Ohio state land

[cthomas88]

What are some good state game lands to late season muzzleloader hunt in Ohio

 

[nam1975]

Anything South Or South east. Take your pick. Wayne NF is a big woods. Look for acorns.

Deer will been pressured for 3 months of archery and 2 gun seasons.
But, the deer will have had about 3 quiet weeks, not much late archery hunting.

Also, hope for a deep freeze. Like 0 at night. It will get the deer up and eating and grouped up a bit.
That’s the only luck I’ve had for muzzy.

 

[Boarmaster]

I would go Federal Forest. Wayne is plenty good. I been hunting Wayne every year for 30 years.
We decided not to go down this year as we have good farms to hunt in NW Ohio where I was raised.
plus we are getting old. It was fun to hunt the big timber while it lasted.

 

[gjs4]

Looking for oaks on southern ohio public is as hard as finding your fingers. Learn topography and know that’s the key in the end. They roam big


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Boarmaster]

Looking for oaks on southern ohio public is as hard as finding your fingers. Learn topography and know that’s the key in the end. They roam big


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We had a lot of luck hunting saddles in Wayne National Forest. If I didnt know exactly where I wanted to go I would find a saddle on a ridge at the top of some thicker stuff down further in the drain. The last few years we went the place was deserted. A stark difference from the late 80s and 90s where there was a hunter every 200 yards.

 

[Lone Duck]

Mohican State Forest can be a good option in North Central Ohio.

 

[Boarmaster]

We hunted Saltfork State Park a few years near Zanesville/ Cambridge. We shots some deer there.
We rented one of their cabins to stay in. Had a great time but we decided we liked hunting the National Forest as it was more remote and less hunters. That late season ML in Ohio can be dang cold so you might find about anywhere you go wont be too crowded.

 

[Boarmaster]

Looking for oaks on southern ohio public is as hard as finding your fingers. Learn topography and know that’s the key in the end. They roam big


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We did pretty good in Wayne NF if we could find public up against private that had been clear cut that year or a few years old. Just be sure to stay off the private.

 

[gjs4]

Definitely some good places and techniques stated. There are some places and times everything is loaded with people but finding big deer in ohio is more about the deer, than where other hunters are, compared to other states/public IMO


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Boarmaster]

Definitely some good places and techniques stated. There are some places and times everything is loaded with people but finding big deer in ohio is more about the deer, than where other hunters are, compared to other states/public IMO


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Back in the day we killed more deer in those big areas like Wayne when the place had a hunter on every ridge and in every drain. Guys walking all over the place was kind of irritating but they kept the deer up and moving. We killed less deer as the number of hunters went down. Back in the 90s the place was full and the shooting started at daylight and went on all day. Those deer moved until they got shot or it got dark. These days in Wayne the deer can run over the ridge into the next drain and stand there all day.
We always killed deer there in Wayne but as hunter numbers went down the days of killing three deer each in the first two or three days went by the wayside. The way we hunt there and how we hunt has changed as straightwall rifles came legal and deer populations got better in the agricultural areas.
But I would love to live near Wayne National Forest. What a heck of a resource for Ohio Sportsmen.
I live in Southwest Florida so only flew in for hunts and not much scouting possible. Pretty much walked in , found a likely spot and killed deer As they ran by.