The Hunting Beast

I didn't start hunting until about 21 years old. My first trip out anywhere was on public big woods, no scouting or really any deer knowledge at all I shot a good 8 pt with a gun. Not knowing where to shoot, I hit high and the buck got away. I think it was just a flesh wound. I have been hooked ever since (and a little obsessed some may say) but haven't killed a public land buck with a bow. In WV, I generally do not hit public land much before gun season, and use it to escape gun pressure on private land and get away from people. I have killed plenty of private land bow bucks. Next year I plan to hit public a little more during bow season...

Still working on it

Took me 5 years to kill my first public land bow buck I was 17 first buck with the bow to just a little 3 point but I can remember like yesterday first thing I saw was horns

Shot my first public land buck in 1999. I committed to strictly public land hunting in 1998. Killed a doe in 1998.

I voted never killed a buck with my bow. I have killed a spike I thought was a doe. I tagged it as a buck which is what it was but I don't count a spike as a decent buck.

I have tried and applied beast tactics for the last 3 bow seasons with zero early season success. Hunting acorns or near ag fields seems much more productive during early season. I nor anyone I know (a group of 15-20 hunters) that bow hunts public in my area has killed a decent buck during bow season in the last 4-5 years. I consider a decent buck a 2.5 yr old buck. I missed a decent buck with a bow 2 years ago coming into acorns. Beast tactics work best in my area after the deer get pressured and gun season has them running.

I see tons of does early season and some small dink bucks. I honestly don't even see decent bucks moving during legal shooting hours till holloween. When I do see decent bucks during October it's in a private soybean field behind a big group of does. Usually, muzzleloader opens the first week of November and I have had enough of the deer coming just outside of my bow range and I'm ready to make them pay.

I imagine I could prob make a bow buck happen if I set my mind to it and stuck with the bow the entire season.

my dad would bring me in woods and tell me get up that tree then I would miss every buck that stepped out for first year I did kill a spike and a 4 point with gun. that year I missed another 4 point buck 7 times lol best part is I went to my stand last day of winter bow that buck shed his antlers under my tree. that summer I shot my bow every day waiting for next October. when opening day came I was ready or so I thought. 3 bucks came in together i drew back on closest buck clang darn missed then I proceeded to shoot all my arrows in dirt except one. then I remember like it happened today. I tell myself aim damit! I let that arrow fly and nailed that deer right in the neck not even close to where I wanted it but I had my six point buck. the curse was lifted and I had faith in myself again after that I was a killing machine. between NJ NY and PA I was killing 5 to 10 bucks a year. this was in the 90s then in 2004 I somehow managed to kill a 144in 9 point buck that was 6.5 years old from that day forward I only hunted for big bucks took me a couple years to kill another buck but I've managed to get one good buck the last 8 years now. my goal now is to kill a bigger buck than my first big buck.

I shot my Iowa buck last fall towards the end of a nine day trip on public. If I wouldn't have messed up on a chip shot I could have got it done on my first morning sit on a much bigger buck. I have never hunted public land here at home in PA.

Up until this past season I was strictly a private land deer hunter. My whole life I was told that public hunting was a joke. People crawling all over the place, a ghost town for deer and a complete waste of time. It was just a place for those that couldn’t afford a lease and had no other place to go. When I found the beast early last year, I came to the consensus that I needed to stop putting so much pressure on my private land pieces. The beast gave me the confidence to take the plunge and give it a whirl. I had several friends that doubted my decision and said my chance of tagging a good buck were very slim. I took the challenge and man was it ever so sweet to put one down my first year. I ended out the season hunting roughly 80 public/ 20 private. I’ll gladly keep “waisting my time” getting on great bucks on land that everyone else feels is a bust.

I got lucky and killed a good buck the first year I started hunting public in a serious way. (2016). I typically hunt private land but got sick of trying to gain access/keep access. So decided to dive into the public here in SW WI. Hunted my a$$ off that year! I can remember walking the two mile hike back out to the truck on the morning of November 5th after another deer less sit... I was questioning everything I knew about deer hunting and had just about run out of hope and ideas. I had never been so discouraged. To top it off I video all my hunts and was tired of hauling all that extra gear around. I just wanted to kill a deer! So for the evening hunt I decided to leave the camera behind and head into a spot i had hunted in early season, but not since. I got to the parking area and there was two vehicle's there. So I headed to the other end of the piece into an area I'd never been into before. I walked the transition of a swamp until I found some heavy trails coming out. It didn't look like that great of a spot but I was out of options at this point. So after some struggle I got my stand into the only tree that would work and soaking in sweat settled in. thinking to myself what am I doing! About 30 min after getting set up I heard somthing behind me. Looking back to my surprise, it's a decent buck! I slowly got up and in position. stopped him at 25 yards and sent it! Right away I knew it was a liver hit. So we gave him a few hours and my dad and I recoverd him after 150 yrds. He ended up being a nice 130 inch 3 year old! Was an awesome hunt and one I always will remember! Don't ever give up it only takes a minute for everything to change!

My first public buck with a bow was a studly little 6 pointer around 1987 or 88.
I was 15 years old I think.
I know I didn't have my drivers license yet.

My first public land buck and only public land hunt was pre beast, several years ago to be close. Me and a buddy finally decided to go hunt some public first time i have ever made a trip off my grandfathers old farm. We drove back a old road for about two miles and parked got out and started to get ready. I standing by the door and could here a loud running noises across a powerline we parked in. I whispered at mu buddy somethings coming ! Suddenly i seen a doe cross the road, then i could here a buck coming up her trail, he was back 150 yards or so! He came within 50 yards franticlly search for his doe on the powerline edgeand stopped! BAM!!! I let it rip!! He ran may 60yards and crashed right on the other side of the road! A 15” 7 point buck, for some reason he did not grow a G2 on the left side of his frame. It was my only publicland buck, the fastest hunt i ever had, and the closest to the truck, and shortest drag all roled up in to one hunt. Ill probably remember it till i die, it was back when hunting was fun!

none yet.
im on my 4th season

Wapitiwarrior96 wrote:I got lucky and killed a good buck the first year I started hunting public in a serious way. (2016). I typically hunt private land but got sick of trying to gain access/keep access. So decided to dive into the public here in SW WI. Hunted my a$$ off that year! I can remember walking the two mile hike back out to the truck on the morning of November 5th after another deer less sit... I was questioning everything I knew about deer hunting and had just about run out of hope and ideas. I had never been so discouraged. To top it off I video all my hunts and was tired of hauling all that extra gear around. I just wanted to kill a deer! So for the evening hunt I decided to leave the camera behind and head into a spot i had hunted in early season, but not since. I got to the parking area and there was two vehicle's there. So I headed to the other end of the piece into an area I'd never been into before. I walked the transition of a swamp until I found some heavy trails coming out. It didn't look like that great of a spot but I was out of options at this point. So after some struggle I got my stand into the only tree that would work and soaking in sweat settled in. thinking to myself what am I doing! About 30 min after getting set up I heard somthing behind me. Looking back to my surprise, it's a decent buck! I slowly got up and in position. stopped him at 25 yards and sent it! Right away I knew it was a liver hit. So we gave him a few hours and my dad and I recoverd him after 150 yrds. He ended up being a nice 130 inch 3 year old! Was an awesome hunt and one I always will remember! Don't ever give up it only takes a minute for everything to change!

good story that about sums up why I hunt public you just never know and their are no rules if I want to bust into a bedding area nobody can say I cant do that

My first/biggest buck I killed with a bow my first season on public. Since I moved out to the sticks and starting hunting bigger woods public I haven't killed a buck with a bow, started seriously hunting mostly public the last 2 seasons.

It could have been this year, my first season on public. I'm still half kicking myself that I didn't take the shot, but the other half of me is glad that I didn't.
I have always hunted only private land the last five years that I've been hunting, and I finally got my first deer, a young 9 point, this year on October 21st. 5 days later on the 26th, a buddy and I were hunting a piece of public land... My first-ever public land sit. I turn around to look over my shoulder and see a young 10 point standing about 10 yards away. he was a good size, pretty much the twin of the nine point that I had just shot. this was part of the reason I decided not to shoot him, as I had just finished a pretty busy week of processing and butchering up the other Deer.
I had set it in my mind that I was only going to shoot a big deer that night, and I held true to it, as difficult as it was. Good thing too, even though I do still have a kill tag in my pocket, since October 26th I have learned a tremendous amount in the field that I would not want to give up had I shot that buck and ended my hunting season before November.
Besides, thanks to the DNR extending the season in a few counties around the area, I might just still get one down before the end of January.