North Ohio whitetail?

[jtn]

Hi folks, debating a move from CO to Cleveland, and wanted to find out how the hunting is out there. I've gotten used to grabbing a resident tag and heading out to local public land where I live now, but it seems that in OH I'd need to find a hunting lease on private land, and really need to drive 3+ hours south to get into more productive areas. What's been your experience in OH? Are there public lands to hunt without driving several hours, or should I take up knitting? Not looking for trophies, just tasty critters. Thanks all.

 

[cur dog]

Hi folks, debating a move from CO to Cleveland, and wanted to find out how the hunting is out there. I've gotten used to grabbing a resident tag and heading out to local public land where I live now, but it seems that in OH I'd need to find a hunting lease on private land, and really need to drive 3+ hours south to get into more productive areas. What's been your experience in OH? Are there public lands to hunt without driving several hours, or should I take up knitting? Not looking for trophies, just tasty critters. Thanks all.

Some buddies and have lease in Ashtabula county. It has a very high deer density, as does most of that county. Generally, most years you can take an antlered deer and at least 2 antlerless.

 

[cur dog]

Do you fish? Lake Erie is rumored to have a few walleye.

 

[EKYHunter]

I live in KY but hunt southern Ohio, family has property there. Don’t know much about the area you’re asking about, but maybe this will help.

https://ohiodnr.gov/buy-and-apply/hunting-fishing-boating/hunting-resources/hunting-regulations

 

[Nuts]

2 hrs south of Cleveland is Cadiz. There is very good public land there that I used to hunt every year. Very good archery hunting. I used to hunt the 1st week of November every year. If you make the move shoot me a message. I can share onx pins.

 

[jtn]

Do you fish? Lake Erie is rumored to have a few walleye.

I do, but my experience is limited to trout streams. Can you fish year-round? I hear that lake is pretty big.

I was looking into leases, and never having done one before, do you have a recommendation for a website/broker that lists those you like to use?

 

[jtn]

2 hrs south of Cleveland is Cadiz. There is very good public land there that I used to hunt every year. Very good archery hunting. I used to hunt the 1st week of November every year. If you make the move shoot me a message. I can share onx pins.

Nice, I had that marked as a place to check out. Never hunted from a tree stand yet, but it seems that's the best strategy in that area?

 

[Big Sky Guy]

Born and raised in Ohio. Ashland, which is an hour south of Cleveland on 71.

Ohio to Colorado for hunting is no comparison, apples and oranges.

If I still lived there I would seriously look into hunting the metro parks. In 2015 when I last lived there they had a certification you had to take to be able to hunt them and I think required you to shoot a doe before you could shoot a buck but there’s some bruisers.

 

[Nuts]

Nice, I had that marked as a place to check out. Never hunted from a tree stand yet, but it seems that's the best strategy in that area?

Yes. 100%

 

[Bullshot]

Lots of parks as said might provide opportunity. There are some very big whitetail deer in Ohio, and lots of public forest in places further south. If you like hunting big fox squirrels, OH is your place too! Some good fishing for steelhead, salmon, trout, walleye, perch, in NE Ohio too.

 

[brymoore]

Born and raised in Ohio. Ashland, which is an hour south of Cleveland on 71.

Ohio to Colorado for hunting is no comparison, apples and oranges.

If I still lived there I would seriously look into hunting the metro parks. In 2015 when I last lived there they had a certification you had to take to be able to hunt them and I think required you to shoot a doe before you could shoot a buck but there’s some bruisers.

I’m from Huntington.

There weren’t leases when I lived there. None of my family needs to lease land.

I left Ohio 32 years ago. At the time southern Ohio hunting was better. I couldn’t tell you now except the big buck pics I get from family are mostly north Ohio.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

I’m from Huntington.

There weren’t leases when I lived there. None of my family needs to lease land.

I left Ohio 32 years ago. At the time southern Ohio hunting was better. I couldn’t tell you now except the big buck pics I get from family are mostly north Ohio.

Yup, I lived through and experienced the transition of DuPont Energy and B&N Coal leasing all their land where our cabin was in Noble County. At the time we got lucky and our neighbor somehow obtained the lease for the 400ish acres that bordered our 5 acre parcel. The Sportsmans Club on the opposite side of the 400 acres got shut out of that land over night. They had like 50 something members IIRC. The amount and quality of deer drastically increased within about 4-5 years.

Guy that had the lease got greedy and eventually the $500/year for his family of us 3 including my step brother my dad was paying (to offset food plot costs in addition to the cost of the lease) became $1500/person/year. By then I had moved to Montana so that was the end of that for my dad.

Similar to the other thread looking back it was more fun before the leasing.

 

[Labman1127]

As a life long NE Ohio resident, I can definitely say 2 things if you are moving here from CO: you will be utterly disgusted in both our deer hunting and our NFL football team!
We have tons of whitetail here and some true giants, but the experience will likely turn you off. Very little public access land in Northern Ohio and what we have is literally overrun with people. The Greater Cleveland area is broken up into small parcels of private land, and deer hunting in Northern Ohio has basically become starring at a corn pile in a sub-15 acre parcel waiting for the deer to arrive. There’s almost a corn pile, feeder, trail cameras and a ground blind/ tree stand in every hunt-able block of woods left. There are some world class bucks but they know the game and become nocturnal very quickly.
As others mentioned, there is ample public land about 2.5 hours south of cleveland and still some decent hunting to be had if you are willing to work for it. Unfortunately the Leasing pandemic has hit Ohio as well, so you will likely need to deal with that if looking for access to large tracts of land in Central / SE Ohio. The overall hunting experience in Ohio will be nothing like what you have experienced in CO or any other western states. (Not in a good way unfortunately).
My honest recommendation is to buy a walleye boat and enjoy truly the best walleye fishing in the world! Oh yeah, and become an OSU Buckeyes fan …they are pretty good too