Familiarity can make marginal land produce better for you than for others. To give your diary more value, illustrate it. If you photograph only the animals you shoot, you're missing a chance to record in pictures the details that make your piece of public land productive--and to chronicle changes in habitat over the seasons. You'll also appreciate photo essays of hunts that delivered memories without trophies.
To learn the most about a new area, contact everyone you can think of who might help, and listen to what they have to say.
>> Go where others don't. In the Mountain West, guides and do-it-yourself horsemen typically pack their camps to the farthest meadows from the trailhead. Hunters wedded to their vehicles may not tramp more than a couple hundred yards off established roads. Game soon sifts away from these high-pressure areas.
Hunting the in-between places has produced several elk for me--all within a short hike from a road. Think of where you'd want to be to avoid back-country outfitters and vehicles. Concentrate on spots where animals have easy access to cover. Many hunters stay in the open, where they want to get a shot. Hunted animals stay in cover because they don't want to get shot. Mobility is a huge asset on Western public lands. If you can walk, you can leave most hunters behind.
>> Start early and stay late. Hunting the edge of day makes sense on private land too, but it can make a big difference on public tracts. Prepare to spend the edge of day far from where most other hunters go. When weather conditions and moon phase permit, pressured deer and elk travel and forage actively at night. You'll catch animals leaving and entering beds if you can walk in the dark. An early arrival on ridge top puts you ahead of the thermal shift that follows sunup--so you won't be climbing with thermal lift spreading your scent ahead of you. Also, you'll be on the receiving end of hunting pressure, an often-overlooked benefit for public land hunters.
MAPPED OUT
Quality Maps Are Available From The Following Sources.
Where do you get maps that show forest roads, topographic features, vegetative cover, elevation, even trails?
Start with U.S. Geological Survey maps. You'll find them at some sporting goods stores, but the sure source is USGS; www.store.usgs.gov; (888) ASK-USGS.
If you must share the field with others, you might as well have them work for you. Caveat: Don't shave daily travel miles by moving camp onto the doorstep of game you want in your sights. Stay far enough from your hunting area that camp sounds and smells won't drive animals into another drainage. Wherever you camp, make a small footprint and live quietly.
Public hunting may not give you the solitude or record book trophies that you might wish, but it can deliver good--no, great hunting if you're prepared. Remember that public hunting is a privilege. Many countries have no such properties. In Europe, for example, hunting remains a perquisite of the wealthy. Lucky you!
