Public vs Private

[huntnphool]

It"s pretty much common sense that Private is more productive than Public on a percentage basis.

Not in this state, the majority of harvested animals come from public lands.

[bobcat]

It"s pretty much common sense that Private is more productive than Public on a percentage basis.

Not in this state, the majority of harvested animals come from public lands.

I'm not sure if that's true or not, but even if it is, I guess which is more productive would depend on your definition of "productive".

You're talking about overall numbers of animals killed on public versus private. To me, productive means a higher success rate. Which is what you get on private property. As I said before, less hunters, more game = higher success rates.

[deerslyr]

It"s pretty much common sense that Private is more productive than Public on a percentage basis.

Not in this state, the majority of harvested animals come from public lands.

I'm not sure if that's true or not, but even if it is, I guess which is more productive would depend on your definition of "productive".

You're talking about overall numbers of animals killed on public versus private. To me, productive means a higher success rate. Which is what you get on private property. As I said before, less hunters, more game = higher success rates.

Productive to me is trophy quality, I guess it would depend from person to person. I have access to a ranch in Big Timber that just doesnt hold big bucks but the alfalfa fields fill with hundreds of deer a night. With in 20 miles of that ranch Ive seen 5 of the biggest bucks ive laid eyes on 5 miles in the back country on public land.
Needless to say I hunt the back country until the snow shuts me out.

[huntnphool]

It"s pretty much common sense that Private is more productive than Public on a percentage basis.

Not in this state, the majority of harvested animals come from public lands.

I'm not sure if that's true or not, but even if it is, I guess which is more productive would depend on your definition of "productive".

You're talking about overall numbers of animals killed on public versus private. To me, productive means a higher success rate. Which is what you get on private property. As I said before, less hunters, more game = higher success rates.

Yes overall harvest numbers are higher on public vs private but I agree success rate is likely higher on private.

[huntnphool]

It"s pretty much common sense that Private is more productive than Public on a percentage basis.

Not in this state, the majority of harvested animals come from public lands.

I'm not sure if that's true or not, but even if it is, I guess which is more productive would depend on your definition of "productive".

You're talking about overall numbers of animals killed on public versus private. To me, productive means a higher success rate. Which is what you get on private property. As I said before, less hunters, more game = higher success rates.

Productive to me is trophy quality, I guess it would depend from person to person. I have access to a ranch in Big Timber that just doesnt hold big bucks but the alfalfa fields fill with hundreds of deer a night. With in 20 miles of that ranch Ive seen 5 of the biggest bucks ive laid eyes on 5 miles in the back country on public land.
Needless to say I hunt the back country until the snow shuts me out.

Similar on my lease. There are a lot of deer but the bigger bucks migrate to the area from the mountains in Wyoming.

[50CalJim]

It"s pretty much common sense that Private is more productive than Public on a percentage basis.

Not in this state, the majority of harvested animals come from public lands.

I'm not talking about overall kill, What I'm saying is Hunters who hunt on Private have a higher successful harvest rate vs Public Hunters. I'm sure I read where the harvest rate at the Winthrop check station was something like 13%. I'm sure Private is  better than that I would think.

[bobcat]

Look at the harvest reports. You'll see that many of the GMU's that are primarily private, have success rates near 40%.

Whereas the public land GMU's run from around 5% to 20%.

[huntnphool]

It"s pretty much common sense that Private is more productive than Public on a percentage basis.

Not in this state, the majority of harvested animals come from public lands.

I'm not talking about overall kill, What I'm saying is Hunters who hunt on Private have a higher successful harvest rate vs Public Hunters. I'm sure I read where the harvest rate at the Winthrop check station was something like 13%. I'm sure Private is  better than that I would think.

I would tend to agree with that but public land is way more "productive" than private by sheer numbers in this state.

[DBHAWTHORNE]

As it pertains to whitetail I certainly see more deer on the thousands of acres of private land I have to hunt. That being said... I choose to hunt on almost exclusively public land because that is where I see far more giant bucks.

[jnevs23]

correct me if im wrong but doesnt the original question refer to trophy class animals not overall harvest rate?  I think harvest rate is certainly higher on private land.  As far as it goes for trophy class animals (making boone & crocket, pope & young) I'm not convinced its any easier to score a buck that will make book on private land.  How far do you take the arguement is another question.  The whole weyerhauser, IEP land etc point was already brought up. Do you monitor hunting presure of the private land?  The 300 acres of private land I hunt gets hit by a lot of rifle hunters before I make it in for late archery.  If I score a book worthy buck off this land does it pull more weight than if it was shot on neighboring property that does not get hunted?  Great debate but it would open a major can of worms.

[littlemac]

Beacause the "typical" Washington "hunter" is too lazy to put in the effort that it takes to shoot bucks of that quality. We all have the same opportunity to harvest those caliber of public land bucks but it can't be done from the front seat of your mini van.

I think this is the real difference.  Many private land hunts are successful because scouting is done by the guide/landowner or by a hunter that has been on the property enough times to know where his best chances are.

However, unless you mean high fence the odds of a trophy are not that different either way in my opinion.  There isn't any law of nature that I am aware of that tells a big buck to hang on a private piece.  Especially during the rut, they can be anywhere.

We are a unique state in that we have so much accessible public land, we all need to work to keep it that way.

[Houndhunter]

Im not sure what your point is huntnphool, of course the numbers would say public land has more bucks killed off it as 90% of the people hunt PUBLIC ground.

I really dont care how you kill a trophy, is their a difference between a buck killed in pubic back country wilderness and one killed on private property that you've been watching the past few years that eats off your Apple trees? To me, yes. But at the same time all private land isn't the same. Maybe you hunt 2 acres of private land, maybe you hunt 10,000 acres where a deer could spend his whole life on. Can you really separate private and public ground in the record books when their is so much variance? Imo no, to each his own. Im not going to bash a guy for shooting a trophy that has been feeding in his yard for the last five years nor the guy that shoots a pig on farm land. Me, I love wilderness so thats what I hunt because thats what I get fulfillment from. Doesn't mean my public land buck should be in a separate book, should it be a BC animal.
 

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Great discussion.

  In general, private land hunting is more productive than public land.

Not true either, what do you think the percentage is this year of Washington hunters that tagged animals on private vs public land? Public land is way more "productive".

I'd have to disagree with that. I'd be willing to bet most deer in Washington are taken on private property. Maybe not in the area you hunt, but think about it, on the west side, most hunting is on private tree farms.  Then there's the farms and ranches owned in rural areas. East of the Mts, most hunting is on ranch or farmland, especially in SE Washington and Central Washington. But even NE Washington has a lot of private land that is hunted.

And then there are the drawing hunts, many of them designed to protect crops. How many of the hunt descriptions do you see this warning on? It's a lot.   " C Private lands; access is extremely limited. If you cannot secure access to private lands, do not apply for these hunts".

PS I don't agree with the OP's premise either. As long as it's not a high fenced hunt and the animals can come and go at will, it's all the same. Sometimes those private land deer are harder to hunt because they are more used to dealing with humans. Some of the easiest deer I've ever hunted were remote Sitka blacktails that have never seen a human before. They'll just stand and look at you. But go to an area close to town that everybody and their brother hunts and they can be as sneaky as any whitetail. 

[Wea300mag]

I think you should be working on Political Ads with that kind of "spin"

Those are special cases, private lands produce more consistantly, year after year.

Why do you and a group of your friends pay lots of $$ to lease a ranch in Eastern MT if you think public land is better?

Not a chance, there are way more deer harvested on public land in this state than private, no spinning those numbers.

 9 out of the last 10 years in Montana I have killed my deer on public land, not private. I lease the private land to keep the outfitters from locking us out. There are many benefits but the main one is to limit the number of animals killed in the area and assure us a quality place to hunt.

You and I are looking at this from different angles. But your last line kind of sums it up:

There are many benefits but the main one is to limit the number of animals killed in the area and assure us a quality place to hunt.

[grousetracker]

i think they should be seperate, how hard would it be if the land owner or you put up trailcameras and found the deer travel pattern in to the crop field. thats not hunting, if you put a camera up in a heavily hunted area it would be stolen so no info gained there. the same goes for guided hunts they should be seperate. JUST MY TAKE!