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West Branch and La Due State Parks

jtenhundfeld

Junior Member
5
0
So I walked around West Branch State Park for about 3 hours today and I saw two old rubs. I am not used to hunting public land so I don't know what to expect but I didn't even see any good runs or any old scrapes or anything. I saw a tremendous amount of good tracks in the cut cornfields but I didn't see how they got to them. Any suggestion on what I should do? I came in off of Booth Road. I'm going back tomorrow and going to check out La Due tomorrow too. Any suggestions are more than welcome. Thanks all and good luck hunting.
 

huntn2

Senior Member
6,090
157
Hudson, OH
First, welcome to TOO!

I have never checked out West Branch but think a few others on here have. I have hunted Ladue but without real good success. Problem with NE OH is lack of large tracks of public land considering the population of Cleveland and the surrounding communities. So, I find all who don't want to drive more than 30-60 min to hunt hit up the same spots. One spot I really haven't checked out that looks promising from areal maps is Grand River. Just another option.

As for my experiences on Ladue, I took a jake a few springs ago off one of the Ladue sections. I had birds pegged in 4 different areas and after youth weekend never heard a gobble till the day I shot the jake. For deer, I bow hunted Ladue pretty hard during the 2009-2010 season. I had shots at some small year and a half year old bucks but never saw anything bigger. Never had a shot at a single doe. I would find some descent sign here and there but found so had others. I rarely had a bow hunt there where I didn't see other hunters unless it was during the middle of the week. That said, I only had one bad experience with other hunters. Usually most would acknowledge you and meandor off to hunt some other spot. One time though a guy was determined to hunt where I was so he went up a tree 30 yards away.

One thing to consider. I was chatting with another bow hunter one night back at our trucks. He had hunted out there over the years and he offered me one piece of advise..."get your hunting done here before gun week." The guy told me the amish in the areas surrounding Ladue drive the hell out of those properties during gun season.

Good luck and I hope to read some good stories from your hunts.