Question

[Marc]

I want to hunt where there are both birds and no people.

Public hunting in California takes a considerable amount of time and energy for success.  It can be done, and there are plenty of areas to do so...

Or, I can take a bit of time here and there and approach land-owners to have access to better quality areas with no hunters...  This summer on the way to here or there, I have stopped and asked permission to hunt...  Most say no, but I get one yes, and I have a place I can take my kids, friends, or family, with a decent chance of success and a low chance of interference from other hunters.

I will admit that there is a bigger feeling of accomplishment taking a bird off of public land though...  And, when going fishing or traveling with the kids or family, I am always on the look-out for productive areas to hunt, public or private.

We have had a couple of low production breeding seasons, and are seeing a reduced population of mature birds in the areas I hunt...  If we have another productive season this spring (as we did last spring), I will probably look a bit harder at some public areas as well as private...

[Uncle Nicky]

I've killed every bird in my home state of PA on public land, not by choice, but only because I don't have any private land to hunt. I'd rather hunt on private land any day of the week, especially in the spring season. I just can't get into rubbing elbows with other guys when I'm trying to hunt, doesn't matter if I'm hunting turkeys, deer, geese, or squirrels. And due to my work schedule and where I live, I usually only have Saturdays and vacation/sick days to hunt, so my time is pretty limited, I'd rather hunt where I know there's a higher chance of success. I'll probably feel different once I'm retired and free time isn't such a premium.

[Cut N Run]

The public lands I hunt in central NC have a few different options.  We have hunts by drawing, limited days per week, or unrestricted access gamelands. I can't speak for the draw hunts, because my name hasn't been drawn yet,  but I have successfully hunted the unrestricted and limited access lands.  The unrestricted land obviously gets the most pressure, though the limited days per week lands are closer to more populated area so it gets a lot of drive-by hooting, crowing, and yelping. The bigger pieces of land that offer more out of the way & harder to get to places are my favorite public places to hunt.  Getting as far off the road seems to be the key.  The turkeys aren't as stirred up and they act closer to lightly pressured private land birds.  I've been walked up on by other hunters a couple of times there.

The private land I hunt most of the time these days gets quite a bit of pressure around it and the thing that helps it the most is an area of swamp that provides a buffer that is difficult for other hunters to cross. The turkeys are definitely more wary around the private than public.  I've had other hunters, joggers, hikers, and horse riders screw my hunt up there.

My old lease used to get minimal surrounding pressure and was as great a place to hunt as I've ever been.  We regularly held off for a crack at the biggest gobbler in the area and had many birds to choose from.  We had a few trespassers mess up some hunts, but not many.

Jim

[wvmntnhick]

I've recently been hit with a conundrum. I've been hunting on a guy's land for a few years. It wasn't great deer ground, wasn't great turkey ground, but it held a bit of each. Honestly, it was far better squirrel hunting than anything. However, the fella recently died. Hunting his place was a lot like hunting public land as he'd let more guys in there than the land could support. With his death, all permission was denied by his daughter. I've been helping them get some vermin off the property this summer and from the sounds of it, I may get sole access to that piece of property. That'd be nice to say the least but the issue is still going to be with the trespassers. Don't want to cause a ton of issues with them in fear that they'll start cutting fences and ruin it for everyone or shoot some of the horses/cattle. Not real sure how to handle it at the moment but I've got to figure something out or risk hunting ground that's very similar to public land only significantly smaller in size. Kind of off topic but I felt it fell in here somewhere.

[Farmboy27]

I've recently been hit with a conundrum. I've been hunting on a guy's land for a few years. It wasn't great deer ground, wasn't great turkey ground, but it held a bit of each. Honestly, it was far better squirrel hunting than anything. However, the fella recently died. Hunting his place was a lot like hunting public land as he'd let more guys in there than the land could support. With his death, all permission was denied by his daughter. I've been helping them get some vermin off the property this summer and from the sounds of it, I may get sole access to that piece of property. That'd be nice to say the least but the issue is still going to be with the trespassers. Don't want to cause a ton of issues with them in fear that they'll start cutting fences and ruin it for everyone or shoot some of the horses/cattle. Not real sure how to handle it at the moment but I've got to figure something out or risk hunting ground that's very similar to public land only significantly smaller in size. Kind of off topic but I felt it fell in here somewhere.

I don't envy you!  That's just a bad situation all around. When people hunt a piece of ground for years and are suddenly told they can't it can lead to some pretty hard feelings. As long as you're not friends or acquaintances of the denied hunters then the hard feelings won't be directed at you so much. But, like you said, they could cause issues for the land owner. I'd say if you like the ground and want to hunt it, and have permission, then hunt it. As a land owner I have denied permission before. I never had issues with any damage because of it, but if I would, I'd never blame the folks that I let hunt. It's not like you suddenly came in and stole their ground. I'd feel worse about leasing ground that others hunt and having to be the one to tell them to stay off.