welcome from a fellow yankee. there is a big adjustment/learning curve, just with the temp alone. a few must haves a pickup truck 4wd preffered is handy, a big azz cooler in the back cuz if you do get some game youre gonna have to cool it down quick, also just for food shopping in hotter weather. a thermacell for skeeters, and carry plenty of water and bug spray. as il2h said hernando gun club is close by and a good public place to shoot. depending where in homo you live there are 3-4 wma's (wildlife management areas) possibly 30 minutes or less away. chazzahowitzka has app 40,000+ acres, homosassa has 5,000, citrus and croom are both pretty big but not sure of the # of acres. rules/regs/season dates are diff at each and the quota system can be challenging. most serious hunters seem to join leases, the better/closer the more $$. you will miss hunting in cool/cold temps with leaves off the trees and snow on the ground to help visability and dragging, but after a while slogging through palmetto thickets sweating your butt off getting eaten alive by bugs and torn up by thorns, you will actually enjoy it.
Find you some private land and buy it outside of the more populated areas because as nacho stated above, public land can be a challenge. The quota system will take you some time to figure out as well. Most WMA's do not allow off road vehicles, therefore if you get back in the middle of some public land and kill something, you'd better be ready for a long hot drag, even in November-March.
Welcome to the site. You are in for a differnet type hunting and outdoors experience than anything you've ever experienced up north. Private land is near imposible to find for hunting privledges unless you A. lease it (Big $$$$) and have plenty of "Hunting Insurance" or B. own it.
This might sound bad but alot of us hunt GA just because of the hunting access issues here in FL. Come October you'll see tons of pick-ups and SUV's with FL plates headed north on I-95 loaded down with tree stands, 4 wheelers and coolers. A lease in South GA can run 1/2-1/4 the price of a FL lease and GA WMA's are all pretty much governed by one state regulation, not individually regulated.
As Iluv 2hunt points out there are opportunities to hunt but it's not just asking and getting permission to hunt a private farm, and then getting access. That is the exception in FL, not the rule like up north.
Hunting deer and hogs in short sleeves was something to get used to. Bug spray is a must, don't even go to the woods without it.
This is a great forum, with alot of information, and a great group of folks.
Invest in a couple thermocels and get nachos homebrew recipe for the pads.
