# grand river wildlife area deer



## rockriv (Sep 18, 2012)

Hi all,

Grew up bow hunting on a ton of land in PA. Ive lived in ohio (strongsville area) for about 7 years now. Since i moved i have yet to hunt ohio. Its time for me to start using ohio for deer hunting. Have a new son and would love to learn the land and be able to provide good hunting for him when hes a bit older. Problem is...there seems to be very little public land to hunt for deer in northeastern ohio. ive done research and it seems the biggest area locally is the grand river area near farmington. about a 1 hour drive from strongsville. anybody ever hunt it? either gun or bow? i guess im scared to show up there during gun season and come across a million other hunters. (worried about safety more than anything) as well...if someone reads this and has land that they are willing to let me hunt im more than willing to pay for the few days per year use.

thanks

JB


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## Kableguy (Apr 23, 2009)

Grand River is big. It does get a fair amount of pressure, you will see other guys. The farther away from the parking areas you get the less you will see. I never felt crowded there bowhunting. Gun season I made sure to get in early and get back away from the roads. Much of it is lowlands so high boots or hipwaders are very valuable. I spent a lot of time small game hunting there, so I got to know the layout of the whole place pretty well. If you rabbit/grouse hunt spend some time doing that. In my opinion that's the best way to learn a new place.

In northeast Ohio unless you happen to be on a hundred acre piece of private land chances are other hunters are going to be nearby during gun season. Bow is a different story. Public land is at a premiun nowadays. Anyone who owns more than a few acres has a lot of requests every year from hunters, so be prepared to sell your case to hunt their land.


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## rockriv (Sep 18, 2012)

thanks kableguy.

great info!


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

You never really know how many people are in your hunting area the first day of gun season unless you're out there. The harder it is to get to the spot, the less likely you'll be disturbed by other hunters. 

Ladue Reservoir has a lot of small broken up areas bordering the lake and the Cuyahoga River. Lots of areas that border private land that may or may not be hunted. It's much closer to Strongsville too. Look up the map on the ODNR website to find the public areas.


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## phishyone1 (Jun 27, 2008)

I've hunted there a few gun seasons............... Like others said, big area you can get away if your willing to walk..... bring rubber boots!!! Thick and flat in the timber, deer either in your lap or you see nothing.... big deer in there tho............ One downfall is the Amish, I've parked in a spot with no vehicles, think your good to go, daybreak comes and Amish everywhere........... They get dropped off by the van full and you have no idea they are there and how many, Its usually a small army........... But don't let that scare ya, I've had some nice deer encounters there.......... Get by a thick swampy area hard to access.........................................................................


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## rockriv (Sep 18, 2012)

Haha. Amish army! Pretty funny. Sounds great. Im going to go give it a try.


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