ohio wildlife areas---hunting good or not?

[30-06 boy]

my brother dad and i have been kicking the idea of going to ohio deer hunting. i've been looking at the wildlife areas just noth and south of 1-70 from pennsylvania to zanesville. are there any deer there? terain? farm fields near by?dense hardwoods?etc. thanks.jason

 

[mrbb]

yes there are good deer in that area, from the Wayne to Zanesville.
only like in PA gun season, public lands get hit hard! , but that works both ways, deer are on the move, and being moved.
best thing to do is drive down, and look at them, there is tons of great piblic lands in southeast ohio, and one of the best trophy potential in the USA for a big buck! I know, I have hunted all over, and love southeast ohio!!

as for the terrian, well public land can be anything from old coal mines, reclaimed, to oil lands, to farms to hard woods, the state plants a lot of crops on public lands for wildlife, and rotate crops year to year, you really need to go and look about late july, to see the crops.
or even better go now and look for sheds!! as you scout!

 

[30-06 boy]

mrbb,

thanks for the reply.my dad brother and i are actually leaving here in pa at 3am tomorow morning to go to the athens unit/wayne nf. after some phone calls to ohio and speaking with friends that have hunted around zanesville,we decided to go south a few miles to more acres of public land. aka wayne nf. we have topo maps and will have 3 days to scout. thanks again, jason

 

[mrbb]

well , I too will be in that area , but I will not get there till March 8th, I will be about 15 miles from the wayne, in Athens
here is a little bit more info for you
once in athens, on Rt 50/33
take this road a about 5 miles towards nelsonville( spelling might be off a little)
but right on this main road, is the wayne national forest head quarters office
there thay have great maps, and you can ask to speak to a warden, and he can tell you a lot of info, too. from where the bst palce to start would be, where bug bucks were seen last year, and what crops will be planted and how much of them
plus they give out free maps with good details

and then if you want a tip on where to try, well, I can give you that too!
again once in Athens, on rt 50/33 heading towards nelsonville,
the first ext from athens going west! will the Amesville rt 550 exit
take this road about 10 miles north/east towards chesterhill Ohio
about 10 miles from the exit, there is a state public hunting area, sorry i don't remeber the exact name, but you cannot miss it, there is a BIG sign, on you left with the name of the park.
I hunt in Chesterhill, and used to stay at this exit as there is a hotel right there, and athens is only about 2 miles form the hotel, so all things close are right there in a pinch
But any ways, when i used to stay at this hotel, and drive to Chesterhill, I used to se tons of good bucks on this game lands, never seen any one hunting it in bow season!
its only again about 10 miles from Rt 33, and about 13 miles from athens!

If you like, give me a call and I can give you more info,
My cell number is 1-570-575-0482

also, if you go to nelsonville, there is a good gun store, called Ohio Valley trading companys, there is a second store in Athens, too, they carry a lot of inventory!

and then In nelsonville is the ROCKY boot factory, and they have a store you can shop in with a discount floor for seconds, not bad deals most times if you like

I have hunted this area for about 9 years now, and have tried a lot of places, did very well on public lands too, but now I have access to private land, and stick to it mostly, but I do still sit a few days a year on public lands still!
last season I saw 6 bucks on public lands near me that were well into the 150's!

good luck, Stan