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Ohio Hunting

jsthntn

jsthntn

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2020
Messages
303
Location
Virginia Mountains
I’m looking for some help, opinions or advice on some Ohio hunting ground. I live in the western part of Virginia and it’s about 4 hour ish drive to the Ohio boarder. I’d like to stay under 5.5 hr or so drive if possible. Maybe in Adams, Athens, Gallia, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Pike, Sciota Counties.

I’ve thought about driving up, spending the weekend and going door to door and asking for permission?? Anyone ever done this in Ohio or any of you Ohio residents think this is a good idea?

Any advice on good areas for asking private land owners ?

Any advice on good public land areas?

Thanks in advance y’all!
 
jsthntn said:
I’m looking for some help, opinions or advice on some Ohio hunting ground. I live in the western part of Virginia and it’s about 4 hour ish drive to the Ohio boarder. I’d like to stay under 5.5 hr or so drive if possible. Maybe in Adams, Athens, Gallia, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Pike, Sciota Counties.

I’ve thought about driving up, spending the weekend and going door to door and asking for permission?? Anyone ever done this in Ohio or any of you Ohio residents think this is a good idea?

Any advice on good areas for asking private land owners ?

Any advice on good public land areas?

Thanks in advance y’all!
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If I had to guess, I’m thinking Ohio residents think this is a terrible idea......
 
Don't know much about the private land but don't think getting free permission is likely. Leasing is a big deal in Ohio. Time is better spent scouting, and more fun if you ask me. On the southern border you got both the Shawnee and the Wayne, no need to go any further. Haven't been to Shawnee personally, but I think it's as good or better than Wayne Nat'l which I currently hunt when time permits and there are some bruisers there. IMO, it is better to go somewhere closer that you can fit in a couple scouting trips rather than somewhere further you don't have time to scout.
 
I knocked on doors and got permission on decent property for free. That was 1995. Things are a lot different these days.
Its gonna take some effort to find free permission, and expect to have any privacy. For the most part, free property is crowded property. Never hurts to try, though.
And if you find good property, treat the landowner like gold.
 
Good advice above. Issue with Ohio is that it is the closest destination big buck state to the East. So like you everyone says I only have to drive X hours to get there. Public land there gets alot of pressure especially during the rut and gun seasons. There are some good bucks but they definitely aren't behind every tree.
 
Thanks for the input guys. I’m all for paying for a piece of lease property if need be. (Within my budget anyway). I definitely am willing to take good care of the landowner and their property. Donate meat or work on their property,etc.

I have heard that Wayne NF is a good area. Never heard much about the other NF. I definitely would wanna scout it out and try to find the sign and see if I could get away from other hunters.

Has anyone done anything on AEP land in Ohio?

Any other lease sites I could look at?
 
I live in Cleveland but have hunted the NE / central / SE parts of the state... Yeah 15 years ago permissions were easier to get, leases gobbled up a lot of the land. I personally would try a few years of public before dumping time into trying to get permissions. Not to say it couldn’t happen, but the odds aren’t as good as they used to be. If you decide to use Basecamp for lease scouting be ready to pay and do get the Wallhanger membership, bc most good leases are landed there before ever making it to the public side of the site. I’ve had a lease with friends for 5 years and I think we might drop it this year bc we want to spend more time at a deer camp with other guys who don’t have leases. Last year we pulled a 145 off our lease, but a guy at our (public) deer camp dropped a 140 - SE hilly country. To calibrate, over a 4 day public deercamp about six of us walked away with two does and that good buck. But this is not a very hardcore bunch in total. If you put your time in on the right public spot the hunting can be very good, but unless you get lucky expect it to be a challenge and a puzzle that you’ll have to work for, likely for several years. Maybe just find a nice campground with hot water, and start scouting some woods.
 
Athens county is absolutely great hunting during bow season. Another couple of options to not rule out, are Vinton Furnace and Zaleski.
 
One more comment, just because I find it interesting.... our lease is 250 acres in Ohio big ag land, two big timber sections in massive fields. I personally think hunting public hill country is easier. The lease is crawling with deer, some real nice bucks, but outside of rut they are dang near impossible to get on bc they know everywhere we can park, they know where to bed to have max field of view, they don’t have to travel far to eat, and there are not many pinch points. A lease that looks like shooting fish in a barrel on a map, has kicked my butt way more than SE Ohio ever did!
 
I live in Gallia. One of properties I trap here doesn't turn hardly anyone away, it does get hunted alot though I don't know how much gets killed there as he's always complaining about deer and gets damage permits.

Wayne is some rough ground and very popular. If you can hunt prerut you'll have plenty of elbow room. Once November hits almost every pull off area is packed. That goes for most public land.

Ohio recently went to no does after gun season so numbers of does might be up a bit on public land
 
my buddy has the wall hanger membership already and he is on them checking them out as they come up. They went up and hunted some public last year and didn’t see any bucks but did get some on cameras they put out during the summer and early fall. I don’t have allot of experience hunting big farm fields. I’m a woods guy. More mountains in my area than anything. Thicker and nastier the better. Lol.

Thanks guys for all the input!!
 
jsthntn said:
my buddy has the wall hanger membership already and he is on them checking them out as they come up. They went up and hunted some public last year and didn’t see any bucks but did get some on cameras they put out during the summer and early fall. I don’t have allot of experience hunting big farm fields. I’m a woods guy. More mountains in my area than anything. Thicker and nastier the better. Lol.

Thanks guys for all the input!!
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It sounds like you have the skill set for some of the rough public ground & there are definitely big bucks there........
 
Sorry, I was agreeing with another member, most people from Ohio would tell you it’s a terrible idea...
 
TK161BOONER said:
Sorry, I was agreeing with another member, most people from Ohio would tell you it’s a terrible idea...
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Actually it would be the Tennessee and North Carolina unofficial bowbunter associations that would say it's a terrible idea as those are the main plates I see littering public ground around here around November 10
 
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jsthntn said:
my buddy has the wall hanger membership already and he is on them checking them out as they come up. They went up and hunted some public last year and didn’t see any bucks but did get some on cameras they put out during the summer and early fall. I don’t have allot of experience hunting big farm fields. I’m a woods guy. More mountains in my area than anything. Thicker and nastier the better. Lol.

Thanks guys for all the input!!
Click to expand...

If / or once you’re serious about a lease as an option, it’s almost like you need to have an agreement with your buddy about what criteria you’re willing to “burn” a deposit $$ on. Unless covid has changed demand I’d see the good leases reserve in seconds / minutes from the posting time. So then I’d be calling back and forth to my hunting buddy we’d finally decide to check it out and the land would already be snatched up. Everything’s a hustle these days. We burned three deposits in the search for the right lease.
 
Sorry I hunt public land in Ohio, and guys that live in Ohio run their coon dogs in the rabbit dogs around you whenever you’re hunting because they see a guy with a license plate from a different state . Also they line up a crew of guys and drive the public land with their flashlights in the dark to keep “ Their Deer” form being shot by a out of state hunter. Every guy that I’ve talk to that is an out of state hunter, are the nicest guys you could meet .It’s all the locals that are nasty with out of stat hunters.
 
I’m not saying everyone from Ohio was like that, I’ve met a lot of nice guys on here that are from Ohio and some of my family lives there.
 
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