Public Land

[Lunker]

I was looking for some public land to hunt pheasant, rabbit, or grouse within an hour of the cities. Any one know of any? Our pup is new to the hunt this year(was born last labor day) and I want to get him some action besides the little time we get up at the cabin, any ideas?

[simplefish]

You could try Carlos Avery, 35 splits it right in 2. I like the west side, mostly because I have never hunted on the east side of 35. Go to the DNR website, they have a bunch of info on it. Depending on where you are in the cities it should be within and hour. I've seen rabbits and grouse in there but I don't think I've seen any pheasent. There are a few more in the area but I can't think of any names off of the top of my head. Hope this helps.

[Gissert]

The recreational compass portion of the DNR website shows all the public land. There are lots of places to go within an hour of the metro.

[Roosterslayer05]

I went rabbit hunting in carlos avery last febuary and dident see a single rabbit all day, the only thing I did see was about 7 pheasents. All the pheasents I saw where in the swamps and since there is heavey pressure there the swamps are probly the only place you will find them, I did scare one up in a food plot but I wouldent expect them to be there after opener since they get hit hard during the season. As for grouse I havent seen one there and the cover for grouse doesent look good, I think there is some in there in the very northern part(sunrise unit I think its called) but not in the southern half. Try the suconix area west of the cities about 45 minits to an hour, me and my father have only hunted it once but there where bird tracks everywhere and we dident have a dog so we only scared up 3 hens but we must have been pushing 20 birds in front off us, we could hear them but they wouldent get up. Its also preaty large.