ohio wildlife areas--- hunting any good?

[30-06 boy]

my brother,dad and i have been kicking the idea of going to ohio next year for deer. muzzleloader,archery and shotgun/slugs. i am researching wildlife areas and state parks just north and south of 1-70 coming from pennsylvania stopping at zanesville. anysuggestions,experiences. dense hardwoods?farm fields? terain?hunting pressure?etc thanks jasonlightbulb

 

[Buffalobob]

If you wish to shoot does and small bucks in Maryland, south of Gettysburg I can send you a Google earth map of where I passed on about three easy shots and one moderately difficult shot one day during muzzle loader season. I just can't get up any excitement shooting does and fawns at 40 yards with a scoped muzzleloader. But I do like being out in the woods with a gun so I often go. If I saw a big buck I would probably shoot it but I don't see them very often being as they seem to be smarter than me.

I doubt that I will ever hunt that spot again so it doesn't matter to me. I know of one guy who hunts there and he manages to get some small bucks. The area is not easy to get to which is why I saw so many deer, so you would need to be able to climb hard for half an hour. After that you are on easy street. I believe the bag limitg is 10 does and 2 bucks

A non resident license in Maryland is based upon what it would cost a resident to get a license in the other state. It costs me about $120 or so.

 

[30-06 boy]

thanks buffalobob,
we hunted the green ridge sf a few years ago in muzzleloader season. saw some deer, i took a small basket racked 5 point. sure send me the info. i can be to the state line in an hour. close out of state hunt. we are still looking at ohio. much better pecentage chance of seeing some bucks over 100". thats our goal. i have 2 bucks from nortcentral pa that are in the 110-115" range. looking for thier bigger cousin. i will send you a pm with my email adress. thanks again. jason

 

[Derek M.]

Go south to Adams county or Scioto county. Prime hunting and big bucks.

 

[bocajnala]

A lot of big deer in the zainesville, newark, coshocton, mount vernon area of ohio. as far as public land Im not to sure about, but acces to private land is pretty easy as there is a lot of deer and a lot of crop damage. Just this year I saw 8 bucks over 120 while bicycle riding in knox county ohio. I go to school here, have never got the chance to hunt yet tho.
-Jake

 

[Ridge Runner]

boca, welcome to LRH, this is the place to learn this stuff!
RR

 

[slymule]

Haven't hunted Ohio in 30 years but my guess would be its more crowded on public lands now than it was back then. I only hunted it once, down south on Ohio Power Co. land that was open to public hunting. Went out months before the season to scout, saw lots of big bucks, picked me out a spot and come opening morning I was sitting there an hour before the sun came up. Started watching vehicle lights driving in shortly after and when the sun came up and I could see around me - ORANGE EVERYWHERE, behind every tree, on every hillside, etc. I left by noon, right after I heard an ambulance coming. Come to find out somebody had shot a guy in the stomach with a 54 calibur muzzleloader. That was enough for me, I never went back.

On the flip side of that catastrophe, one of my most memorable hunts in my lifetime was hunting the Ravenna Arsenal. Not sure if they still do it but its a draw hunt they used to hold. Its a late season hunt and they pick 100 guys to hunt on every Saturday for six straight weekends. Success is like 98%+, alot of big bucks and it was a TON OF FUN. Never seen so many deer in all my life. You might check and see if they're still putting on that hunt.

 

[bocajnala]

boca, welcome to LRH, this is the place to learn this stuff!
RR

Thanks Ridge! I've been reading here since you first turned me on to this site, figured I might as well post on the VERY FEW THINGS I actually have some experience with, such as ohio hunting haha. Thanks for all the great infp guys!
-Jake

 

[bocajnala]

Haven't hunted Ohio in 30 years but my guess would be its more crowded on public lands now than it was back then. I only hunted it once, down south on Ohio Power Co. land that was open to public hunting. Went out months before the season to scout, saw lots of big bucks, picked me out a spot and come opening morning I was sitting there an hour before the sun came up. Started watching vehicle lights driving in shortly after and when the sun came up and I could see around me - ORANGE EVERYWHERE, behind every tree, on every hillside, etc. I left by noon, right after I heard an ambulance coming. Come to find out somebody had shot a guy in the stomach with a 54 calibur muzzleloader. That was enough for me, I never went back.

On the flip side of that catastrophe, one of my most memorable hunts in my lifetime was hunting the Ravenna Arsenal. Not sure if they still do it but its a draw hunt they used to hold. Its a late season hunt and they pick 100 guys to hunt on every Saturday for six straight weekends. Success is like 98%+, alot of big bucks and it was a TON OF FUN. Never seen so many deer in all my life. You might check and see if they're still putting on that hunt.

And yes, public land still gets a little crowded, but no need for that, so far I've never had trouble getting private land here. Also, Ravenna still has their hunts. I live about twenty minutes from there. I've never done it because I always get plenty of deer, but I have three friends that have, deer everywhere and big bucks! I do occasionally drive around the arsenal just to look at deer!
-Jake

 

[30-06 boy]

do the resident landowners look at nonresident hunters as "vermin" and wont even give them the time of day,much less permission to hunt thier land? jason

 

[bocajnala]

Well...I know we wouldn't... We have only kicked on guy off and he lives up the street, absolutely no respect at all. I think, at least where I am from, If your a good person and show respect you shouldn't have much trouble. You may have to ask a few times, but like I said, I've never had trouble finding land to hunt. I hunt my own property....plus...somewhere in the area of 1800 acres of other private land.. its four different farms around my area. and they all let people on as long as you respect their stuff.
-Jake

 

[mike33]

do the resident landowners look at nonresident hunters as "vermin" and wont even give them the time of day,much less permission to hunt thier land? jason

That's what pennsylvanian's feel about Maryland hunter's. I live in w.md. and hunt in bedford co pa. Why, because i have my grandmothers place and recently purchased few more acre's. Im pretty well excepted there because i half grew up there. But, my little circle there has to be the most red necked, inner bread assholes i have ever seen. Love the term " outsider , marylander, etc. " Lets see we are all americans i thought, when it comes to hunting and deer especially it does something to those little marbles up stairs. But those same people can go to md. ,etc, and work make money but thats okey. Im not picking on Pa. but it really sucks anymore our feeling about our precious hunting ground. I told my one neighbor next year im going to bring in a bus load of Md. hunters and surround his property and kill every **** deer we can. I would like to go to ohio as mentioned along rt. 70 heard that is good hunting.
mike