New, Transplant from Colorado, advice?

As far as TreeStands go a lot of us hunted relations farms. Small woodlots and fields. As crop prices increased the size of wooded cover shrank. With a treestand you could be less intrusive. Work the wind for the locations etc.

Uncles and Gparents die off and the method of sale is the farms get broken up. House and some acres, fields to a neighbor or a large farm corp. The latest crop in the Ft Wayne area and from what I have seen around most sizeable towns is plant the ground with houses.

Good luck

Howdy,
I'm the opposite of you to some degree. Army brought me to COS 13 years ago and I am originally from Indy's East side. The hunting is very different but satisfying as well. I come back home for firearms season now that I have a friend with land to hunt. The HNF is a good chunk of land but all public land will be much more congested than what you were used to out here. Your interpretation of the check in /quartering procedure and not the same need for proof of sex. Finding a spot to hunt will probably be your most challenging issue. Prior to my buddy having access to this property I had access to 2 different properties in N. IN and both of them got leased to folks for the SE US will to hemorrhage $$$$$ in pursuit of a "big northern buck". Unfortunately, having the #2 all time typical whitetail taken last year will probably only make that worse. Feel free to PM if there is anything I might be able to help you with.....BTW, so you don't think you are missing that much, I went on a first season hunt in GMU 26 (my usual spot) only to find the POS rancher that has a grazing allotment had literally allowed their cattle to destroy anything green, still had them out on public in the middle of OCT and had their ranch hands 'riding fence" on ATVs all during our season (it is in the Flat Tops Wilderness and is totally vehicle restricted....you know, except for ranchers SMFH).

SFC (R) B, thanks for the awesome response. I have hunted GMU 26 since 2014 and I’ll be there this week. We are usually near the Luark ranch and they are pretty nice to hunters—other ranchers, not so much.

Yeah, I am having some trouble finding good public land in Indiana, but I figure the trick is to get to know a small patch of land rather than roaming through a huge one.