Wildlife is plentiful for hunters in Adams County
It’s hard to imagine Adams County ever had more wild game than it does now. The deer are abundant, and turkeys, wow! In fact Adams County was one of the first Ohio counties open to turkey hunting in 1966. Even today most of the county still retains that same rural flavor as it did back then, only difference is, -there is way more deer and turkey now!

It’s hard to imagine Adams County ever had more wild game than it does now. The deer are abundant, and turkeys, wow! In fact Adams County was one of the first Ohio counties open to turkey hunting in 1966. Even today most of the county still retains that same rural flavor as it did back then, only difference is, -there is way more deer and turkey now!
   Time has been kind to rural Adams County. In the eastern portion steep timbered hills and deep hollows give way to fields of crops and rocky hillside pastures, and once you cross Ohio Brush Creek, the theoretical center of Adams County and travel westward, the mountains flatten out to gentle rolling hills leaving behind the Appalachia plateau.
   One of Adams counties most unique features is its white oak and mixed cedar forest found throughout most of the county. Here deer and turkey have found the much needed acorn crop and ample secure bedding and roosting areas to sustain a robust population. Weedy fields, cedar thickets, and thick wooded mountains has been the sanctuary that powers an incredible variety of wildlife. Black bear is reported here every year. Bobcats roam the eastern mountains and that is where you will find grouse, numerous woodland songbirds, whippoor-wills, timber rattlers and copperheads, and in a few places, — Ohio’s only population of the endangered Allegheny woodrat.
   On the more docile western edge bobwhite quail are found in the farming areas, excellent dove hunting can be had in any number of corn fields, rabbit hunting has been relativity good of late, and by fall and winter those same corn fields will become the feeding grounds for both deer and turkey. Is it any wonder that hunting season attracts deer and turkey hunters from all over Ohio and beyond?
   With a number of public hunting areas, Adams County contains a variety of hunting opportunities for visiting hunters. Local hunters know these hunting locations well, but visitors will have to spend time in pre-season scouting to achieve success. Although deer and turkey are plentiful, they are wise beyond their years. Your scouting effort will be well worth it because it will reveal that some of Ohio’s best spring and fall hunting is found here in Adams County.
   Tranquility Wildlife Area is popular with visiting hunters, and with good reason. Located in north-central Adams County, Tranquility is comprised of white oak, hickory, and red cedar, along with the common maples, ash, pine, and heavy mixed brush. Open fields, grasslands, and crops add a diverse variety

of habitats that has created fertile ground for nearly all of Ohio’s game species.
   Tranquility covers over 4,250 acres and is an inviting area to hunt with numerous trails and old logging roads that stretch deep into the interior making relatively easy hiking. Tranquility offers excellent fall and spring turkey hunting.
   Another of Tranquility’s top draw is its deer hunting. Tranquility’s mixture of oaks, cedars, and acres of weedy fields is some of the counties best deer cover. Gun season is popular at Tranquility, however the wildlife area is surrounded by rural farmland that allows plenty of bucks to escape and grow another year. Every deer season a number of large bucks are harvested from Tranquility or the surrounding area. Those thick cedars are hard places to get a shot at a fleeting buck, and the endless fields of ragweed and goldenrod allow deer a never ending supply of hiding and escape routes. While the gun season is popular, bow hunters are few in numbers, and those that hunt don’t venture very far from the roads. The back county of Tranquility is an archer’s paradise.
   The king of the game birds the ruffed grouse is found here at Tranquility. Grouse cover is abundant, but a decline in birds throughout the state has grouse hunters doing more hunting than finding. Some of Tranquility’s best grouse cover can be found in the old cutover timber, cedar and pine hillside, and in the sumac and grapevine thickets.
Shawnee State Forest
   Located in southeastern Adams co., it is Ohio’s largest state forest. Shawnee’s 63,250 acres epitomizes the last best place in Ohio. Bordered to the south by the Ohio River, Shawnee is steep and rugged, and is as close as one can get to an Ohio before our ancestors arrived. Time spent here is not measured by the amount of game, but by the solitude one seeks and readily finds.
   Shawnee is mountains, valleys and peaks ranging from 300 to 400 feet elevation differences. Heavily wooded dense forest with abundant oaks, hickories, pine, maple, poplar, buckeye, ash, red elm, and in the hollows, beech, walnut, sycamore, and birch grow. Shawnee has about 120 miles of forest roads and about that many miles of hiking trails. Hunting opportunities consist of deer, turkey, grouse, and gray squirrels.
   Shawnee Forest is popular with black powder hunters during the early Special Area Muzzleloader Season. Its appeal  is the deep forest and rough terrain that begs to be hunted with a long flintlock like those carried by the first settlers in the region.
   Deer are common throughout the forest, but the mountainous terrain is rough hunting by any measure. Check forest clearings, ponds and creeks during dry seasons, and oak woods during years of good mast. 

  Outsize woodland bucks are occasionally taken; hunting pressure is light during the gun season, practically nonexistent during bow season.
   Grouse hunting in Shawnee is for young legs. Check for grouse near old clear cuts, at the head of hollows and in grapevine and sumac thickets near clearings. In 2003 a severe ice storm damaged and downed much of the timber in the southern portion of the forest, these areas have since been cleared and the process has created numerous forest openings. In time these clearing should become excellent grouse cover.
   Other areas of interest to hunters would be the 8,000-acre Shawnee wilderness area and the adjoining 8,000-acre Back Country Management area. The combined 16,000 acres form the largest back county hike in hunting area in the state.
Brush Creek State Forest   
   Located in the northeastern Adams County, the over 12,000-acre forest is home to a variety of woodland game with turkey and deer being the most sought after. Some grouse hunting exist, but it has to be searched for. The Coffee Hollow area is a favorite of local turkey hunters and deer can be found there as well. It’s hilly, with most of the walking uphill. A hardwood forest comprised of oaks, hickory, maple, ash and pine.
   Brush Creek forest is scattered into sections, and its best to get a map to located the various state properties. Many times the smaller tracks yield the best turkey and deer hunting.
   Scioto Land Company has tracts of public hunting on properties located in eastern Adams County off Mineral Springs Road and Beech Fork Road. These areas offer excellent turkey, deer, and grouse hunting. The tracts are mountainous with old cutover timber and forest clear cuts. Turkeys are fairly common, the grouse hunting is some of the best in the county and deer love to bed in the clear cuts. It’s rough hunting among green brier thickets, old cutovers, with few trails and long hikes. If this sounds like your kind of hunting, then get a map because finding these places is an adventure in itself.
   For more  information on these areas, places to stay, eat or visit while enjoying the hunting season in Adams County, call the Travel & Visitors Bureau at (937) 544-5454 or visit the web site at  www.adamscountytravel.org If you liked the hunting, you’ll be back for the fishing.