Trip #2

I was out in April, and I'll be headed back to Scioto County next weekend. The trip from NJ is about 8-9 hours. I should be out there Friday night, so we can be up before dawn, and out to glass the fields at the property I have access to, thanks to my girlfriend! I figure by late morning, we'll move in and start scouting, selecting stand sites, cutting shooting lanes etc. I want to hang 4 or 5 cameras around the properties and let them soak for a month or so. I may have to make another trip in August to pull cards/change batteries, change camera locations. I plan on hunting Nov 3 - 10, with the 11th being the return to NJ date. It's a lot of driving to a little bit of work, but hopefully, come November, it will all pay off. When you're going away for a weekend for something like this, it's never work. Who knows, if something insane shows up on camera, a September trip might just have to be scheduled.

Thanks hicks... my buddy and I already decided, after we go next weekend, we're going to give the cameras a good 2-3 weeks. I'll meet him at his house in PA on a Friday night in early August, we'll leave for OH at 4am, get there around noon, change cards/batteries if needed, and head back home. Gas money well spent

thanks FS.. maybe great minds think alike. I will be bringing a few 33 lb molasses blocks and 6 cameras. From my trip out there in April, I have a few spots already picked out, and some of those are at/near the pondsand creeks on the property. Besides that, we've used the giant aerial map I ordered to try and locate funnels and likely transition areas. The properties are made up of ridges, creeks, ponds, crops, hardwoods, and grassy hillsides, so there's a bit of everything. We'll spread the cameras out where we find the most sign and hopefully the molasses blocks will help stop them for a few seconds to smile and say cheese. It's been hot here in NJ also, so it's been tough as well. Appreciate the info.. good lookin out

haha, I will be honest, people from NJ don't even like that show. I'm from the southern part of the state, right outside Philadelphia. Most of that stereotype comes from the Northern part of the state, closer to NY. It's like anything else, it's true in some cases, but far from it many others. Not much I can do, we're not all bad seeds.
I have noticed that this site seems to welcome out of staters and a lot of guys are here to offer advice and that's why I joined. I plan on contributing and taking advice from the guys who know the state better than I do. I like doing research, I enjoy the leg work, and regardless of how many I kill, how big they are, how much I know, there will ALWAYS someone who knows more, killed more, been to more places etc. That's why I shut up and listen.
It's going to be crazy for me to hunt farmland and deer that aren't pressured like they are in NJ. I know they get pushed in OH, don't get me wrong, but public land in NJ is mostly big woods, next to no ag fields, and identifiable bedding areas/food sources are tough to identify. Everything looks the same. A 2 1/2 year old deer here, if he's 80" or so.. basket 8 is normal. OH.. well whole different ball game. That's why I want to do the work. If I can do it in NJ and be consistently successful on smaller bucks, how will it translate?

Cool. Thanks for the well wishes. I'm used to working my ass off for basket racks. When I'm given the opportunity to hunt prime time land where the giants roam, I refuse to show up and hope to get lucky. Just how I'm made. Any state that shows it can produce deer like Ohio is gonna have out of starters? Especially when it's as close as it is.