This is my first season and I am a public land hunter. I've learned a lot from this forum and my four trips out in the woods, but I haven't seen one deer one my own except a couple in the back of a truck on a busy weekened in December. The first spot I picked was overlooking a bottom that I really liked. But after a couple long days, I realized I was not seeing any signs of deer activity. I found a gasline clearing that runs right through the WMA I hunt and saw a couple taken from there. So last weekend I spent my first day hiking the pipline a few miles and found a nice food plot with some recent tracks on the plot. Bammo, I figured I found my spot. I also saw signs of other hunters, scent pads, discarded clothing and trash that also got me excited. The food plot is about 300 yards by 50 and runs east to west. I can see about 3 strong trail where the deer access from the ends and one in the middle on the north side. On the south side of the plot there is a nice pine ridge that makes a 15 foot cliff that runs almost the entire length of the plot. A poor man's tree stand. This controls access for the deer from the south of the east-west running plot to the ends and comes up to about 5 yards of the plot. The cliff is basically the southern border of the plot and a natural barrier. The deer only have 3 options to enter exit, east or west following the pipeline clearing of back into the woods to the north.

I spent my entire Sunday posted up in the SW corner right on the plot but off a couple feet to block conceal the view unless you were standing directly in front of me, I'd be hard to see from the upwind side of the plot if you were more than 20 yards away, the end of the plot was about 200 yards. So I had confidence I could creep up on anything or make a decent 100-150 yard shot. No blind, just a tarp to keep the rain off my head and folding chair. I swore I saw a buck running off the far end when I got there a sunrise, but it was still pretty dark and my binonculars where fogged up. However, I would have been upwind so it is possible he caught my scent and hauled ass from my entry point.

I am thinking of building a poor man's blind the next weekend available to gun hunt on that southern ridge and concealing my entry by sneaking in better and earlier. I don't like having my vision blocked and not being able to see the entire plot and beyond. I'm from Texas and not used to all these big ol trees concealing my vision especially when I am looking for something or someone. However, I am starting to think it is worth the disadvantage if all I am doing is scaring everything off sitting too close to the plot and stinking it up with my hooman scent. It was really cold and wet so I found myself having to do a little patrol every couple hours by walking the edges of plot to stay warm. Figured I might see something approaching or hear something coming out of the nearbye bottoms.

I always consider the wind. I went on a mentored hunt (does only) in December and got to see a decent buck come within about 25 yards to the blind. He never had a clue we were there even though we were a big noisey chatting it up before we saw him. But as soon as that wind shifted it was like someone tapped him on the shoulder, nose went up for a few seconds while he thought and he was last seen running full speed away from us back into the trees. Their sense of smell is amazing. I definitely learned that lesson early.

Any advice, tips or validation I am on the right track are much appreciated.

I haven’t hunted public land in Alabama but if you were finding sign left behind from other hunters then I’d keep walking further in and separate yourself as far as possible from their pressure.

One thing I always tell new hunters or folks in a slump is to keep it simple and find where multiple transitions come together and sit there. The more diverse the better, especially when thick cover is involved. Those places are deer magnets and almost a guarantee that deer are using them.

I hunted public land almost exclusively for over 20 years. I loved the challenge but I also was a bowhunter. I quickly found out that deer went underground on days of a gun hunt and I had the place to myself the rest of the week. I never met another bowhunter hunting the land I was. Gun hunters were another story-they walked and stomped the woods void of deer on scheduled gun hunts. I one year killed six racked bucks before gun season opened with my Jennings bow. I had the entire place to myself after the first week of bow season!

The key to my success was finding the small saddles and the areas the deer used to travel from one area to another between the ridges that made their travel over the areas fairly easy on them. I loved hunting the small, narrow, and overgrown areas that bucks used to move from one area to another when they had a gunhunt-I was gun hunting during the gun deer hunts. I always stayed in my tree until at least 11:00 as folks would walk all day long moving deer through the places I described above. I killed some very good deer on the refuge and enjoyed the hunting alot. This is what worked for me and my son as he soon wanted to hunt with me.

Looking back, the gun hunt areas we hunted were all far from the access roads the hunters used to enter the woods. We arrived early and we stayed late and in many ways were "lucky" because we made our own luck. We learned the area we were hunting and we learned the areas bucks used and the areas that does used-there is a difference! We were also very confident in the areas we were hunting as evidenced from our prior successes in these areas. We simply believed were we going to see deer. The rut, which should have deer on their feet now, was the prime time to see bucks on their feet that we would never see again. Read this last paragraph again and apply what is written there. Good luck.

Ridges between transitions have been money for me this year. Like said above, I avoid any human sign and keep on walking. That may result in a 2-hour drag out with a deer but at least I'll get one.

Get away from that plot. Doubt it sees much daytime use.

Get away from that plot. Doubt it sees much daytime use.

Yes. They may attract hunters, but not deer. Not in the daytime. Not on public land. Just my opinion. Transitions are where I have my best luck. Where 2 types of woods meet. Hardwoods bordering a thick bedding area for example. Play the wind right for morning and evening hunts. I think that's a reliable way to see deer. And BE STILL as possible. I'm sure I could see more deer if I could just be still.

Always get the wind in your favor - their nose is there greatest defense - they can easily smell you from 350 yards away - get wind blowing in your face or in a direction that is not blowing toward where u expect to see them - check local weather - I pull up weather APp on my phone and see what direction wind is blowing out of

Don’t hunt “pretty” woods. Usually, these are too open for deer to use in the daytime. Need some thicker stuff or atleast the “open woods” next to the thick stuff

If it's hilly country, do yourself a favor and watch Dan Infalt's videos on hill country bedding. You'll learn a lot and figure out where you need to be hunting.

I really appreciate the replies so far. They are very helpful. I think I need to look for those transition areas more (I had another guy tell me this that hunts public land). Also, I got pretty decent hearing and just about everytime I got out there has been tranistion area to my back or flank. I've heard more racket in those thick pines than anything. Once it was a bunch of turkeys, but the other it times it definite was something big and moving fast. Probably got close and smelled me. I've been lucky not to ever see another hunter when except maybe a car or two coming in way to far from my spot. I have not had to use any plan B's except for the idiot dove hunters (I told that story in a previous thread) that I made sure got caught by the GW. I'm a rat, I know. That being said I have a technical question about how to approach that.

Let's say the next time I go out, I find of big ol game trail or two leading up out of a bottom into a transition area and up towards a ridge... I find walking the game trails easier than just parralleing the trail due to the obstactles and brush. Feel like I am too noisy as it is when walking. Am I just shooting myself in the foot? I use good snake boots, wash the scent off my clothes the night before and spray a little dead down wind on everything. Will the deer just smell me stomping all over their trail and stay away? My thoughts are I would follow a trail across a bottom see the points where they come out, double back across the bottom and set up where I can watch the trails come out of the transition area.

Am I on the right path or do you guys do something else like getting in the actual transition area or thicker brush? I guess I have this thing where I feel like the more area I can see the better chance I have. I might be wrong in my thinking.

Approach wherever you are hunting with wind in your face. Hunt as close to if not a little inside the thicker areas if you can see. You using a climber to get elevated? A lot of times it looks really thick from the ground, but once you get elevated, it opens up and you can see more than you would think

You are on the right path in my opinion. I’ve hunted public ground since I started 18 years ago and the learning curve was steep but once you figure it out, it gets a whole lot easier to see deer. There’s two approaches I take that typically result in seeing deer. The first is to find thick cover in large blocks of woods. Where I hunted in AL, there were tons of open hardwood bottoms. There was a whole lot less thick area than there was open hardwoods so once I found a patch of thick stuff (typically 3/4 of a mile or more from any driveable road) I’d walk the perimeter to find trails going in and out. If there’s a way to access the interior of that thick patch that’s money. You need to be very aware of where your scent is blowing in that scenario. If it’s the wrong wind, don’t hunt that spot.

The second approach that paid off this year on AL public and has paid off many times here in the Carolinas is to find select cut pine tracts with thickish under growth (again get some distance from the road as pressure is always highest if it’s easily accessible). If the undergrowth is waist high or higher that’s preferable. Find the trails or find terrain features like mentioned above in terms of transition areas and/or where the vegetation changes. You find those, you’ll likely see sign. You’ll need a tree stand to make this the most effective as most of these areas have mature pines that you can climb pretty high in. Get up in the tree and you’ll be able to see down into the undergrowth. Deer feel a lot more comfortable moving in that stuff than out in the open. This type of setup provides the majority of my daylight sightings during a season.

Based on your first post I think you are on the right track to getting on deer. Those trails that come into the plot will lead you to where you need to go. Best public land spot I know of had a greenfield within sight of the road. I walked the trails leading into that field back about a half mile into the woods. It led me to the type of setup I mentioned first. For a solid 5 years I’d hunt that spot during gun hunts and see double digits in terms of number of deer most times. It was a zoo back there, and had I not moved so far away I’d still hunt that spot on the regular. Good luck in the rest of the season. You are close to getting on them, just stay after it.

That is some great advice Lefhorn adn CeeHawk! I have been sticking with ground hunting because my mentored hunt we used a pop up blind and for some reason I really enjoyed that more than I thought. I guess the tree stand has just felt like an unnecessary hassle and expense, but yall got me rethinking that. Ceehawk- The area you describe sounds much like mine. There is no shortage of steep hardwood bottoms that give me great views. Brushy areas of waist high or more growth are a little more of a premium and now that is where I've heard more racket of large animals moving than anywhere. I also seen a lot trails and bedding areas. I never thought a tree stand would give me a good vantage point to see all that. I figured I'd just have to wait for them to come on out to a food plot or wander into a bottom for a drink. This really helped me and I'll let you guys know if I start seeing them now. My local WMA is closed to gun hunts this weekend, but it looks like the much hyped Barbour will be open. So I'll head out there this weekend and see if it's worth the drive. Thanks a lot guys. I appreciate it.

Took me several years to get my first and thanks to a good friend I finally killed a 4 inch spike . Took a lot of kidding over him cause I never saw his antlers but he was breeding a doe so I figured he was a buck ? Lol Up until that time I had trouble seeing deer and especially bucks but after that it was like my eyes were opened ! The next season I killed a doe and shot 2 racked bucks of which I only found 1 . My brother in law and I trailed that other buck up and down sand Mtn in the snow for half a day before losing him . This was before folks started using dogs to find wounded deer . My advice is to hang in there and don’t get discouraged. It will happen and your eyes will get opened! If you could find an experienced hunter to hunt with that would be the best bet for success. coachg

Tex, I believe we hunt the same WMA. I’ll offer a few tips.

I try to stay away from the “hunter magnet areas”. Food plots, gas lines, obvious power lines etc, I’ve had my success on overlooked or harder to access areas. You can kill a deer on that gas line but you’ve got to remember that by this point in the season every inch of that has been hunted and walked over.
My advice for the last gun hunt is to find some recently thinned pines that have a lot of browse.
Now find an edge where they butt up to a cutover or hardwood SMZ. Walk the edge until you find good deer sign, trails, poop, etc and pick out a spot to hunt for a north and a south wind.

Good luck. The place you’re hunting can be very challenging but if you’ll start scouting and learning different spots you will start seeing deer.

Hunt pinch points and edges .

I am heading to Barbour as my usual WMA is closed to gun hunts this weekend. The terrain is a bit flatter and less dense down there. Sounds like the best thing I should do is find an area of thick cover/young pines and climb up a mature tree overlooking the cover. Play the wind and look for a game trail leading in to the cover to watch.Hopefully, I'll have good news on Monday. Thanks again. I really appreciate this forum. We have so little public land to hunt deer in Texas. It's a rich man's sport out there. You have to pay to play and it ain't cheap just to shoot an animal picking up breakfast from a feeder. Never saw the point as long as the grocery store had a rib eye waiting on me. This feels like actual hunting.