Hunting near Central PA

[CliffordOM]

Hello everyone,

I'm attempting to get into hunting and right now I am currently securing gear and equipment for the next deer season.

I am from central PA (outside of Harrisburg) and was wondering if any of you have preferred spots/areas in the state that are somewhat close.

yes i've read what others on HuntingPA have said, however just thought I'd reach out here for more input. Thanks.

 

[Rob960]

I hunt northeast PA. Plenty of opportunities on the mountain game land/state forests. Look at the maps by PGC and such to get an idea of where to start.

 

[cgavason]

Look in 4c north east of Dauphin, lots of available land


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[ResearchinStuff]

You are within reasonable driving distance to a ton of public land. Go do some scouting now before everything greens up. Who knows, you might even find an area to turkey hunt this spring if you're lucky

 

[Jpsmith1]

Get a good pair of boots and some binos and get out NOW.

Put those miles in looking for sign, sheds and beds.

 

[Jbxl20]

Get out and scout. Most pa hunters don’t believe it, but There’s deer and Turkey on public land. I hunt a few spots 30-40 mins from harrisburg.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Welcome.

You are in luck because PA has a fantastic public land system. Best east of the Mississippi. check out the state game lands Near you. I live near Scranton and there are tons of options. Don’t be afraid of a little drive or walk. I find the further west I go (away from the NJ/NY/Philly crowds that like our public land system) the thinner the crowds get. Similarly, the further you walk from the parking lot, the thinner the crowds get.

if I were you, I would also look into some of the suburban areas near you and Philly That give extra tags or have management programs. Most are going to require archery gear - a compound bow or crossbow - but the tags can be practically unlimited. It is a bit counter intuitive because most people will tell you to go deep I. The woods to learn. However, I hunted an area like that in NY and it was great learning. Nothing you would want to hang on the wall, but lots of deer, lots of shooting and lots of meat. it isn’t some great back woods adventure and it feels a little odd to drag a deer across the outfield of a little league park at 6:00AM but I was able to kill 3-4 deer a year for a few years and really learn a lot about what I was doing.

 

[bigmike23]

I hunt NE PA. Big public tracts consists of swamps or mountains. In any tract that contains swamps, go right to them. That'll cross out a huge amount of worthless land to hunt.

In mtns, focus on diversity of vegetation and terrain features. Where open hard woods meets mtn laurel, scrub oak, saplings etc. Focus on hard funnels where deer must go through. Like a shear cliff that cannot come down.