Public Land Whitetails

[Whitetail Adrenaline]

Apparently I found ou tonight where the missouri river cuts up through north Dakota is a hot bet for Big Whitetails too. I might end up trying there a bit in a few weeks when I head out there... Personally I think anywhere there is much cover will be great hunting in N.D.

[buckslayer]

I have been a public land searching fool the last few days. I have been plugging away trying to find places in ND, SD, IA, MO and WI. If you know a county that interests you in those states let me know and I can probably let you know a little about the WMA's that are close to or in that county.
If you have google earth, MO and MN DNR page has a link to click that downloads the Google Earth feeds that will show you all or most of the public places available along with informing you of the acres available and stuff like that.

[Whitetail Adrenaline]

One thing that is a smart thing to do is when a person is heading to public ground on a trip get a platt book. It will show you more that is public than you can find on the internet and its worth the money...

[sieckanddestroy]

Tell Jimbob good luck for me and I hope he has a great experience in Northeast Iowa!!!!! Do you guys know what state ground you will be hunting yet? I can't wait to see the video!!!!!!!

[Whitetail Adrenaline]

There's alot of Public land up in that area. I'm sure he'll have a number of spots picked out and we'll just hit em as we go... You'd recommend Volga though??

[sieckanddestroy]

I really think that Volga is a great area, and the hunting pressure there is extremely low. I lived right across the road from it for 18 years and I know there are HUGE deer there. Then again, there are numerous areas in Northeast Iowa that will produce a giant for ya, so who knows! Good luck to you wherever you decide to go! If you are lucky, maybe I'll push a couple giants across the road into Volga during the first shotgun season!!!

[Whitetail Adrenaline]

Thanks Buddy! Keep in touch and let me know how you and the guys do down there. Any Public Land Giants you know of that have been shot post them on the Public Land Giants thread. We are trying to put together a number of Public Land giants for Big Buck profiles on our video... Thanks for the info on the P. Land

[buckslayer]

I will be down that way a lot next summer scouting for whenever it is that I get drawn.
I have looked in that area a lot the last few days and found a ton of land thats open down there. And thats not even with a plat book.
I think that just with the aerial and topo mapwork alone I found about 30 possible stand locations that of course still need to physicaly be walked and scouted, but at least I have a good start.

[Whitetail Adrenaline]

If you go there with a bow I think the best time would be late-october when the bucks are still cruising for doe's but not locked down yet. That's when I'll be headed south of Des Moines this year for my "Wing-It" hunt. My whole strategy will be to stay mobile(probably hunting on the ground alot/driving by property after property not wasting anytime untill I find the area/spot that says "Oh Yeah This Is It". I'll probably end up finding my hotspot 50-100 miles away from where I start my hunt.

[mn/wis83]

Hey WA I am just wondering if you had any advice. I am planing on going out to east central ND next week to chase some whitetails. I went last year for the opener and saw plenty of deer, but no bucks over 2 years old. It was hot, but everything was still moving. The area we hunted was a huge wildlife refuge with lots of cover. The area had alot of corn and sunflowers a few alfalfa fields and one Canola field which the deer were hammering, but not any big ones. My plan is to scout until I find one I want to go after then hunt him. Any advice on how to find one in all that tall corn and sunflowers. What crops do you find them in mostly, because I know they are there. Any advice would be awesome, thanks

[Unscripted]

I have been a public land searching fool the last few days. I have been plugging away trying to find places in ND, SD, IA, MO and WI. If you know a county that interests you in those states let me know and I can probably let you know a little about the WMA's that are close to or in that county.
If you have google earth, MO and MN DNR page has a link to click that downloads the Google Earth feeds that will show you all or most of the public places available along with informing you of the acres available and stuff like that.

How does that link at the MN website work that downloads google earth feeds showing you where the public places are I would be interested in that I live 15 minutes away from whitewater so i am kinda familiar with the area and have seen some great bucks come out of there but there is also alot of other little patch of state land that are great around altura and the rollingstone area and i dont know exactly how big or all the lines so im hoping this will help

[buckslayer]

As long as you have Google Earth already, go to http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/wmas/index.html
from there go to the bottom of the page and it should say
Google Earth Users!
View MN WMA data (boundaries and parking facilities) within the Google Earth application. Download the KML file now!

click the download, accept it, then open your google earth and look at all of the new wildlife management areas that most people don't know about.

I am trying to find the same link for Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, and a few other places, but so far the only other state that I found it for is Missouri.

I hope I was of some help. Good luck this fall.

[Whitetail Adrenaline]

We find sunflower fields are golden at this time of year along with hay fields. If you haven't seen any real descent bucks it may be an area that just isn't holding any big ones and it may be time to go in search of a new area. If you know there are some big ones in the area for sure then I would position myself where I can get a good observation. I will say unless I "feel" I'm getting close to a big one by either sighting's or what my gut tells me I'm outta there know matter how many nice bucks I see, but thats me and that's not to say there isn't a big one there... here's a link to some guidelines we somewhat follow when we head out there: http://www.whitetailadrenaline.com/i...ges/index&id=3

Hope that helps. Good Luck! I hope You shoot a big one. Let me know how you do...
Key: The more experience you gain the more you'll get a "feel" for what to do in any case you encounter while hunting. But its hunting

[Whitetail Adrenaline]

Buck that's a great link! I love it! I did notice there is some lands that don't come up on the google page but most do and its just one more tool for the do it yourselfer. Thanks for the research

[buckslayer]

Hey WA, I am still trying also to dig up more states with that google earth link. I have Missouri also but forgot how I found it. Once I find it again I will post that link as well. So far Its looking like they only have the file for Wildlife Management Areas only since I can't even find any of the State Forests in MN, but I have not given up the search yet!