Hunting Land in Scioto County, Ohio

Shawnee State Forest: Ohio's largest, and built for hunting

Shawnee State Forest covers roughly 63,000 acres in Ohio's southern Appalachian foothills, substantially within Scioto County, in a region nicknamed the "Little Smokies" for its ridge-after-ridge terrain and the blue haze that gives the Great Smoky Mountains their name. It's Ohio's largest state forest by a wide margin, and unlike the adjacent Shawnee State Park -- where hunting is prohibited -- hunting is permitted throughout the forest itself. The area is known for abundant white-tailed deer and wild turkey, with terrain ranging from readily accessible frontcountry near roads and trailheads to some of the most remote backcountry available anywhere in the state.

The forest's footprint has also continued to grow: in the early 2020s, a roughly 1,252-acre addition -- publicized by the National Wild Turkey Federation and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers as a Forest Legacy Program acquisition -- brought adjacent land into the protected, public-access forest. That kind of ongoing expansion is worth tracking if you're specifically interested in land near the forest boundary, since the line between "private inholding" and "public forest" in this area isn't necessarily static.

What that means for private land nearby

Land adjoining or near a 63,000-acre public hunting forest is a different evaluation than land elsewhere in Scioto County. Direct access to or bordering the state forest can mean effectively extending a hunting property's usable range well beyond its own deeded acreage, and can be a meaningful factor in a buyer's decision even for a relatively small private parcel. This page does not have Scioto-County-specific data on any resulting price premium for land adjoining the forest -- that kind of local comparable-sales detail should come from a local real estate agent or appraiser familiar with the immediate area -- but adjacency to a large, well-managed public hunting forest is a genuinely distinctive draw this county offers that most Ohio counties don't.

Before buying with hunting specifically in mind, confirm the exact boundary of the state forest against the specific parcel you're considering (boundaries can be irregular and don't always track section or road lines cleanly), and don't assume public-forest hunting access from an adjoining private parcel is automatic or unrestricted -- ODNR's Division of Forestry sets its own access rules, seasons, and any permit requirements for the state forest itself, separately from whatever private hunting arrangement you might set up on your own land.

What to verify before you buy

Confirm current Ohio hunting regulations, season dates, and any permit requirements directly with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife and Division of Forestry, since these can change year to year and this page does not track them. Separately, confirm the parcel's own zoning status with the relevant Scioto County township (see our Scioto County hub page for the county's general township-level zoning pattern) -- a hunting or recreational-use property may still be subject to local setback, structure, or land-division rules independent of anything related to the adjoining state forest.