I have lived in Vero Beach for about 15 years, and about 25 in Florida.
Having said that ive never hunted here.
I still go back to our NC PA camp for hunting.
But i am very familiar with the area as i do quite alot of traveling around for fishing.
I spend much of my time fishing in the Fort Drum Marsh area, which is west of Vero beach.
It is a large area and open for hunting by permit, rifles are permitted.
I saw a guy who took 2 deer on the same day this past season at the Rt 60 entrance.
A very nice 8 point buck and a young doe.
I believe they took about 25 deer in total from that one location this past year.
That would be in Indian River County about 25 miles from Vero.
There are lots of deer in that region, but most of them would be on private ranches.
Realize that from Rt 95 traveling west, its about 75 miles to the next town.
It's been 45 years since I've been, but we sure had a lot of fun going to town. The Desert Inn in Yeehaw Junction and the Red Gator in Kenansville could be really exciting on the weekends.
