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

That’s funny

I know the sheer horror of it and to boot they gave them that Sunday to hunt too....... bastards!!

Outrageous on all fronts!

Maine tracking in the snow.

I live in northern Maine and head south to hunt when I really want to put meat in the freezer, Specifically Pennsylvania.

It's a bit further drive but there is the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois. Pretty good chunk of public ground. We even have a couple wilderness areas. It's one of the few "hilly" parts of the state. Nothing over 700', but nothing like the pool table flat parts a few hours north.

If you want a rugged, traditional experience, NY Adirondack Mountains. Literally thousands and thousands of acres of public land, and few people, if you get away from the roads. Any buck you get there will be well earned. There are some absolute bruisers in those mountains, and you will work your tail off getting your kill to the road.

I would go to Virginia and hunt in the Jefferson National Forest. My home when I was a youth!

PintsofCraft check your PM's.

I’m in the same boat as the OP. I looked at Daniel Boone NF in Kentucky, Wayne NF in Ohio, and Shawnee State Forest in Ohio. All look very promising, and hopefully I’ll get the chance to hunt all 3, but I believe I have settled on the Allegheny NF in Pennsylvania. It’s only about 6 hours from home. The deer numbers seem good. If you’re not afraid of getting off the beaten path there seems to be lots of elbow room. The chances of decent 120”-130” bucks seems quite feasible.

"Allegheny NF in Pennsylvania"
That's some beautiful woods.
I grew up hunting there. We had a camp in the heart of it.

Ohio, when driving out to Colorado I never saw so many road killed deer about 20 miles east of Columbus.

Washington County Pa.

Living in NC now, there’s a lot of public land but deer can be very tough to hunt, and in the east where I live you’ll likely be competing with dog hunters as well (if that makes a difference in your decision). I’m from WV originally and it’s still my favorite place to hunt. Very high populations, some large tracts of public land, and IMO nothing beats the hills.

When I was working in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania I headed to Maryland for crossbow and muzzle-loader hunting within the so-called restricted zones. The deer population is quite high compared to anywhere else that I've hunted before. Easy access to lands surrounding public reservoirs made it even easier. These public lands are under-hunted. Years ago, it was "shotgun only" or open for archery hunting but that has changed for the better. Modern muzzle-loaders are quite accurate and lethal without the punishing recoil of a 12 gauge slug gun. Crossbows are easy to master and also quite deadly within reasonable distances. Try Maryland! - Sherwood

I shot a lot of whitetails on public land when I was stationed in VA. Pretty sure I could go back there and hit those same places and have a real good chance at taking deer. But after I retired from the USN I swore I would never be on the eastern side of the Mississippi River ever again.

Florida

Here or the Adirondacks. I hunt the ANF a bunch in PA and there are some pretty remote areas (for the East) and with fewer hunters and the antler restrictions enacted years ago there are some huge bucks roaming these woods - fun hunting but with remote means a lot of work when you get one……but that’s half the fun!! Also some of the state forests in the center part of the state (Sproul and Moshannon).

PennDog

That sounds a lot like Michigan’s UP. Deer are few and far between but there are more mature bucks on public land than other parts of the state. Miles and miles of public wilderness to explore usually without seeing other hunters all day if you get a few miles out of town and walk in off of the two tracks a bit.

Yup I hunt primarily public land in Alabama and enjoy it.