Share your out of state experience

[Alan K]

Public is over hunted and over-poached in areas that aren't gated.  Tribal folks also have extended seasons and gate keys to otherwise walk-in areas for quite a bit of public land. 

For blacktail, I wouldn't worry too much about other people at gates since the deer hide so well. A hunter ahead of you can very easily glass right over an animal and move on down the road.  Also, a walk-in area with 5 rigs at it still has less pressure than areas that are not gated.

The 3x2 blacktail I harvested yesterday morning at about 9:30 was bedded in a young (2-3 y/o) clearcut with several sets of that morning's pickup tracks driving by around the rim above. I guess my point with that is traffic isn't always as much pressure as perceived. 

[ljsommer]

Public is over hunted and over-poached in areas that aren't gated.  Tribal folks also have extended seasons and gate keys to otherwise walk-in areas for quite a bit of public land. 

For blacktail, I wouldn't worry too much about other people at gates since the deer hide so well. A hunter ahead of you can very easily glass right over an animal and move on down the road.  Also, a walk-in area with 5 rigs at it still has less pressure than areas that are not gated.

The 3x2 blacktail I harvested yesterday morning at about 9:30 was bedded in a young (2-3 y/o) clearcut with several sets of that morning's pickup tracks driving by around the rim above. I guess my point with that is traffic isn't always as much pressure as perceived. 

Thats a good point, thank you!

[Alan K]

You bet.  Hang in there, it'll happen for you! Just stay positive. Some years it's a grind. 

And as far as out of state goes. Absolutely start building points. It can get expensive but if you're passionate about hunting you'll be happy you did.

[andrew_in_idaho]

That’s your problem. Your spending more time driving then hunting. Camp in an area for 4-5 days where you want to hunt. No different than out of state. I personally don’t pay access fees because there’s millions of acres that are free to hunt and hold animals too.

I must not be driving far enough away to public, because the public land blocks I've found that are within a 2 hour drive are very heavily hunted. My most recent public land excursions in Aberdeen were always very populated and the locals were always upset to see someone hunting "their spot".

Understand I am in Idaho but also a very urban portion of Idaho. My max that I will drive for a day hunt is pretty much 2 hrs, anymore than that and I’m there for at least the weekend with camp or sometimes just sleeping in the bed of my truck. Maybe the trick for you is to find someplace east of the cascades, take a couple days off work around your weekend, go hunt hard for a couple of days from a base camp, I’m guessing your success rate will improve. Also do you have any hunting partners to tag along with?


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[Pathfinder101]

2016 Alaska Caribou.  PathfinderJR's graduation gift.  Had an bushplane drop us off for a week in the interior. 

[Pathfinder101]

2020 Wyoming Antelope hunt.  Easy draw unit, but couldn't find a goat on public land.  Little Pathfinder talked us onto an old fella's ranch.  He insisted on stalking the goats with us (probably afraid we'd shoot a hole in his water tanks)    Said it was the fastest he'd ever seen two antelope die.  About 2 seconds apart, both dropped in their tracks. 

[Pathfinder101]

Montana buck shot in a -20 degree snowstorm in 2010.  Bipod legs froze in the up position and I had to shoot him offhand.
Idaho buck that CoryTDF had to talk me into shooting because I thought he was a dink    Then he found it, processed it, and packed half of it out for me while I was chasing an elk that bugled at us when I shot the deer. 

[Pathfinder101]

Colorado Bull from the Lizard Peak Wilderness.  The outfitter that dropped us off took his pack string over a maze of downed trees the diameter of washing machines to pack this bull out. 

[Pathfinder101]

Little Pathfinder's graduation gift trip to Alaska.  Midnight sunset packout.

[pianoman9701]

Hawkeye is taking them down!

[HighlandLofts]

Well here it is after 10pm Halloween night.
I'm heard up for my New York State deer hunting trip.
I leave at midnight Nov. 10th.. I fly in to Binghamton NY early Tuesday afternoon
 My friend from Anacortes WA fly in the following night at midnight.
I bought a Nissan four day 4x4 pickup from out here in Washington state and drove it back to New York the last week of September.
I left it there for our hunting rig.
My friend from Anacortes will be hunting back there until Thanksgiving day then he fly back here.
A cousin from Pennsylvania will be driving up to hunt with us on the weekends.
Th we there will be nine people total that I will be hunting with .
Between all of us we will have there will be 52 deer tags.
We all will have a buck tag, a bear tag and four doe tags, some of the local guys will have archery tags and muzzle loader tags which are good for either sex.
It would be nice to have one or two more guys from different areas to come hunt with us ans compare our hunts to theirs.

We will have a couple of day yo get things situated before the season opens up.
We will go sight guns in, grab a load of slabwood from the sawmill for the firepit at the motel room and for the wood stove in the little barn where we cut the deer up.
Go to the gun range and sight our rifles in..
A couple nights of drinking berr and BS about previous deer seasons and prospects of the up coming season.
I did aquire a 52 acre parcel of land to hunt on this year. It hasn't been hunted on in decades.
There is a few different parcels of State game lands we will check out this year as well.
I never worked during the New York deer season in over fifty years and never will.
If my health goes to hell I guess I'll be one of the old guys who will remember the old days and stick to road hunting.
Tomorrow for supper I will be having some Whitetail backstraps with Chantelle mushrooms & garlic.
Tonight just some buds on ice and getting hyped up for the month of deer hunting with friends & family.

[30.06]

Good Luck hunting on your new parcel HL!

[HighlandLofts]

Thank you 30-06
My friend from Anacortes took a month off of work to.
He left this morning to go to South Carolina for close to two weeks of fishing. He will be flying from south Carolina to New York on the 12th.
I will be picking him up at the airport when he gets there.
He bought g ht a new scope for his 308 Ruger American rifle. He will mount it up on the 13th and we will go to a gub club I belong to back there to sigjt it in and I'll shoot a couple of my rifles to make sure they are sill on target.
Just waiting for the 10th to roll around. I will be taking the belaire shuttle bus to the airport.

[Boss .300 winmag]

Take some pics so you can out them up, would love to see some of the country your hunting plus the deer you guys get.👍

[EnglishSetter]

We’ll see if this works. 

Eastern South Dakota for Chinese Ditch Chickens.

The pic is Day 2&3 birds (21).  Day 1 had 18 for the 6 of us.

Roads were clear but had some snow at the rest stop near the pass upon return.