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Ohio - out of state hunt

Mschmeiske

Mschmeiske

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2017
Messages
1,949
Location
New York
Afternoon! I hope everyone is doing well.
My father in law and I have decided to hunt Ohio this year.
I’m not looking for anyone’s honey hole, but I was curious if anyone could recommend some public land worth checking out on the eastern side of the state? Or any sound advice for hunting Ohio in general. Preferred foods based on specific time of year, etc….Feel free to private message if it’s something you don’t want out in the open. Thanks in advance.
 
I have hunted Ohio twice on out of state hunts and thoroughly enjoyed it. I hunted Southern Ohio. I went second week of November and the rut seemed to be on. In my limited experience in hilly country, I found success by studying topographic features and finding a tight pinch point where deer had to funnel through.

On my first trip this ended up being a narrow ridgetop with a 140 foot steep drop to a river below. The buck ran a narrow bench between me and the hillside above the river following some does. He came by at about 10 yards.

On the second trip I found a spot where three hills dumped down to a bench running parallel to a creek. On the opposite side of the creek was a steep hillside. A narrow feeder stream fed the main creek at a 90 degree angle. I chose a triple trunked tree right above that little stream crossing. The crossing was covered in deer tracks. Everything came together in that small spot. Two doe came down off the hill in front of me and five minutes later the buck came down following their trail and offered a 12 yard shot.
 
Mschmeiske said:
Afternoon! I hope everyone is doing well.
My father in law and I have decided to hunt Ohio this year.
I’m not looking for anyone’s honey hole, but I was curious if anyone could recommend some public land worth checking out on the eastern side of the state? Or any sound advice for hunting Ohio in general. Preferred foods based on specific time of year, etc….Feel free to private message if it’s something you don’t want out in the open. Thanks in advance.
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I'm not going to be very helpful to you as I've never hunted Ohio but I'm pretty close and wouldn't mind trying it either. How much season is left there, what is a bow license cost and I heard you have to pass some kind of archery shooting test or something?
 
woodsdog2 said:
I'm not going to be very helpful to you as I've never hunted Ohio but I'm pretty close and wouldn't mind trying it either. How much season is left there, what is a bow license cost and I heard you have to pass some kind of archery shooting test or something?
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No test lol. I’ve only heard of that for some city draw hunts. Our season closes February 6th.
 
There are 3 gamelands very close together just across the Pa. Border in the NE corner of the state.Shenago, Grand River and Mosquito lake, Grand River is 7,500 acres and you can camp right down the road at Mosquito Lake. The land is flat very thick brush and some swamp with no logging roads or paths. You will need Onx or other app because if you trespass in Ohio you get arrested and you need written permission to hunt on private land
 
alpaca jeff said:
There are 3 gamelands very close together just across the Pa. Border in the NE corner of the state.Shenago, Grand River and Mosquito lake, Grand River is 7,500 acres and you can camp right down the road at Mosquito Lake. The land is flat very thick brush and some swamp with no logging roads or paths. You will need Onx or other app because if you trespass in Ohio you get arrested and you need written permission to hunt on private land
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I appreciate the feedback! I have Onx and I’ll be sure to check those areas out!
 
My advice think about where most hunters are likely to be coming from, and where they would go, and don't go there. Everywhere public gets pressured hard but the places that really get pounded are predictable. You wouldn't believe the people that will drive hours for an out of state hunt but won't drive another hour or two after they cross the border to get to better hunting. Or the people that hunt the top 2 or 3 search results. Etcetera...
 
I would narrow down a few areas to concentrate on. First, I got a map of Ohio. Then I drew a circle around the major population centers and guessed about how far someone would be willing to drive if they were making day trips. I ruled those areas out. That helped me to narrow down my search. Just like here at home, I look for out of the way spots that others overlook. I also planned my trip for during the week when work would keep a lot of people out of the woods.

If, (when), I go back to Ohio I plan to do my best to pick up some small, private, permission properties to hunt also. I'll use the same tactics I use around here. Identify an area I am interested in, look for promising spots through online mapping resources, determine ownership and contact the owners to see if they would be willing to let me hunt the property. This, like cold calling, has about a 4% success rate. That said, if you contact 100 landowners you can expect about 4 to say yes, on average. One great small private tract can be awesome. Don't be offended when people say no. That is going to be the norm. Expect it. Be polite, thank them for their time, wish them well, and move on. Also, if you do get a permission treat the property great. Abusing a landowner's property is the surest way to lose that permission. Once a landowner sees you are an honest, trustworthy person they may recommend you to their neighbors, friends, and family.

Networking is also a good way to get permissions. Think of everyone you know and if you know someone who lives in Ohio or travels there regularly you might contact them and ask their advice. They may live in a big city but someone they know may have a great small tract just waiting to be hunted.

If you are determined to hunt only public land I am sure you will be able to find some good spots. There are some giants roaming those hills.
 
I hunted Dillon with my brother and dad, opening couple days maybe 5 or 6 years ago.

We did no map scouting. We drove around, found what looked good to us and hung stands all in about 4 hours.

Two of us had chances at good bucks, we saw around 20 does total.

We saw hunters, and they weren't very cognizant of us. Talked with one who was really decent. Said he'd been hunting that specific area for 30 years and it's good and how the hell did we end up in his honey hole, lol. But he gave us the run down on the area and wished us the best, and what he said seemed legit too.

Dillon and Woodbury get hit hard though, I hear.
 
alpaca jeff said:
There are 3 gamelands very close together just across the Pa. Border in the NE corner of the state.Shenago, Grand River and Mosquito lake, Grand River is 7,500 acres and you can camp right down the road at Mosquito Lake. The land is flat very thick brush and some swamp with no logging roads or paths. You will need Onx or other app because if you trespass in Ohio you get arrested and you need written permission to hunt on private land
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Yes I was looking at those just last night. The one seems to buttress PA Game Lands as well. There are also city properties, do they have additional requirements?
 
I am looking at my first yr in Ohio as a learning experience. Knowing that I’d like to make it an every yr or every other yr thing from here on out that’s ok with me learning the area. Also if you turkeys hunt take 3-4 days and turkey hunt/scout
 
elk yinzer said:
My advice think about where most hunters are likely to be coming from, and where they would go, and don't go there. Everywhere public gets pressured hard but the places that really get pounded are predictable.
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Yeah I figured stay away from public near big cities, but now I’m wondering if just over the border could be bad too, if that’s others mentality anyway.
 
Mschmeiske said:
Yeah I figured stay away from public near big cities, but now I’m wondering if just over the border could be bad too, if that’s others mentality anyway.
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Well I can tell you there are thousands of Western PA guys that cross the border to hunt every Sunday when we can't, for one. Factor in OH's reputation as a bigger buck state, and, I think you are getting the picture. Not that there aren't big bucks there, but it's tough in some of those areas right across the border. Oh, and there are huge Amish communities in Eastern Ohio too. They have a tendency to kill a lot of deer, they drive hard in gun season and have a brown/down approach.
 
elk yinzer said:
Well I can tell you there are thousands of Western PA guys that cross the border to hunt every Sunday when we can't, for one. Factor in OH's reputation as a bigger buck state, and, I think you are getting the picture. Not that there aren't big bucks there, but it's tough in some of those areas right across the border. Oh, and there are huge Amish communities in Eastern Ohio too. They have a tendency to kill a lot of deer, they drive hard in gun season and have a brown/down approach.
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This is really good advice @elk yinzer. Some of it I wondered about, some I didn't. I know for NY we have restrictions on bringing the whole animal from another state back to New York. You either have to have it butchered there or process it off the bone and any nervous system tissue and have it packaged before bringing it in to NY. Does PA have the same restriction for going to OH and bringing it back with their CWD concerns?
 
woodsdog2 said:
Does PA have the same restriction for going to OH and bringing it back with their CWD concerns?
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I'm not 100% sure, I haven't hunted out of state in a few years and anything I would bring back would be boneless in a cooler anyway so I never paid too much mind to the laws because I complied before they were on the books.
 
woodsdog2 said:
This is really good advice @elk yinzer. Some of it I wondered about, some I didn't. I know for NY we have restrictions on bringing the whole animal from another state back to New York. You either have to have it butchered there or process it off the bone and any nervous system tissue and have it packaged before bringing it in to NY. Does PA have the same restriction for going to OH and bringing it back with their CWD concerns?
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To answer your question, yes.

Also, as a guy who jumps across the state line to hunt, especially on Sunday, I can tell you definitively that the hunting pressure that I experienced on public in OH isn't even close to what I experience on public land in PA.
 
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