# SE Ohio Public Land Hunt



## Mr. October (Jun 27, 2003)

Our group that goes up to the UP for bow camp every year has decided that we will try SE Ohio public land this year instead of the UP. We are going next week October 18th through the 24th. None of us have ever been to the area before and are looking for tips and tricks! Basically, do you hunt high, low, or ridgelines? Do you go out before daylight and stay until after sunset? I know it's earlier than most would go and that would probably change your technique as the rut changes everything but anything that would give us a little head start would be greatly appreciated! 
We are renting a cabin near Peebles and plan to hunt the Tranquility Wildlife Area and the Brush Creek State Forest areas. We have done a ton of research and have topo maps but sometimes the best advise comes from just talking to people! Hope you can help! Thanks!


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## QDMAMAN (Dec 8, 2004)

Mr. October said:


> Our group that goes up to the UP for bow camp every year has decided that we will try SE Ohio public land this year instead of the UP. We are going next week October 18th through the 24th. None of us have ever been to the area before and are looking for tips and tricks! Basically, do you hunt high, low, or ridgelines? Do you go out before daylight and stay until after sunset? I know it's earlier than most would go and that would probably change your technique as the rut changes everything but anything that would give us a little head start would be greatly appreciated!
> We are renting a cabin near Peebles and plan to hunt the Tranquility Wildlife Area and the Brush Creek State Forest areas. We have done a ton of research and have topo maps but sometimes the best advise comes from just talking to people! Hope you can help! Thanks!



I scouted Brush Creek and was impressed, however, I personally never hunted it. If there's a cold front there is no "wrong" time to hunt.
Hunt saddles and remember, in hill country wind can be fickle. As a rule, thermals head down in the a.m. and up after sun up. Bucks down there will travel benches as well, get the wind in your favor and be mobile enough to move as the wind does. Climber stands are my go to stand down there.
Prepare to be amazed!


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## beer and nuts (Jan 2, 2001)

From what I read on here from others that have hunted....nothing beats experience. So set your expectations low and plan on this year being a learning year. And if you continue to go, it gets better year after year. Oh and go deep!


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## turnip (Jan 1, 2012)

beer and nuts said:


> From what I read on here from others that have hunted....nothing beats experience. So set your expectations low and plan on this year being a learning year. And if you continue to go, it gets better year after year. Oh and go deep!


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## turnip (Jan 1, 2012)

I am heading down the first week of November - 2nd trip. You are in For a great adventure. Hunt hard and have fun. Looking forward to hearing how you do. I am still figuring out hunt high or low? Big bucks are killed both high and low?


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

I'm headed down first week in Nov. I go in early, change clothes close to my stand, and i leave at dark. My walk up is over a mile. Big ass hills, I hunt saddles, points, and benches. Cant wait! I will be packing in a pack frame and leaving it with the intentions of packing the deer out boned and caped.


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## Rico (Mar 15, 2001)

Go deep and watch your wind/
You can burn a lot of turf setting up wrong.


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## HookedUp (Dec 31, 2010)

Hunt them as any other deer. One good thing in Ohio very very few people bait. Oak trees raining acorns right now are a great find.


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## Mr. October (Jun 27, 2003)

Thanks for all the replies! Getting me even more excited than I already was! Keep em coming if you can! Anything to put me one step ahead! Been studying the topo's alot. 

One other question for you guys though, does the farm feilds affect the deer movement as much as it does up here? I've been told there is alot of state owned property within the wildlife area that is leased out to the farmers and they have corn planted in lots of areas. I'm sure this is where alot of the hunters that don't want to venture deep spend their time so my thought is to find one of these areas and go deep around there. Assuming the deer wouldn't come to those areas but only for a few hours during the peak of the night. With all the acorns and nut trees down there though, wondering if the deer even worry about those farm crops?


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## roo (Mar 30, 2011)

Was planning on heading down there around Halloween myself for my first trio. Wife is due the end of November and they just pushed her due date up to sometime the first week of November. Don't think I'll be making it down This year until muzzleloader season... Good luck I'll be following this thread.


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## Uncle Boopoo (Sep 15, 2008)

Climber stands are your best friend down there but I've had some luck hunting from the ground as well! Mobility is the key. Especially since you'll be learning as you go. 

Big bucks travel and bed on the leeward side of the ridges. If the wind is wrong, he won't be there, no matter how much sign is there. Hunt low in the evening and high in the morning, is the general rule of thumb.


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## turnip (Jan 1, 2012)

Mr. October said:


> Thanks for all the replies! Getting me even more excited than I already was! Keep em coming if you can! Anything to put me one step ahead! Been studying the topo's alot.
> 
> One other question for you guys though, does the farm feilds affect the deer movement as much as it does up here? I've been told there is alot of state owned property within the wildlife area that is leased out to the farmers and they have corn planted in lots of areas. I'm sure this is where alot of the hunters that don't want to venture deep spend their time so my thought is to find one of these areas and go deep around there. Assuming the deer wouldn't come to those areas but only for a few hours during the peak of the night. With all the acorns and nut trees down there though, wondering if the deer even worry about those farm crops?





Uncle Boopoo said:


> Climber stands are your best friend down there but I've had some luck hunting from the ground as well! Mobility is the key. Especially since you'll be learning as you go.
> 
> Big bucks travel and bed on the leeward side of the ridges. If the wind is wrong, he won't be there, no matter how much sign is there. Hunt low in the evening and high in the morning, is the general rule of thumb.


Can you explain what you mean when you refer to the leeward side of the ridges?


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## scott7030 (Jul 20, 2010)

Last year was my first time hunting Ohio. We went the week before Halloween and Muzzleloader season. We had a blast. I had some technical difficulty with my Bowtech, the cam blew up the day we got there when we where shooting at the range, otherwise I would have shot a nice buck. Go hunt hard. take some trail cameras to help learn the area. also beware of snakes. I almost stepped on a timber rattler. it was just cold enough that he was in a coma state. I was 1 step away from him before I saw him. I will also say that my hunt on public land in Ohio was better than my whole season hunting in Michigan.


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## joe c. (Dec 25, 2010)

Just got back the other day from my property in S.Ohio the hills were dead no acorns some beech nuts. Seen does and young bucks but with limited food sources it makes for tough hunting till all the crops are out. The problem your gonna find hunting hill country is the lower spots always look better but the wind will drive you crazy. Try and make the woods small pinch points some of these deer travel a lot. They like too bed on benches midway up in the greenbrier. If you find acorns your golden we had acorns but they were all rotted good luck it's early but you never know.


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## Mr. October (Jun 27, 2003)

Thanks again for the responses! Leaving bright and early tomorrow, hope to get down there in time to scout out a few areas I've been looking at on the topo maps and hopefully start hunting Sunday morning. Sounds like I need to try to find the good acorns! I will try to keep everyone interested updated as much as possible! Pretty excited!


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## joe c. (Dec 25, 2010)

Make sure the acorns aren't rotten open them up they look fine until you open them....,


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## johnhunter247 (Mar 12, 2011)

I'm curious to see how you make out down there. Good luck!


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## Mr. October (Jun 27, 2003)

Well, we made it back! Sorry I couldn't give more updates throughout the week but we really hunted hard. Overall, the trip was a success as far as having fun and being with the guys again, but no luck with bagging any deer! There was plenty of sign with lots of rubs and scrapes found but out of the 8 guys that went on the trip only 3 saw bucks while on stand and only one of those was a shooter buck, just couldn't get a shot at it. 2 of us were completely shut out, not seeing any deer while on stand, and the rest of us only saw one to three doe. 

We heeded all the advise given here, talking with others that have been there and around the sport shops in the area. Most of us went deep (my stand was 1.1 miles off any roadway on a saddle on a ridge), a few went high on the hills of Brush Creek and a couple of the older gentelmen of the group stayed out around the crop feilds. Three of our group started out hunting the Brush Creek State Forest area and the rest of us were on the Tranquility Wildlife area. All three of the bucks were seen on Tranquility. We had 6 trailcams set out watching scrapes (mock and natural) and never got any pictures of any deer. Temps were quite warm in the high 60's to low 70's early and upper 70's later in the week. All of the crops (soy beans and corn) that are planted in the wildlife areas were all still up. We did find some oaks that were producing some good (not rotten) acorns but all we saw there were squirrels (which by the way, seemed like thousands at each stand location!). We tried everything we could think of using scents, calls and rattles but to no avail. 

We all had a great time sitting around the campfire at night and telling stories from the days' hunts and enjoyed some great food and beverages which made the trip a great success even without letting an arrow fly! We have discussed possibly going again, however, next time maybe in early November. The one good thing about going when we did is that there really wasn't that many other hunters out so we pretty much got to sit wherever we wanted! But, I guess that doesn't do you much good without the deer cooperating! 

Thanks for all your guys' help and advise and good luck to all those going down there and also to those hunting closer to home!


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## joe c. (Dec 25, 2010)

Not very forgiving but beautiful country,thanks for the update was wondering how y'all did. Not that it matters but I started going down back in 1999, I would go down when gun season opened up here 15th.just made sense gun season opens after thanksgiving down in the belly of the beast(Ohio). Keep at it I've seen the most amazing things hunting Ohio.I love our great state and have great success on public lands here but Ohio keeps me dreaming..


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