• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Ohio public land questions

Root

Root

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Messages
620
I'm hopeful that next year will be the year I get to do an out of state hunt. I live in western new York and it will only be for a weekend or two during bow. Since time will be short I'm looking for Intel on public land in North eastern Ohio. I plan on going down to scout for a weekend in the spring.

Any Intel would be greatly appreciated as I know I won't have time to scout 10 different tracks of land.
 
Don’t know anything about northeastern Ohio but if you decide on southern Ohio let me know and I can get you pointed in the right direction for sure.
 
baz77 said:
Don’t know anything about northeastern Ohio but if you decide on southern Ohio let me know and I can get you pointed in the right direction for sure.
Click to expand...
I'll take any info on southern Ohio!
 
Right now I'm weighing my options. The further away I go the less time hunting / scouting I have. It'll be a leave after work on Friday, drive home after hunt Sunday night for work Monday (unless I'm tracking a hit deer).

My first time going I'm not looking for a record setting buck. I'm looking at it from more of an adventure / something different standpoint.
 
Ohio's out of state license are reasonable and seems like plenty of public land. I've hunted private land in Ohio once but never public land.
 
I would avoid ohio in the rut like the plague on public land, thats from personal experience. Im holding a tag right now for ohio, hopefully ill go back out. Ive been out a few times.

If youre in New York, you should strongly consider a different state in my opinion. Heres why... the pieces of public are extremely small in ohio. I think your time and money would even be better spent in PA to be honest. Will you have the opportunity at a buck the size of Ohio? Maybe.

The biggest benefit in Ohio is they treat SOME of that public land like gold, planting food and maintaining access. Other parts of it will let you scratching your head where to park or access or how to even get to certain parts of it.

My intention for 2019 is to buy the Kayak ive wanted. I have a brand new 19' skeeter with a 150 yamaha but it does me virtually nothing for most hunting. Im not about to let a $30k boat smack off the bank while i hunt.

Theres enough public land in every state with water access. I even know of public parts in Ohio that the ONLY way to access them is by boat.
 
When I hunted ohio, it was hill country. Tough to get high enough, so plan on a climber or lots of steps/sticks. Scouting will tell you what the terrain and trees are like in your area. It can be tough finding parking at times. However there are huge tracks of land in some areas. Lots of the parcels I hunted had roads every mile, so not like you could "get away" from the crowds. Lots of strip mines where I hunted as well, which can be nasty thick areas along with sheer rock walls that drop 30ft straight down. Scout, scout, scout. Plan on several trips in the spring.
 
I would rather hunt early season. I'm not picking Ohio to kill a booner, I'm picking it because it's close enough to get to. PA could happen as well at some point.

Most of the public around me is 1,500 acres or less. But due to parking you might walk a big J hook to keep the wind in your favor to set up on certain spots.

Finding the time is the biggest problem. So any and all info is welcome.
 
PA's biggest downfall right now is how short the regular season is for archery. Six weeks and no sundays. Granted you can use a bow in all other seasons.

PA's biggest advantage is the insane amount of public land most in the northern tier sees very little pressure

Advantage Ohio - seems to have way more aggressive deer, insane amounts of sign

Disadvantage Ohio - seems to be getting hit with ehd and no one is talking about it except the locals to those areas
 
Hunting PA is out for right now. Without being able to hunt Sundays, that takes my weekend hunting trip down to one day.

How is late season in Ohio? Does the pressure tend to taper off?
 
I cannot for the life of me understand states that don't allow Sunday hunting. How has there not been pressure to the breaking point from the hunting community? I know hunters are not a majority but besides extremists who among non hunters cares enough to resist expanding access?

To be limited to one day a week besides vacation is unreasonable to me. I think I'd be moving.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
TNSTAAFL said:
I cannot for the life of me understand states that don't allow Sunday hunting. How has there not been pressure to the breaking point from the hunting community? I know hunters are not a majority but besides extremists who among non hunters cares enough to resist expanding access?

To be limited to one day a week besides vacation is unreasonable to me. I think I'd be moving.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I don't think it's extremists that push back against Sunday hunting. There is often a large group of hikers, bikers, bird watchers, etc that push back against expanding hunting because they believe they also need a day to utilize public land without worrying about hunters. At least that's what I have seen when MD was initially considering expanding Sunday Hunting. It is now allowed on most public land in MD but, there was definitely some push back.
 
Late season isn't too bad however I forgot the other Ohio disadvantage. Baiting

Baiting is legal on private but not public. It's common to see private property bordering public with spin feeders in the yard. Late season it's fish in a barrel for them.

PA has been fighting for Sunday for years. There's an outdoor life video I was in a few years ago on the subject. Right now it has more steam than ever. Special interest does fight it as does the farm bureau (explain that) and get this... Hunters themselves claiming religious or old School beliefs like animals get a day off Sunday.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top