How many places

[1YLAB]

How many places do you have to deer hunt on this year?

[freedomrules3]

I'm lucky and have 30,000 acres of public hunting in my county. another 20,000 plus in the county just up the road , Somerset county has some too but more marshy land. I ride by a wma in Delaware nearly every day going to work too. My 1 out of state annual hunt somewhere.not including out back of my house . I've got plenty to keep me busy this year .

[Buckfever]

There's public land and then there's public land that requires a draw or a qualification or both. The best ones require both and then you draw a specific parcel for a set amount of time. I'm drawing on 2 such programs and am awaiting the results. If I get those 2 then I'll likely only hunt one more property which I already have a season permit on, that is a trophy park and is highly regulated and has a limit on the # of hunters for the season. The deer are educated but are plentiful and the quality of the hunt for a knowledgeable hunter is quite good. Some of the section see little pressure.

I have backups if need be, but they have something about them that makes them a step below the above. One of them has a lot of deer but I only get it for 4 days and it's an earn a buck deal and it's the third week in October. Another one is a late season hunt for 15 days but they just changed it to earn a buck, lord knows why, there's 150 hunter days and they only took 3 deer last year. But I do know that park well and can usually pull one out and there are some good bucks there. Then there is another public parcel that I know well but there are a lot of slob hunters there and the CWD has a strong foothold there.

So for all practical purposes, it'll probably be limited to 3 this year and depending on the draw it could be just one. But probably three.

[ncboman]

Here nearly all the real good land is leased by clubs so while I can hunt a handful of small neighborhood properties, none of them are the really good stuff.

I have permission on two shirttail pieces of land that have good hunting but the acreage is small on each of those. I do most of my local deer hunting on those two places and of course the small property I own about 30 minutes drive from here.

Now if I'm willing to drive an hour, I can hunt vast expanses of public land but actually the dpsm is higher locally.

Not a whole lot compared to what I hunted when I was in clubs. I've been considering trying to get back in one club but I have mixed feelings about it. For the five hundred bucks I'd much rather drive to Ohio and hunt book bucks.

From time to time I seriously consider selling out and moving to a place where my kind of hunting is more available but I've created a niche here that may be very difficult to match in those places.

[txm]

This year will be a bit different.
I made a trade with a rancher for the hunting rights this year for my two sons, four grandkids and me and my wife.
This is a new ranch for me and is 4,500 acres.
My part of the trade was a written management plan, which I delivered this week.
I go in for heart surgery next Tuesday so the deal is for the family to be able to use the rights even if things don’t go well next week.
In addition I have the rights to 500 acres owned by my next door neighbor.

[Buckfever]

Good luck on the surgery next week. I'm looking forward to hearing of your successful hunts this season and for many more seasons to come.

txm said:

This year will be a bit different.
I made a trade with a rancher for the hunting rights this year for my two sons, four grandkids and me and my wife.
This is a new ranch for me and is 4,500 acres.
My part of the trade was a written management plan, which I delivered this week.
I go in for heart surgery next Tuesday so the deal is for the family to be able to use the rights even if things don’t go well next week.
In addition I have the rights to 500 acres owned by my next door neighbor.

[ncboman]

ditto, good luck with the surgury.

Hopefully it'll get you around better.

[txm]

Thanks for the good wishes!
This ranch is a bit unusual in that it has been in probate for five years and has not been hunted.
The buck /doe ratio is a bit out of balance, but because of no hunting it has some nice bucks.
I have set a goal of killing 25-27 does.
The grandkids can kill any legal bucks and the adults will try to kill only bucks with a 16+ inside spread or ten points or greater.
This is an AR county and 13+ inch spread or spikes are the only bucks that are legal.