Indiana guys....where you hunting?

[RobinHood1389]

I have been going to the Hoosier national forest south of bloomington, IN because I love it there. We pull the pop-up and have  "Deer camp" for the weekend. It's a blast! But I need a local spot to hunt for a day or two when I can vs taking a 3 day weekend and traveling. I hear bad things out of jasper-pulaski. Neutral on kankakee.
Where do you recommend and why? I need a local hut.

[achigan]

Not familiar with the north end. Approaching landowners, specify archery only and don't take a rejection personally. I have 3 separate spots because I was persistent and polite. Each year the landowners get a stick of summer sausage and an offer of help if they need it. 70 deer +/- and several cords of firewood later I'm still welcome back each year.

[Jasper2]

If you are stickbow hunting northern IN public properties, you're going to have a difficult challenge ahead of you. It can be done but it's heavily pressured this time of year. I work at JP so I'm curious what bad things that you've heard? Most negative comments come from guys who don't understand the difficulties of managing a multiple use public property...or they are misinformed.

[Redux]

I'm all over the state, but Kingsbury isnt to far from you...I spend a fair amount of time there during the week in October

[mgf]

I'm with you. I get down there for about ONE weekend/year and my wife and I have been running into some real garbage down there...meaning that I'm afraid to leave her in camp to go hunt and we spend more time cleaning up garbage than I do hunting. I did see a few deer though.

Yep...no place local to hunt. I live on a couple of acres but I haven't seen a deer yet this year on my property. I took a look around the local state WMA...plenty of deer sign and hundreds of guys marching around pheasant hunting with another 50 signed in to deer hunt.

So why are hunter numbers declining? It's because so many of us don't have anyplace to hunt. What the heck is hunting without a place to hunt where there is actually game to hunt.

[Jasper2]

Mike if you take the time to learn your local WMA, and approach it with an open mind, you may be pleasantly surprised.  It is a different game for sure but it doesn't sound like you're seeing much on your spot so what do you have to lose if you are that close?

That put-take pheasant hunting thing occurs only a few days a year and 50 deer hunters on a 4000+ acre property is way less hunter density than most people encounter on private land these days.

The property you speak of has been consistently harvesting over 100 deer a year for as long as I can remember, which isn't too bad if you ask me.  Especially, when you factor in the deer reduction hunts taking place across the road and the numbers killed there.  That area has a healthy deer herd.

[Blackstick]

If you don't mind driving 110 - 120 miles to the other side of the state, I like Pigeon River real well. However, I stay home during firearm season.

[mgf]

Jasper, point taken.  I plan to try to spend some time out there over the next few weeks...Orange and all, LOL. I just wish I could hunt during the week.

[Jasper2]

I'm with you Mike... Hunting the weekdays is the single biggest advantage that a guy can give himself on any public property, unfortunately, darn work gets in the way of the fun stuff!

[Steve Jr]

I have hunted Jasper Pulaski for over 20 years now with my Longbows. I love the property !! Sure you get some people roaming around, but if you put in some time scouting you can definitely find areas that you will never see anyone. There has only been a few years that I have not taken a deer off of the property but mostly due to misses or being to selective and passing on smaller deer in hopes for a bigger one. There are a few other stickbow guys there as well. Give it a try down there. I will be happy to meet you down there on the weekend and show you around.

[scrub-buster]

I hunt private land in Switzerland Co.  Good luck with the stick and string this season!

[chris K.]

I used to live in Ferdinand, can’t remember if the Ferdinand Forest is open for hunting during bow season. Been a few years since I lived down there. It’s straight up and down in many spots. Its not as spoty with property here and there when it comes to the Hoosier National Forest.

[sheepdogreno]

I hunt private land in carroll county I don't have much info about jasper but I imagine this time of year it can get busy. Best of luck!

[mgf]

Private hunting land is what most of us don't have access to...which is why I know far more x-hunters than I do hunters.

Anyway...I got off work a little early yesterday so I packed, did a little shooting and headed over to Winamac WMA.

I had a rough plan based on the wind and the little bit of looking around I did last weekend. The first thing I found was somebody's popup ground blind. Nobody was there but I headed off a different direction anyway.

About 4:30 PM I picked a spot to sit along some really thick stuff near a cut corn field.

I saw one doe running from something about 70 yards out across the cut corn. She was cross-wind from me and heading straight into the wind.

When I was leaving just after dark it looked like there were a bunch of guys coming in. Coon hunters I guess?

It's hard to get excited about it but I definitely can't kill anything sitting on the couch.

[Covey]

Wether it’s public or private, I’m just not to fond of  this time of the year. I’m fortunate enough to have some private land to hunt on, but the rest don’t care that it’s private! I found plenty of evidence of people being there without permission. I also have a neighbor that has around 250 acres that borders a railroad bed and he said he found around 40 tree stands on his property from last year and he doesn’t even hunt. So he lets a conservation officers hunt ihis property to try and regulate trespassers. You guys that get it done on public ground every year, my hats off to ya!

[dbd870]

Private land in Brown and Morgan(mine) Counties.

[indianalongbowshooter]

private land Parke county