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Wow public

Had an interesting experience yesterday, gained extra respect for public land folks. I had been checking out some public land that is basically an enormous swamp, on the computer. Found one tiny--tiny--patch in the middle the looked like dry ground. On Sunday, just scouting for next year, I walked in there, quite a ways, water within an inch of going over my boots (very thin ice, and I could tell from the vegetation it wasn't really deep). Finally get to this dry patch in the middle of nowhere--and there's a camera and a stand. Crap. Back to square one. Hats off to you guys who routinely contend with this type of thing. Somewhat discouraging.

I find it amusing that we say their are less and less hunters every year but the few always seem to have a stand up wherever I find the best sign.

I find it amusing that we say their are less and less hunters every year but the few always seem to have a stand up wherever I find the best sign.

No kidding Spike. When you find that hard to reach spot that is still un -buggered or get some special permission to park and cut through to good land it is like finding a gem .

I think great hunting can be found by knocking on doors . Some folks are very cool . It often leads to exclusive hunting in guarded spaces and a good local population of Deer. I have been very fortunate to find those hidden gems.

I am starting over in a new area but I am finding the same process is producing once again. Today's hunter needs to be "a people person". That's not a bad thing.

Amazing isnt it. Sometimes I think years of people saying: "Go deeper or into stuff worse than other hunters will tolerate to find public land deer" has worked... And now if you want to find them just go get yourself as close to the 500ft setback as possible from houses, or right next to the road :)

Shot my buck as he traveled on a dirt road walked damn near every day by people and bikers, 20yrds from an active railroad track. Hunt public land with the same knowledge and technique as private land. Food, does, travel routes, fresh sign, and unlikely spots whether it's deep as hell or close as hell to people.

So I went back into this place today. Week or two ago I turned around and walked out when I saw one stand+camera. Today I went further in, now that I don't have to worry about messing anybody up. Holy cow. Along the one and only semi-passable route, it is like a line of cameras. I felt like a fashion model on a runway. Got my picture taken a lot today. Pretty stupid arrangement, but I just went further in and hung my camera at what seemed like the end of the line. Not sure how this is going to work next October. Going to have to walk in at about 2AM I think.

Jeb , sounds like forest st swamp in west Bridgewater ;)

Jeb the model. Nice. Keep at it and next time, leave a note next to the camera saying you want to be paid for your services. Lol.

So I went back into this spot to get a look at my camera. It was a swamp before all that snow melted. Now it's more-or-less a pond. 90 minutes walking, round-trip, and on my camera...100% coyotes.

Grab a gun and call and head down there.

The mature deer know what cameras are and find another way. The hunters, young deer and coyotes take the easy path you came in on. 50-100 yards down wind of that trail is another, that's where you want to be. Whenever you find a stand, same thing. With cameras I've found that you get 1 or 2 pics of a good buck, then you never see him again. Usually after you get a pic of him staring at your camera. But they just loop downwind of you. That's how they get to be mature.

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