Owen Putnam State Forest Hunting?

Don't think you'll experience much crowding problem there. Maybe in a few popular spots on the first weekend or two, but there are so many places to access the forest there and squirrels are basically everywhere where there is food...and that's darn near everywhere in OPSF.

If it's not been raining too much at the time, I always liked the Rattlesnake CG at the end of the road off Rattlesnake road. You can wander in almost any direction from the CG without running into private ground or off-limits areas. The road that ends there has, IIRC, three fords across wet-weather creeks that grow a bit during very rainy periods but don't drain a lot of acreage and come back down to normal levels quickly after a downpour. At normal levels most cars are capable of crossing them without difficulty, just take it slow. Went there several times in my Chevettes, no problems.

I used to hunt deer and turkey quite a bit down there, but haven't as much in recent years because I have (or had) some pretty good hunting closer to home. Forest map shows a mountain bike trail that makes loop around that CG area that might make for an interesting combination of activities....I haven't been on it, but might try that this summer.

Oh....I suppose they named it that for some reason, but in all the years I hunted down there, I never encountered a rattler. Did come across a blue racer in a fruit tree next to trail there once, enjoying the sun while stretching out across the branches about head high. Got pretty close while admiring him and trying to figure out what variety he was. Then he startled me by disappearing in the blink of an eye and scooting away past my feet so quickly that he'd have been in my pocket before I could have jumped had that been his intent.