Brush Creek Wildlife Area- Ohio

[Coonbait]

A few of us Pa trad guys are heading for Brush Creek W.A. this week to look it over for a late season hunt. We are limited out for this year in Pa. and don't want to hang up the bows already. Property at Brush Creek looks nice but it's hard to tell by a satelite photo on the topography. Does anybody hunt at this wildlife area or near it?
Thank You
Glenn

[Molson]

It's an excellent public hunting area but does get a bit of pressure.  Still there's plenty of deer, grouse, and turkey there.

[Coonbait]

Thanks Molson! Is it real steep, looks like big timber? Satelite photo looks to be taken in the fall so it's kind of tough to mtell what kind of trees are there.
THANKS AGAIN
Glenn

[Coonbait]

ttt

[buckeye_hunter]

Seems like every wildlife area is getting hit hard right now. The number of hunters out where we have our camp easily tripled. It won't be long before the big bucks are gone and no one wants to come out this way anymore. Seriously, there were more out of state tags than locals. No exageration. I was shocked to see so many Jersey, New York, Michigan and PA guys. Ya' all are welcome, but I think the pickins' will be getting thin.....

[Coonbait]

Charlie what part of the state are you hunting? I figured that the eastern part of Ohio would be getting a lot of the Pa hunters crossing the boarder.
Glenn

[buckeye_hunter]

SE Ohio this last week and NW the rest of the time. It has shocked me to see how the number of out of state hunters has grown.

Also, I am thinking with the new check in system next year there will be higher levels of poaching. No one ever has to see the deer.  Individuals will be able to check in the deer via phone. Hence there will be higher numbers of deer shot with guns during archery and no one will be any wiser. All they have to do is say it was shot with a bow of some sort....

I truely believe Ohio won't be drawing that many hunters in the near future because total deer numbers will drop and there will be many fewer big bucks. A number of the Jersey guys said they were here for antlers only.....

[Brian Halbleib]

I own a small farm in eastern Ohio (Guernsey County) and I too was surprised by all the out of state hunters I ran into when passing through town. Can't blame them though, I still live in PA but the 5 month long archery season In Ohio convinced this bowhunter to buy property after hunting there for 10 years.

-Brian

[Molson]

Brush Creek is steep and thick but there are areas of old farmland too.  It's a pretty varied terrain but most of it is hills.

[Coonbait]

Charlie Pa doesn't have a deer check-in. I doubt there's any more or less poaching going on because of it. If someone's bent on breaking the law our rules mean nothing to those individuals. We do have bear check-in stations and last years biggest bear was brought TO the check AFTER it was illegally baited and killed! So pigs are pigs and it's up to the rest of the hunting community to turn them in when we see illegal activity going on!
P.S.  Next year I'd really like to be a part of your Ohio deer hunt! It looks like a real good time with fellow Trad Gang members!
GLENN MOYER

[GingivitisKahn]

It's a great time, Coonbait. I'd like to spend more time there.

[buckeye_hunter]

I hope I didn't come off too negative. Everyone is welcome. I was just shocked at the increasing numbers. Never seen this many before!

[Buckeye Trad Hunter]

Originally posted by buckeye_hunter:
Seems like every wildlife area is getting hit hard right now. The number of hunters out where we have our camp easily tripled. It won't be long before the big bucks are gone and no one wants to come out this way anymore. Seriously, there were more out of state tags than locals. No exageration. I was shocked to see so many Jersey, New York, Michigan and PA guys. Ya' all are welcome, but I think the pickins' will be getting thin.....

I agree, and I don't want to sound negative either, but Ohio is beggining to become overrun with out of state hunters and with the pressure we've been getting I fear that the other buckeye is right, the only way you'll kill a big buck in Ohio will be if you own private land.  If you look on this forum about every other post is about someone going to Ohio to hunt.  Just as stated above, you're all welcome to hunt in the woods with me anytime but the pickins may be gettin slim.

[Coonbait]

Charlie I didn't take your comments as a negative. I understand were your coming from. I constantly hear that hunting numbers are declining every hear and if we don't get our youth involved our heritage will die. I agree compleely with the youth, BUT there seems to be no shortage of hunters were I'm hunting. What draws me to the idea of hunting in Ohio is the fact that you can hunt on Sundays. I used to hunt New York in the Alleghney State Forest. Sunday hunting is allowed but not in the State Forest. It takes me 4 1/2 hours to get there to hunt only on Saturday. With gas prices what they are it's just not worth it! If your ever looking to hunt Pa let me know and I'll try and help you out!
 GLENN MOYER

[hvyhitter]

Being from Ohio I have hunted some of the same areas near home for about 34 years. Yes there seems to be more out of state hunters (myself included) but there are also way more coyotes. The last three years the number of deer have really dropped where I hunt and I see more yotes and yote tracks than ever before. Last year only saw 6 adult deer all season and only one fawn. Normally see three times that in a normal season. Havent been back to hunt yet this year so not certain what the herd looks like. I may have to break out the .222 and declare war on the yotes for a while next spring.

[Archer Fanatic]

I have heard more coyotes this week than I ever had. Yotes were howling tonight when I left my stand.

[Coonbait]

Me and my 2 sons each scored on bucks at the end of Oct. We always drag the deer into the back corner of our property to field dress them. The next day you couldn't find a single spot of blood let alone the inards left. Coyotes are quickly becoming a real problem here also.
GLENN

[GingivitisKahn]

They were singing the other day where I hunt.  

A month before season started, I was scouting around and saw an ok 8 point.  About 100 yards away - right on his backtrail - was an enormous coyote.  Unfortunately, this park allows hunting only from Sept through March (or something very like that).