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Started By
Message
School me on public land deer hunting
Posted on 10/8/24 at 11:25 am
Posted on 10/8/24 at 11:25 am
I have never hunted public land but i have always wanted to give tunica wma a shot. Tell me everything i need to know when hunting public land i.e. respect to others, and all the other good stuff.
Thanks in advance
Thanks in advance
14
Posted on 10/8/24 at 11:36 am to freshtigerbait
Wear your orange. Familiarize yourself with the rules/regs. Treat your clothes with permethrin, ticks can be bad there. Have multiple spots to hunt. If you get to one and some else is in the area, move to another. Get a deer cart, worth its weight. Good gps, it’s prime day now 
Posted on 10/8/24 at 11:40 am to freshtigerbait
Walk 2 miles in. If you see any signs of humans go another 2 miles in. The best place is where nobody wants to go because of how much a Pita it is. Wear orange and if possible hunt during the week and try to avoid weekends.
Posted on 10/8/24 at 11:48 am to saintsfan1977
quote:
Walk 2 miles in. If you see any signs of humans go another 2 miles in.
There isn’t a piece of public land in Louisiana where you can get 4 miles away from some sort of atv trail, road, or place a boat can’t get
Or even 2 miles for that matter
Posted on 10/8/24 at 12:01 pm to freshtigerbait
In my opinion and where I hunt public lands get less pressure than some private lands. I hunt both public and private.
Get to your parking area early if you want to secure your spot. If you see someone at your parking spot ask them which direction they are headed. If someone is parked there but no one is available to ask where they headed then drive to another area. Thats what I do anyway and so far that’s what others do for me.
In my experience hunters on public land are very cordial and respectful. Rule of thumb for me is “respect others like you want to be respected”
Get a mapping app such as OnX or Huntstand to see property lines along with tracking so you can find your way in/out.
Don’t hunt pretty woods. Public land deer aren’t walking through open hardwoods during the daylight.
Hunt edges of clearcuts or different habitat diversity.
If you can hunt durning the week you’ll probably have 90% of wma to yourself except for few locals.
Also if you bow hunt early season you’ll have 90% of wma to yourself.
Get to your parking area early if you want to secure your spot. If you see someone at your parking spot ask them which direction they are headed. If someone is parked there but no one is available to ask where they headed then drive to another area. Thats what I do anyway and so far that’s what others do for me.
In my experience hunters on public land are very cordial and respectful. Rule of thumb for me is “respect others like you want to be respected”
Get a mapping app such as OnX or Huntstand to see property lines along with tracking so you can find your way in/out.
Don’t hunt pretty woods. Public land deer aren’t walking through open hardwoods during the daylight.
Hunt edges of clearcuts or different habitat diversity.
If you can hunt durning the week you’ll probably have 90% of wma to yourself except for few locals.
Also if you bow hunt early season you’ll have 90% of wma to yourself.
Posted on 10/8/24 at 12:02 pm to Ron Cheramie
You are spot on, you aren’t getting that far away but you can get to places nobody wants to go and that is nasty thickets that you swear a squirrel couldn’t get into and standing water. I used to hunt a WMA that had a duck Green-tree area. We did actually duck hunt it but we would find deer bedding or coming into the timber all the time. They gave zero fricks about duck hunters too. I mean some would walk through the decoys so I had a strategy. Hunt the timber. Obviously bucks in most pressured areas go nocturnal pretty quick and feed at night but they would escape the pressure by laying up on the little islands in the flooded woods. Usually the ones from the trees pushed over with the dirt clumps at the base. I killed some nice deer but you have to be spot on with shot placement because obviously there isn’t going to be a blood trail and getting a deer out is kinda a pia.
Posted on 10/8/24 at 12:02 pm to Ron Cheramie
I was being sarcastic lol but you have to go where few people are willing to go.
Posted on 10/8/24 at 12:20 pm to freshtigerbait
Its very easy to get turned around in Tunica going in or out in the dark. I'd recommend you get some of those reflective clip on trail markers.
That terrain is no fun trying to find your way back in the dark and not remembering which finger ridge you came down a few hours earlier.
That terrain is no fun trying to find your way back in the dark and not remembering which finger ridge you came down a few hours earlier.
Posted on 10/8/24 at 12:37 pm to freshtigerbait
not only can you hunt any stand you find in the woods, its actually encouraged
get down around 8ish to slip around edges and ask any hunter that you see in a stand if they have seen anything
if you come upon someone else already hunting in the areas you scouted, just climb the tree next to them and tell them you get everything to the right
hope this helps
get down around 8ish to slip around edges and ask any hunter that you see in a stand if they have seen anything
if you come upon someone else already hunting in the areas you scouted, just climb the tree next to them and tell them you get everything to the right
hope this helps
Posted on 10/8/24 at 12:43 pm to WillFerrellisking
what happens if you walk past someone who is already hunting?
Posted on 10/8/24 at 12:47 pm to Tiger Prawn
could a climber work there or is a saddle preferable?
Posted on 10/8/24 at 12:53 pm to freshtigerbait
Unless he was dropped off and no vehicle is there you will know if you may walk pass someone.
I don’t stop in areas where there’s a vehicle parked cause I don’t wanna walk up on someone. If by chance I do he will wave or whistle at me and I turn around and leave the area.
Same thing if someone walks upon me, I’ll wave or whistle at him in hopes he turns around.
I don’t stop in areas where there’s a vehicle parked cause I don’t wanna walk up on someone. If by chance I do he will wave or whistle at me and I turn around and leave the area.
Same thing if someone walks upon me, I’ll wave or whistle at him in hopes he turns around.
Posted on 10/8/24 at 1:12 pm to Ron Cheramie
quote:
Or even 2 miles for that matter
That's OK. The majority of people hunting public in Louisiana aren't walking a mile, much less two miles.
Tunica is tough but it's a really pretty place to hunt. I'm proud of the spike I killed there a few years ago. I thought I was going to die carrying the quarters out. I went squirrel hunting there last saturday and there were a lot of acorns dropping. Find an oak near a thicket with a few piles of sh*t under it.
quote:
could a climber work there or is a saddle preferable?
There are plenty of trees to put a climber in. I used to use a lil lonewolf hand climber there since it was light.
This post was edited on 10/8/24 at 1:17 pm
Posted on 10/8/24 at 1:18 pm to WillFerrellisking
This had been my experience too, the public land I hunt is less pressured then the private I was hunting. Also, eith out a feeder every few hundred yards, the deer still act like natural deer
Posted on 10/8/24 at 1:22 pm to freshtigerbait
quote:
could a climber work there or is a saddle preferable?
Yeah, climber would work. Just a pain in the arse to carry that weight in and out because the terrain is not easy walking.
Posted on 10/8/24 at 1:37 pm to CaptJJ
i have never hunted public land. the private land i hunt is insanely pressured. thinking about getting out that lease but idk where i would stay at to hunt in tunica. i live in baton rouge so its doable a for a day trip but thats quite a hike for a day trip
Posted on 10/8/24 at 1:38 pm to Loup
In terms of scouting, do you usually do that before the season?
I actually might try and hunt it this year
I actually might try and hunt it this year
Posted on 10/8/24 at 1:40 pm to freshtigerbait
quote:
In terms of scouting, do you usually do that before the season?
Yea. Or right after the season closes.
quote:
I actually might try and hunt it this year
Go early one afternoon and hike in till you find hot sign.
I do this quite a lot.
The key for hunting public is hunting hot sign. Don't just hunt a spot because you like the spot and you have had success in the past. Move with the deer.
I only hunt public and I rarely hunt the same spot twice. I'm always moving.
Posted on 10/8/24 at 1:41 pm to WillFerrellisking
Are you referring to the car parking lot?
Posted on 10/8/24 at 1:42 pm to freshtigerbait
Been hunting strictly public for 20 years. Best advice I can give you is read the regulations, read them 10 times.
Just because your area is in Area 6 doesn't mean you can follow the Area 6 dates/regs.
Just because Example WMA says Archery either sex Oct. 1, 2024 - Jan. 31, 2025 doesn't necessarily mean you can shoot a doe on any of those days. If there is a bucks only season Example Primitive bucks only Dec. 1st - Dec. 15th, you CANNOT shoot a doe with a bow during that primitive season even if you are hunting with a bow.
It's very confusing, I've had people argue with me, but they didn't spend enough time deciphering through the BS that is LDWF Hunting Regs.
Just because your area is in Area 6 doesn't mean you can follow the Area 6 dates/regs.
Just because Example WMA says Archery either sex Oct. 1, 2024 - Jan. 31, 2025 doesn't necessarily mean you can shoot a doe on any of those days. If there is a bucks only season Example Primitive bucks only Dec. 1st - Dec. 15th, you CANNOT shoot a doe with a bow during that primitive season even if you are hunting with a bow.
It's very confusing, I've had people argue with me, but they didn't spend enough time deciphering through the BS that is LDWF Hunting Regs.
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