Public Land Hunting and Fishing: How to Access Millions of Acres of Free Hunting Ground

The United States public lands system — the 640 million acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the US Forest Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service — is one of the most remarkable features of the American democratic tradition. The concept that every citizen has equal access to the natural resources on public land, including the right to hunt and fish where permitted by law, is not universal internationally and should not be taken for granted domestically. Understanding how to find, access, and use public hunting and fishing land transforms the opportunity available to hunters and anglers who lack access to private property.

Finding Public Land Near You

The onX Hunt and Fishing apps are the most comprehensive mapping tools for public land hunting — they show land ownership boundaries on detailed topo maps, clearly delineating public and private land boundaries to within GPS accuracy. The BLM and Forest Service publish paper maps of their lands that are available at ranger district offices. State wildlife management areas, state forests, and state parks add significant acreage to the public land total in most states, managed specifically for hunting and fishing access.

The Quality of Public Land Hunting

Public land hunting is often described as harder than private land hunting because the hunting pressure is higher and the deer or elk are more pressured and educated. This is true on easily accessible public land close to roads. It is often untrue on public land that requires walking more than a mile from any road — this land receives little pressure from hunters unwilling to invest the physical effort, and the wildlife behavior on it more closely resembles unpressured private land. The hunter willing to go where other hunters won’t go finds better hunting on public land than most private land hunters find close to roads.