Finding Public Land

Finding a good hunting spot always seems like a dilemma for new hunters that don’t want to pay to play and desire to be a DIY hunter.  Most of the time people that don’t have access to nearby hunting land will either join a hunting club where they lease land and can name and “grow deer” or these hunters rely on being invited to hunt with others who either have land, have gained Permissions with a “permitted guest” or are part of a club and can bring a guest.  I am not opposed to these options but I am someone that desires the satisfaction of doing it myself and therefor public land is where I am looking to expand my opportunities and add the unknown aspect to my adventure.

Most people that know me know that I have a DIY attitude with almost everything, which sometimes, maybe more times than not, gets me in trouble but the rewards are ten fold when your result from hard work and dedication goes somewhat to plan.  I have been lucky with my access to private hunting land.  I have family land that is available to me that has plenty of whitetail, some turkey, small game and even an occasional black bear on the property.  This land gives me the same hunting opportunities that comes with a hunt club or leased hunting land without the cost, maybe better because room and board is included along with running water and often a home cooked meal.  The downside is that this property doesn’t produce massive trophy bucks since no one spends time farming for deer by planting food plots or mineral licks on the property.  The property is also small in comparison to public lands that are available in my home state of North Carolina.

All states are different for public hunting, fishing and general nature enjoyment but even in the states where the amount available to you is small, you can still find quality places if you are willing to go farther, get up earlier and sacrifice some comforts of the hunting cabin, an indoor toilet and a hot shower.  To me, this feels more pure and provides a historic tie to what men had to do in the past to survive so I am trying to put more backcountry hunting and fishing in my schedule and less of the easier, go to a fixed stand and head back for lunch kind of hunting.

Here in North Carolina I have a large amount of public land to hunt within an hour and a half of my home and I live just outside one of of the largest cities in the South East, Charlotte, North Carolina.  Plus, If I drive a little further there are even larger areas to hunt and fish.  So much I would never be able to actively hunt and scout all of the quality hunting locations within my lifetime.  Because of this I am going to attempt to visit as many of the public hunting grounds as possible for quality hunts and do my best to document and score how promising these public hunting grounds will be for myself and for anyone reading along.

I know many of you southeasterners, myself included, are drawn to the large game of the west or in the midwest. Because of this desire you may want to invest more of your hunting time out chasing big meat and antlers but think about investing more time in your own state and DIY the hell out of some public land you are already supporting with your hunting and fishing license.

Look to see what your state has to offer so you can begin to digitally scout and plan your big adventures with a not so big price tag.  Doing this may surprise you with what is available. I will give you an example of how easy it is to find public hunting land if you live in North Carolina, but I can imagine, since states can be competitive, what your state has to offer is going to be similar and may be even better.  I have accessed many other states public hunting ground online maps and was pleasantly surprised and how easy it was to find public hunting and fishing locations.

For those of you in North Carolina this is what you have available to you if you don’t know already.  The North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commision website has conveniently put up a section called “Where to Hunt”.  It is accessible here:
http://www.ncwildlife.org/Hunting/Where-to-Hunt

There are shooting ranges listed, private pay to hunt farm properties listed, and other hunting location options but my favorite section is the Game Lands Hunting Opportunities located here:
http://www.ncwildlife.org/Hunting/Where-to-Hunt/Public-Places

From here there are some awesome tools you can use to narrow down your hunting desires.

The interactive game lands map is the first place to start.  It opens up to a full map of the state with all the public hunting land locations indicated with a NC Wildlife Marker.  Several options can be used to narrow down the best areas for your desired hunting and fishing needs.  At the top menu above the map a few pull down menus are available, Species and Facilities.  Clicking on these buttons in the menu gives you check boxes so you can narrow down hunting species and the type of facilities your might be interested in.  Once you select what you wish, click the Update button and your map will show you all that if available to you.  As an example, I chose Deer AND Mountain

Trout (Or is an option) in the species and Camping in Designated Areas and you can see there are 6 areas in the NC mountains available and the green area shown on the map is the approximate land area you have available.  Its huge and this is the east coast!  Several hundred thousand acres for hunting and tons of trout streams.

If I change to OR in the Species selection and add unrestricted camping to my facilities, there are 24 locations across the state available to me. Talk about places for adventure within driving distance.

From the Public Places page you can also View and Download Game Land Map PDFs by selecting the Region you are interested in and then the specific game lands to get a printable map and outline.  Some are single pages and other are multiple pages.  Print it out and take it with you.  If is a good high view reference for getting to access points, gates, camp locations and general boundaries.  Many of these lands have a double red line on boundary trees so you can wander into them and stay on public land without the use of hi-tech gadgets.

Back on the Public Places page there is also a map of public dove fields similar to the interactive game map.  If you are into doves without private property, give this a look.

On the bottom of the Public Places map is my favorite feature, the downloadable KMZ files for placing overlays on Google Earth.  This will give you an awesome way to scout and view terrain and vegetation from the comfort of your home that is within the public land system.  It will also show you where you need to pay attention for private property if some of the public land gets choppy.  If you haven’t used Google Earth before, give it a try, after a short time you will find yourself panning and zooming the world and hopefully finding a new place for a hunting and fishing adventure.
Download it here: https://www.google.com/earth/

KMZ Files can be turned on and off in the "My Places" or "Places" Section of the Left Menu in Google Earth. (depending on your version be it online or on your computer)

These tools made available to you by your State Wildlife Management Department, In my case the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission, are there to help you so when you put your boots on the ground you will have a better chance of finding your own corner of the woods that will carry heavier weight than a groomed private property with stilted deer shooting houses and food plots. (not that anything is wrong with that).

As for  you non-North Carolina hunters, go see what your state has to offer in the digital realm to aid you in the physical world.  Many states have similar setups and quite a bit of land to access..  I have personal experience with a few in recent history that my state is slightly better in presentation of what is available and also one's where my state could step it up. North Carolina is what I have that is already paid for with my license so I will enjoy as much as I can (on the cheap for my wallet but with tremendous intrinsic value.)

And if you think your state has little to offer in the amount of public land, go out and look, I recently had a successful hunt in a state with under 3% public land and still felt like I was millions of miles away, on a unforgettable hunting trip and will likely return.  It is out there, go find it.