In the author’s eyes, any whitetail killed with archery gear under the rules of fair chase is an accomplishment worth celebrating, and nothing tastes better than a backstrap from a public land whitetail — buck or doe.
It’s probably safe to assume that you watch your fair share of whitetail hunting content on YouTube. I certainly do. While a decade ago the vast majority of this content was filmed on heavily managed private land, there’s been a shift in recent years to highlighting public land hunts.
In my opinion, the team from The Hunting Public have been at the forefront of this change. If you’re familiar with their YouTube channel, you’ll probably agree with me that their videos do an excellent job of capturing what it’s like to pursue public land whitetails. Sure, they target whitetails on some public honey-holes in their home state of Iowa, where as residents they can purchase an archery license each year, but most of their videos detail what it’s like to travel out of state and attempt to kill a whitetail on public ground they’ve never seen before.
Reality check: It can be a grind. Busy parking lots? Yes. Other deer hunters in the woods? Yes. Wary whitetails? Yes. Minimal agricultural food sources? Yes. Zero food plots? Yes. Regulations against leaving treestands overnight? Yes. Regs against trimming shooting lanes? Yes. And the list of possible public land challenges goes on and on.
If it’s so hard, why do so many deer hunters do it? Of course, those without private land connections have no choice. Sure, some people are blessed with the confidence to knock on doors and ask for hunting permission. I wish I were one of those people. I’ve done it a few times (decades ago) for wild turkey hunting permission, but I dreaded it, so much so that I avoid it whenever possible. I know I’m not alone.
This fall, I’ll spend about 50 percent of my hunting time on public land in South Dakota and Wisconsin. (I also have permission property in both states.) My expectations vary dramatically, even though both states grow big deer. The public ground I visit in South Dakota receives almost zero hunting pressure, by residents or nonresidents. It’s the opposite on the ground I visit in Wisconsin. For that reason, I’ll hold off for a decent-size 4x4 or better in SoDak; in Wisconsin, I’ll fill my freezer with a buck of any age. I’ll also have a couple of tags for antlerless deer in Wisconsin.
I look forward to the public land whitetail challenge — embrace the grind!
