I got home this evening from opening weekend in Ohio, my first time hunting there. I went up Friday to do some looking around. I had my eye on a National Forest tract that didn't border a road but had a right of way. Upon looking at the right of way, it was basically in a guys front yard and was being mowed, cared for, etc. It made me a bit uneasy so I talked to the homeowner and he confirmed it was a right of way and perfectly okay to park there and walk in.
Day 1- Up at 330, drove to the right of way and parked. It took me until daylight to walk up the hills, through the dead fallen pines and autumn olive to get to the backside of the tract on a high knob. I heard 3 gobblers on the roost that morning, 2 solidly on private, and 1 on the public/private line. I went after the one on the line figuring he would pitch down in the beautiful hardwoods on the back side of the tract. This is where I learned that I walked all that way just to have the locals come in with private access and 4wheeler trails from private to public
A local saw me on the ridge, came up all pissed, cussed me pretty good, said it was "his national forest" and he never saw anyone else in there because the other locals knew it was his to hunt. I just basically let him know that I knew it was public land, anyone can hunt it, he confirmed that, but was very mad about it. Anyway, I left him with the gobbler and went another direction…not worth it. I ended up getting within 70 yards or so of another gobbler before the 12pm cutoff but couldn't seal the deal.
Day 2- I had spent the evenings cruising around looking at access and figuring out how the land laid on a lot of different tracts. I decided on a tract with a narrow access point that got really wide once you made back in there through the thickets. Once again up at 330 and fighting through old mining areas only to find another private to public 4wheeler trail. I heard one gobbler on the roost, made my way to it, and a guy on a 4wheeler was already on it. Pretty disappointing that all the walking does no good. Anyway, I kept walking, worked a bird in an old mining area but couldn't get it interested. At 1100, I started a loop back to the vehicle through some dandy hardwoods for the noon cutoff time. At 1115 I got a response on a crystal call that sounded a long way away. At 1120, the gobbler was within 100 yards 
I sat down, and at 1122 there were 3 gobblers slipping up the ridge at 40 yards. It all just happened that fast! Ohio is a 1 bird limit now so I shot one and was done and headed back to TN. Really enjoyed myself camping and getting some extra hunting in but pretty disappointed with the amount of atv trails all over coming from homes onto public. Just made it impossible to get away.
Day 1- Up at 330, drove to the right of way and parked. It took me until daylight to walk up the hills, through the dead fallen pines and autumn olive to get to the backside of the tract on a high knob. I heard 3 gobblers on the roost that morning, 2 solidly on private, and 1 on the public/private line. I went after the one on the line figuring he would pitch down in the beautiful hardwoods on the back side of the tract. This is where I learned that I walked all that way just to have the locals come in with private access and 4wheeler trails from private to public
A local saw me on the ridge, came up all pissed, cussed me pretty good, said it was "his national forest" and he never saw anyone else in there because the other locals knew it was his to hunt. I just basically let him know that I knew it was public land, anyone can hunt it, he confirmed that, but was very mad about it. Anyway, I left him with the gobbler and went another direction…not worth it. I ended up getting within 70 yards or so of another gobbler before the 12pm cutoff but couldn't seal the deal. Day 2- I had spent the evenings cruising around looking at access and figuring out how the land laid on a lot of different tracts. I decided on a tract with a narrow access point that got really wide once you made back in there through the thickets. Once again up at 330 and fighting through old mining areas only to find another private to public 4wheeler trail
. I heard one gobbler on the roost, made my way to it, and a guy on a 4wheeler was already on it. Pretty disappointing that all the walking does no good. Anyway, I kept walking, worked a bird in an old mining area but couldn't get it interested. At 1100, I started a loop back to the vehicle through some dandy hardwoods for the noon cutoff time. At 1115 I got a response on a crystal call that sounded a long way away. At 1120, the gobbler was within 100 yards I sat down, and at 1122 there were 3 gobblers slipping up the ridge at 40 yards. It all just happened that fast! Ohio is a 1 bird limit now so I shot one and was done and headed back to TN. Really enjoyed myself camping and getting some extra hunting in but pretty disappointed with the amount of atv trails all over coming from homes onto public. Just made it impossible to get away. 
