Caleb you have my sympathy. Public land, in crowded places can be frustrating. Slob hunters, sky busters, hunter too lazy to look hard for downed birds, hunters trying to get as close to you as possible even if you have been setup for hours can ruin your day.
You might be surprised how easy it can be to rent small parcels of land. Often a acre or two is all you need. I looked for fallow fields, hill tops which burn out in dry years or low areas which flood out in wet years. Around here there are a lot of small farms in the rolling hills which are best suited for pasture or hay operations but not row crops. Some are not in use or production at all. It took me about a dozen cold call approaches to get the first field. After that I had an in with the land owners. I call these areas feed plots which I explain will also attract deer which I do not hunt. So the deer hunters do not think of me as competition but supplemental to their efforts. Deer love sunflowers too much for me. I plant Rye and Wheat as the main attractions but keep sunflowers in the plots.
I rented a hill top field and planted three small feed plots of about four acres total. Should be able to hunt eight to ten stations comfortably. Last year I had it and planted just one plus acre which we took limits off it four times. Our shooting is done to keep pressure down to one shoot per week otherwise you burn out a field. By having several spots miles apart you get steady dove hunting all September long. Id rather spend money to have places to hunt than watch it grow and 6%. My time is limited more than my money.
Our corn is so late this year it might be mid October before it gets cut. The only down side was I had a few uninvited guest hunters hunt my fields. After the DNR caught the second group, who I suspect were the first group as well, they wont be back. Citations for hunting without permissions and trespassing tend to ruin a poachers a day.
