Hello everyone! I'm looking for some insight into the hunting in the central Florida area. I'll pre-apologize for this getting a little long winded...

My background - Born and raised in Pennsylvania, I grew up hunting the big woods in north PA and the open fields of the south eastern area of PA. I never missed a hunting season from '94 to '06. I moved to FL in '03, but new jobs in '07 and '09 forced me to miss those seasons. I've never looked into hunting in Florida, but now I've got a little baby and it looks like it's going to be tough to get back to PA, so i'm going to have to start hunting here in central Florida.

What I've found - Florida is MUCH different than PA. I've read up on all the laws and regulations, so it's now down to finding a place to hunt. Obviously, WMA's apear to be my best option, since I do not know any private land owners. So, I have a few questions for you fellow central Floridian hunters.

1: How hard is it to get in on the quota hunts? Do they fill up rediculously fast?
- Green Swamp
- Green Swamp West
- Hilochee
- Richloam
- Croom
- Seminole Ranch
- Tosahatchee
- Triple N Ranch

2: How full do these places get? I'm used to open spaces and not dealing with a lot of other hunters.

3: How is the hunting? I've always been a ground/still hunter. I'd say 90% of my hunting is still hunting, 10% is stalking. I've never hunted out of a tree stand besides a big hand-made platform. Would I need to get a climber to deal with the under brush?

4: Deer Population - I'm not a trophy hunter or trying to kill a million deer. I would just like to get 1 deer for meat for the season. I enjoy going out in the field and enjoy seeing game. I don't always have to get a shot, but I don't want to sit out there and see nothing all day, either.

5: Hogs - I've never hunted hogs. Anything that I should know about hunting deer and having hogs around or hunting hogs?

6: Hunting conditions - Obviously it's warmer, but how are the bugs, snakes, spiders etc.? I know I would need to get snake boots, but after reading some info on the Green Swamp thread, it sounds like I might need hip waders. Any other equipment that is specialized that I should know about?

7: Guns - I'm not an archery hunter, so that is out. I've got a beautiful Ruger .270 an a Remington 870 collecting dust in PA. I'm going to be bringing one down this summer. I'm considering getting a slug barrrel for the 870 so that I can switch out barrels and also hunt some small game without having to keep 2 guns in the house. (Wife is not anti-hunting, but not a fan of guns in the house.) I've never seen any restrictions listed on using high powered rifles, are there any?

8: Any other info/suggestions that anyone would have would be greatly appreciated. Like I said, I'm looking to enjoy my time in the field, seeing game and not seeing hunters every 15 feet. I don't mind walking off the beaten path to find quality hunting, but at this point I will will be hunting by myself and don't want to be forced to "go deep" to get away from the other hunters and risk getting turned around and lost.

Sorry again for the long winded post...

~Mike