Sorry for the late response just noticed the question! Yes public land, and it was a limited draw area. Only 11 non resident tags were given out. The pack out was my first ever so id say overall it went pretty well i guess. Yes the gf helped out big time! I planned on taking 4 trips out and she insisted on making it out in 3, so yes she is a bad ass I learned that next time we do this we need 2 good packs instead of my good pack and my old kind of crappy aluminum framed backpack. I honestly am still in awe that after shooting it it literally took like 4 steps and tipped over. i better pinch myself again........