To those of you that hunt public land, I am curious what you look for when choosing areas to hunt. I’ve found an area that I want to hunt this weekend that has quite a few WMAs in close proximity. How do you go about choosing your prime spot, secondary spot, etc? I use the MN Recreation Compass. Assuming that I can’t get there to scout them out in person, what other options are there?
Thanks!
I’ve had all the PRIM maps for many years and I have never been able to tell anything useful about the WMA land without seeing it.
Not only is there cover to consider but how far good cover is from the parking area. This is important later in the day but not so much if you are the first one there.
Yeah, that kind of thing is tough to tell without seeing it.
The prime spot is the one that has the birds. 
OK, I’m only half joking. That’s the reason why you can’t fill the freezer by hunting on the internet. The interweb is a great tool, but it only goes so far.
What I’d be looking for this time of year is proximity to harvested fields. I’d want to be working the edges of the cover that are adjacent to food sources. It’s relatively warm, so the birds often will stay in holding cover where they can sun themselves in relative safety, but move into the stubble to feed.
As always, my number 1 tip for public land is work it backwards. Whatever the average hunter does, do the opposite. If the parking area is on the south side, walk the edge and start hunting from the north. Whatever the easy thing is to do, do it the other way.
Just like we try to pattern game movement, the game is always patterning OUR movements. Once they learn that the predators (us) tend to approach from a certain direction, they hear a noise from that direction and it’s “we’re outta here” time.
Grouse
Post deleted by phishirman
Great reply but I think he’s looking for birds
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