Private vs Public

[shorthair-on-point]

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[CP]

All of my waterfowl hunting is scratched out on public lands or private lands that are open to the public.  I’d love to hunt some private land but I don’t own any and I’m not willing to pay for the privilege so public it is.

[chester]

    Its not worth paying for. Knocking on doors works.

[WSU]

I have one private spot that I hunt most of the time.  Prior to that it was almost all public.

[vandeman17]

We hunt all public land. While it would be nice to have a private spot, I just don't have the $ right now.

[ORCA_SIX]

Public for Duck. Private for Geese.

[GregFowler23]

I hunt at a 50 50 ration when it comes to private and public. In the area i hunt there are some great public spots that produce some great birds. But i do belong to a hunting club which is at a reasonable price for the quality of hunting that we get out of it. And from time to time i do go door to door just asking around because its always nice to hunt new areas.

[pianoman9701]

Public during the regular goose season. Awesome private during the late Master Hunter season in private farmland, Area 2A.

[ducksdogsdownriggers]

Duck:  90-10 public.  Enjoy the whole process of scouting, setting dekes, etc. too much to just show up and get a limit.
Goose:  10-90 private.  Geese are too fickle, if you're not in or on the "X", too bad, and even then, they may decide to change "X's" (sounds like my ex-wife, lol).

[Dustin07]

I have a great setup on some local private land (mom and dad's) but hunt mostly public.

[sakoshooter]

Public

[carpsniperg2]

I am about 50/50 with both ducks and geese. I do a lot of pond jumping on ponds we own or I have have leased. But we have also spent time hunting them on the Big C. Geese are the same way, most of our field hunting is private ground. But when we hunt the river its public ground.

[Whitenuckles]

A little of both!

[USCGhunter]

Last year I hunted all public land in SoCal. next season i want to try to hunt some private land in Washingotn, if that means knocking on doors.

[boots]

Good shoots can be had on public or private. Best part about private is the lack of crowding (typically)

[270Shooter]

95% public

[h2ofowlr]

I do both.  I go to where the birds are.  I scout everyday of the waterfowl season.

[TheSkyBuster]

Private Land? 
 That sounds boring, I'm not sure what I would do if I didn't have other Idjits to watch while I was hunting.  Not getting to watch the guys that show up right at daylight, motors through your decoys and sets up 200 feet from you.  No watching other people "spray and pray" at Mallards in the stratosphere?  What about the guy who screams to his dog at the top of his lungs for the entire morning? Or the ones who blow into their calls with all their might weather there are birds in the air or not?  And isn't steel shot raining down on your head part of the nostalgia? I couldn't stand to miss "curse your buddy while trying to launch the boat guy"  of course, I can't foget my pesonal favorite, the guy accross the lake who sees a flock dropping into your decoys and shoots into the air to flair them off in hopes that they might later come into his spread.
No, Private land is not for me I'll keep my free entertainment along with the challenge of the hunt.

[lokidog]

So SkyBuster. you have scene me out hunting. 

you forgot about the guy that uses his boat to pick up his downed ducks and makes sure to wake wash your spread every time.

Hey, isn't movement in your decoys a good thing?      100% public, but I didn't even go out last season.

[jordano]

I hunt pretty much all public land except for a couple places that I have permission to hunt private, that I rarely get a chance to hunt at. I have to rely on scouting and doing my homework!

[AWS]

I hunt public land 99% of the time, I do get an occasional invite to a private club but it isn't any better than the public lands.  I hardly ever see another hunter while hunting and I hunt alot, east and west.  But like the ducks I tend to find places hunters don't go to or too hard to get to.

AWS

[KwackWacker]

I have great shoots on public and private both. I have some prime private areas to hunt but they are small and cant take the pressure, so I end up primarily hunting public...and managing my private lands so I can get a couple great shoots just about every week of the season when the condidtions are right for each private area, instead of hunting them everyday and burning them out. When times get tough we tend to move away from our traditional areas and cover alot of miles hitting up our little honey holes that scouting has provided I and hunting partners with. I probably hunt 80% public

[wsucowboy]

public with a little bit of private. All of the private land I hunt is farm property that I have worked for the owners on growing up as a kid 

[Hot Lunch]

The simple answer is they are both good. For ducks I prefer to target birds that are traveling as oppsosed to setting up on a coupe. I have access to several duck ponds, including those in corn and after the first birds are killed its a royal PIA to get the rest of the birds to finish. I can set up with 12-18 decoys and a spinner on some isolated public land that has a "flight" of birds over it and kill my 7 drakes in 45 min almost every day. You gotta play your cards, there is no golden spoon with private land, always have  A,B, and C plans ready to deal with the weather and ever changing bird patterns. The hard freezes have been my biggest enemy, but I have picked up some small spots that never freeze thaey have been just plain insane the past couple of years.

For geese I prefer private ground and setting up on the X. Setting up 200 stuffers with 8 guys is far more work than I like to expend on a hunt, so I usually just shoot a couple kwik duck limits and head for Ihop.

[Alan K]

Open to public land is all I hunt on my own.  That said, I was invited to hunt a club with one of my good friends in high school one time and it was the easiest hunt of my life.  Either way, I always have fun!

[steelnducks]

We have a duck/goose lease mainly for training my dog but i enjoy public land more. Nothing feels better then finding that public honey hole the duck pile into.