Wayne County public land

[Fehyd643]

Does anyone have any experience they would like to share regarding Lake Shore Marshes or Galen? (Bow and Gun)

 

I live in Newark, and I have a normal spot that I hunt in Genesee County (2 hours from me).  I am looking for some place to hunt just a few hours in the mornings/evenings with my son on days I don't make the trip out to my normal area.  Either of the above places are within 20 minutes from me, and are perfect for a 3-4 hour early morning or evening hunt.

 

It's his first year, and I just want him to get out and experience it.  Never done public land though, so I have no idea what to expect.

 

Any info would be great, thanks!

[Cabin Fever]

I haven't hunted in either area, so I don't have any personal experience. I drive by the south side (Rt. 104) of Lake Shore Marshes very often. It doesn't appear to be heavily hunted. I don't see many vehicles at all parked on the side of the road. Don't think I've ever seen more than 5 max along the road in one day and that's during gun season. Some days, you would never know that season was open.

 

I drove through Galen one day during gun season last year, as I was toying with the idea of trying there myself. There's a nice mix of land and it looked promising. I only saw 3-4 vehicles parked along the road.

 

I've never heard anyone talk about either area, so I have no idea what the deer population or hunting is like. If it were me, I'd start out with Galen though. I liked the lay of the land and there was a lot of crop fields near by. Probably a little closer for you anyway.

 

Good luck!

 

 

[Core]

Thought I'd bump this, see if anybody else has any input. Lake shore and galen are also the closest WMA to me and at least at this time I've no access to private land.

 

Appreciate Cabin Fever's response. Anybody else have any input on these spots?

[Fehyd643]

I did not end up hunting either spot last year.  I spoke to a small game hunter at Galen one morning pre-season while I was scouting, and he had a pretty bad story to tell.

 

According to him, he had hunted the land for about 5 years, but had to stop due to the farmer whose fields are nearby.  Apparently he is an anti-hunter.  The gentleman I was speaking to said that the farmer would run a tractor or a 4-wheeler right along the border during peak hours, blowing air horns, firing off a shotgun... etc.

 

All hearsay, but enough to convince me to not bother.

[Core]

I did not end up hunting either spot last year.  I spoke to a small game hunter at Galen one morning pre-season while I was scouting, and he had a pretty bad story to tell.

 

According to him, he had hunted the land for about 5 years, but had to stop due to the farmer whose fields are nearby.  Apparently he is an anti-hunter.  The gentleman I was speaking to said that the farmer would run a tractor or a 4-wheeler right along the border during peak hours, blowing air horns, firing off a shotgun... etc.

 

All hearsay, but enough to convince me to not bother.

If he was doing that I have to think it's illegal if it can be proven to interfere with legal hunting. I will assume the guy wasn't trying to scare you off to keep ground for himself, but I appreciate the story! I noticed on google there are some fields nearby. Might be less of an issue that kind of thing during bow season. I wonder if it really hurts anything anyway; unless the hunter is doing that year long, the deer are simply going to be moving around when he does it, but they can't run forever, so I wonder if in effect he was driving them toward the rest of galen and into the arms of hunters inadvertently. 

What about lake shore?