I'm not an expert by any means, but I can give you my 2 cents. I primarily hunt public land in Lewis County, and mainly bow hunt for deer, but was able to help my son fill his rifle deer tag on Saturday.
There's two types of public land I look for: One is state land that's open for driving in. The other is tree farms which are open to the public (walking-in) such as Port Blakely and Sierra Pacific.
If I'm walking through the woods, I'm walking super slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible, and looking to see the deer before they run. Often it's a deer's face you'll see peeking through the ferns- not a whole deer showing.
With clear-cuts you want to scan as much as possible with binoculars. Deer blend in well, so don't assume a clear-cut is empty just at first glance. Look with the binos, and sometimes you'll spot a deer you didn't see just looking without them.
With this cold weather at night and sunny days, I think they're wanting to warm up in the sun longer. Saturday morning my son and I got out late (9:30) but since it had been cold the night before we caught a spike out in a clearing standing in the sun.
Also as we get into the rut, antler rattling and deer vocalizations will have a better chance of bringing in a buck.
Hope this helps, and hope you're able to see some deer! Keep us posted!
