Spring Scouting Help - Public Hill County and Reclaimed Strip Mining Land - OHIO

[rfickes87]

I'm headed out Saturday for an all day spring scout. I will be looking for sheds and beds in hill country. Basically just walking the military crests and checking out all the points for bedding and saddles, etc for sign in the hills. Marking stand sets on my GPS along the way, based on beds that I find. Would anyone suggest I do anything else? I think that basically covers it right?



I have a few pieces of public in mind that I'm familiar with but I've also been doing some last minute cyber scouting to potentially try a new piece of property if I get time. Looking into reclaimed strip mines in Central Ohio. Its such strange land to me but that thick nasty brushy cover has got to hold big bucks. I can spot bedding in natural hill county in about 5 seconds on a map but I struggle to understand what I'm looking for bedding wise in strip mining land. Can anyone with experience offer me some suggestions to find good primary bedding? I mean... obviously I'll still look for leeward points. With mostly common West winds, I'll look for east facing points, its just very strange looking terrain. I think remote overgrown green brier fields on a hill top along the leeward transition into hardwoods would be a good place to look also for bedding?



Also, does anyone know of any good spring scouting podcasts I could listen to just to wrap my head around? Maybe I could pick up some last minute tips before I go I know Dan has a great summer scouting podcast I've listened to about 50 times haha.

[Evanszach7]

Hal Blood was just on Wired to Hunt too.

Fellow Public land Ohio hunter. Scout for pressure as much as deer. Pressure might push beds lower in the hills. A lot of sign I’ve found up high is correlated to night time, with beds in the bottoms.

I have some experience with strip mined bedding in East T.N. It can be productive. The thicker the better. The only down side is a lot of folks hunt it because it really sticks out as a hard transition on ariels.

[Evanszach7]

Hal Blood was just on Wired to Hunt too.

Fellow Public land Ohio hunter. Scout for pressure as much as deer. Pressure might push beds lower in the hills. A lot of sign I’ve found up high is correlated to night time, with beds in the bottoms.

I have some experience with strip mined bedding in East T.N. It can be productive. The thicker the better. The only down side is a lot of folks hunt it because it really sticks out as a hard transition on ariels.

Forgot to add... try to find strip mines heavy with multiflora rose undergrowth. Good winter browse and keeps pressure down.