Poor Man's Paradise

pheasantaddict

pheasantaddict

New member
Do you have a public area that you hunt that year after year that produces birds, deer or other game? I hunted one public area for pheasants that continually produced birds and it seemed like I was the only one that was hunting there. Now that area has become overgrown with trees and brush and lucky to get 1 or 2 birds in a year. Had a spot for ducks that was 10 yds wide and about 50 yds long it was more like a drainage canal but the ducks sure like it. I had the place to myself for about 4 yrs until had a rainy fall and it became 50 yds wide and 200 yds long and people could see it. I've had a lot of good hunts on a poor man's paradise.
 
Yep, I have been going to the same piece of public land for a good many years. It is located very close to the two largest cities in the state. Now this piece of ground does get hunted but.

Their is a small finger of it that just does not seem to attract the hunters. I have always gotten birds out of it.
Also in this same area is a very small pond. I have seen duck hunters within 50 yards of each other but none of them go the extra effort to get back to this little pond.:)

Without giving to much away, their is far more great public land to hunt where I live than I have time to hunt it...but if you ask most. They will tell you, Na it is no good.
 
I'm a public land freelancer so there have been a lot of them. MN has some abundant public land and I have taken good advantage of that over the years.

Unfortunately my South Dakota locations are/were almost all Walk-In-Areas and in recent years they have been disappearing at a rapid pace. There is one special spot in particular where I would dearly love to spread the ashes of my old lab. Some great memories in that place but just can't seem to do it knowing that someday I might not be able to stop in for a visit and relive some of those memories with him.
 
We have tons of public land here in NC MN. Deer and Ruffs mostly. I had a Ruff honey hole that was always a sure thing in the state forest. Now that area is set up for dirt bikes and 4 wheelers. Not a grouse anywhere, but lots of noise. :(
However I have more places to hunt then I can cover in season. Have to put on the camper and drive a ways. :)
 
I feel the pain much like some of you. I have lost so many honey holes in the last 10 years, it's sickening. I'm a guy who will take harder hunting and less game, in exchange for solitude and privacy. I'm not a combat style hunter who will get up at 3:00AM to go and get my spot secured. Then have to defend it all day. I would quit hunting first.

I have a few spots but they are very few these days. They will most likely go be the way of the others.
 
onpoint said:
I feel the pain much like some of you. I have lost so many honey holes in the last 10 years, it's sickening. I'm a guy who will take harder hunting and less game, in exchange for solitude and privacy. I'm not a combat style hunter who will get up at 3:00AM to go and get my spot secured. Then have to defend it all day. I would quit hunting first.

I have a few spots but they are very few these days. They will most likely go be the way of the others.
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When I lived down in southern IL. I would have to get up at 2:00am to head out to get a duck hunting spot @ Lake Carlyle and if you tried to walk in forget about it. But I did see a funny thing, there was this guy dressed in a track suit he had a children's pull wagon full of decoy's and his dog when 3:30am hit it was off to the races you coulld see the dust was flying up as this guy was running full force to the so called honey hole man I laugh my butt off needless to say I did not hear a shoot from his area.
 
onpoint said:
I feel the pain much like some of you. I have lost so many honey holes in the last 10 years, it's sickening. I'm a guy who will take harder hunting and less game, in exchange for solitude and privacy. I'm not a combat style hunter who will get up at 3:00AM to go and get my spot secured. Then have to defend it all day. I would quit hunting first.

I have a few spots but they are very few these days. They will most likely go be the way of the others.
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Man i am right there with you. We see guys out here that will park vehicles in parking spots 2 nights before the opener, so the spot will look secured opening morning. One of my favorite spots was a 160 acre crop field I had permission to hunt a mile east of my house. It was just outside city limits, and always filled up with geese every year. We also harvested a couple of deer there. Now it is full of houses. Looks like i need to go farther west again.
 
Guys have went to putting solar lights in their blind, so it looks occupied. Guys with boats in the water, sleeping in their trucks. as soon as somebody pulls up. They literally run to their boats and drag race to the blinds. Ridiculous, and a game I'm not willing to play. I now have somebody drop me off and I leave no vehicle or sign that anybody is around. Leave a track or trail and the masses will be on it like white on rice. Lazy folks like to have others do their scouting for them. Then move in, reap others hard work and claim the spot for their own. Whenever possible, do not leave a rig standing around.
 
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The last 3 years I have hunted deer in the same WIHA. The area is small and does not look to hot, but the deer are there. I have pulled 4 out of there over the last 3 years. As I pulled one of this years deer out of the field I saw some joker sitting in his truck watching a winter wheat field. He drove over to my truck, looked at the deer, looked at the WIHA, shook his head, grabbed his rifle and headed right back the way I had come. I may have to look for another place next year.
 
I have a place with permission to hunt that is 20 miles as a crow flies from the house. It is a 320 acre track with an addition 40 acres around an old homestead that has three ponds, two of which you cannot see from the county road. It is surrounded on three sides normally planted in wheat. It is Quail and Duck heaven if there ever was one. The 160 is fenced with hog wire and triple stand barbwire. I have used it for almost 10 years now, as a puppy training area because of the fencing.

I have never gone there and left disappointed even in drought years.
 
Sometimes I find myself taking it for granted that I live in Colorado which is home to a few million acres of good 'ole United States National Forest property. While land fragementation is decreasing public access in some areas, which sucks, it's still where you'll find me come elk/deer season. No private land needed here (unless we're talking pheasants ;) ) !!!
 
Thrasher, I hear you. At a public place for pheasants, I was coming out when I saw a pickup waiting for me on the road. He asked how I did and with pheasants bulging from the back of my vest and one in the front with his tail feather sticking out. I said I didn't see a thing and tried not to laugh as I walked away.
 
pheasantaddict said:
Thrasher, I hear you. At a public place for pheasants, I was coming out when I saw a pickup waiting for me on the road. He asked how I did and with pheasants bulging from the back of my vest and one in the front with his tail feather sticking out. I said I didn't see a thing and tried not to laugh as I walked away.
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You must be a fisherman too.:rolleyes::thumbsup:

I like to hit a lot of the same WIHAs year after year. It's fun to explore also and try some new places. But we definitely mark the best ones that we find, and make it a point to visit them every year.

Unfortunately the WIHAs close to home didn't produce much for me this year. More like a "poor man's Sahara Desert"... Especially with the weather we had this "winter".:eek: In all fairness, I pretty much gave up in December.
 
I found a new spot this year near town, that was full of huns (80+ birds on 320 acres). The area is public but no one hunts it don't ask me why other than no many hunters seek huns exclusively. The icing on the cake is that, the far corner of it also has some pheasants. :D
 
My fav local spot is close to home, doesn't look like it would hold a Hun, let alone a Pheasant, but it holds both if you're willing to hike and so far, nobody else hunts it.
 
I've been hunting some public land about 3 miles from my house for the last 14 years. The first several years I hunted it, I never saw another hunter. Somehow the word got out and now on opening day you have to get there early if you want a place to hunt. It still produced some birds this year even though there weren't many around.
 
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