How do you go about finding private land to hunt?

Now that I'm living in Ohio full time I am looking at getting some land to hunt on other than the public land my dad and I have been hunting for a couple years now. A couple summers ago I did a loop around the public land we hunt and got permission to hunt 2 farms, however they were just crop fields but lining their property was a river separating the hard woods public land from the fields. So I only really used them as access to the back side of the game lands we were hunting which was great cuz other wise it'd be a mile plus hike.

Now I'm living in columbus and I'm going to start doing a search but being brand new to the area I have no idea how to start searching for property. I was thinking about after work just taking a drive an hour or so outside the city and glass fields looking for deer and then using the auditors site to find who owns that property. I used that last time when I had to find out owners address's. I'm not in a rush for finding land for this fall cuz I have a lil 50 acre wooded plot, and potentially 60 more acres of woods above cinci. And we have had some decent luck on public ground too.

Does this sound like a decent start? I know I sound like such a newbie lol but back in PA this was never a concern cuz we had a hunt club we belonged to so I never had to go around knocking on doors. Honestly I'd even be willing to pay for a lease but I've been on basecampleasing.com and there really isn't anything reasonable that's open. Good land at a reasonable price gets swooped up fast there.

I guess my thing is how do you go about picking and area to start, not having set foot in it before. Would you do what I did look around public that I've hunted before and keep going further away from it looking at the auditors maps and seeing what has potential for a decent spot? I guess I was talking about driving and grassing to see what's in the area and then go back and search for the land owners. And property lines.

Anyone out their lease land?

Thanks for the feedback guys! I have another question. The one farmer I talked to owns land adjacent to the public and wooded area. I talked to him and he was real impressed I had my topo and aerial all marked up with property lines and who owns what. And the fact I drove from central PA to ohio just to scout for deer lol Well he said he wish he could give me permission but years ago a guy he let hunt it was rude to another family member of his who was hunting it also so he stopped letting people hunt it.

I went on to ask him if I could have permission to track deer onto his property if I were to shoot one and it ran there and he said he had no problem with that. He even went on to saying that he didn't mind if I hunted on his land if I didn't see any cars in his driveway other than his truck.

So my question is should I stop by his farm again this summer and just talk to him and see how everything is going and if he's been seeing any good deer?(he's not a hunter himself) I feel weird going back cuz it's way back an old dirt road so it's not like I'm just "passing thru". I'm obviously going out of my way to go to his house lol

bowhunter1023 said:

Working to establish a relationship is always a good idea. Trust me, I drive back old dirt driveways to meet strangers for a living. The more trips you make, the stronger the relationship and the more likely you are to get what you are after...

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I think last time it was nice cuz it was on a friday and when I drove up he was just walking outside. However I would only be able to go on saturday, I know not to on sundays, but I feel like me knocking on their door on a saturday is bothersome to them.