VA, NC, WV, MD, PA, TN, KY, DE----Fall 2013 Public land hunt get together

I believe it's 5000+ acres. The terrain ranges from flat to hilly. Even some rocky terrain in places.

There are a few pines but mostly oaks.

There are a lot of cut fire breaks that are planted with grass. The deer seem to like those breaks and so do hunters but it does make it nice getting in and out.

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Just looked it up. 5450 acres. Elevation is 396 feet to 675 feet. 80 acre lake

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I'll be keeping an eye on this the sooner we get the details and cost worked out the better

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Anyone from KY have any experience at Fishtrap Lake WMA or Grayson Lake WMA. Not sure of everyones starting points or driving limitations but today I've kind of been narrowing some of the ones I looked at to about 7-9 hours just to see where that would put me in the state of KY from near the VA Beach area. Just trying to get an idea really because the western half of the state puts me closer to 12-14 hours and while my wife is very cool about my hunting trips she still keeps her eyes on my budget :{ Mainly I need to have a pretty good estimate on expenses.

 

Not familiar with that wma but pike county is a zone 4 region. That is the lowest population of deer in the state. Zone 1 is the best.

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I had noticed the doe harvest for 2012 in Pike was low(242) but the buck harvest wasn't too bad(800+). Not off the charts but about average when compared to the state as a whole. None of the public land areas are showing astronomical deer harvests and the ones that are highest usully have a high volume of firearm kills.

Harvests for public land(2012):

http://fw.ky.gov/app1/publiclandresults.aspx?lid=1073&NavPath=C151C559C379

Entire state county by county harvests(2012):

http://fw.ky.gov/harvest/deerharvest.asp


Public land region by region:

http://fw.ky.gov/kfwis/wmaguide.asp


I went through and found the top 15 or so counties for harvest numbers and cross referenced it against public land availability in those counties and found a handful[ie. Pennyrile State Forest, Clear Creek WMA, Lee K Nelson WMA(60 acres), Peabody WMA and a handful of others]. But once you get past the top 5-10 counties the next 15-20 have very comparable numbers.

fwiw

 

Make sure the camp site has a beer store near by :D

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With call in checking, I'm not sure how many actually check the deer as killed on public or private land. HH has a 1 deer limit, I suspect many are checking them in as private land kills so they can go back.


I have no proof of that, just a suspicion.

I would think large number of kills recorded would also correlate to hunting pressure.



Pike county is antlered only during rifle season where the rest of the state can kill doe during rifle season.

We took 54 deer off the 600 acres of private land I hunt that is 10- 15 minutes from HH.

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There is buds country corner. It has a liquor store and a conveniant store. Literally across the street from the wma.

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God bless America

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One thing those charts dont show is that pike county is the largest county in ky. Union county is mostly crop land and may still be the largest producer of corn in the state. Although HH is in union, it boarders webster and a crittendon. I hunt webster. 2018 deer killed in webster and 3010 in crittenden.

I used to belong to a bowhunt club and we hunted a few wma across the state. Including LBL and Ballard. LbL would be a great choice. Ballard has some GREAT deer, problem is the good deer go into the closed areas during the season.

HH was the place of choice for most of the members.

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I second hunting in the eastern half of KY. It is a lot closer for most of us.

Also, if we can hunt one main spot with an ability to jump over to another public land spot within an hour or so from our original camp site would be great. Would give us the ability to mix it up a bit.

 

Any huntable population of deer is good for me. Just about all KY hunting forums I've come across people speak highly of HH and a couple of the other WMA's as well. I feel like I'm good at looking stuff up because I hunt a lot of public land here in VA but I'd pick talking talk to a knowledgable hunter that's hunted a spot over research just about every time.

 

I agree with this too and that's one of the main reasons I was looking at the northeast section of the state(I am coming from as far east as possible just about). Honestly there is a huge differnece between a 7 hour drive and a 13 hour drive, especially when vacation days and budget are thrown in the mix. That being said I am open to whatever works best for the group.

 

The North Central part of the state would be MUCH better than the far eastern part of the state. Like I stated before, LBL would be a great choice as well. I would concentrate on zone 1 or 2 areas.



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LBL wouldn't be any closer for you guys east of ky.

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I've walked lbl before my buddy is stationed @ fort cambell. That was a solid 11 hr drive. I to would perfer eastern ky

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spoke with gri22ly...here are his suggestions and he would like to join us for the hunt:

Anything between Frankfurt and Louisville and anything West of that
......and anything on the Ohio River

 

I agree

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Agree with this. I am from Eastern KY and there really isnt much of a deer population plus a lot of poaching. If you all are looking to make the drive to KY North Central or Western KY is your best bet. I am now in Georgetown, KY and we have two WMA's that both have produced great deer. veterans WMA just opened last year and was very crowded on weekends and then you have Kleber WA in Owen County which is just north of veterans and is in the #1 deer harvest county. Both are archery only except for quota hunts which might have been the weekend before rifle opened up last year. I personally know of 140's up to 180's taken from both areas.