I have not hunted public land in over 30 years but back when I did, there were two ways to get on unpressured deer. If you could get away from other hunters by hiking in away from access points (I walked 2.5 miles away from the closest gate) that was the best scenario. Or, stay really close to the roads/access points where other hunters didn't hunt. Now, all of this was on a WMA in FL that was loaded with deer, but we had phenomenal success on some really nice bucks. That WMA is long gone unfortunately.