Eastern Ont Crown Land : Limerick forest

[MikePal]

With regards to the Limerick Forest, Mike, are you familiar with the Forest? Have you ever hunted deer in there?

I've hunted the north side of it , my buddy owns a house that borders on the forest so we would venture back in. The place is thick with deer. Always saw deer when we were out.

Same issues with using public land as with any other. I was back in hunting coyotes last winter and we kept having ATV's come thru. We just pushed farther in till we were well off the trails and it was fine.

[recurve40]

Was there a week ago with the dog for grouse...put up one bird..lots of spent casings..there's a bunch of guys in there the one day setting up..so they are there for sure. Warm weather...hi 25 today...is putting a lot of people off...

[IDD65]

Old thread but I am curious if Limerick is still under pressured. I was in Carp Hills this a.m. with a bunch of bikers and not surprisingly no white tails.

[MikePal]

Old thread but I am curious if Limerick is still under pressured. I was in Carp Hills this a.m. with a bunch of bikers and not surprisingly no white tails.

Didn't look like there was very much activity there again this hunting season. I went thru a few times during the two weeks and never saw more than a couple of trucks. Looks like lots of room for everyone to play nice.

[rf2]

During the rifle season this year on another local piece of public land, I spoke to a couple of guys that had been hunting the Limerick forest. The decided to try this other piece of public land in the middle of the rifle season without doing any pre-scouting because they had no luck in the Limerick forest despite having hunted it for the last 5 years. I think they said they had never even seen a deer in all that time.
I told them that there were definitely deer where we were, but there was a lot of pressure and a lot of motorized activity outside of the hunting season too. Because of this, most of the activity was during the night. I've been hunting this public land for several years now, and have taken a few deer out of there, but I have never laid eyes on a buck there. This is despite the fact that the spots that I hunt have fresh buck sign year after year.
It's the nature of hunting public land in areas close to a major city.

[line052]

I have seen the same result and density in the MB

[MikePal]

The decided to try this other piece of public land in the middle of the rifle season without doing any pre-scouting because they had no luck in the Limerick forest despite having hunted it for the last 5 years.

Hard to judge based on that...That's the same thing the guys say at our camp and they hunt the same bush as I do. I see lots of deer and fill their tags year after year....yet they see nothing.

I have a buddy who's yard backs onto the Limerick and he has deer coming into his yard year round. Lots of deer back there. You just have to get off the beaten paths and do a good recce.

[rf2]

Hard to judge based on that...That's the same thing the guys say at our camp and they hunt the same bush as I do. I see lots of deer and fill their tags year after year....yet they see nothing.

I have a buddy who's yard backs onto the Limerick and he has deer coming into his yard year round. Lots of deer back there. You just have to get off the beaten paths and do a good recce.

Yes, their comments are anecdotal, so you can't really reach any conclusions. I sort of told them to expect the same thing in the Marlborough forest (where I met them) because of all the hunting pressure.
Then again, it's anecdotal to say that only a few trucks were spotted the couple of times you drove through Limerick forest, so hunting pressure must be low. I'd be surprised if that place is an underused deer hunting goldmine. Any public land that allows for hunting close to Ottawa and that has easy access will have plenty of hunters.

[rf2]

I have seen the same result and density in the MB

Did you have any luck there this year?

[Fox]

Yes, their comments are anecdotal, so you can't really reach any conclusions. I sort of told them to expect the same thing in the Marlborough forest (where I met them) because of all the hunting pressure.
Then again, it's anecdotal to say that only a few trucks were spotted the couple of times you drove through Limerick forest, so hunting pressure must be low. I'd be surprised if that place is an underused deer hunting goldmine. Any public land that allows for hunting close to Ottawa and that has easy access will have plenty of hunters.

Have you been to the Limerick? It is a giant swamp, there are deer in there and lots of them.

The weird part is that this year we did not see deer on the roads, in the fields, nothing. The deer were there, we had tons of tracks around on similar property very close to the Limerick.

I used to go down there to shoot in the summer, tall pines, swamp, farmers fields, ponds, hydro cuts, the deer are there for sure. That being said, the first year we moved out there, 5 years ago, there were lots of orange coats around, the last 3 years we have hardly seen another hunter, in the Limerick driving through or anywhere else around, the number of hunters is way down, which is just fine for me.