Best Public Hunting Grounds

[blinky125]

First year hunter here and I am looking for some good public hunting grounds in the central Indiana area (specifically for squirrel hunting right now). I am very experienced in handling weapons (military veteran), hobby shooting, and enjoy spending time in the wilderness, but have never put the two together and gone hunting until now. I also understand that many people say to just stay away from public hunting grounds all together, however right now my options are limited. The two closest places that I have found are Hoosier National Forest and Atterbury FWA, any opinions on these places as well as others? Thanks!

[gwhunter]

Another place to look is Wilbur Wright. I live about 15 minutes from there and actually killed my first Indiana deer there after moving here from Michigan. If you're just looking for squirrel though, I would say anyplace there are woods you will be able to find squirrel. So just go on the DNR website and look up all of the state game areas. Be careful though, some of them require you to sign in at the office prior to going out into the field. This was something new to me as we didn't have to "sign in" at any of the Michigan state lands.

[antiwheeze]

Atterbury or Morgan-Monroe SF would b on my short list.

[blinky125]

Thanks for both responses gents, I have seen that sign in is required at both Atterbury and Hoosier National Forest. I'll have to look into Morgan-Monroe State Forest. Only a few short weeks til the hunt is on! (my wife cant wait to try some squirrel)

[trapperdave]

No kind of sign in for Hoosier national forest.

[tenring]

Get as many Quad maps as you can afford of M-M State Forest. High lite what is State owned, and take the time to go research the outlying areas [isolated]], and you will find 40 acres on up that are not marked as being State owned, but seem to have "Private Property-No Trespassing" signs nailed up, giving the impression that all the land along that back road is "Privately" owned. Compare where the signs are at versus what the quad map says, and you will find out that in-between those signs is "Public" land. That is a little known trick that local landowners use to increase their hunting access. State ownership is highly unlikely to ever change, so the money that you spend on the maps is good for a very long time. Have a friend who did that and found quite a few spots that amounted to hundred of acres and hunted them for years and only saw "one" other hunter in all that time while squirrel hunting. It is entirely up to you and how bad you want it, and willing to put in the time and effort to do it.

[parson]

Squirrels are typically plentiful in Morgan Monroe. Especially during deer season!

[lawrencecountyhunter]

I use 39 Degrees North eGIS ( 39degreesnorth.com/eGIS/index.html#screenshot ).  It's free, and covers all of the counties in Indiana that I hunt (not sure about yours).

You can view property lines and ownership information in either maps or aerial photos.  I pull up the area I want to hunt and use the "Tools" tab to highlight public / private boundaries.  Copy your delineated aerial photo map into "paint" program, do any labeling you want, and print in color.  Works well for me, especially in tandem with a GPS.

Here's one I made up...



Alternatively, if you do have a GPS, you can use the "Hunt X Maps" chip for Indiana, which includes property boundaries and ownership information.  However, not all of the counties in Indiana are covered, and Lawrence is one of those.  So, for Lawrence, I make my free maps from 39DN.

[INhuntin]

Here is a link to public hunting ares in Indiana.

www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/5427.htm

[whitetaildave24]

You can find squirrels in Atterbury, but it is so thick in there it is hard to move around in a lot of the areas. I would say you will have a much better hunt in an area like Morgan Monroe where you have fairly open big hardwood lots. Atterbury just has so much undergrowth it is hard to find any open areas to get your fun up to even get a shot in a tree. Don't get me wrong, I've killed some squirrels in Atterbury, which is only about two minutes from home, but I normally travel about 45 minutes south to do all my hunting.

[firstwd]

Get a map of Yellowwood State Forest. The area around the lake and office can get busy, but there are lots of woodlots broken off and spread around. There are quite a few that only see limited local hunters and have very good squirrel and deer hunting. Just pay attention to your maps and property lines.