OH counties who grow true OHgiant bucks?
Ohio
Looking to buy land in Ohio to chase true trophy whitetail bucks with the bow year after year. Being that I'll be hunting out of state I would like to capitalize on my limited time in your great state.
I am Wisconsin born and raised.
I've hunted both Iowa and Wisconsin. I have leased many properties and now currently own in southwest wi.
Obviously you can get lucky in any county across the midwest, but I've found each state has better regions within. As every state there are certain counties of each state that produce and hold the true trophies in larger quantities than others.
I am Just looking to reach out to fellow hunters who can help me break down and better understand the structure of Ohio as I begin my search to help alleviate the many wasted hours of searching and sifting through the completely wrong regions and areas to hunt. Thanks in advance.
WI Bowhunter, as an Ohio resident and hunter, and measurer for BBB, P&Y, and B&C, I have hunted and measured deer from all over Ohio. There is no one county her that is hands down better than the next for big bucks. Yes, we have many counties better than others, but there isn’t one that is consistently a winner. The truly best counties IMO are the counties surrounding Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. They all have 1 thing in common. VERY tough access, and small parcels, for the most part, and the biggest bucks come from right close to town. There also isn’t much affordable ground in these areas. I have leased around Columbus, but can’t stomach the prices to buy any ground there.
If I were looking to buy hunting land, which I am, I would look to southeastern or east central Ohio, and be very picky who your neighbors are. They will have as much or more influence than you will on what you kill.
PM me if you want, and I would be glad to chat and give you some areas to look at a little closer.
Brian, I live in CT and like you was looking for an Ohio farm. Eventually found a gem and bought it.
As molsonArcher says above, there’s no one county that is gonna be a sure bet. I started out looking in the top counties for PY records, like Licking, Muskingum, and Coshocton but nothing was exceptional there and prices were at a premium.
I’m sure you’re already looking so you already realize land here is expensive. The more reasonable prices were down south in Gallia county but it was more run down there and I got the feeling I was gonna have trespassing issues. So I focused more on east central. Really like it here.
I also used a broker I really liked from mossy oak properties. Real honest, hard working agent. Understands what we’re looking for. If you’re interested I can send you his contact information.
Here’s a pic from my farm. He’s my number two.
Personally if I were looking to buy out of state property to bowhunt big whitetails, would buy in one of the four bow only zone counties in West Virginia, preferably Wyoming County, actually thought about doing so... Some real big ones have come out of that zone the past few years but surprisingly doesn't get much national publicity...
Zbone, I thought the same thing and looked at those counties. It’s major hills/mountains and very little Ag opportunities. Might be great bowhunting but not good for anyone looking to put in plots.
Yeah, its steep and lots of hillbillies, land of the feuding Hatfields...8^) Happened to have a coworker friend that was born and grew up in one of those counties before it was bow only... His family still lives there (or did a few years ago) and we got to be pretty close but he no longer hunted when we were close, then the year I learned it was a bow only zone I figured it would become a good area to hunt so he gave me some insight... Those are true hillbillies down there and got the impression poaching could be an issue along with Bowsite posts...
November 5, 2020, Wyoming County, WV buck, posted over on Bowsite: https://forums.bowsite.com/tf/bgforums/thread.cfm?threadid=491291&messages=5&forum=4
If ya do a WV bow only search, there gobs of pix of huge bucks coming out of there... I think that buck on one of Wensel's book covers came from that area too...
I own land in NE Coshocton County. In that area if you have the time IMO it is possible to take a P&Y buck every year and if you can pass up some P&Y bucks you have a reasonable chance to take a buck which qualifies for BBBC. There is always a chance at a true giant but with a group of us running 16+ cameras over 600-700 acres we did not have a picture of a buck over 160" this year. Some years we do. Land in the area is costly. There is a great realtor in the area who deals with mainly land named Marc Lacy with an office in the town of Coshocton. PM me if you have any questions.
That’s not many cameras for that big of a place. I have 8 cameras on 80 acres and it doesn’t get all the bucks that are there.
I would recommend just about any county that borders the Ohio River.
Willing to wager all Ohio counties have P&Y class (125 net) 2, 3 year olds, even BBBC (140 net) 2, 3, 4 year olds annually , its those Booners 4+ that are hard to come by... Either a sanctuary or a lot of property to hold bucks of that caliber, but takes wealth to control that kind of land in this densely populated state with land at a premium...
You guys are lightweights, LOL. I run 40 cams on 130 acres. My wife says I have OCD when it comes to whitetails, she might be right. :-)
"I have OCD when it comes to whitetails"
I know, I know, those big mfers make a man posessed...8^) After being eye level to a "moose" ( I call Booners,,, mooses...8^)) at close range, nostrils flaring steaming breath, they get a hold of ya...8^)
Now I feel so inadequate. I am running 10 cameras on 423 acres some of which I have not checked in over a month. I would bet that some may have dead batteries. At 40 cameras per 130 acres or 1 camera for 3.25 acres I need 130 cameras! At one camera for 10 acres I need 42. Split the difference and I need 80 to 90 cameras. Where is there a camera sale? How often do you guys check your cameras? I filled my buck tag on Halloween so I stopped checking about half or more of the cameras then and my partnered shot his on 11/19 and I may not have checked more than 4 cameras since then. I will check some after this week to get a feel for what has used the property and when.
I only run cell cams. Waste of time and effort to put out regular cameras
Great way to go. We have poor cell service.
Goyt. define poor? I have cell cams that out perform the signal a phone gets. There are many providers in areas, not just the phone service you are using.
Adams co, Brown co, Pike co, Highland co, and last couple years Clermont co has been coming on strong, I’m pretty sure there were a couple more 200 plus bucks come out of Adams co again this year
I looked hard at Adams county. The land prices were more affordable down there and there's some really good trophies killed there every year.
I am also looking for property in SE Ohio. The biggest problem for me is I think I need a "come to Jesus" meeting with myself and really determine what is reality for me as far as how much time I can spend away from home. In 5-7 years, I believe I could dedicate enough time to making a property like Pat's. How fun would that be!? But right now? No way. So now, instead of looking for that 150+ acre piece with some tillable, I am considering buying a smaller piece of 100% timber in a desolate area, throw in a small food plot or two, a feeder and call it the day. Not sure if this is the right direction so any feedback on that thought would be appreciated! I am primarily looking around Vinton and Athens County.
molsonarchery is dead right. Get an urban area in Cuyahoga county (Cleveland) and you are golden. Few, if any cities allow hunting in Cuyahoga county. The ones that do are all archery only and have very little hunting. Nothing will compare in the counties around Coshocton where they kill the most big bucks. Urban buck.
BAT, For what you are describing I would not dismiss Adams or Scioto. The right hundred acres would be even better if it butted up against a large piece of wooded public ground!
