In any given year, West Virginia archers will arrow some 90 percent or more of their whitetails on private land. That's true not only in the Mountain State, but also in many other states in the surrounding region. As a hardcore bowhunter, I've worked diligently over the past 10 years to purchase two properties in Monroe County, and I plan to spend a number of pleasant October afternoons on them this autumn.

Locating hard-mast foods, such as acorns, is often an important requirement for bowhunters who are looking to score on public land. Photo by Bruce Ingram.

Over the years, I've also cultivated a number of private land contacts. I'm grateful to farmers, cattle growers, and wood lot owners in Monroe and Greenbrier counties who have graciously allowed me permission to go afield over the years.

Yet, I also plan to bowhunt on public land this fall, not because I have to, but because I want to. That's because I strongly believe that the best bowhunting game plan is one that takes advantage of every available option -- and that includes all manners of possibilities, from land that we sportsmen buy ourselves or that is the proverbial family farm, to plots where we've gained permission, to national forest and state WMAs and forests. Let's look, then, at some public-land options for this autumn.

GEORGE WASHINGTON & JEFFERSON NATIONAL FOREST
I'll always fondly remember the first whitetail I arrowed on the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest (GWJNF). Because of having a haircut appointment after school, I was late arriving to my stand and even had considered not trekking into the national forest that mid-October afternoon.

Slinking to my stand around 5:15 p.m., I was pleasantly surprised not to have bumped any feeding deer, as red oak acorns lay all along the old logging road that I used to access the area. About 40 minutes later, I glimpsed a 4-pointer emerging from his mountain laurel bedding ground and moving down the mountainside.

As the buck approached, he apparently caught wind of me and nervously began scenting the air and looking around, meanwhile moving in an alarmed manner down the slope. Luckily, the buck paused for a moment, 10 yards away and broadside, in the logging road. That's when I sent an arrow into his vitals. Seconds later, I heard him crash to the forest duff -- and a few minutes later I was hauling him to a check station. Although obviously not a trophy, the 4-pointer proved to me that I could rely on the GWJNF from then on as a quality option for bowhunting.