Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Ohio Lease

Does anyone have any tips on how I could find a piece of ground in Ohio for me and my son and a buddy to lease for deer hunting for his fall ?

If you cant find a lease Wayne Nation Forest in southern ohio offers a huge area of big timber for you to hunt. We hunted there for 25 years. In the early years
There was a orange hat on every ridge but the last 10 years there was barely another group seen. The last five years we went we had the area we hunted to ourselves. We are getting old and have farms to hunt on up north so we decided to stop going down there. Its a solid plan B if you need it.

The days of my youth, my buddy and me would spend weekends driving around in the country, knocking on doors.
Mostly we got a "No.", but occasionally a "Yes."
Leave your earrings at home.
Cover up your tats.
Remember to use "sir" and "ma'am"!
Fer chrissakes, be POLITE to the lady of the house!
Watch your language. Not everybody likes "f" bombs.
Dress clean and neat. I don't care if ripped up jeans are a fashion statement, leave those at home!
If you get a "No.", be polite and say, "Thank you."

Another good option is to attend a small, country church and get to know the folks. I found an absolutely AWESOME spot that way. I had access to 250 acres where I was able to hunt deer, turkeys squirrel, duck and catch catfish! 😉👍

Those days are long past here. Got a better chance asking if you can screw the owner's wife than hunt the land without selling a kidney.

Farmer Joe says no... unless you got yourself a stack full of crisp 500 and/or thousand dollar bills in your hand when you ask. It's all about that lease money.

Ain’t much free unless you know a land owner or hunt public land.

Good advice for ANY situation.

I dont think it will be too hard to find a lease but you better have some deep pockets when you do....Good luck...Hb

I’ve hunted on private that butts up against Wayne off and on for over 20 years. Twenty years ago the hills were covered in orange dots. Now there is almost no one. Save your money and go there. Get half a mile from the road and you will be all alone.

..."

In today's economy, you betcha it's about the bucks....and I'm not talking deer!
Litigation happy idiots caused a big part of that too! 😡

Too many people think they should be able to hunt for free, after all, the deer belong to the public! 🤷‍♂️

Great advise. I'm constantly amazed how many guys bitch and moan about not having anywhere to hunt but won't take a Saturday or 2 in the spring to knock on a few doors. Yes you are going to get turned down more than you get access. That's sales 101. Sell yourself. With OnX and other apps now days that give you the owner info there's no excuses left. You get out of it what you put into it.

Were at in Ohio?

Used to have a free lifetime permit for reclaimed Coal Land in Southern Ohio years ago. Haven't hunted down there in years as we've been concentrating on our PA. family property when we're not hunting out west. Pretty sure those are still available Through the Coal property sites. Not Sure.
You might want to consider putting flyers up in local stores and pounding on doors like was suggested.

Good Luck

HS 58

Add in the local papers is where I would start. Know a guy who did the same in Kansas....it worked out better than he could have imagined.

We complained about the amount of hunters back 20-25 years ago but having that many in there kept the deer up and moving. They moved all day until they got shot or it got dark. Dang near deserted these days.