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Post by sincyrman on Jul 5, 2009 19:51:29 GMT -5
I am interested in taking a trip West this fall to try some bowhunting in the Ohio area. My cousin and I are not looking to spend alot of money, but want to try an area that has some larger bucks. I live in NH, and he lives in Vermont. We are not interested in any guided hunts. We are interested in finding some land that is open to the public. Any Ideas.
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Post by Dave W on Jul 5, 2009 21:37:05 GMT -5
Below is a list of public hunting lands. www.thenaturalresource.com/hunting/LANACCWA_00.phpThe only one I have hunted on is the Egypt Valley tract in Belmont County, then only rabbit hunting. I do know of a local who took a B&C buck out of there before the coal company donated it to the DNR, and a guy I was talking to at the range said he usually takes a couple rides over there during the summer and sees some nice bucks in the fields. Not sure if it is a statewide law, but on this tract 4 wheelers are illegal. I believe the Wayne National forest is also open to public hunting. Not sure if it is on the DNR website but the rules and reg. pamphlet they give you with the purchase of a license has a breakdown of the counties and the number of Ohio Big Buck entries. 140" for typical and 160" for non-typical. This might help in your selection of an area. Take some time and check out the photo gallery on the DNR site, there are some impressive bucks on there. Hope this helps. |
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Post by rossman40 on Jul 13, 2009 14:52:52 GMT -5
Gun season is the week after Thanksgiving (starting on Monday) and the youth hunt is the weekend before Thanksgiving. The rut is usually in full swing the week before Thanksgiving so for you not having a good chance to scout that would be prime time to use scent lures. Most public hunting areas do not allow ATVs. I suspect your wanting to hunt in the NE part of the state, there is big deer all over you just got to find them. Probly the best area overall would be the east central part of the state, basicly 50 miles north or south along I-70 between Columbus,OH and Wheeling, WV. I hunt mainly the southern part of the Wayne NF north of Ironton. Maybe a board member can turn you on to a good spot/area but I would not expect any honey hole with a monster in it. You wouldn't expect a fisherman to show you where the big one is.
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Post by Dave W on Jul 13, 2009 15:28:31 GMT -5
If you notice he is pushing you in my direction, must be some dandies in his neck of the woods. ;D ;D
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Post by rossman40 on Jul 14, 2009 10:56:59 GMT -5
What can I say  There are some decent public spots in the general area of I-70 & I-77 which the Egypt Valley WA is near also is Salt Lick SP. The state parks also provide pretty decent camping sites to use as a base camp and sometimes the park rangers will give you a tip on a good area. Salt Lick and Wolf Run would be two to look into. Besides the State parks and Wildlife Areas (WA) the State has deals with American Electric Power and Scioto Land Company (Mead Paper) to open up their lands to the public for hunting. IIRC you have to apply with each company for a permit which is basicly a liability release. You can get more info off the Ohio DNR site. Use to be if you catch the game warden for each county in a good mood he would also help you out and if you were lucky would turn you on to some farmers who wanted some "pest" elimination that got turned down for nuisance permits/tags. |
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Post by Dave W on Jul 14, 2009 20:54:12 GMT -5
Rossman, are you familiar with Latham OH?
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Post by rossman40 on Jul 14, 2009 23:51:23 GMT -5
That is south of Bainbridge, been to a couple of "Quigly" BPCR matches a long time ago outside of Bainbridge and been to Paint Creek SP. Basicly between Bainbridge and Lathem is the Pike Lake SP and the Pike State Forest, never hunted or fished them. You start getting into the hills or what we call "un-glaciated" Ohio, basicly when the glaciers came down from the north they flattened the northern and western part of the state.
Basicly here in Ohio you get larger number of deer in the forest areas but their usually smaller. We get lower numbers of bigger deer in the farmland. When you get a decent mixture of farmland for food and forest for cover you end up with a lot of big deer.
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Post by Dave W on Jul 15, 2009 17:37:18 GMT -5
We used to haul the TT down to Longs Retreat campground about every year when the kids were younger, been over to the Pike Lake state park you mentioned, nice area down there.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2009 16:30:48 GMT -5
I might be too late for ya but AEP (American Electric Power) has thousands of acres south of Zanesville OH open to hunting, all you gotta do is go on their website find the link and download and print out a permission slip, sign it, stick it in your pocket and go hunting. If you don't have luck there, right up the road a half hour away is Dillon Wildlife Area with close to 1,500 acres of public hunting. Hope this helps, good luck
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Post by ncyotecaller on Nov 10, 2009 22:46:29 GMT -5
I hunted in Morgan County a few weeks back and there are some dandy bucks in that area of the state.
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There are some decent public spots in the general area of I-70 & I-77 which the Egypt Valley WA is near also is Salt Lick SP. The state parks also provide pretty decent camping sites to use as a base camp and sometimes the park rangers will give you a tip on a good area. Salt Lick and Wolf Run would be two to look into. Besides the State parks and Wildlife Areas (WA) the State has deals with American Electric Power and Scioto Land Company (Mead Paper) to open up their lands to the public for hunting. IIRC you have to apply with each company for a permit which is basicly a liability release. You can get more info off the Ohio DNR site. Use to be if you catch the game warden for each county in a good mood he would also help you out and if you were lucky would turn you on to some farmers who wanted some "pest" elimination that got turned down for nuisance permits/tags. 