Heading to Ohio this weekend to do some scouting in Wayne National Forest. Looks like a big chunk and am having a hard time trying to pick where to begin... wondering if anyone here would be willing to point me in the right direction. Thanks.
I was thinking of starting off of Howard furnace road and doing some scouting there. It is so big and on the north end there is a lot of private property speckled in. Definitely looking forward to seeing what it looks like in person. It’s going to be 2 days of scouting 1 overnight. How much pressure does it get during the rut?What part you going to? I live smack in the middle do the Ironton District.
I was thinking of starting off of Howard furnace road and doing some scouting there. It is so big and on the north end there is a lot of private property speckled in. Definitely looking forward to seeing what it looks like in person. It’s going to be 2 days of scouting 1 overnight. How much pressure does it get during the rut?
Awesome. Thanks!I’ll shoot you a PM tomorrow when I have more time too.
There’s so much public land in Ohio it’s insane. There’s a LOT more than the Wayne too. Look into the AEP lands, Zaleski, Brush Creek, Shawnee, Crown City, and there’s a bunch more I’m forgetting I’m sure. Wherever you go, look for places with multiple “edge” features, pines to hardwoods, old clearcuts to hardwoods etc. You can see this stuff easy on an aerial and you can dial in a spot pretty quick. There are big bucks all over Ohio, just need to put in some work for them. I’ve scouted all those places I’ve mentioned and found great sign in all of them.
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You're not kidding. Up here in the NW corner of Ohio, all public land is swarmed by hunters. A lot of land that goes up for sale seems to be gobbled up by the Metroparks. That would be ok if they let us hunt on some of it. They do hold a drawing for a controlled hunt for a couple of their properties but getting selected is not easy. The only state that seems to have more hunters per acre of public land than Ohio is Michigan. (Just my opinion as I have not done any research on this)Actually, Ohio ranks 44th in the country for Public Land holdings. We have less than 4% Public Land throughout the entire state, and not all of that is accessible to hunters.
Here in the NE corner there is little to no Public ground and the leasing is a disease. The metro parks around Cleveland and The Cleveland museum of natural history have purchased ground like crazy but it's not open to the public or has limited access if you can get permission. IMO Ohio totally sucks at providing and maintaining public ground and has very little to offer compared to other states.You're not kidding. Up here in the NW corner of Ohio, all public land is swarmed by hunters. A lot of land that goes up for sale seems to be gobbled up by the Metroparks. That would be ok if they let us hunt on some of it. They do hold a drawing for a controlled hunt for a couple of their properties but getting selected is not easy. The only state that seems to have more hunters per acre of public land than Ohio is Michigan. (Just my opinion as I have not done any research on this)
I agree. There is nowhere near enough Public Land in Ohio.Actually, Ohio ranks 44th in the country for Public Land holdings. We have less than 4% Public Land throughout the entire state, and not all of that is accessible to hunters.
Those tracts you point out are very large and it might seem like there is a ton of public land, but those places are tucked in the SE corner of the state and far from most metro centers. The reality is there isn't that much public in Ohio, and the state continues to sell large chunks every couple of years. This doesn't mean you can't kill deer on public in Ohio, but as a whole, other states have way more available land.