Hunting Forum

Where I live it's hard to get permission to hunt private land, so I hunt the Wma here  there are a lot of hunters who do the same. Does anyone have any tips or strategies the they would like to share? 

Figure out where everyone accesses it from get in ahead of them way early in the AM. Let them be drivers and push the deer to you as they come in.

Hunt the nastiest sections DOWNHILL from the parking areas.

Depending on size, get into the middle and stay there all day.

Dale

I've packed many lunches lol  im usaully one of the first ones there as early as 2:30 sometimes. the Wma I hunt is just over 6 thousand acres, it's separated in two sections north and south.  North has more hardwoods with a river splitting in down the middle and the south is mainly young pine with lost of underbrush with lots of small creeks. Both have plenty of green fields, and water. I've hunted them both in every possible location I could this past season and was only able to get a small doe.  This season was not a good one in north east Alabama. We had  way to many acorns on the ground. There was no need for them to go look for food.  But previous season were nothing to brag about either.

The idea of using others to push deer is a good one. I would focus on getting away from the roads and the others. If it's like the one I live next to,you could look for areas where they cut timber 2 to 3 years ago and set up on the edges of one of the cutover. Look for a good trail coming out of the cut . Try accessing out of the way places from the river that are too far from the roads for most people to walk into. We had a ton of acorns in central AL this year also but the weather never really settled into a decent pattern, thus movement on our land was not normal this year.I hunt Coosa Co. WMA off and on every year just because my back property line joins it. Haven't seen another sole on the part I hunt cause it's 3 or 4 miles to the nearest access road. Is the one you hunt primarily bowhunting. I found out when I moved up here that turkey season is a great time to scout for places to deer hunt this one.Also contact the biologist for that area and he can give you some insight on different areas to focus on.

The Wma I hunt is lil river management area. There are a lot of roads that cut thru the park which makes it not possible to get away from everyone else. The park is pretty narrow. Also the park is on the edge of the mountain and is bordered by millions of acres of private land on the downhill side. Which gives the deer a place to go when pressure gets high. We only get 11 gun days so the majority of hunting is bow hunting.

i would get as close to the private land as i could and pick the nastiest area i could find where others dont want to go lol that how i hunt the state forest in ohio.

That's mainly where most of my hunting is done is on the borders of the area. I try to stay away from food plots they are over hunted. I hunted 55 days last season and only seen two does and shot one on the first gun day of the season. I came to the conclusion by the end of the season that I was going to have to find another place to hunt. Which means having to drive at least an hour + each way.

I've never looked at a map of that one. if there's that many roads I can see the difficulty you're having. Is it hunted that hard outside the gun days during bow only? The area I hunt on the one by my house is hunted alot but as I said earlier if I access it from my property the closest road is a good 3 miles away so I've not seen anyone back there. I've even left my climber on the tree for days at a time. I usually only bowhunt here because I can just walk across the line. During the gun days I'd have to go 30 miles round trip to sign in at the check in station. Anyway I wish you luck.

Yeah there's a lot of bow hunters here me included. There is 10 road/trails just on the north side of the area. Thanks for the advice

How big of a river is it? If its a small one, I'd float it, looking for crossings.

It's pretty big in most parts, about thirty foot across in the smaller parts. Average depth is about 6 foot. It's a really fast moving river with a fair amount of rapids.

30 ft across? That's a creek!!!LOL!!! (sorry, I live near the Miss. River) The current may be an issue, but I bet they cross it fairly regularly, depending on the banks. I'd check that out.

like what jwarner said,find the nastiest place where other hunters won't go. i try to find a place in the swampiest place i can.i try to drive around before season to see where everyone else is scouting.i just stay away from there. i have a couple of spots on a couple of wma's that i hunt.i park a few hundred yards from my entrance,i have an old ladder stand i leave in the swamp.i hunt that spot maybe two or three times a year,and i always see deer every time.sometimes i take a deer sometimes not.my choice,not because i spooked the deer or anything.good luck to ya and find the nastiest place on the wma.

Public hunting is always a challenge. IMHO you don't need to get "way back away from everyone else". That is where most of the sunriser hunters will be heading. For a change of pace, find a nice trail not too far in your area, one that most hunters would walk right by without a second glance. Make yourself comfortable and well concealed (remember wind direction) and watch the parade of hunters go by. Alot of times whitetails will follow hunters as they feel safer knowing where the guns are, and never look to their sides, very effective way of harvesting a nice deer, maybe even a big buck that very few other hunters have ever seen. And be the last one out, you will find that a lot of hunters will leave early, especially if they are deep in the woods, they can and will drive deer by you. Additionally, when you break for lunch and your pee break keep your gun close, deer like to see who is peeing in their woods. Good luck..................dennis

I have done just what dk-ski said many times..for one reason only..most hunters don't look back...and most move at a pace that..you would think they were in a race...deer circle and back trail hunters quite often..have taken many this way...stay alert and stay still...I watched a guy come into the woods one day throough binos (I was maybe 200 yards away) he travels through and not 10 minutes later one damn nice buck came along right behind him..the deer's total attention was totally focused ahead...if I hadn't already fillled my antler tag I would have snuck down and taken him...

Depending on terrain and types of hunters in area ...all good tips IMO...though I hunt private it's in a very..very heavy hunter density area...I always go in 1-2 hours before legal hunting..then try my best to stay until 12-1pm...then back out at 3pm...deer are always being pushed to me or they have hunkered down on us and get up late to move...That said...one line...I go in later because I know the neighbor never ventures out before 9 am...yep...I've gotten many 10-11am buck from this area