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Out of state public land hunt advice

Hailey_Phillips

Hailey_Phillips

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2016
Messages
803
Location
Wesson, MS
Hey guys, Mississippi native here looking to try my luck at either Missouri or Kentucky for a diy public land hunt. Hopefully this year, but likely will be next year. I’ve seen that both states offer otc tags for non residents and they aren’t TOO expensive either. I have no experience with either state, no experience with hunting any other state besides Mississippi for that fact.. to keep expenses as low as possible, I’ll be camping instead of motel/hotel stays. Looking for any suggestions on either state of you have any experience. Any advice on areas to check out or to avoid? Not asking for your honey-holes(unless you just wanna give them lol) but just general info if you have it. I will likely be eyeing the southern half of Missouri and the western half of Kentucky, although Thats not set in stone. I’ve read where a good bit of northern and western Missouri have had a pretty heavy decline in numbers due to cwd/ehd. Both states will be a pretty decent drive for me, but nothing too terrible. Thanks for any info you have to share!


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Hailey_Phillips said:
Hey guys, Mississippi native here looking to try my luck at either Missouri or Kentucky for a diy public land hunt. Hopefully this year, but likely will be next year. I’ve seen that both states offer otc tags for non residents and they aren’t TOO expensive either. I have no experience with either state, no experience with hunting any other state besides Mississippi for that fact.. to keep expenses as low as possible, I’ll be camping instead of motel/hotel stays. Looking for any suggestions on either state of you have any experience. Any advice on areas to check out or to avoid? Not asking for your honey-holes(unless you just wanna give them lol) but just general info if you have it. I will likely be eyeing the southern half of Missouri and the western half of Kentucky, although Thats not set in stone. I’ve read where a good bit of northern and western Missouri have had a pretty heavy decline in numbers due to cwd/ehd. Both states will be a pretty decent drive for me, but nothing too terrible. Thanks for any info you have to share!


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There are tons of these threads that you can search across here and archery talk and a few other forums. Lot's of the same generic device. The one tip I'll leave you with, and it applies to hunting anywhere, but especially out of state - Scout hard, and don't get in a tree until you're on sign you can't pass up.

It seems counterintuitive to spend half or more of your week-long trip walking around looking for a place to hunt and not hunting. But here's what you've got to remember - with the internet, and youtube, and onx, some REALLY good hunters, and some ok hunters are all doing the same thing you're doing. You've got to cover some ground to find deer/spots that are either being overlooked, or haven't been found yet. On my last three OOS trips, I've spent at least half of daylight hours on foot. I punched tags 2/3, and had a shooter 5 yards from my tree before blowing it the one year I didn't tag.

This past year, I had the opportunity to do a scouting trip early season. I identified 7 or 8 spots I'd want to hunt, and got the lay of the land at several different properties. I was down to the last 2 spots when I came back in November. All the first 5 spots were covered up with people sign.

Which brings me to my second piece of advice - if you bowhunt - go hunt early season for your first trip. The rut can be good if you know what you're doing, where you're going, and don't waste time scrambling around.

But if you're dead set on November - scouting is your most valuable tool. Do your research ahead of time, identify some key areas you want to look at when you arrive. Assume ten other people are doing the same, so your feelings aren't hurt when you get there. The people in our group that tag out, are the ones who don't stop at ok sign, or kind of fresh sign.
 
kyler1945 said:
There are tons of these threads that you can search across here and archery talk and a few other forums. Lot's of the same generic device. The one tip I'll leave you with, and it applies to hunting anywhere, but especially out of state - Scout hard, and don't get in a tree until you're on sign you can't pass up.

It seems counterintuitive to spend half or more of your week-long trip walking around looking for a place to hunt and not hunting. But here's what you've got to remember - with the internet, and youtube, and onx, some REALLY good hunters, and some ok hunters are all doing the same thing you're doing. You've got to cover some ground to find deer/spots that are either being overlooked, or haven't been found yet. On my last three OOS trips, I've spent at least half of daylight hours on foot. I punched tags 2/3, and had a shooter 5 yards from my tree before blowing it the one year I didn't tag.

This past year, I had the opportunity to do a scouting trip early season. I identified 7 or 8 spots I'd want to hunt, and got the lay of the land at several different properties. I was down to the last 2 spots when I came back in November. All the first 5 spots were covered up with people sign.

Which brings me to my second piece of advice - if you bowhunt - go hunt early season for your first trip. The rut can be good if you know what you're doing, where you're going, and don't waste time scrambling around.

But if you're dead set on November - scouting is your most valuable tool. Do your research ahead of time, identify some key areas you want to look at when you arrive. Assume ten other people are doing the same, so your feelings aren't hurt when you get there. The people in our group that tag out, are the ones who don't stop at ok sign, or kind of fresh sign.
Click to expand...

Thanks man, I really appreciate your time and input! I searched around some, but will be the first to admit I didn’t look too hard. Most of what I saw on AT was a little older and it didn’t take but about 3 replies before the thread completely shifted gears to an argument of sorts, and I didn’t find much info here, maybe I didn’t look in the right spots.

As far as scouting, it will definitely be scouting and hunting at the same time, unfortunately a scouting only trip isn’t in my cards, so I’m very open minded to spend the time scouting during my dedicated hunting trip.

I know early season is gonna be the best time to go, it’s also my favorite here at home, besides the mosquitoes and massive sweating. Not gonna lie though, part of me really wants to go when it’s colder, later in the year just to really feel like I’m getting the “hunting up north” experience, so to speak, I know it sounds silly, but we hunt in heat and sweat just about all season here.

I’m sure my trip timing will be based heavily on the areas gun season. Here in Mississippi the hunting takes a heck of a turn once the gunshots start firing, until the rut, so I would like to plan on going just before the first firearm season opens.

It’s really looking more like a ‘next year’ hunt, so I can as much info as possible leading up to it and won’t feel so rushed or last minute.


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Hailey_Phillips said:
Thanks man, I really appreciate your time and input! I searched around some, but will be the first to admit I didn’t look too hard. Most of what I saw on AT was a little older and it didn’t take but about 3 replies before the thread completely shifted gears to an argument of sorts, and I didn’t find much info here, maybe I didn’t look in the right spots.

As far as scouting, it will definitely be scouting and hunting at the same time, unfortunately a scouting only trip isn’t in my cards, so I’m very open minded to spend the time scouting during my dedicated hunting trip.

I know early season is gonna be the best time to go, it’s also my favorite here at home, besides the mosquitoes and massive sweating. Not gonna lie though, part of me really wants to go when it’s colder, later in the year just to really feel like I’m getting the “hunting up north” experience, so to speak, I know it sounds silly, but we hunt in heat and sweat just about all season here.

I’m sure my trip timing will be based heavily on the areas gun season. Here in Mississippi the hunting takes a heck of a turn once the gunshots start firing, until the rut, so I would like to plan on going just before the first firearm season opens.

It’s really looking more like a ‘next year’ hunt, so I can as much info as possible leading up to it and won’t feel so rushed or last minute.


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Late season hunts up north are really good too. I haven’t personally done it but a couple of friends usually do late season as well and have good success. Pressure is down, and odds are you will get your taste of ‘hunting up north’...
 
Hey bro, I'm a Mississippian also. Best advice I can give you is, go to Land between the Lakes in Kentucky. Great public bow hunting there. Over the counter tags
 
kyler1945 said:
Late season hunts up north are really good too. I haven’t personally done it but a couple of friends usually do late season as well and have good success. Pressure is down, and odds are you will get your taste of ‘hunting up north’...
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Yeah I have a sneaky suspicion that if I do go later, that ‘up north’ taste will be a bit more bitter than I think haha


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Mr Price said:
Hey bro, I'm a Mississippian also. Best advice I can give you is, go to Land between the Lakes in Kentucky. Great public bow hunting there. Over the counter tags
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Thanks, I was actually looking there on google earth this morning, is it usually pretty crowded?


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It’s mostly older threads and a lot dry up because everyone realized that everything they put on the internet as far as a am area name gets picked on key words and pressure blew up on a lot of places. L B L would be a good option for what you are wanting to do. Tons of land, to
Much to over pressure in archery. Gun season different story. Invest in permethrin


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shwacker said:
It’s mostly older threads and a lot dry up because everyone realized that everything they put on the internet as far as a am area name gets picked on key words and pressure blew up on a lot of places. L B L would be a good option for what you are wanting to do. Tons of land, to
Much to over pressure in archery. Gun season different story. Invest in permethrin


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Yeah I guess that makes sense, well how about we make a bit of a change on this thread,

“what are some tips for any OUT OF STATE hunt”

Not really state specific, but maybe an area of the country you hunt.

Such as,
I would recommend, if for some unknown reason you wanted to come hunt MS, I would recommend you throw out most any aerial map besides using it for roads or water because all our woods look the same from the sky haha. Gaia GPS is great for public land boundaries and roads and such, we don’t really have enough terrain differences to need topo too much, but some areas could benefit from it.

I would also recommend good moisture wicking, early season clothes(they can be worn a great portion of the year) and definitely a thermacell. We stay hot (95-80) until around thanksgiving(with exceptions of a couple cool snaps). Then we cool off to the 60’s some until Christmas, and we even get 40’s and the occasional freeze during January. Of course the temperature will still fluctuate from 80 to 35 from day to day throughout our ‘winter”.

If you have an issue with snakes, I would highly suggest snake boots, because they’re everywhere down here ha.

During early season (oct 1-first part of Nov), woods are pretty empty, until sometime in November when the orange army comes out, then there is a truck every 1/4 mile on the sides of the roads. Rut tends to be between early December and a little after New Years, depending on how far north or south you are.

The WMAs are usually well maintained with nice roads, trails, and food plots. Most everybody I’ve encountered while hunting has been nothing but respectful, and I am the same to them. If you’re parked at a trailhead, unless there is another 200 acres down that trail they will pass on by.

The Homochitto National Forest allows running dogs (not getting in on that debate), so if you have something for it, or against it, you better read the season dates close during gun season. We are a rifle friendly state, although a lot wmas are still held back to primitive weapon. (Bow, muzzleloader, and single shot rifles such as .35, .45-70, .444) Other than not really having a whole lot of “farmland” outside of the delta, pretty much our whole state is a giant thicket. Be prepared for skeeters, ticks, red bugs and snakes of a large variety.



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Between those two states you can get into a decent range of hunting areas. Some are big woods style hunting, some marsh mostly, some with ag and crp. I have not been to either state early season but both have some great options from what I’ve read, low pressure, etc. MO and KY you will see a big ramp up in pressure the last week of OCT through the first couple weeks of November for obvious reasons. Shoot me a PM and I’ll tell you a few of the areas I’ve researched, I haven’t made it out to MO yet but would like to. I’m a FL boy so it’s a long ride.


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Well, by next season I'll have hopefully learned at least a little bit of the terrain here in southeast Kentucky. By late season of next year I might be able to offer you some information on the area. High, hilly terrain, steep drop offs, snakes...I know that so far. I'm looking forward to learning myself, it's like an out-of-state hunt for me, but I'm just camping there a really long time.
My yard sits on the edge of the DBNF, and there's something like a half million acres out there, so I'd imagine there's a deer or two. PM me if you're interested, I'll give you a little closer idea where I am looking at if you want to see what it looks like.
 
shwacker said:
Between those two states you can get into a decent range of hunting areas. Some are big woods style hunting, some marsh mostly, some with ag and crp. I have not been to either state early season but both have some great options from what I’ve read, low pressure, etc. MO and KY you will see a big ramp up in pressure the last week of OCT through the first couple weeks of November for obvious reasons. Shoot me a PM and I’ll tell you a few of the areas I’ve researched, I haven’t made it out to MO yet but would like to. I’m a FL boy so it’s a long ride.


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Thanks for the info! I’ll hit you up!


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Wolverinebuckman said:
Well, by next season I'll have hopefully learned at least a little bit of the terrain here in southeast Kentucky. By late season of next year I might be able to offer you some information on the area. High, hilly terrain, steep drop offs, snakes...I know that so far. I'm looking forward to learning myself, it's like an out-of-state hunt for me, but I'm just camping there a really long time.
My yard sits on the edge of the DBNF, and there's something like a half million acres out there, so I'd imagine there's a deer or two. PM me if you're interested, I'll give you a little closer idea where I am looking at if you want to see what it looks like.
Click to expand...

Thanks! That sounds like an awesome place to live!


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Also, switching it up to anybody who might be interested in hunting Southeast Michigan, I'm talking my county. The closer you get to the lake, the more marshy and submerged the land is. This could include large wood plots that sit in the low areas. Very flat. I am just learning topo maps. There's a lot of ag fields dotted with wood plots of oaks and maples.
The mosquitoes in the marsh will carry you away, have a thermacell, and sit in awe at the hovering cloud 3 feet above your head!
The public lands in the area are small, and have a lot of pressure. The best deer sign you will find is where there are not trees that can hold a tree stand. This is where the historical sign is, and the beds I have found are.
 
Hailey_Phillips said:
Hey guys, Mississippi native here looking to try my luck at either Missouri or Kentucky for a diy public land hunt. Hopefully this year, but likely will be next year. I’ve seen that both states offer otc tags for non residents and they aren’t TOO expensive either. I have no experience with either state, no experience with hunting any other state besides Mississippi for that fact.. to keep expenses as low as possible, I’ll be camping instead of motel/hotel stays. Looking for any suggestions on either state of you have any experience. Any advice on areas to check out or to avoid? Not asking for your honey-holes(unless you just wanna give them lol) but just general info if you have it. I will likely be eyeing the southern half of Missouri and the western half of Kentucky, although Thats not set in stone. I’ve read where a good bit of northern and western Missouri have had a pretty heavy decline in numbers due to cwd/ehd. Both states will be a pretty decent drive for me, but nothing too terrible. Thanks for any info you have to share!


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I believe Missouri tags are going way up in price
 
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