Hello all! I've been lurking here for a couple of months and have only posted a few times, but I hope to become more active with the quality community of folks here!
I just moved to the Columbia, South Carolina area from Minnesota. As you may guess, I'm used to having abundant public lands to hunt. Minnnesota and Wisconsin have TONS of national and state forest land. Enough such that if you pick your area well, you won't see too many (if any) other hunters, even on a weekend.
Now that I'm living in South Carolina, I'm concerned about finding public lands to hunt. I took a quick drive through the Sumter National Forest and could find no highway-accessible land that was not posted, meaning that much of the land was actually private. Where to the actually hide the public land out there??
I've looked into the Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) a little, but I have a bad feeling that these areas are probably pretty crowded. Also, since I prefer to still/stalk hunt instead of using a stand, I wouldn't feel safe if I knew there were other hunters about.
Granted, all of this is just conjecture since I havn't been through a season here yet, but I must admit I'm feeling like I might have to make a pilgrimage back up north to get in a good season unless I'm lucky enough to find someone willing to let me hunt their private land.
I've not had much luck finding other folks who hunt and are willing to "bring me into the fold" so to speak. Seems that most folks I've spoken with have a group they've hunted with for years and aren't too eager to take on a newcomer.
In future years, I may be able to join a hunt club, but my experiences so far (no returned phone calls, being hung up on when I explain that I've just moved here) have been unpleasant. Perhaps I can go to one of the many hunting plantations around, but they seem kinda pricy and most of them allow hunting from stands only.
So, after all of this background, I have one simple question:
Can anyone from the area, or who has hunted in South Carolina a bit offer any advice on finding a relatively inexpensive way to hunt Whitetail this fall?
Thanks in advance for your help!
-Loach
I just moved to the Columbia, South Carolina area from Minnesota. As you may guess, I'm used to having abundant public lands to hunt. Minnnesota and Wisconsin have TONS of national and state forest land. Enough such that if you pick your area well, you won't see too many (if any) other hunters, even on a weekend.
Now that I'm living in South Carolina, I'm concerned about finding public lands to hunt. I took a quick drive through the Sumter National Forest and could find no highway-accessible land that was not posted, meaning that much of the land was actually private. Where to the actually hide the public land out there??
I've looked into the Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) a little, but I have a bad feeling that these areas are probably pretty crowded. Also, since I prefer to still/stalk hunt instead of using a stand, I wouldn't feel safe if I knew there were other hunters about.
Granted, all of this is just conjecture since I havn't been through a season here yet, but I must admit I'm feeling like I might have to make a pilgrimage back up north to get in a good season unless I'm lucky enough to find someone willing to let me hunt their private land.
I've not had much luck finding other folks who hunt and are willing to "bring me into the fold" so to speak. Seems that most folks I've spoken with have a group they've hunted with for years and aren't too eager to take on a newcomer.
In future years, I may be able to join a hunt club, but my experiences so far (no returned phone calls, being hung up on when I explain that I've just moved here) have been unpleasant. Perhaps I can go to one of the many hunting plantations around, but they seem kinda pricy and most of them allow hunting from stands only.
So, after all of this background, I have one simple question:
Can anyone from the area, or who has hunted in South Carolina a bit offer any advice on finding a relatively inexpensive way to hunt Whitetail this fall?
Thanks in advance for your help!
-Loach