Skyline or Wheeler

This may be a terrible question. Here goes. If you had to dedicate your time to scouting/hunting one piece of public land. Which one? Both are close to the same distance from home. I really don't like to hunt public land, but if I want to keep hunting I gotta . Due to reasons not to mention.

They are both two totally different pieces of land so i guess it would depend on whether you would rather hunt mountains or river bottoms.

I can hunt either. I know more about the mountains. I guess I am more worried about pressure 1st and deer population 2nd. I am not afraid to walk or put in the time for scouting. I have not deer hunted Skyline in years. I have never hunted Wheeler.

I'd go with whatever you are closer to. I think both have good numbers and quality deer. Wheeler gets hunted hard and you want find a place that probably doesn't get hunted, but Skyline probably isn't much different. The flat land will make Wheeler much easier on you to hunt. Wheeler has a 2 week flintlock season that has either just kicked off or is fixing to that will put many more boots on the ground.

I haven't hunted Wheeler in a while, but I grew up in Decatur and hunted it thru college and mid 20's. Lots of pressure, having a bicycle with a trailer or a boat to get to the places a long ways from the truck paid off best for me to see more and better deer. Land is all pretty flat and most of it river bottom and swamps, so scouting and going in further is not as difficult as more rugged terrain is.

I think skyline will be less pressured in between rifle hunts. However I have hunted both and like the flat walking, plus it's closer to home for me

When I was a young man it was Skyline. As I aged it was Wheeler, due entirely to the terrain. Now that I'm even older, neither one, I hunt TN.

I hunt wheeler, very crowded where I go. If you see something, don't tell anyone anything! That was my mistake

Rattlers at skyline and cotton mouths at wheeler...just saying.

I don't think that's where the phrase "pick your poison" came from but might apply here!

Don't forget about the alligators at Wheeler. Just kidding, kind of. I used to hunt an area of Wheeler that I know for certain was within 500 yards of where a 12 footer calls home.

Wheeler has started to get really packed since first of the year. I've seen in a spot where 6 trucks were parked when it averages 1-2 maybe. Everyone is coming out of the woodwork.

I hunt wheeler but not until after gun season start. Only once have I pulled up to a gate and there more than 2 vehicles there and have only seen another hunter while in a stand twice in 3 years.

One spot i've been hunting for 3 years has finally started to get crowded. I went 2 whole years with not a single soul to be seen. Then last year saw 1 guy. Now this year its gotten bad.

I have hunted both and gravitated to hunting only Wheeler. If you do your homework, you can find some really good spots that nobody else hunts, or seldom hunts. After gun season starts, it is much easier to find areas that receive little to no pressure. I have stopped hunting there since I joined a club. My son hunts there some and seems like some of my honey holes are now a little more popular than when I hunted them.

I always felt that Skyline had bigger deer but Wheeler has some big deer also. I never liked the thought of 10,000 people coming in on a weekend and shooting everything up, plus I normally hunted alone and the thought of dragging a deer up the side of a mountain (which I've done) is not very appealing to me.