Hunting Ohio...

[DocHolladay]

My friends and I will be making our annual trip to Ohio November 5-11. We will be staying at the Smoke Rise Ranch in Athens County, for the 3rd year. If you have never stayed there, it is a nice place for a reasonable price. We usually rent the "Rustic Cabins". Good place to go, if you like horses. We have some private land to hunt and can also hunt Wayne National Forest. If any of you live close by or hunt in the area, let me know. Maybe we can meet up one might.

 

[KDdid]

Miss miss my Ohio hunting days- spent 4 years there on a couple of the old Mead paper leases, and made memories for a lifetime. Don't miss the 5.5 hour drive every weekend, tho.

 

[Mennoniteman]

My friends and I will be making our annual trip to Ohio November 5-11. We will be staying at the Smoke Rise Ranch in Athens County, for the 3rd year. If you have never stayed there, it is a nice place for a reasonable price. We usually rent the "Rustic Cabins". Good place to go, if you like horses. We have some private land to hunt and can also hunt Wayne National Forest. If any of you live close by or hunt in the area, let me know. Maybe we can meet up one might.

A few of my buddies also hunt Wayne National Forest, they go way back in, pull some big deer out of there.

 

[herdman]

I live around an hour from there but have never hunted it. Honestly didn't really think about it to much. Are you allowed to put up trail cameras in a national forest?

 

[DocHolladay]

I live around an hour from there but have never hunted it. Honestly didn't really think about it to much. Are you allowed to put up trail cameras in a national forest?

Yes you can. You just have to be weary of other hunters. Not everyone is honest. If your camera manufacturer makes a lock box for the camera use it. That doesn't mean someone won't take it, but it will slow them down or make them not want it. Locks. chains, and boxes are just there to keep an honest man honest.

 

[herdman]

Yes you can. You just have to be weary of other hunters. Not everyone is honest. If your camera manufacturer makes a lock box for the camera use it. That doesn't mean someone won't take it, but it will slow them down or make them not want it. Locks. chains, and boxes are just there to keep an honest man honest.

I agree with that, but like you, I will take extra measures to try and slow them down. I have found that most are lazy and don't like the extra work involved lol.

I have been looking at the map and I am very confused. It says you can hunt anywhere on National Forest Land around the Timber Lake area. Then you look at the map and see where all that encompasses. Then I click on satellite images and see houses every where. How do I know where the National Forest land is and where the private land is? Will the private land be posted?

I really want to start hunting there, just said I'm 1 hr away which is awesome. As far as hiking far into the woods, compared to what I have to hike in Southern West Virginia, I'm not the least bit worried about that part of it lol.

Sorry if these are dumb questions

 

[DocHolladay]

For the most part, the boundaries are marked fairly well. If there are houses there, you can't hunt it, its private land. It depends on foot traffic from hunters if the land is posted or not. We tend to look at a map and then drive over and take a look, that is the best way to do it.

 

[DocHolladay]

The trip is over and I am back home. It was an excellent trip, even though we missed 2 days to rain and flooding and I missed another 1/2 day because there was still some high water near my stand. I missed another 1/2 day Friday because one of my friends felt sick to his stomach and we didn't leave the cabin until 1pm. I was in the stand by 1:45pm and had a 140"+ deer slip in on me right at 2pm and I couldn't get a shot at him because of brush and trees. I held my bow for right at a minute hoping that he would present a shot, but he never did, before I had to let down because I couldn't hold it any longer. Never saw another deer the rest of the trip.I also figured out to NOT listen to the weatherman and bring warm boots anyways. The 7 day forecast right before we left was high in the 60's and low in the 40's all week. By Monday afternoon(we got there Sunday evening), it was high in the 40's and low in the 20's all week. Snake boots aren't that great at keeping your feet warm, but I managed to get by with little complaining. I had a great time and saw some friends that I only get to see in Ohio and talk to on facebook. Saw some trail cam pictures of some giants, kill photos of some giants killed by locals and saw a few pics of giants that were on neighboring properties to where a friend was hunting. We will go back next year and do it again, stay at the same place(and cabin hopefully) and go enjoy the great outdoors with friends.

I almost forgot, if you don't gain at least 5lbs on a trip like this, you are doing it wrong.