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SE Ohio Bowhunting - What to Know?

S

SlinkingHunter75

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Joined
Jul 23, 2024
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Long-time flat land hunter from Delaware coming to SE Ohio in late October to chase whitetails for a week in the hill country. Aside from the obvious things like using topo maps, getting in some rucks on big hills, etc., what should I know before coming that often gets overlooked? Not looking for your best kept secret, but some helpful tips that you're willing to share!

TIA! :)
 
Don’t get intimidated once you get there. Them hills are bigger than they look on the maps. If you like it on a map so does everyone else so have several spots picked out. Good luck buddy


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SlinkingHunter75 said:
Long-time flat land hunter from Delaware coming to SE Ohio in late October to chase whitetails for a week in the hill country. Aside from the obvious things like using topo maps, getting in some rucks on big hills, etc., what should I know before coming that often gets overlooked? Not looking for your best kept secret, but some helpful tips that you're willing to share!

TIA! :)
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Coyotes are no joke here compared to Delaware. Keep that in mind if you’re on a track.
 
Make sure your truck is parked at the bottom of the hill lol. You don't want to drag these deer up hill. Mid October you want have a lot of competition. Once November hits, public land gets swamped. I used to try to coyote traps in Wayne National but it got so bad that I had hard time getting to a pull off spot to pull the traps

There's a lot of Wayne that is broken up and small sections that aren't 50 acres that are either swamped or ignored.

If you do get some private land...please kill a doe or two. Farmers see starting to get annoyed here with hunters that don't put any deer on the ground because they want that dirty point buck.
 
@SlinkingHunter75
I've never found Topo Maps to be of any help, as far as the actual lay of the land. :rolleyes: I typically hunt high or low...hilltops or the valleys. An occasional flat bench is nice to hunt....sometimes. It's easy to get picked off if the deer are above you coming down and then there's the shot angles. o_O Therefore the reason why I prefer the tops or the bottoms.

Those foothills can destroy a flatlander's legs in short order. :oops: Been there and done that a few times. As much as I love the hill country, I can appreciate the flat terrain and a good deer cart, once I get one on the ground. :cool: I'm north of you, in Allen County and it's flatter than a road killed squirrel, around these parts.
 
BowhunterXC said:
@SlinkingHunter75
I've never found Topo Maps to be of any help, as far as the actual lay of the land. :rolleyes: I typically hunt high or low...hilltops or the valleys. An occasional flat bench is nice to hunt....sometimes. It's easy to get picked off if the deer are above you coming down and then there's the shot angles. o_O Therefore the reason why I prefer the tops or the bottoms.

Those foothills can destroy a flatlander's legs in short order. :oops: Been there and done that a few times. As much as I love the hill country, I can appreciate the flat terrain and a good deer cart, once I get one on the ground. :cool: I'm north of you, in Allen County and it's flatter than a road killed squirrel, around these parts.
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Its the elevation in Allen county measured in inches? lol.

Ill be in lima next week for the Ohio State Trappers Convention
 
SNIPERBBB said:
Its the elevation in Allen county measured in inches? lol.

Ill be in lima next week for the Ohio State Trappers Convention
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It probably should be, but the average "sea level" is 800 feet. The highest point in Ohio is in Bellefontaine at just over 1500 feet.
Hardly a drop in the bucket, compared to being in Colorado with their average of 5500 feet and then there's Pike's Peak at 14,500. :oops:
 
yeah but at least out there they are proper mountains and hills not glacial dumps :p
 
BowhunterXC said:
It probably should be, but the average "sea level" is 800 feet. The highest point in Ohio is in Bellefontaine at just over 1500 feet.
Hardly a drop in the bucket, compared to being in Colorado with their average of 5500 feet and then there's Pike's Peak at 14,500. :oops:
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I live near Bellefontaine. Trust me, they need that claim to fame.
 
Last year I found a real decent buck - let’s say 135-140 class on day two late October down there… I went behind a private cornfield on a public hill. At maybe 11 AM I was slowly scouting… I found a scrape amongst some good acorns on the ground maybe 10% of the way up the hill. My spidey senses were tingling but I mistakenly pushed on. I probably just should have set up there. Suddenly the woods really opened up and that buck was on a bench at maybe 25% of the way up that hill, and he busted me the minute I stepped into the more open woods. Two more sits and I didn’t see him again, but that’s where he was.

Edit: pressure wasn’t bad, and that deer was maybe 300-400 yards from the car.
 
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