Public Land Lessons – #3 : Access Is Everything
Opening Sit
For a long time, I worried more about where I was hunting than how I was getting there. I figured if the sign was good enough, the access would take care of itself. Public land corrected that pretty quick. I’ve blown more good spots with bad access than I care to admit. Sometimes the long way in is the right way in…
The Way In Matters
It doesn’t matter how good a spot looks if you walk through the middle of it to get there. I’ve learned to pay attention to:
Where deer likely travel before daylight
How thermals move during my walk in
What I’m crossing or bumping without realizing it
Sometimes the damage is done before you ever clip in.
Quiet Access Beats Perfect Trees
I’ve had sits where the tree wasn’t ideal, the shooting lanes weren’t pretty, but the access was clean. Those hunts usually felt calm. Natural. And I’ve had the opposite — perfect trees with noisy, obvious access — and those spots always felt dead. Now I’ll sacrifice the “perfect” setup for a clean entry and exit every time.
What Changed for Me
I spend more time now:
Planning entry routes
Looking for terrain that hides movement
Accepting longer or harder walks if it keeps me invisible
It’s not always convenient, but it works.
Final Thought
Access is part of the hunt, not something you figure out after. If you’re blowing deer before legal light, the spot doesn’t matter. That spot might only work for an eve. hunt then? Lesson learned. On to the next one. I've learned in the past that deer seem to shy away from my Honda 250R with no mufler. It gets me to my tree pretty quick though!!! 😜
“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
