Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Ohio

Two guys showed me a bunch of pics of what is coming out of Ohio farm country these days which will stand beside what is coming out of anywhere in North America.

More than a little impressive. Ohio is a sleeper State if you can get on the right land.

Ohio sux.
I got invited there to hunt whitetails a couple years ago. Lots of deer and also some big body big rack bucks.
But you might as well shoot whitetails in a zoo. How they call it hunting is a mystery to me.

Yep...Ohio sucks! I wouldn't hunt there if you gave me a farm there!

Depends on where you hunt. I've hunted some pretty damn tough country in OH.

Seems like few that go to Wyoming fail to return without an Antelope.

I need to find some land out here to hunt. Never did try deer hunting here of course I don't own a slug shotgun or muzzleloader so guess I need to invest before going.

Yep...I hunt the SE portion of the state. It is extremely rugged with some very steep hills and hollows. It is often very challenging finding entrance and exit points to avoid spooking the deer. Thermals are very tough in these areas as well.

I see you're from Wyoming-it's a very different kind of hunting, that's for sure. First of all, it's slugs or muzzleloaders, or revolvers. Ohio by and large isn't big country like you're probably used to. The farms are often smaller. Get down in the southern part of the state and it's hilly. Small hills, but steep and can be very challenging. They take some big bruisers down there, but by and large the gus work very hard for them. It's not "like hunting in a zoo" though.

It's been a long time since I hunted OH, but I understand the foodplot and [bleep] lease type operations are getting more common. Very different hunting from WY, but to say it's a zoo is laughable, unless you're shooting from a treestand on the edge of a cornfield on a lease, then I could see that impression. I've hunted Athens County, Adams County, and some of the flatter stuff, and can tell you it can be as challenging as you want it to be.

All the Buck pics I saw were taken with a bow.

Leased farms, however the one was taken on a 100 acre piece of ground that two individuals lease that borders a city limit. One exception was one guy hunted the farm of a friend and wasn't leased.

Unfortunately leasing is becoming more prevalent in the East with each year. Not much difference than paying an outfitter for access or paying a rancher for access to ranch land in the West. Perhaps the Eastern farmers have learned a couple things from the Western rancher?

Get a kick out of these turds that think hunting states like Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky etc is like hunting in a petting zoo.....
It is not!!!
I have hunted all of these states at one time or another and can tell you somedays you don't even see a deer.
If you out west guys think that you can can come east and plop your fat butt down in a treestand or blind and kill a decent (we'll say a 130") buck every day than come on down and prove me wrong!!!
Bunch of idiots!
You've never spent any time hunting out here.

Tom I like the guys that think the hills are less steep and think that hunting from a stand is for sissies and claim they can still hunt through the laurel hells , saw briers and sneak thru the dried leaves w/o spooking every deer within a half mile.

Deer that are frequently pressured, as can happen in Ohio, get smart or die. They won't think twice about going nocturnal, even during the rut. Lots of deer are shot by pushing small wood lots, field corners and fence rows. A lot of places out there, if you want to see deer between first light and sunset, you have to move them. Much more so in farm country than in the hills and hollows of southern Ohio.

Cameron and Clinton Co in Pa will test those in the best of shape if they want to run the hills.

Although I disagree on still hunting-even on dry leaves-being non-productive. Spooked Deer usually don't go that far. It definitely can be difficult, but knowing the land and persistence often results in being dealt a lucky hand.

It'll be the death of hunting as we know it, whether it's out west or back east. Paying a trespass fee is hardly the same as lease though I'm not personally in favor of either.

Tom,
I think we have far more "fat butts" in the midwest than in the west.

There are a lot of ideas formulated on hunting the midwest from watching the Outdoor Channel. News flash for those that haven't hunted the region - 95% of it ain't the Kisky or Lakosky tracts.

Ohio is on the "to-do" list. Just need to make it a priority one of these years.

That's true Scott.

I will never understand farmers charging folks to hunt when they are doing them a favor. These same farmers scream to high heaven because the deer are eating all their crops and damaging their land but yet won't let folks kill the very pest to them unless they pay $500.00 a gun. Let them get over run. I hunt on a piece of land that the owner wants me to kill everything within reason and wouldn't charge me a dime if he had to. Or I hunt state game areas, fed land or CFR. I won't give in to the robbery.

Not all lease land is productive farmland.

15 to 20 of us depending on the year lease 1200 acres of essentially woods. Taxes are $14,000 per year. He doesn't own the mineral gas rights, so with the exception of some selective timbering he essentially breaks even.

What I run into here and hence my aggravation is farmers owning thousands of acres of land, growing corn, beans, wheat etc. Getting top dollar for their crops from the ethanol plant or regular market, whichever pays more, a tax break on the land, then reimbursed for damaged/lost crops because of the deer/animal damage and charging hunters top dollar to shoot the deer. I'm all for farmers making a living, don't get me wrong it's a tough business. But if they wan't crop damage permits, reimbursement for damage, and tax break on their land I'm thinking it should fall into CFR like the paper companies and should be open to the public for hunting. I'm sure you're dealing with a different animal entirely there but around here they seem to be a little greedy.