat mixed too, but in my situation, the overwhelming amount of my deer bowhunting occurs on state land. So based on the "most" qualifier, I put down state land.

The one selection that is surprising me a bit is the low number of people who hunt as guests on friend's, relative's or other people's land (permission from farmers as one example). I would have expected that one to be much higher.

The selection that involves wide open private land is no surprise since there is almost no such land anymore ...... lol.

It will be interesting to see if these trends change as time goes on and more people participate.

[Geno C]

usually state land during bow and private land for gun season...

this year i did a hunting club thats private land and it was some of the least satisfying and more populated and un controlled then any state land ive ever hunted...

[Doc]

usually state land during bow and private land for gun season...

Yeah, that's why I made it a bowhunting only poll. I think a lot more people than just you split their hunting locations based on whether they are bow hunting or gun hunting. I would guess it's  a safety thing. I don't know.

[hang fyre]

i bowhunt dep land with no pressure.  Gun season is altogether different,  The first week is hunted heavy.  Today noone was there but the deer are spooked.  hopefully they will come around before season is over.