I guess I'm lucky to live in the part of the state where the majority of public ground is located. I'm 10 min from Sahara Woods which is 4100ac of state ground and 15 min from the Shawnee National Forrest which is 265k acres of Forrest Service. There are certain parcels of state ground that require a special permit or are a limited draw for deer hunting. Almost all of state ground requires a "window card", which is free. I think parts of Pyramid Park require something, Sahara Woods does not, neither does any of the Forest Service (that I know of). Down side is, it can get a bit crazy and crowded on public ground. There are a good number of "city folk" that head down to the sticks to kill a deer. They are why I only bow hunt on public ground and I'll never do opening day of duck season on public ground again.
Shawnee is like a 4 hour drive for me.
I work a couple miles from a small patch of public ground. I have a window card for small game hunting out there, but it is closed to small game during deer season, which is a shame because it is chock full of squirrels.
With this year being so warm, I haven't even been out there yet, since the leaves never dropped before deer season opened. I'll hit it a few times after archery closes next month.
