doomsday

Looking to plan abowhunt in Ohio this year and need some info. What public lands are open? When does bow season start and end? How many acres are onsome of the biggest publis lands.Any help would be great!

nodog

Opens 9/30 ends2/05and most lands are open. Check the Dnr web site for info. Some are large and some small. You can buy tags on line. I think out of state small game and a deer tag, you need both is around 125. A total of 3 can be taken in the state with one buck regardless of anything else. A buck is considered one if it has 3" or greater spikes. One buck that's all. The 3 can be taken in zoneC or you can take 1 only in A, 2 only in B or any combination for a total of 3. Good to read the regs. They are a bit confusing. Ohio has a lot of public land, but it is used. Some are big enough to get lost in. One other thing, you must check the deer in whole so be prepared to get it out. No motorized vehicles allowed. Bummer I know. Going to used a mountain bike this year on some of the public grounds.

lowtempguru

You might look into the state parks, several of them (alum creek and Delaware come to mind) leave the campgrounds open for the hunters, These are bow hunting only areas, withmore then a few nice deer are taken each year..

doomsday

Thanks for the help!!! I will read up on the regulations.

emo

Click on www.lazyshuntclub.org and go regulations.All the seasons, areas, cost and any thing else you need to know about Ohio public hunting.

huntingson

A lot of people would tell you that the public lands are overhunted, but I do not think that is true. It all depends where you go on the land and which chunk of land you decide to hunt. Hunting some of the larger pieces of public land like Wayne National Forest, Shawnee Forest (I hunt mainly the southern half of the state)can be fantastic so long as you are willing to find the areas that no one else is willing or able to get to. There are a lot of big deer on Ohio's public lands, and if you decide to give them a try I wish you luck.

doomsday

Thanks for the infohuntingson! We plan on hunting the bigger public lands. We are alsoplanning on scouting trip before the hunt. Looks like the GPS will be in the fanny pack.

Cosmowvu

Huntingson,

I agree with you but I hunt Wayne National in Washington County and some parts of it are way over hunted. Last year I went to a DNR office and bout some TOPO maps of the area I hunt. I was amazed at how much land is public that noone knows about. It seems that most of the hunting is centered arround the campgrounds but if you do some research you will be surprised at the amount of land the govt owns.

emo

If you plan on hunting Shawnee State forest, you can email Ol dads outdoor store. [email protected] Ol Mark knows [where].

Marioncountybowhunter

There are also two other chunks of Wayne Natn'l, one in Marietta and one near Nelsonville.