Registered: Oct 2014
Location: NC
Posts: 143

Anyone hunt public land exclusively? Our public land in NC aint great for coon hunting, lot of thickets but it beats nothing and we have a good bit of it. Some of the tracts are fairly large as well which is always nice. I'm not one of the ones blessed with 2,000 acres of River private river bottom farm land to hunt for myself. Just curious if anyone else hunts game land only? Private spots are hard to come by and every time I want to go I feel like I have to beg, borrow, plea and steal just to be able to go turn my dog loose for a few hours. I'm about to the point to just start hunting gamelands and say to heck with the butt kissing to have a few half way decent private spots. Way I see it is I'm paying taxes on the land, might as well enjoy some of it.

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Talala, Oklahoma
Posts: 5208

I don't hunt public land exclusively, but I hunt it a lot.

It gets a lot of hunting pressure around here, but its better than nothing.

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Registered: Aug 2011
Location: Perrinton, Michigan
Posts: 632

I have anywhere from 3000 to 5000 acres along a slow moving river and that is 80% of my hunting land. Of course here it is prime coon hunting.

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Registered: Jun 2012
Location: McRae Ar
Posts: 3701

Almost exclusively, I got over 250,000 acres of public bottom land within an hour of the house. I probably have around 4 or 5000 of private but I don't hunt it much. Only when season is out from the 1st of April to the end of June, because we can't hunt the public when season is closed.

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Registered: Jan 2011
Location: Rockmart, Ga.
Posts: 2652

98 % of the time i hunt , im hunting WMA.

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Registered: Oct 2004
Location: Clarksville, AR
Posts: 1077

The older I get, the less I hunt the Forest Service lands just north of me. Not alot of coons but there's a few, and you earn the ones you tree. Not uncommon to gain or lose 800 feet of elevation going to or coming from a tree.

Now just to my south is a pretty decent chunk of Corps of Engineers floodplain WMA land along the Arkansas River that is really good hunting. There's significantly more pressure there, but there's also a significanty higher coon population in the swamps, streams and adjacent agricultural land.

In between is the cattle pasture country and private land where I live. It's getting harder to hunt, but I still have access to a thousand or so acres.

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Registered: Dec 2013
Location: Nichols Ny
Posts: 1566

Yes almost exclusively, I do hunt some ground close to the house too. But not near as much as the public ground.

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Registered: Aug 2017
Location: MD
Posts: 17

I pretty much hunt only on public land. I have close to 20000 acres in tracts from 500 acres to 7000 acres with in an hour ride from my house. Its not the best land with the highest coon population but it does offer wide variety of terrains to hunt and expose a dog to. Anything from flooded timber and swamps along the river to hills with creek bottoms and thickets to the mountains. My dogs ain't world champs but they have treed coons at all the places I have around me to hunt.

Dave

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Registered: Sep 2017
Location: W.V.
Posts: 50

Yes. I have 3500 acres within 15 mins from the house that’s all public land. Monday-Thursday, no one hunts it but me. Friday & Saturday nights, its packed. I go up on the river bottom on those nights. I have 1300 acres of river bottom & hardwoods I have permission to hunt as well.

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Registered: Feb 2018
Location:
Posts: 21

Yes I hunt state land for the most
Part but do have private land to
I wood say I hunt state land 70% when
It's open for training

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Registered: Feb 2015
Location: NW Arkansas
Posts: 1186

About 50 50 for me. Hunted WMA 2 nights this week and treed 6 coon but it's not easy. Sometimes you can hunt there 2 nights and not see a coon.

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Tom Wood

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Registered: Jan 2016
Location:
Posts: 152

85% of the time gets tough here in western nc our county elevations vary from 1100 ft to almost 6000 ft rough on a old man, but I'm just dumb enough to keep trying it. Lots of public land !

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Registered: Mar 2006
Location: va
Posts: 503

Hunt government land 90% of the time, if I hunt with buddy a sometimes will hunt private. Tons of national forest around here, you may have a tough time finding coons or have a rough walk but you normally don’t have to worry about landowners or many other hunters at all. I have one private spot right by the house but it joins national forest and usually will end up on it before the night is over.

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Registered: Jun 2005
Location: North of Panama City Florida
Posts: 1014

i hunt it occasionally without much success... the coon are few and far between on most of the management area around me. lots of land though

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Central Michigan
Posts: 6544

Yes, pretty much exclusively hunt state land. Unless a friend invites me over to hunt, but anymore between busy schedules it doesn't happen much.

This last year the DNR and County Drain Commission really messed things up, and it had a negative affect on the coons. It was my absolutely worst year ever.

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