Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting If you could hunt public land for Whitetail in the East - where would you go?

Im planning a trip to Kentucky for Deer this year. I hunted there in the past and really enjoyed myself. I’ll also sneak into West Virginia for several days before heading back to Vermont. For me, I like the adventure of hunting new places & the perspective it brings. Hope to get a few does but will be hunting bucks primarily.

One never knows what they don’t know so I ask here - where would you hunt if you could? Anywhere East of say Indiana is in range for me and my hunting travels. Curious most about what states have herds in good shape, longer seasons & fairly generous bag limits.

Not paying for outfitters - public access or maybe a trespass fee only. Time is not important - I hope to roam several states that have different seasons to extend the fun. Not hunting specifically for trophys but experiences and freezer filling. Not looking for specific units or gmu’s - more just states or regions within states that are hunting good these days

Thanks!

POC

Don't overlook Tennessee.

Been thinking about that - we drove thru year before last and was intrigued but wound up in Kentucky. We drove through Oneida, TN on up towards Pine Knot, KY.

Virginia may be the best bang for your “buck”. It has a lot in common with WV, but you get 5 or six tags with your license, then you decide what weapons stamps you wish to buy. The VA ML season is the first couple of weeks in November, during the rut. OTOH, WV probably let's you take does on more PL during the regular season, but requires a doe tag for each. Since you have the time, look over the regs for both and see how they line up with your schedule and hunting preferences. There are big deer to be had in both states in the right areas, plus bears and turkeys (bear tags are pricey in both states for NRs).

EDIT: Your chances of having overlapping deer and Fall turkey opportunities are probably better in VA too. Always nice to have that possibility in the back of your mind.

Georgia and Alabama have the longest seasons and most liberal bag limits. It used to be one per day in Alabama with a 4 month season if you include archery season. I'm more familiar with GA. Archery starts here in mid October. Rifle season about a month later and ends mid January. Bag limit is 2 bucks, 10 doe. And most management areas don't count anything you kill there towards your 12 deer limit. Most management areas are simply sign-in. A handful are quota hunts and applications are usually due by Sept.1.

A lot of National Forest with free hunting in the northern 1/3 of the state. Most management areas are within that NF property. Each area is usually open for 2 or 3 periods of 3-5 days each season with the dates staggered. I hunt several of those. They are typically open on Wednesday. or Thursday and run through Saturday or Sunday. Something is open within driving distance of me pretty much every week of the season.

Some of the bigger areas such as Cohutta and Blue Ridge WMA are big enough to pack in and have a true wilderness experience. There are probably more black bear than deer in the mountains however. And wild hogs are there too. These aren't the typical feral hogs you see in Texas and Florida, but have cross bred enough to look like European boars. Farther south as you get closer to Atlanta things get a little more crowded, but I rarely see another hunter on the WMA's along the northern edges of the state.

Man I’ve seen some huge bucks in Georgia on some YouTube videos

Outstanding replies fellas!

Great info! I’ll dig a little deeper and see what pops up. I’ve never been to Alabama.

Yeah if you just want to fill your freezer on an adventure in some beautiful country that has very low hunting pressure look no further than Virginia.....Virginia gives you a pile of tags and The boarder counties in the western Part of the State have thousands of acres of National Forest available with a deer density that is ample for your criteria....Look at Bath, Highland, Alleghany and Craig counties...Good luck on your adventure...Hb

I was planning on hunting Pendleton County in WVa - I’ll have to look at your recommendations- shouldn’t be too much of a hop to check things out. Thanks!!

For the state of TN, East TN has the best deer hunting.

Yup, GA trumps TN in deer.

Any of you fellas Public land hunters? I love public land because I can move around to different units if needed. I sorta treat the East like a collection of game units anyhow - smaller country than the West and it’s easy to bounce around every 4-5 days.

I’m sure this is a dumb question - most of us are.

Only public for me these days. Private access in the Eastern Panhandle of WV and nearby VA is very hard to come by. There’s a double plot consisting of over 1300 acres I can get to in 20 minutes, and another of 22,000 in less than an hour. Not prime, but pretty woods good enough for an old fat man to wander around in, and I usually scratch down a deer or two and sometimes a turkey. Gotten kind of lazy in my old age, but have lost nearly 30lbs in the last three months, with more to come, so I’m hoping it will liven me up some. It’ll soon be time to start scouting for turkeys

Outstanding! 30lbs is a great accomplishment. Not easy to do that. Being in the woods certainly clears the mind & focuses the priorities we each have

Like JMR40 notes, GA and AL have long seasons and liberal bag limits. GA, 2 bucks, 12 does. AL, 3 bucks, unlimited does. Nice thing about AL is if you're willing to move around the state you can hunt the rut from Nov to end of Jan in different locations. Several WMA's across the state that have set dates for hunts (rifle or muzzleloader)....I think archery is still always open on them. Lots of different terrain to hunt as well from fairly flat/rolling hills to mountains.

Guys this is the great stuff that nobody talks about while they are dreaming of Elk & Moose! Myself I’m into a freezer full of tasty whitetail does and some great experiences hunting in spots that don’t get the publicity. Can’t thank you guys enough.

If you are a bow hunter only, wv has three counties bow only that produces some giants

It's actually 4 counties. McDowell, Mingo, Logan, and Wyoming. And yes there are some monsters that come out of those counties.

Bankhead NF (northwest of Birmingham) is a huge chunk of public land in Alabama. It has a good bit of pressure, but if you'll get more than a half mile off of a dirt road, you'll stand a good chance.

https://aonmag.com/hunting/bankhead-forest-17-point-new-state-record-muzzleloader-buck/