Targeting deer on public lands in the Carolinas provides its own set of challenges, but nothing that an observant hunter can’t figure out — with these tips.
Private land available for hunting is becoming more limited, with land conversion to suburban development growing fast. And the price for hunting leases and recreational real estate continues to skyrocket, further handicapping an average hunter’s opportunity to harvest a deer. However, public-land hunting opportunities are steadily growing and hunters may want to consider going public this hunting season.
Strip away the food plots, peanut fields and corn piles, and hunters can chase deer the way Native Americans did. Hunters accustomed to hunting on private land may need to make a few changes to put their tag on a deer on a public-land deer in the Carolinas. Deer on public lands have fewer manipulated food sources and typically are subject to more pressure from the public. Natural foods, bedding areas, sanctuaries and travel corridors are important places for hunters to find.
Public properties are littered with roads, firebreaks and trails that give hunters access to their interiors, and these provide ideal places to encounter an antlered target, but don’t expect to use these avenues with quads or any other motorized vehicle. The majority of interior roads and trails are passable via foot traffic only, reserving the more-remote reaches for the adventurous participant.
Dale Davis, a biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission headquartered in northeastern North Carolina is an advocate of restricting access to the interior of public properties. He believes the closed gates improve hunter opportunity and wildlife habitat.
“As public managers, we must provide hunting opportunities for everybody, but the best thing for wildlife sometimes is a big orange gate,” he said. “Not only is it economical, gates reduce disturbances and provide great habitat for animals. Wildlife gets a chance to utilize the closed roads and trails as wildlife openings.
“A closed gate gives people the opportunity to get off the beaten path to shoot a nice deer. Get behind a gate and get a chance to see more wildlife.”
For nearly 30 years, William Terry of Legacy Game Calls in Fort Lawn, S.C., has logged significant hours in tree stands on public land, and he recommends that hunters try and locate remote areas on a property so they can get away from most hunter activity.
“The further you got to walk the better…. People are lazy,” said Terry, who prefers tracts where interior access is restricted to foot traffic only. Even though public lands will not be hunted excessively as a whole, highly-accessible tracts will receive a substantial level of pressure around the edges, pushing the deer into the interior of the tracts. Terry chooses these remote areas to hunt.
“A place (that’s) real inaccessible, lacking hunting pressure, allows you to catch deer on food during the day,” he said.
If time allows, Terry will scout a few days before to locate a stand site in these kinds of areas. Scouting also reveals how deep he must venture into a tract to find a decent buck. In addition to locating food, tracks and buck sign, he scans his surroundings and notes any fresh hunter activity.
“If I find places where people have been messing around, I keep going. A big deer will not put up with that,” he said.
Public hunting lands often provide opportunities and are popular with hikers, horseback riders, campers and even the occasional exercise junkies. Deer living in these areas are somewhat accustomed to human intervention, giving hunters a brief advantage.
Beyond access limitations, baiting is prohibited on public hunting lands, reviving the importance of recognizing natural food, water and cover and making them part of hunting strategy.
Diverse habitats offer a variety of nutritional choices to keep deer fat and happy. Early in the season and before the first heavy frost, acorn-producing oaks, persimmon trees, greenbriar thickets and even kudzu-infested areas attract deer. Terry always looks for the best food sources in the interior of public tracts.
“Look for oaks and acorns to start with,” he said. “If you find the food, be patient; the does will come, and the bucks will be on their way.”
As the season progresses, deer on public and private land come in contact with more hunters. While some deer wind up hanging upside down by their feet, the brief encounters deer have with humans will quickly teach them to steer clear of those familiar sounds and smells. On Saturdays and holidays, hunting pressure with drive more deer to the interior of these areas, especially during the middle of the day. Most hunters get out of their stands during mid-morning; those who pack a lunch and stay on stand as long as they can have better chances to take a trophy animal, as hunters on the move will push the deer around and down the main travel trails throughout the day.
Pressured deer learn quickly and shift their main feeding efforts to the cover of the twilight skies, but hunters can still intercept these mature deer in the right places. Terry moves his stands away from the food sources and closer to their daytime refuge.
“Later in season, get as close to bedding areas as possible without spooking the deer,” said Terry, who prefers the thick, dense places where the big bucks lay as deer become more nocturnal, hoping to intercept these deer on their way back to the bedding areas at dawn.
Even with food and heavy cover ranking high on the list of priorities late in the season, breeding is still on the brain of most bucks as late as December. It’s a fact that, by this time, few does are roaming the swamps and pine plantations without a bun in the oven. Bucks continue to wander like vagabonds looking to score with a hairy-legged, white-tailed peach. Even late in the season, with human scent everywhere and every deer spooked by anything resembling trouble; hunters can still take mature bucks and take advantage of different factors, especially on large, public tracts.
Without the need for expensive private-land leases and hunt-club memberships, Carolina hunters who hold a N.C. Game Lands license or a S.C. WMA Permit will gain access to several million acres of deer habitat. Virtually every county, game zone and wildlife district has public land set aside for hunting.
Be the first to comment