Bad luck or just reality?

[d_rek]

Never hunted Ohio but don't discount the effect that COVID lockdowns and recession is having on hunting pressure. Many blue-collar jobs are lost or haven't come back and many are still unemployed with too much time on their hands. The pressure here in SE Michigan is insane right now. Stands and hunter sign in places that have been totally empty in the last few years.

[1STRANGEWILDERNESS]

I bounced around Ohio in 2010 or maybe it was 11. First area I scouted I think was around coshocton and I baked fast. Drove way down toward the SE. My buddy woke me up and the sun was rising. We got into the public area pulled down a lil gravel road and. 150’s 10 came out and stood there. Like we could’ve gotten out and shot it probably.

So we run into pressure there And I mean a lot but nothing like coshocton. That was just unreal. Lots of MI and PA plates. My bag was in my boots by the end of this trip. I would say it was like day 4 when we got on some deer finally. We had found a little area that wasn’t getting a ton of pressure. My buddy shot a small 13” wide 8 and we went home this was late oct. I recruit a buddy to go back with me for another 4 or 5 day stint.. say nov 10-14. I instantly go back where we had ended the week or two before. We were in deer. I pull down that road and it was loaded with vehicles. I bailed went up to scout some other areas. One was loaded w vehicles the last time I was there but empty this time around. I didn’t see squat.

The 2nd morning I went in blind to another spot And set up on a point. Late morning I had a doe come through with probably 6-8 bucks chasing her. I had to yell to stop them and even then I couldn’t get a shot off in time. These weren’t monsters. A couple were 110-120”. After all that a 14-15” wide 10 came through to check out the commotion and I stuck him. I bought that tag down there and I was gonna kill something!! Lol after a couple days the size I was seeking sure did drop. In all reality I got pretty lucky but some of that was due to my determination. That hunt my friend saw a 10 he thought to be 140+ and I think that was like the only deer he laid eyes on.

It was not easy and pressure Seemed as high as anywhere to me. I bet all the shows are kind of pimping out these areas. I mean it’s great what they’re doing but there’s a lot of viewers and they’re going to try and go do exactly what they watch. Once they get there a lot of guys are gonna kill too. They aren’t gonna eat tag soup. So I would suspect the age class of bucks may suffer. Then there’s the Covid. Even in the UP of mi where really very few people want to come hunt because of how tough it is and the lack of big racks we are seeing pressure like crazy. The local bait guy told me he’s just in awe of how many people are throwing down bait right now up here. Like he’s never seen it and he’s been selling feed a long time. He said everyone is complaining the deer are only moving at night

[may21581]

Excellent knowledge and information mentioned by everyone here. I can't say that I can disagree with anything I've read from you all. I have never hunted s.e. Ohio but I do hunt the n.e. part of the state where I am from. I'm pretty fortunate because the counties I hunt are on the p&y top 10 in Ohio list. So I won't try to say what to do or what your doing wrong. Instead I will tell you about my personal experiences and what works for me. Again this is the areas I hunt, so take what you can from it and hope you get something from it.
The public i hunt is about 6000 acres is size, there are plenty of parking areas and generally old logging roads and some sort of a trail system. The farther in you go the trails fade way to old logging roads and so forth. Sometimes the state will plant ag on the tops for wildlife and sometimes they brushhog trails in the nasty thick stuff for small game hunters. The hills and hollows are steep, the bottoms are thick and nasty, tons of oaks on the ridges, and a million places for a bruiser to hideout.
1.) The deer have adapted to hunting pressure, they are used to hunters. They have adapted their travels and feeding patterns. I see most activity at dawn and dusk period! Yes I do see midday movement and bucks traveling midday but most is during the morning and evening. In the evening it will be the last 20 minutes of legal light or so, in the mornings it will be the same. Come early and leave late. Ive watched bucks cross paths 10 minutes after a hunter walked out at prime time.
2.) The weather is a huge factor. If the temps are 50-55 or warmer your odds go way down. They simply just wait till the cold night air to move far. Ive killed all my bigger bucks in temps around 45 or below. Ask any taxidermist if they get more work when the weather is warm or cold. When the polar vortex rolled through a few years ago during muzzleloader season they got slammed! Ive shot almost all my bucks on a cold front or windy day.
3.) The bigger deer know the game. When the pressure is on they need something for them to move. Once hunkered in they simply don't move much. The two or three big items that get them moving are the rut, weather and the need to feed, or being pushed.
4.) Patience is the key, good spots are good at the right times. Like others have mentioned alot get burned out before things even get good. They hunt a stand before it is ready. With the success of people hunting beast style also comes the failure. When people push farther in and the deer are bedded on the ridges watching and listening they simply wait till dark to move.
5.) Transitions, funnels, pinch points, creek crossings, scrapes and bedding are all dynamite! The more the better. Dont give up on an area because you struck out or see little. If you are seeing them on camera then they are around and you just need all the ingredients that make them move a little farther.

[treeroot]

I've never hunted Ohio, so I can't speak for there.


Pressure is definitely way up from normal. Once crossbow opens in sure it'll get much worse.

On my local public hunting grounds I've noticed the bucks bedding completely different from last season. Maybe not all but enough for me to notice. I'm seeing a lot of sight type bedding more then terrain feature. Instead of being in the thicket that now has 14 stands around it, he's bedding just across the ditch watching the access road. Found another over looking an old logging road people use to get in deeper. That one didn't have a wind advantage, but he could watch everyone walk past. Two weeks ago I watched a giant stand up out of a tiny patch of brush on a field edge. He could watch the people walk past and wait until dark.

It's definitely something that has tripped me up a bit this year. However I'm a believer if the sign is there, so are the deer.

[mauser06]

I agree....the whole "hunting public land is cool" thing and "looks so easy!" Is playing a role.


I do look for it to die off before too long. Cause most of us here all know the time and work that goes into consistently killing deer on pressured public. It's typically far from easy. If it is "easy" it's because it's completely overlooked and a lot of time and effort still goes into finding those spots.



Majority of guys still aren't going where they need to. Atleast I'm not seeing it. Some guys are going deep. But generally it's a trail of some other fairly easy access that gets them deep. Put a good hill or water in front of them and the majority are stopping.


When I was down I did find some hunter sign. But I also found KILLER places nearby they were walking passed.


Like someone mentioned, look for the less obvious.



I'd definitely recommend looking elsewhere if you hear back to Ohio.

To put it in a different perspective, the areas I looked at...nearly all of the trucks were local. A lot of Ohio plates (maybe all?) Have the county of issue on them. I think in 2 days I only saw 3 other out of state trucks.

[PAbowhunter10]

I agree....the whole "hunting public land is cool" thing and "looks so easy!" Is playing a role.


I do look for it to die off before too long. Cause most of us here all know the time and work that goes into consistently killing deer on pressured public. It's typically far from easy. If it is "easy" it's because it's completely overlooked and a lot of time and effort still goes into finding those spots.


Majority of guys still aren't going where they need to. Atleast I'm not seeing it. Some guys are going deep. But generally it's a trail of some other fairly easy access that gets them deep. Put a good hill or water in front of them and the majority are stopping.


When I was down I did find some hunter sign. But I also found KILLER places nearby they were walking passed.


Like someone mentioned, look for the less obvious.



I'd definitely recommend looking elsewhere if you hear back to Ohio.

To put it in a different perspective, the areas I looked at...nearly all of the trucks were local. A lot of Ohio plates (maybe all?) Have the county of issue on them. I think in 2 days I only saw 3 other out of state trucks.

Thanks for the advice. I think I’m going to try again next week. I Hate not filling a tag. Will work hard to scout the pressure and try different areas

[mauser06]

I'm no Ohio deer killer. So take it with a grain of sand lol.



But, we seemed to have 2 VERY different experiences.


I'm literally counting down the seconds before I am back down there.


Also, from what I'm understanding, Ohio has changed some regulations and stuff a few years ago to help boost deer numbers. So, hopefully it gets better.


I don't know that the density was really high where I was....but, I was in sign pretty much everywhere. Saw 2 deer while driving. 1 killed by a hunter, walked into atleast 2...and bumped atleast 2 or 3...and I wasn't really trying to be quiet or watch the wind. I was only out of the truck 4-5hrs tops.


I definitely expect a learning curve....but I feel like if I stick it out and put in the time, I will find a couple spots that'll produce year after year.

[headgear]

Good read here even if you never hunted Ohio.

[Hawthorne]

Stay away from where the Amish hunt public land in Ohio and you will be fine. Research Amish populations per county. Ones with a high population of Amish don’t hunt the public ground there. lol. They are deer killing machines for meat

[SneakyHunter]

I wanted to find places noone was talking about.....in the areas that produce. .

That's the key. You set yourself up for failure from the beginning. Not that you can't kill bucks where you were, its just you're fighting an up hill battle. In my area of PA we don't have a ton of deer or lots of big bucks. Ohio has always been much easier for finding deer in general and shooter bucks. Other than the first day of gun season, the pressure we experienced was minimal to moderate at its worst. Keep at it, you'll find a good place with enough research.

[KPillinois]

Great post and great read through.

IMO the pressure is through the roof bc of the hunting public and add on in my state - Xbows. They get 200k+ views per episode so I know for a fact thats why its so crazy, especially in moderate pressure states. I specifically like hunting early season bc no one was around, here recently iv seen more ppl than ever and its 90* out in Sept. Deer sightings are definitely down as well. I ran into a guy at the truck one night that hunts my favorite property and he feels the same way.

Whats weird though is how I see these ppl grinding in conditions I like but they show up late and leave the woods early..? Im not sure why that is

Its funny to read and comment on this bc someone started a thread years back about what may happen on public land since Dan was getting more popular

CORRECT !!!
I'm in Illinois and my buddy is usually the public land expert (gets 10-11 every year) and this year he has nothing because he only knows how to hunt evening crop fields. I put him and his friend on some deer last weekend on public and they were too far away to shoot, so I'm setting them up again this weekend. I mainly hunt everything except evenings and have learned through 6 years of trial and error, and taking clues i gather from lucky breaks (deer sightings, etc...). I also don't hunt bucks, but i did get my one and only buck on public 2 years ago. Have seen a couple of really huge bucks up close and I got winded by one of them in hilly terrain. There are plenty of deer, but you might have to be willing to settle for a doe and catch them returning to bedding early morning or catch them getting up to pee and stretch, or heading to staging shortly before dark, those 3 methods have become my reliable "go to" method of killing deer the last 2 years and since nobody else does it, i have found it to work extremely well. People last year have started hunting where i park, so i normally park 1/4 to 1/2 mile from my spots now. I'm 55 with only 6 years hunting experience, so if i can do it everybody can. Gonna try for a buck this weekend and film it on public just to see how i can stack up against you pros.

[Evanszach7]

Lots of spot on insights here. As an Ohio native, I only hunt the hills of SE Ohio during the rut. A lot of good bedding will be in S/E/SE facing bowls.

In October, I focus on more Ag country, which is pretty much the rest of the state.

Would you say the rut travel is on the tops of the bowls, 2/3 down, or bottom of these bowls? Also from past experience, do you know what terrain features normally provide the doe bedding. Struck out on figuring that out too on this trip.

Each bowl is different. I use caltopo with sloped angle shading to figure out the most likely travel path in and out of those. But generally the military crest is a good rule of thumb. For the rut, I'll look at 1-5 year clear cuts as food, older cuts and these types of bowls as bedding, then pick a terrain feature that connects them with leeward wind as the rut hunt stand. Wind will swirl too much in the bowl. Typically benches, and if you can find a micro bench in the upper 2/3s above a bench that stands out on a topo, that would be better. Tons of guys are really good with OnX and topos. I try to avoid obvious features like saddles, benches, and main points.

[Mgaspari]

I agree....the whole "hunting public land is cool" thing and "looks so easy!" Is playing a role.


I do look for it to die off before too long. Cause most of us here all know the time and work that goes into consistently killing deer on pressured public. It's typically far from easy. If it is "easy" it's because it's completely overlooked and a lot of time and effort still goes into finding those spots.


Majority of guys still aren't going where they need to. Atleast I'm not seeing it. Some guys are going deep. But generally it's a trail of some other fairly easy access that gets them deep. Put a good hill or water in front of them and the majority are stopping.


When I was down I did find some hunter sign. But I also found KILLER places nearby they were walking passed.


Like someone mentioned, look for the less obvious.



I'd definitely recommend looking elsewhere if you hear back to Ohio.

To put it in a different perspective, the areas I looked at...nearly all of the trucks were local. A lot of Ohio plates (maybe all?) Have the county of issue on them. I think in 2 days I only saw 3 other out of state trucks.

Thanks for the advice. I think I’m going to try again next week. I Hate not filling a tag. Will work hard to scout the pressure and try different areas

I hunt central and southern Ohio. What type of buck are you looking for? I know exactly what you are going through, happened to me two years in a row in Kentucky. The acorns this year seemed to be everywhere. Took me about two weeks to get “on” deer. PM me if you want, maybe I can help if you come back to hunt. I will be in a tree all day.

[PAbowhunter10]

Lots of spot on insights here. As an Ohio native, I only hunt the hills of SE Ohio during the rut. A lot of good bedding will be in S/E/SE facing bowls.

In October, I focus on more Ag country, which is pretty much the rest of the state.

Would you say the rut travel is on the tops of the bowls, 2/3 down, or bottom of these bowls? Also from past experience, do you know what terrain features normally provide the doe bedding. Struck out on figuring that out too on this trip.

Each bowl is different. I use caltopo with sloped angle shading to figure out the most likely travel path in and out of those. But generally the military crest is a good rule of thumb. For the rut, I'll look at 1-5 year clear cuts as food, older cuts and these types of bowls as bedding, then pick a terrain feature that connects them with leeward wind as the rut hunt stand. Wind will swirl too much in the bowl. Typically benches, and if you can find a micro bench in the upper 2/3s above a bench that stands out on a topo, that would be better. Tons of guys are really good with OnX and topos. I try to avoid obvious features like saddles, benches, and main points.

Good advise. Thank you