Public Hunting Success Stories

[Bowhunter711]

Last year, I bowhunted for the first time and immediately fell in love, saw more deer activity last season than all 5 prior seasons hunting with gun put together. I had a shot at a nice 10 pointer from 15-20 yards last year on private lands from my hometown in upstate NY, but missed as my arrow was deflected trying to shoot through some brush (arrow not = to bullet lol). Since then, I bowhunted late-season public lands in OH and saw a ton of sign but no deer after going out 5-6x in late Jan. I moved to NC this summer and I've gone out 3x so far, and haven't seen anything yet but still very early. I love the challenge and I'm learning a ton about scouting online and in the woods. I hear really good success stories on podcasts online (southern outdoorsman, the hunting public, wired to hunt). However, these are usually stories from lands in OH, KY, ND, SD, NE, MN, MI, KS, AL, GA and I rarely hear about stories in NC. So....

If you're willing, I would really enjoy hearing some of your success stories while bowhunting whitetail deer on NC public lands. I am not interested in your exact spot or location, rather I would love to hear about the general approach you took on that day or leading up to that day.

Did you use a trail cam? Were you in a stand? How far back from the access did you go? Time of day? Time of year? What was the food source close by? Was there a lot of sign near your setup? Were you seeing deer leading up to the kill? Did you use any calls or attractants like doe urine? Let me know!

I appreciate your response, happy hunting!

 

[timekiller13]

First buck I ever shot on public land with a bow way back in 2005 or 06 I believe. I walked down an access road, saw a deer trail crossing the road. Walked into woods about 100 yds and set up 20 yds off the deer trail. 2 hours later a 6 pt and 3 does came by. Shot the 6 pt. I was about 400 yds from my truck.

2 weeks later, opening day of muzzleloader. Drove to access, there were a dozen trucks. Archery only spot right down the road had zero vehicles. Grabbed my bow, walked in woods set up in tree 75 yds from truck. Shot 2 does within 5 minutes of each other.

I’ve shot them close to the vehicle and I’ve shot them over 2 miles deep. I just go where the pressure and deer sign point me.

 

[Bowhunter711]

First buck I ever shot on public land with a bow way back in 2005 or 06 I believe. I walked down an access road, saw a deer trail crossing the road. Walked into woods about 100 yds and set up 20 yds off the deer trail. 2 hours later a 6 pt and 3 does came by. Shot the 6 pt. I was about 400 yds from my truck.

2 weeks later, opening day of muzzleloader. Drove to access, there were a dozen trucks. Archery only spot right down the road had zero vehicles. Grabbed my bow, walked in woods set up in tree 75 yds from truck. Shot 2 does within 5 minutes of each other.

I’ve shot them close to the vehicle and I’ve shot them over 2 miles deep. I just go where the pressure and deer sign point me.

That's awesome man, love to hear it! The 6 point buck you shot... was that early season like september early october? and was it close to dusk?

 

[oldest school]

you are kinda in no man's land for public in nc unless you like to drive alot.
You have public in all directions non of it capable of producing what you chased in ohio.
There's a good reason you dont see you tube public stars in NC.
plenty of deer on our public, lotsa guys here on this forum chase them but they'll tell you it's alot of work if you want anything past a yearling buck or doe.
you wont be impressed by the quality of our public deer. our private aint all that much either.
you need a lightning bolt/horeshoe luck or a ton of time (close access) or both to kill a big deer on our public.
if your goal is to just be out there and some meat, any of the areas closest to you will work.

 

[Bowhunter711]

you are kinda in no man's land for public in nc unless you like to drive alot.
You have public in all directions non of it capable of producing what you chased in ohio.
There's a good reason you dont see you tube public stars in NC.
plenty of deer on our public, lotsa guys here on this forum chase them but they'll tell you it's alot of work if you want anything past a yearling buck or doe.
you wont be impressed by the quality of our public deer. our private aint all that much either.
you need a lightning bolt/horeshoe luck or a ton of time (close access) or both to kill a big deer on our public.
if your goal is to just be out there and some meat, any of the areas closest to you will work.

Yea that is kinda what I have expected. I have a good idea of the game lands I will hunt, not worried about that. I am happy taking any buck, prefer to take older mature bucks but I would shoot anything over a 4 right now as I am still trying to get my first bow kill. I have seen some monsters produced in NC, although most likely not public haha I still have faith. Also, would take a doe or 2 for the meat. Thanks for the reply.

 

[timekiller13]

That's awesome man, love to hear it! The 6 point buck you shot... was that early season like september early october? and was it close to dusk?

It was mid october. Don't remember the time, but it had to have been around 4 or so in the afternoon because I can remember shooting, tracking it, gutting it and getting out of the woods and to the local processor before dark.

The two biggest bucks I have killed on public were shot at 0730 in the morning and 1530. Both shot in early November.

Time of year will dictate when you see the best movement. Later in the season, after those deer have been heavily pressured, it's rare to see them much more than one hour after daylight or one hour before dark, if even that early. Early archery season, I typically see good movement until 9 or so in the morning and then again they start moving around 4-5 in the afternoon.

Like oldest school said, hunting public land in NC is a different ball game than midwest public land. There are good deer to be had, but most are tucked away in hard to reach spots. There are exceptions, of course. Every year you hear about someone shooting a big buck 50 yds from the truck on public land. But that's rare and pure luck.

But, it's not always about how far you walk. I've got spots on public that produce deer sightings and shot opportunities every time, and those spots are 5 minute walk in. Now, I've never seen a mature buck at those spots, but whacking a doe or a small buck, they work.

The bigger more mature bucks tend to be found in steep, nasty, hard to reach places.

 

[timekiller13]

duplicate post

 

[QBD2]

Public here is the same as public anywhere else. The tactics don’t really change…because deer are deer. They only want 2 things year round, food and safety.

Size and pressure vary, of course. But if you can kill em in X, then you can kill em in J and Z as well

 

[Loganwayne]

Id suggest looking at permit hunts , and archery only areas. both will have less pressure. last year me and a buddy were drawn for a hunt Thursday, Friday ,Saturday. we went and scouted Wednesday and hung our stands. i got busted several times on Thursday took stand down and moved it twenty yards Thursday night after dark. walked in and shot a spike at 1215 on Friday, it was my first public land deer. my buddy shot a doe Thursday after passing on a spike that morning. this was a Big game lands that was permit only and we saw one other person hunting friday afternoon. he walked right through were my buddy had set up the day before. we didnt hunt Saturday as it was raining and we had both tagged deer there.

This year we have three permit hunts, all archery. i will probably hold out for a decent buck this year, but ill shoot some more does this year, i like deer meat to much to let them all go.

 

[TobyScreams]

I have some luck on game lands for big bodied scraggly racked bucks. Does are a given. My first public land hunt yielded nothing but hunters everywhere and left a bad taste in my mouth. The second time in the same spot I had it all to myself. I figured out why later… but I had my choice of deer. On the ground with a bow was still a cakewalk. Just depends on situations. I’ve had MUCH better success for turkeys on NC public than deer.

…on a completely unrelated note: some game lands are 3 day only.

 

[Homebrewale]

There are no deer on game lands.

 

[Ol Copper]

The first buck that I killed on public land was in 1983.
I had killed several deer on private land in previous years, but I was always hunting with my Dad.
That first public buck was a small 6 pointer, it was a solo hunt and he was also my first buck with a bow.

I had a HS football game to play in on Friday night. After the game was over I took a shower, grabbed some grub and jumped in the truck and headed to Uwharrie.
There was a spot my Father had shown me and I was itching to bowhunt it, at 16 years old I really thought that I was on a big adventure.

The place I hunted was on the old reservation area behind the original hunters camp. The spot I hunted was on the old Arrowhead Trail. It is straight across the dirt road, to the West, from where the Flintlock Valley shooting range sits now.
There used to be a nice thicket down in there that ran perpendicular to the trail. It was a hard edge that the deer used a lot. They would pop out the thicket and hit the acorns about 10 yards out in the hardwoods.

I got to my spot about 12:30 am, I got my stuff ready and laid back to catch some sleep. My wind-up, bold faced alarm clock went off about 5:30 and I got out and hit the woods. I walked down the trail to the thicket edge and turned North toward the tree my Dad had shown me the year previous. I got to the tree and looked around for any fallen log that may be close. I found one that was a few yards away and it was actually kinda' brushed in, it was the perfect perch, so I sat up there and waited for daylight....

About the time you could see your pins real good here he came out of the thicket. This buck just walks right past me at 10 yds.. He never saw me draw and as he got straight in front of me he stopped. Shaking like a dog passing persimmon seeds I let the old 2219 go. The big 150 gr. Thunderhead hit him square in the neck and he took off flying. Blood squirting like a garden hose he didnt make it 25 yds.

I sat down and melted.....I dont remember much after that, except for dragging him by myself.

Now Ive had hundreds of successful days on public land, but my best public memory is of my first buck.

 

[hunthard2]

Let @haywoodhunter tell you about his stud () on jordan a few years back.

 

[ABBD]

There are deer to be had. Takes a little work to get on a mature buck. I shot one of my biggest archery bucks on NC public lands. I start with what are the most apparent tactics/setups on a particular property and cross those off my list. Then further consider what I think deer are doing in a given time and why. Typically, I hunt off the beaten path deep, however, had great sits not to far off a paved rd. or access trail if I feel like it’s overlooked.