Purity?

[Ben Long]

I hunt both private and public land. I am lucky to have easy access to both in my county. Here's my question. Do you value a trophy or animal more if it comes from public land as opposed to private land? In terms of experience or challenge or whatever, is one "better" than the other in your opinion?

 

[JGTWI]

Nope.

 

[JGTWI]

Nope.

To clarify- as long as the private land is not some sort of fenced in ‘ranch’ or similar outfit. I grew up hunting public land in WI but have had the opportunity to hunt private land for the past 8 hrs or so, and I much prefer hunting private. Just a better experience overall.

 

[Schaaf]

Yes.

 

[Walkalot]

Public is a greater accomplishment by far.

 

[MTLabrador]

100% yes. Especially elk.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

I value the animal equally, I'm thankful for it's life and I eat the meat.

I pick public units based on how interested I am in spending time exploring that area.

The private I've hunted is something more akin to butchering a beef than hunting.

I value the experience of hunting public far more than private, given those facts.

 

[huntin24/7]

I’ll gladly take a mature animal from anywhere I can access. That being said, taking one from a public land general area would mean more simply because of how much more rare it’s become to find animals in that 4-5+ year age class on public.

 

[mtmuley]

I've done both. Private is easier. mtmuley

 

[Ben Lamb]

I hunt both private and public land. I am lucky to have easy access to both in my county. Here's my question. Do you value a trophy or animal more if it comes from public land as opposed to private land? In terms of experience or challenge or whatever, is one "better" than the other in your opinion?

Define trophy.

 

[JGTWI]

I will say that this is probably different if you are looking at Midwest whitetail vs anything out west. My next western trip will almost surely be on public land.

But around home the public land experience just isn’t what it used to be. During rifle season, the orange army comes out and I have had people walk in well past shooting light and just plop down pretty close to me. And with too many people packed into our public parcels, it’s doesn’t make you feel too safe.

Archery season isn’t as much of an issue. However in one of my last years I had a couple of guys walk past my tree who were ‘small game’ hunting and just popping off shots with their .22 in an upward direction- they had no clue I was there. Watched them shoot a blue jay for no reason whatsoever.

 

[Dougfirtree]

For me, it has to do with the sense of accomplishment, which is highly variable. So, yes, if someone gave me permission to go shoot an elk from their ranch where 10,000 elk were milling about in a field, I think that would be significantly less satisfying than getting one of those elk on public land, where the hunting was tougher.
But, I've hunted private land that was just as tough as public and I'm just as satisfied by that.

Around here, virtually all turkey hunting happens on private land. We have tons of public, but 98% of the turkeys live on agricultural land, so I hardly even think of it in the same way. Worth pointing out, also, that there is alot of private/public land out there. The land across the street from my house is owned by a small timber company and is open to public hunting. I think of it as public land, in terms of hunting.

 

[Sytes]

The intensity of the hunt knows no boundaries, imo.
I had an amazing hunt that mixed appreciated private access and public land. It was great!

 

[noharleyyet]

Define purity.

 

[Mtnhunter1]

The public offers more.....adventure!

 

[BuzzH]

I think Ben Lamb has it right...all depends on definition of trophy.

If you're looking at it just from a B&C or P&Y score to define a trophy, then no, its no different. The animal is what it is if all you're looking for is the score. In other words, a 180 inch mule deer buck is the same deer whether its on public or private. To add to that...a 150 inch buck shot on public with a bow doesn't make that any better trophy than the same deer shot on private with a rifle...still the same deer and still the same score.

But if we define trophy from experience, rarity of an animal in the area you hunt, what effort we put in, etc. then I say Yes, there absolutely is a self-defined difference.

 

[Rzrbck918]

I value public land hunts more mainly because I enjoy the competition. I value the animal equally but animals I have harvested from public lands have an additional level of pride attached.

 

[Nameless Range]

Private land is important, and I have and will continue to hunt it when I am able. I don’t like putting this in a less vs more binary that attributes a greater value to one over the other.

That said, though no more important to the existence of a functioning society, for so many reasons, Public Land is such a beautiful concept - more rare and novel and connected to man’s relationship with earth than private land, that I do look at a successful harvest on public land as something more beautiful than one on private land.

Knowing full well that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[Ben Lamb]

I think Ben Lamb has it right...all depends on definition of trophy.

If you're looking at it just from a B&C or P&Y score to define a trophy, then no, its no different. The animal is what it is if all you're looking for is the score. In other words, a 180 inch mule deer buck is the same deer whether its on public or private. To add to that...a 150 inch buck shot on public with a bow doesn't make that any better trophy than the same deer shot on private with a rifle...still the same deer and still the same score.

But if we define trophy from experience, rarity of an animal in the area you hunt, then I say Yes, there absolutely is a self-defined difference.

The best trophy deer I ever was a part of taking was a 150" whitetail buck on private land, sandwiched between a WMA & some TNC property - both open to hunting.

A friend had moved back to MT and was eager to hunt & fish, etc. All the things Montanans are supposed to do, you know. He had bad experiences hunting with his father, who was abusive & not very good at being a dad. So he bought a rifle, we sighted it in together & got him comfortable out to 200 yards, and headed up to the Front.

Sitting on that hillside in a 40 mph breeze, watching the temps fall as it started to get darker, with him shivering and probably going through a bit of DT's, we saw a buck start to work down the draw, to the creek bottom where the haystack was. We were on the opposite side of the creek, and had 15-20 foot tall willows to crawl through to get close to a shooting position. We got down & set in time, were argued over who was going to shoot until I reminded him I left my rifle back at the hill, and so it was him, or nobody.

He got prone, used his pack as a rest and put one right where it was supposed to go. He died about 8 months later.

That 150" buck was the best trophy ever.

 

[rwc101]

I culled does off a guy's QDMA managed land for a couple years. Watched a ton of 10-14 point bucks stroll by. Would have been easy to shoot any of them. My formula is animal+landscape+experience=trophy.