How many yrs did it take you to kill first public land buck?

This forum section is for the select few who believe in hard work and refuse to “Buy” success.
  • Advertisement

HB Store


How many years to kill 1st public bow buck?

1
49
24%
2
29
14%
3
27
13%
4
9
4%
5+
27
13%
Still havnt killed one
60
30%
 
Total votes: 201
RiverBottoms
500 Club
Posts: 555
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 7:33 am
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: How many yrs did it take you to kill first public land buck?

Unread postby RiverBottoms » Thu Jul 04, 2019 4:00 am

3rd year hunting, 2nd year bow hunting. I shot a one horned spike that measured 3.5 inches. Under 3 inches we can tag them as a doe. He was harassing a doe and her fawn in early November and I really wanted to shoot the doe, but he walked into my lane and she did not. I'll never forget that hunt, I was getting sick and had to drag him out over a mile by myself over logs and stuff with a game cart.


User avatar
Cchez
Posts: 344
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:14 am
Facebook: codiechesney is my Instagram
Location: NE Mn
Status: Offline

Re: How many yrs did it take you to kill first public land buck?

Unread postby Cchez » Thu Jul 04, 2019 4:00 am

Still working on my first with a bow. I've only been bow hunting a few years, and im still learning, but have killed my share of bucks with a rifle (a few in the 100-120 inch range, so no monsters for me yet). This will be my first season using beast tactics and hunting more public land. I'm fortunate to have access to a lot of private land, so i never really gave public much of a thought until this year. The goal is to stick the first decent one i come across.
User avatar
Matt Gill
500 Club
Posts: 585
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:28 pm
Status: Offline

Re: How many yrs did it take you to kill first public land buck?

Unread postby Matt Gill » Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:43 pm

I have killed some pretty good bucks on privately owned land where anyone can hunt, therefore being fairy high pressure, but have never killed one on a state or federal WMA so I chose the never killed one option. Couple examples are the plant I work at owned a lot of land and anyone who works there could get a permit for themselves or friends or family making it basically public. Another is a large local dairy farm where they don’t turn anyone down, they just tell you to go kill everything that eats there corn. Unfortunately the plant I work at sold all that land last year and it was all clear cut this year. Therefore I’ve expanded to driving farther to hunt some of the wma’s around me. No success yet but I’ll figure the ground out and get it done soon enough
Derringer84
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2018 9:12 am
Status: Offline

Re: How many yrs did it take you to kill first public land buck?

Unread postby Derringer84 » Thu Jul 04, 2019 11:44 pm

Killed a basket rack 8 with my bow in my second year on Kansas public land
User avatar
Bio1
Posts: 312
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2019 9:44 am
Status: Offline

Re: How many yrs did it take you to kill first public land buck?

Unread postby Bio1 » Fri Jul 05, 2019 4:57 pm

Killed my first deer ever, a spike, at 10 yards with an old 40 lbs. PSE on Oct. 5, 1984 when I was 14. Been hooked ever since. Do most of my hunting on public to this day.

Lee
User avatar
G-Patt
500 Club
Posts: 543
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2018 12:45 pm
Location: Ohio
Status: Offline

Re: How many yrs did it take you to kill first public land buck?

Unread postby G-Patt » Sat Jul 06, 2019 3:06 am

Killed a small basket 6 my first year bow hunting. It was during pre-rut, and my heart never raced lack that since. What a rush/high! Hooked since that day.
On my deathbed, I will receive total consciousness. So I have that going for me, which is nice!
User avatar
Twenty Up
500 Club
Posts: 1885
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2014 1:06 pm
Location: Dirty South
Status: Offline

Re: How many yrs did it take you to kill first public land buck?

Unread postby Twenty Up » Sat Jul 06, 2019 11:52 am

Missed a 153” buck my first season bowhunting
Killed a 3.5YO shed buck with a rifle later that year
Spooked/missed 2 more bucks years 2-3
Shot a spike year 4 with the bow to get some confidence back
-All public land in Georgia
Trust the Process~~ Lost Boys Outdoors ~~

YoutTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC7TXknGut5WfZQ6CbddgqYg
User avatar
Noreast10pt
500 Club
Posts: 630
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 1:17 pm
Location: South Dakota
Status: Offline

Re: How many yrs did it take you to kill first public land buck?

Unread postby Noreast10pt » Sat Jul 06, 2019 11:57 am

The first year that I hunted public I shot a buck on Nov 18th after 30+ hunts.
And last year I moved to the midwest and was able to get one in MN on my 6th hunt on that property and one in SD on my 5th hunt on that property.
Josh_S
500 Club
Posts: 861
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2015 6:30 am
Location: western PA
Status: Offline

Re: How many yrs did it take you to kill first public land buck?

Unread postby Josh_S » Sat Jul 20, 2019 4:43 am

3 years.

I did not start hunting public land until I found this website and really put my time into scouting and understanding how bucks use different terrains. Had success on private almost immediately but it took me 3 years to get it done on public...I had to work for it, but that was the most rewarding part of the journey. I still have a lot of swings and misses on public, but I am seeing bucks more consistently than I did on private simply by not overhunting an area. Most of my encounters have been during the rut but that's because I save my vacation days to hunt that time of year. But even with less time spent hunting early season I have had a handful of early season bedded buck close calls, just haven't been able to seal the deal yet. I'm still waiting for that first early season kill of a bedded buck on public. Hopefully this is the year!
First Sit
Posts: 209
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2018 12:45 pm
Status: Offline

Re: How many yrs did it take you to kill first public land buck?

Unread postby First Sit » Sat Jul 20, 2019 6:36 am

I hunt public land exclusively most of which in areas of high populations of people with low amounts of public. It took me 1 year to kill a public land buck with my bow which was about 15 yrs ago. Since then I've killed quite a few public bucks all but 1 with a bow with several bow kills in gun season. About 9 years ago i started focusing on taking good bucks. None of those bucks came easy and I've learned many hard lessons through that time.

I continue to challenge myself in new areas out state on short hunts and in terrain I'm not as comfortable in. My IL hill country buck last year was taken cyber scouting an area I had never stepped foot on on my first hunt of a 3 day trip. Had a bigger buck walk by about 2 hrs later as well. I also came close to killing a giant in Wis last year on a weekend hunt in an area I had spent 1 day spring scouting. You learn a lot when you force yourself into new areas which just feeds into future success. You have to be prepared to fail to improve.


  • Advertisement

Return to “Public Land Hunting”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests