Does anybody here hunt Osceola National Forrest? Does anybody have any advice about hunting there?
I did for years. I mean years and years and never saw a decent antlered buck. I hunted there at least 2-3 times a year from 1972 to 1996. The soils there are very poor. The typography is poorly drained pine flat woods so the soil doesn't contain a lot of minerals. There is not a lot of habitat variety, either. Practically no hardwoods. Basically it is a Federal Tree Farm administered by the U.S. Forest Service for timber harvesting and wildlife is a very distant second, if that. And where you do find hardwoods with acorns, you will find a convention of other hunters.
The National Forest Service seems to be doing more prescribed burns which are helpful and open up more of the understory...I will give them that.
But as an old timer who had hunted there told me many years back: "Son, these deer still have to walk a long way to get a full belly."
Couple that with the fact that dog hunting is now in the center of the Forest and still hunting is on the outer fringes you will be challenged to find a good buck there. Last I heard the deer population (not the buck population) was one deer for every 35 acres.
I have heard some interesting rumors about the Big Gum Swamp Wilderness Area but from looking at it I can't fathom how you could even manage to walk into it since all the brush is at least 6-8' high in most places. It is another area that really should be burned but because of it's wilderness designation, no management of any type is allowed. But from what I've seen should fire ever break out in there, it will be a conflagration that will feed a fire all the way to Macclenny. I know. I'm a Georgia Certified Prescribed Fire Specialist.
But don't just take my word for it. I could all wrong. Go see for yourself. Put on your walking shoes, slop on the bug juice and watch out for cottonmouths. Good luck.
Osceola can be good to you if you hunt the way others do not. If you want to hunt with people then hunt with ole swampfox he will show you where there critters won't be. Lol. There's lots to do in any block of woods it just depends on how much work you want to put into it and how much you want to kill. I love Osceola plenty of places to get lost out there.
