Spring tom

Indiana,

Looking at taking a trip to Indiana for a deer hunt. Anyone willing to point me in the right direction?

Better areas, better counties, state lands worth looking at?

Spring Tom

Pat Curtis

Either south of Indy, due west of Indy, or the NE corner of the state produce the most deer. If you can, pick up the last two "Indiana Game and Fish" mags. They've had the #'s and predictions of the states districts/counties.

kevin1

Both the southern and northern tiers are good for mass deer numbers, the central part of the state has much lower densities. There are stretches of the Hoosier Natl. Forest in Crawford Co., about 45 minutes west of Louisville, that are great for deer and turkeys. Access can be found via SR 37 South, look on the map for lakes Celina, Tipsaw, and Saddle near Branchville. All three have good deer hunting and low pressure, access fee is $4 per day.

Buckhunter46755

I live in N.E. Indiana and there are ALOT of deer up here. The only problem the state ground isn't that good hunting IMO. Also really packed and somewhat dangerous. Alot of hunters who just buy a ML or Bow at wallyworld and decide to go hunting use the state ground up here. There may be some good spots over by Tri-Lakes state ground, but I'm not real familiar with it. Good luck, wherever you decide to go.

chris

Pat Curtis

I have more duck hunters by me than deer hunters (in the area of Big Turkey Lake). The people that own the land close by either gun hunt it only, or are anti-deer hunting. There are a few large farm operations that lease their land out, but they're pricey.

Buckhunter46755

Yea I live north of Kendallville, IN.I was talking about the STATE owned land. Like PIGEON RIVER WILDLIFE EREA, (Mongo, IN)TRI-LAKES STATE WILDLIFE EREAS. (Syracuse, In).These are ereas that are ran and maintained by the Indiana Dept. of Natural Resources. You go there, pick an erea with a letter and number on a map. Sign in angd go to the erea and hunt with 20 other people on a little 15 acre plot. I wasn't referring to people's farms and private proprty owners. I hunt Private Property also.Not the ereas where the people accidentally get shot every year because someone shoots at the first sound they hear rustling in the brush. I guess I should have been more clear in post. I thought I was when I mentioned "State Grounds". Sorry for the misunderstanding.

chris

monster10rackstack

Chris
Neither property is that crowded during bow season. muzzy normally isn't that bad either. Pigeon is over 11,000 acres and tri-county is over 3,500. and around Wabash Salomone with 11,000 and Mississinewa with over 14,000.The first weekend of shot gun is crazy but then during the week its not as bad. There is room for a bow hunt.

Pat Curtis

Buckhunter, I actually hunt closer to Big Long Lake..just figured more people would know where Big Turkey is. So I'm right in your neck of the woods. [8D]

Buckhunter46755

Yea you are! There's some mighty fine land up around there too. It looks like I'm going to have to get on the phone and start looking for a place for firearms season since my other place fell through. It's a bad time to be lookin' for a new place. I hope I can figure something out. My brother-in-laws uncle has a bunch of property somewhere over near you. I'm going to try to get on that maybe. Oh, well. I'll figure something out. Good luck!

chris

Pat Curtis

An old farmer that has land next to ours is VERY open to hunters, but only 1 group at a time. He said the guys that hunt it now only gun hunt it, and would be interested in letting others hunt if they stopped showing up. His only catch was no more than 1 deer per hunter. His land boarders Gordon's Campground...which can be both good and bad.

It sucks though, we've been nearly chased off porches when we'd ask permission to hunt. And now some of these old-time farmers are contracting their land out thru large lease firms. It's getting tough to find land these days...