I'm living in Washington, from Washington, but our tags are pretty limited and regs pretty strict compared to other states. I'm a primitive bowhunter and make all my gear so it's not a terrible state. But I was in Texas for a couple years and it was incredible! 5 deer, endless hogs, several turkeys, you can hunt archery muzzleloader and rifle(cool for some people). It was crazy sauce. And for primitive stuff there was osage, chert everywhere and just a good place. BUT very limited public land.

SO! Which state do you feel is the best state for hunting? Tags given, season lengths, variety of animals offered, public land, and price of tags.

I guess it all depends on what you like to hunt. Ohio isnt bad, but limited to certain species. Id like to hunt hogs but they are hard to find here. Deer hunting is OK but Ive seen a decline in population over the years.

States with an abundance of pigs. I miss pig hunting.

I moved to Vancouver Island six years ago, hunting here for deer and bear is common and not to difficult.

The best always seems to be elsewhere. I'm at the opposite corner of the country in FL and dream of places like Washington. But I suppose if I stop and ponder for a moment, we have a long season here, decently priced tags and places to hunt (quota hunts can be hit or miss), pigs all over the place, along with lots of other things to hunt, depending on area and season. Living here is good too if you don't mind mowing for 8 to 9 months out of the year, and mosquitoes for 12 months. On the upside there is never ice to scrape off of my car, no state income tax, and overall cost of living is on the lower end, or at least middle compared to the rest of the country I'd say. And if you like to fish, well that's a whole 'nother hobby. So I'm staying here for the foreseeable future.

I'm partial to my home state of Pennsylvania. Born, raised and raised my family here. I can visit other states.

Definitely not Ohio.

I have seen the rise and fall of a great deer herd. The deer herd has been horribly mismanaged. There is the insurance company that owns the farm bureau, very little voluntary restraint among hunters, along with the Amish shooting everything that moves.

Sadly, I have seen a major decline in the integrity, honor, courtesy, and ethics of the so called average hunter. Hunting without permission, hunting from other's treestands, stealing deer shot by another, stealing treestands, pathetic marksmanship with crossbow bow gun and muzzleloader, callous disregard for the wounding maiming and crippling of a living creature, and outright poaching.

Very limited species too. Turkeys are hit and miss dependent upon spring weather, nesting success, and coyote predation.

Very limited opportunities due to the ever increasing sprawling population. Too many people and too many farms being cut into small parcels. We now have leasing instead of permission. We also have the curse of the instant bow hunter with no skills thanks to the crossbow.

Do I seem angry or bitter? Yes, I am because I have lived here all of my life spending that lifetime working for wildlife and habitat as an outdoorsman with my too limited non-working hours and limited funds. Unfortunately, now there is too much degeneration of our wildlife resources.

I am wanting to move to Montana.

Doesn't matter if you're always at work I guess, but I like Arkansas.

I really love Arizona. We have multiple archery seasons although getting drawn for some of them can be frustrating. Deer, elk, bear, turkey, bighorn, mountain lion, javelina, dove, quail, coyote, bobcat, waterfowl, and lots of others. We have some of the absolute best elk. We also have land from mountains to desert and lots of open space and public land. Not to mention fishing. A few places are starting to get hogs too.

Where ever i am with a tag and bow

Im parietal to Vermont :)

I moved to California from Texas quite a while back. When I first got to California, 95% of the land was public. At that time in Texas, 95% of the land was private. I am fortunate that both my family and my wife's family were farmers and ranchers, so there was plenty of land to hunt all over the state: from antelope in the panhandle, mule deer in the west, everything in the east and south, and innumerable whitetails and other game in the central part. I was shocked to get my first expensive (compared to Tex) hunting license in Calif, only to find I had to buy additional tags for any game I wanted (except bear and pig back then). And archery deer season in northern Calif begins the middle of August, it is usually well over 100 degrees then. But we are close to elk in Oregon and Idaho.

We split our time between Texas and California until about 10 years ago, then settled in Calif. We could live in Texas for about half the cost of California, plus Texas has no income tax. Of course, Texas has become very popular and is getting a little crowded.

We chose to move permanently to Calif because of the wonderful and scenic public lands, mountains and coast, all with great forests, and in the northern part, a great climate - no humidity. However, we see more deer driving in Texas than most hunters see in Calif in a lifetime. We do have bear and mountain lion and all the little critters in the valley below our house - and a few brave deer.

We gave up a lot of culture in our move, but we are happy here. I have hunted in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, and if given the chance, would move to Oregon.

Texas is a great place, but you need to know some land owners. California is a great place, but you need more money. Nothing is perfect. My advice is to find some good wilderness areas, figure out how to legally hunt them, and enjoy where you are.

I have always lived in Tennessee, I love it here ! We have lots of deer with a 2 buck limit but can shoot 3 does a day every day of season if you want. Can also use your bow during the gun and muzzleloader season. We have lots of turkey as well. There are hogs in certain parts of the state.

Ohio and Indiana: the only two states I've ever really gotten to know.

Don't know. Hunting wise: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.

I list these mainly because you are able to hunt something other than whitetail. Black bear, other bears, moose, elk, mulies, coues (however you spell it) deer, columbia blacktails, bison, and a bit of sheep and goat areas speakled in the rockies.

People who have acess to a variety of big game don't know how fortunate they are. Most of us whitetail chasers can only sit and dream it seems. At least that's how I see it with myself.

Nevertheless, I'm too rooted in IN soil to leave right now.

I like N.C. Good hunting, Nice beaches, good mountains, you can still get a can of backer for 2.00 a coke for a buck and a fifth of early times for 10.00. Not to cold either

Wow...you Ohio boys are feelin' just like me. There certainly has been a decline in our deer population...

...and according to a recent article by the ODNRDoW, that I printed out and took to the local restaurant to show other fellow deer hunters, the population decline is because the quality (read as the health) of the herd has declined. They'll tell you anything you want to here, but they have research showing there are less fawns being born and have been since the 70's. HUH? Then why are they letting people take so many doe's over the past 10-20 years.

Western portion of the state grows some big deer, but numbers are dwindling everywhere they claimed in the article. Land permission has become leasing tying up land for other types of hunting too, out of state hunters (40,000 at last survey) hunt for much cheaper than Ohioan's can hunt elsewhere.

Sure...come to Ohio...we'll take your money...

Washington due to so much area to avoid other hunters (elk and blacktail), then Montana for variety and numbers of game, and scenery, but too much competition on public land and lack of access to it being tied up by private ranches, then NY because of the ease in access to alot of small game, unlimited whitetails, and beautiful fall colors and days. No place like a late September early October day in upstate NY Adirondacks for all around joy of fall experience bowhunting on the ground. Alaska for caribou, maybe, someday moose and sheep hopefully. Have harvested in all 4 states. Love them all.

Oregon is high on my list. Texas isn't bad, but not enough public land. Illinois is whitetail bowhunting paradise IMO. Doesn't get any easier than that to take a big stupid whitetail IMO.

AZ is hard to beat as well. Everything from desert Coues deer to Elk, and not a bad place to live at all.

Idaho...for sure!

Alberta and British Columbia. They have most any game you want to hunt and long hunting seasons.

I lived in Maine for 10 years and loved it. The state has a variety of distinct landscapes sort of going from the coast to beautiful farmland/peidmont that has awesome whitetails, to the mountains and lakes regions with lots of moose roaming around. You also get 4 seasons. (or more, Winter, Spring/mud/blackfly, summer and gorgeous fall) Great fishing and seafood also.

In 1840, my hometown didn't exist but the land it sits on now held the greatest number of game animals and species on record in the lower 48 states. Of course, this is no longer the case. Still, Minnesota is excellent for whitetail hunting. Up North, bear hunting is very good. We had a wolf season too, until the anti-hunters convinced a judge to stop it. We had a moose season, but they are dying off of disease. So, whitetail and black bear for us. Out of state licenses are cheap compared to most other states.

Joe

Although I have been in and out of 29 state and 22 countries in the golf course turf business, I have only lived in five, Oklahoma, Texas, South Carolina, Florida, and New York. Fishing opportunities have to be equal or even above traditional archery for me. If a place is too crowded I don't rate it high as Florida has become since I first moved there in 1982. The Adirondacks in New York, where I have a home has everything I need for archery, fishing, and watercolor painting.

If I had to pick a place, Pennsylvania might be up high on a list because they still have lots of small uncrowded areas, still have a large amount of traditional archers, friendly folks, mountains, good food, and I would bet good fishing. However, If I won the lottery, I would move to the Ozarks because it has it all: good gravy, chicken fried steak, cheap beef, good hunting, good people, good fishing and its close to Oklahoma and north Texas to get around large groups of traditional archery folks. It's also close to where they will bury me on the southeast side of the 44 north of Bristow, OK.

Born and raised in Pa also. I am fortunate to live close to the borders of New York and Ohio. Could hunt either easily if I wanted to. Might be better places but I like my part of this place..

Alabama suits me. Bow season for deer from Oct. - Feb. and our deer population is holding its own. Hog hunting is year round. We have four large areas of National Forest and lots of wildlife management areas which provide public access in whatever type of terrain you prefer. Sometimes it stays too warm and you need your thermacell to maintain your blood supply, but it is okay with me.

None of you would like SC. It is just horrible when it comes to sunshine, deer hunting, liberal bag limits, fishing on the coast or trout in the mountains, year round hunting for some critters, low fees, public land and a very smart DNR. stay away at all cost. 8^)

I have lived in MI, OH,NC and SC

All of them are what you make them. I have been in Ohio almost 9 years now. The size and quality of the overall deer population has DEFINITELY changed in that timeframe.

The key is to adapt and enjoy what you have. Unless you truly have the freedom to pick. If I did, and I were choosing based on hunting then I would pick either MI or SC. Simple - variety of species. I like grouse, gators, pigs and bears

Bow hunt Oct to Jan here in Virginia, six tags, three bucks three antlerless, and can buy additional doe tags. Plenty of National Forest and WMA's if necessary.

^ ^ ^

The grass always looks greener, eh folks?

Craig, yes...if you have family elsewhere, that be different 8^).

I could stand to spend Jan through March in a warmer area, but not so far out west. Alabamy may be an option for the cold months for the wife and me.

The fact is....there really is no best place. Deer herds rise and fall, populations shift, and so and so forth. I grew up in Texas, and moved back a few years ago. It's not the best place. Public hunting land is not real prevalent. Leased land is getting more expensive all the tim. The population, especially around my beloved hill cointry, is exploding.

The fishing is till excellent. You have not only some world class freshwater fishing, but the coastal fishing is pretty over the top as well.

The employment situation is good, depending on your occupation.

ANd, it's not that far from where I live to the White River in Arkansas. New Mexico. and Colorado. As well as to Louisiana which is actually a very good place for a sportsman to be.

California sucks now; fruits,nuts,and flakes. See you in Arizona soon.

fdp, you're absolutely right. As much as I'm a died-in-the-wool native Texan, for hunting at least, it kinda stinks. Fishing ain't bad so long as you can get to the coast.

But if you're not wealthy or have family land, the hunting is a joke compared to many other states. TPWD is making progress, thankfully, but it will never equal the quality or opportunity in states with much more public land (and these days, fewer people/sq. mi.).

Frankly, the presense of livestock on nearly 100% of the state all but ensures the quality of "real" hunting will just never be that great.

I would never willingly live in a state that was 95% private property after living in Colorado and Wyoming, and traveling all the states in the west. National forest, owned by >all of us<, covers 21% of Colorado. Not even five million residents in this state and that makes yields recreational opportunity open to all men. In fact all of the west is similar. VAST tracts of land owned by ALL OF US. Paradise on earth.

Now fdp, haven't you ever heard of the slogan, "Montana - The Last Best Place" ??? 8^)

http://www.kplu.org/post/montana-last-best-place-slogan-permanently-protected

Virginia of course, great hunting and fishing from the mountains to the coast.

Societal problems are a direct function of population density. Look at India and China. Desperation from being WAAAY overpopulated. They will do anything to earn a penny, screw the environment.

Colorado has about five million residents. Great Britain has 55 million and is similar in size. Germany has 88 million and is similar in size. When Colorado has that many residents it will have just as many societal problems. Plus the overlay of government will be a whole lot tighter then it now is. We are incredibly free here, but that will change with a 15X increase in population.

In the USAF I moved around and hunted several states: Oh,Mi,Va,Ca,La,Tx and SD. Without a doubt the best all round hunting was in South Dakota, only draw back was we had to drive a long way in many direction to hunt the game we were looking for.

I've bowhunted all over the West for every big game critter, except sheep.

Colorado, Montana, Wyoming are the three best states, overall. JMO

When I left Alaska 4 years ago I took Or and WA off the list right off the bat. I was born in OR and spent 4 years in WA while in the USAF. The hunting opportunities are far to limited in both states. While I still have family in both places I chose to head right across the border to ID. Our hunting seasons are 4 times as long as where you are, the tags are cheeper, the amount of public land to hunt is amazing and far less hunters to boot. The state is long enough to offer a variety of climates and the opportunity to live ether a rural or city lifestyle. No regrets here for my choice.

I live in WA... have hunted here my whole life. In fact Seattle just got listed as a "Mega-City". I echo the sentiments above that lots of folks are hard on hunting opportunities. We have seen huge growth in the last few years and it is way tougher to find uncrowded public opportunities in WA these days. It can be done but you have to work harder, go further from roads...

Michigan

Some of the best trout water in the country

The Great lakes - Only ones I know of :)

10's of thousands of acres of public land loaded with game

Respectable work opportunities

Never more than 7 miles from fishable waters, anywhere in the state.

The UP

Fred didn't live here on accident, you know!

nobody from West Virginia, Georgia and MD?

Here in New York I can Bowhunt from October 1st to December 31 and if you do your home work there are plenty of deer around. And there's also some great fishing both salt water and fresh.

I'm a Pa. Resident and there are plenty of Turkeys, Trout, and deer. Doesn't get much better than that. My favorite hunting state is West Virgina. Plenty of woods and great Trout fishing, Turkey and Deer hunting.

Born, raised and hunted in Wisconsin all my life. Considering spending a part of the year (the winter part) in Arizona when I retire. Nice to see it's mentioned here a few times.

Im from Michigan and I hear alot of negative things about Ohio and how there's no deer and so on and so forth but I hunted Ohio 4 days last year 2 of which were 70+ degrees. Saw more bucks than I have last two seasons here I think its better than you folks give your home credit for.

Born and raised in Wisconsin. Have had good deer hunting in past years but currently the northern 1|3 of the state has heavy predation with wolves, bear bobcats which has affected deer numbers. CWD in other parts of the state has also been problematic. Crossbows were legalized a year ago which has increased the deer kill signicantly. Non-resident license costs about $160, where in Arizona I spend the winter I would have to spend $460 to hunt deer. No thanks. Joel

Born and raised in Wisconsin. Have had good deer hunting in past years but currently the northern 1|3 of the state has heavy predation with wolves, bear bobcats which has affected deer numbers. CWD in other parts of the state has also been problematic. Crossbows were legalized a year ago which has increased the deer kill signicantly. Non-resident license costs about $160, where in Arizona I spend the winter I would have to spend $460 to hunt deer. No thanks. Joel

Born and raised in Texas. Great hunting, big bucks and BIG $ bucks. Moved to Oklahoma in '92, lot of good huntin here. Deer, bear, hogs and lots of small game. We have over 1.6 million acres of public hunting. No permits no charge. During bow season (October 1- January 15) we hunt a lot of public land and I've never came across another hunter in the woods. 6 deer, 1 bear, 2 spring turkey, 1 fall turkey, all the hogs you can take. Guess I'll stay. As for all the other states, I want to huntem all.

I like it fine right here - more coast line than any other state except for Alaska, more than 11,000 lakes, millions of acres of public land, some of the best trout fishing and grouse hunting anywhere, Isle Royale, the UP, wolves, bear, a few moose and elk, and deer!

As an Arizona native, it is a nice place to live and hunt for the most part. It was a lot better when the State ran on the 4 C's. Copper, Cattle, Cotton, and Climate. Now things are moving to a technology and service based economy and it's bringing a lot of characters who want to have Arizona be like the place where they came from. I wish most of them would go home.

Heat, that's exactly what happened to Texas. They wouldn't leave, so I did.

Ya, no place is perfect. Moved west years ago because of small deer herds in Il. and Mi. Saw more dead deer along road in Mi and Il than live ones in Ca. Or Az. Right now if I could survive on pig and fish, maybe sleep on the beach, HI an't all that bad. Only trouble with any state is your income, money makes all the issues go away.

Heat, if they all went home Arizona would probably go "bankrupt".

Maryland woods and Water

It sure ain't CT.

Take me hoe to CO and I'll be a happy man, but anywhere in the rockies would be pretty darn good, too...

Born and raised in PA, and still have fond memories of hunting there as a kid, but a career in the Army led me to a host of other good hunting states to include Texas, Kansas, and Kentucky for deer, dove, and turkey. Moved from Texas to Arizona about eight years ago chasing a job, and am just starting to crack the code on at least seeing deer now, both Coues Whitetail and Desert Mule Deer. Haven't killed anything, yet, but am making progress toward shot opportunities. Still trying to get drawn for an elk tag. Slow, methodical process to putting it altogether, and at 60 yrs young, hoping I don't run out of time before I finally do. For my money, I believe Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and South Dakota are close to the top of the heap as far as diversity of game, public land access, tag prices, etc, plus you just can't beat the scenery. They're all on my bucket list as far as a final retirement locations ... if my wife says it's ok.

Doubt seriously if your going to find a best state the grass isn't greener on the other side as you age you will find these things out.

Variables every place you will have them. You will get somewhere and find out quick enough.

No matter where you go you will rely on others so you better get used to getting setteld where ever you go and fit in and make a way for yourself.

Learn to be satisfied once you chose. To broad of a question but anywhere you won't be bothered would need to be very rural but then what about a living and raising a family possibley what would be best for them unless your alone and don't care maybe. Then its easy just pick up and go and when you get tired of one place go to another.

Unless ya get shotgunned and you have to stay put.LOL

Born, raised and still living in Pennsylvania after more than 45 years.

I think the hunting is pretty much top rate. Millions of acres of public land abound and some spectacular scenery to boot. I don't always equate hunting to deer, except of course if I'm merely hunting them alone on a particular outing. We've always had a myriad of opportunities at other game, like black bear, turkey and very limited/draw only elk hunts, then there's small game - rabbits, grouse, pheasants, squirrel, etc. The trappers and waterfowlers do quite well here too, not to mention a thriving coyote population.

The fishing is simply fantastic. I'm a walleye fishing fanatic with PA's largest impoundment, The Pymatuning Resevoir, a mere 45 min. drive from my place. The Allegheny River is another place my boat sees a good bit of action on and it also contains just about every species our state has to offer. Just a half hour north of ole Pymie' and you reach the shores of Lake Erie, which needs no introduction. Our streams are well stocked with trout and the native smallmouth bass fishing is unrivaled.

I love visiting and experiencing the culture of other states, but I think I'll keep The Keystone State as the home address for the foreseeable future anyway.

Badgerman, we'll be just fine without your $460.

Well If you likehunting whitetails Illinois isn't bad 3.5 month season and two buck limit with unlimited does, not bad.

Pennsylvannia.

I like hunting other places, But i like the Appalachian and allegheney mts here.

GEORGIA.

Nuff said

shade mt,

You may have said before, but I'd have likely forgotten if you did, so what county are ya' in? I'm in the northern part of Lawrence County, btw.

South Carolina seasons are long and the deer herd is large. The climate is moderate and the people are nice. No better place.

I was born in MI and spent most of my life here but told my wife I'd move back to SD(lived there in the '80's)if we ever decided to move away...lots of opportunities, less than a million people and most of those people would go out of their way to help others out!

Good question until it made me think about what I've done. I grew up in SE Missouri until the military took me away in 1975. When I retired, I couldn't wait to move back to Mississippi where I had been stationed to hunters paradise. (I THOUGHT) Now I make more driving trips to Missouri for deer & turkey hunts then I care to admit. Good thing gas prices have gone down. But I will admit, Ms. has a lot of wildlife but as most know, when we age the importance of just killing goes away & we like to watch & take more pictures then to kill them. Then we wait for that special animal to come along that we have been waiting for & finally let an arrow fly.

I lived my life in Wisconsin and therefore my primary hunting experience is our whitetails. In the 70's and 80's whitetails were king...plentiful herd, good bucks, and ample hunting land opportunities.

Today...not so much. The CWD debacle has led to decimated populations. The growing wolf population has done the same to our northern herds, and wolves are expanding farther south every year. As a kid, we had NO coyotes but we're now overrun with em.

Other than public land...which SUCKS...obtaining permission is now nigh on impossible.

My best hunting buddy moved to Wyoming in '76 and I've hunted there with him many times...each just a great trip...albeit a 1,000+ mile drive.

But, there's a trade off; whereby I can easily hunt deer literally out my back door, my Wyo friend's hunting requires a substantial trip. For week long hunts for elk and mulies that's OK. But his "after work" hunting days are over.

You southern boys have some ample opportunities, but I'd miss our rut in November's frosty, crisp fall weather. Add to that watching the woods transform from a solid wall of September's green, to the myriad splendor of October's colors, to early winter's snow covered grey is something I look forward to each year...October and early November is a really special time slot up here.

Plus...y'all can keep yer snakes 'n skeeters...and I prefer hunting with a bit of a chill over sweating...lol.

So...yeah...despite our problems I'll never leave Wisconsin...home is home, I guess.

Fl not to bad. Im still hunting most are done. 4 bucks this season and haven't gotten to cold. Bass will be bedding shortly. All is good here.

"Which state do you feel is the best state for hunting? Tags given, season lengths, variety of animals offered, public land, and price of tags."

Connecticut has four of the five items listed. However, our variety is limited to small game, deer and turkeys. Lots of public land, tags are reasonably priced and almost unlimited for deer. The seasons are reasonable. Sunday hunting for deer was just approved. However, numerous rabid anti-hunter, anti-weapon nuts are swelling the population. Private land is difficult to obtain and the government views hunters as prey for law enforcement.

I'm glad to see that many posters from Pennsylvania are content with their homeland. A move there is in the works for me. The only drawback I can see so far is, no deer hunting during Thanksgiving week and the limitations on semi-auto firearms. I've hunted in Maine, and things look good for hunters there also.

The best, IMHO, is Hawaii. Truly a hunting and fishing paradise.

Well, it sure isn't NYS.

Arkansas......the longest continuous hunting season in the country, 6 deer, bear, turkey, elk, ducks, small game and some of the best whitetail management programs anywhere. All for $35.00 sportsman tag!

Not Jersey either

Georgia!!! Deer,pigs,turkeys,bears...Mountains,swamps,ridges,flatwoods...Beach es.lakes,trout streams,big bass. More good public land than you will ever hunt. I`m not moving.RC

roger and shade mt, you guys can kinda meet near the middle at my place. Lots of deer, turkey and better yet...STUMPS. Nothing any more fun in game hunting as summer groundhog spot and stalk either. If you can put up with a couple months of cold weather, there's no better place in my opinion. I love my Allegheny Mountains.

I've hunted just Iowa and Montana because I never had enough money to travel to hunt.

I would think that almost any state has some decent whitetail and turkey hunting.

But, it takes some of the wilder country to add in bears, elk, antelope, wolf, sheep, goats AND the deers -- whitetail and muleys.

So, I would have to push the mountain states from north to south as the best places to bowhunt.

But, it is all changing rapidly and I urge each of you to join some sportsman's group to fight to keep public land and access to it. Gotta fight for what you love.

No coment.

There was an interesting editorial commentary in trad bowhunter recently about the wealthy wanting to change current law so they can buy up public land now owned by all of us, or some such BS. For fat cat pigs there is never enough for them. This whole concept of buying vast tracks of public land, with intention of excluding common men, and then profiting by charging the hell out of them to access it, pisses me off. SOBs. These public lands need to stay that way, accessible to ALL Americans.

I'm with you Mr. Rowlands.

Massachusetts. "Not". Mass. has some beautiful woods and some big deer. But like some of the other states, the herd is mismanaged and seems hunting property is getting scares. Sort of funny but I have heard some land owners talking about leasing their land out. Pretty soon only the rich will be the only ones able to hunt.

Anywhere but Alaska,,,,,,,,Right Mike??

Why Kentucky of Course !!!

I grew up in Missouri, very good deer, turkey and upland birds are trying to make a comeback.. Great bass and crappie fishing lakes. Moved on to Montana, then to Arkansas. Montana is incredible. So much wildlife and wild places. On one bow hunt I saw deer, elk, moose, mountain goats, grouse, and black bears. On just one hunt! Been quail hunting in Texas and impressed with the number and size of the deer there. But mostly all private land.

Montana or Wyoming if you have $, Mississippi if you're poor.

Jayhawk land -- >>

Just found out that here on Kauai the "trad" way to hunt pigs is to use a knife! The pig season runs all year here and to not have issues with authorities the natives use knives. Bows are legal of course.

Iowa is where I live. I have hunted Idaho, Oklahoma,Texas, and Alaska. We do have great whitetail and turkey hunting, but those are our only "big game" animals. We also have an influx of out of state outfitters moving in. That has made it very difficult for actual Iowans to find hunting areas. In addition, we have very little public land. If you are fortunate enough to buy your own land, Or can find a farmer who will let you hunt without paying, Iowa is a good place to hunt, work, and live.

My priority is not being bothered,,,,, wild country,,,, grouse woodcock, and more trout water, than you can fish,,,,, deer hunting is just okay, but you have thousands of acres to hunt, and you can see no one if you want,,,,,,, cheap housing, and nice people,,,,,,,,, bears are a given,,,,, close to Ontario,,,,

UP, the center of the universe,,,,,,

PS,,, I have trout fished the west a lot, as of today, no thanks, too much of a hassle, and too many people on water,,,,

Montana will always be my favorite. I do like hunting Pa, Va and WV a lot too. WV has great deer, bear and turkey hunting, lots of wilderness, rugged land and killer trout fishing and it's cheap.

Places like Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, etc., always advertise their big bucks....brag about their record book deer, then wonder why out of state hunters flock in there...along with outfitters. One of the reasons I like my own state. We don't have the genetics here that the midwest is gifted with, so we don't have the big size deer or record-book antlers running around for all to see.

That said, there's a whole lot more to life and living than big game.

It's a shame to see so many folks squeezed out of their hunting because of the "big buck culture" that hunters and TV created. Unfortunately, deer hunting became a competition - he with the best score wins. Spoke to a fella recently living in the deep south that has all kinds of deer right under his feet to hunt. Instead, he chooses to hunt the Midwest for no other reason that's where megabucks live. Same goes for a couple of guys I work with. Sincerely, I don't get it.

George, your right about the Midwest states, we are inundated by both out of state hunters and outfitters, we do have public ground, but it is often over hunted, I live in Amish country and their impact on our herd has also been substantial.

No eastern state can compare to the western ones in regards to variety of big game species available or wilderness settings.I like to see open space and hunt more than whitetails too much to vote for somewhere like NY or Pa.Overall quality of life may be good here but the question asked is where the hunting is the best and it sure isn't here.

The proper State of Mind is most important. If you have that, most any location will be good.

-Joe

I'm partial to New England for many reasons. I like being close to the ocean for one.

MStyles, X2. Lived in New England my entire life and will retire soon to Maine. Been to many wonderful states, heck they're all good for different reasons.

Mississippi has plenty of deer ,eight to a year.hills and holler and stream to follow.Ducks on the wing and turkey's in the spring.dove galore with lots of wild boar.Crappie and bass all you need is to cast.seafood from the coast available to most.Squirrel in the fall and the spring with quail of all things.we have clubs to join and friends to make ,oh for goodness sake.Thousands of acres of public land just waiting for a stand.Speckled trout and redfish I f that is your dish.Yes ma'am and yes sir can still be heard .Land that's hills and land that's flat all depends where your at.Canebrakes and sloughs and the home of the blues.....BUT of all these things the same sunset and sunrise is the one you see from your state to.

Roger...sorry haven't been on in a couple days.

To answer your question i live right close to the border of Juniata and mifflin countys.

Home is in juniata...if i walk to the top of the mt behind the house i'm in Mifflin.

New Hampshire :)

Made a trip to Massachusetts this weekend to see my daughter. PA, NY & MA are very beautiful states. It sure beats Indiana. The UP has to be way up there too.

Iowas only show is deer and turkey almost all controlled by greedy farmers who have destroyed all the wildlife cover.

Michigan. I'm not much in to big buck hunting, would take a doe or buck either way. Turkey, bear, elk (albeit once in a lifetime tag in MI), fishing, game bird, water fowl, rabbit everywhere, love the UP, Great Lks, etc. we have moose in the UP but cannot hunt them. Love this state! I do hear good things about Penn. and Idaho.

hawked arrow- The farmers here are ripping out all of the buffer zones and wildlife cover to plant every last acre in corm for ethanol production. They are the greediest polluters and land ruiners on the planet. I no longer hear them calling themselves stewards of the land.

Joe

Any particular counties you guys favor in PA? Would love to relocate there.

Chuck, you can find good hunting in many counties in Pa. It depends on what you're looking for. The bigger deer herds are in the east, but so are there more people...and more competition for the public land. I live in Bedford County, halfway between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. Our entire county is 42,000 people and we're basically surrounded by the Allegheny Mountain range of the Appalachian chain. Small farms are the rule here, and steep ridges..and some creek valleys. I love it. If you get up toward, and north of Interstate 80, you get into more of what we call the "big woods" areas; miles and miles of miles and miles....of forest. Sproul State Forest is over 426 square miles in size, and Pa. has over 4 million acres of public land access, not to mention a good bit of private land that is open in cooperation with the PGC.

I really like where I live, but I could also spend a lot of time in areas like Clearfield, Tioga, Potter or Sullivan County. Massive timber tracts and plenty of public access with little competition for space. Those four counties combined have less in human population than the city of Harrisburg. Lots of great places to retire. I can give you a tour of our area sometime if you let me know ahead of time.

Indiana and Illinois

Any problems with the fracking George?

No fracking going on around our areas. Most of that is north of I-80 and you really don't hear too much ado. One of the small towns in Jefferson County was having issues with proposed waste water facility from fracking but I haven't her anything in awhile. Most of the well sites right now are abandoned since the price of crude has gone way down, they can't afford to run them...so they sit idle. That oil sits there while we still import 40% or more of our daily use oil from countries that hate us. Go figure.

Plenty of fracking sites up north, but a lot of that is on state forest land and pretty remote. In Moshannon State Forest, it actually helped out many of the cabin owners since they made better access roads down in and have kept them open in some nasty winters. The state also makes them plant around they affect areas also and that helps wildlife.

Maryland is the best, we have every Ecco system except the desert,mountains ,rolling farm land, Chesapeake Bay and yes the coastal plains and let's not forget the Atlantic.deer from end to end and the best migratory game bird hunting in the country, stripe bass, Sitka deer in our coastal areas and big Blue fin tuna and white marlin, and the list goes on and on.i have hunted Black bear in western md mountains ,deer, turkey, fox, coyote, I've taken deer in 10 different counties and all in a small state with a huge number of deer, I hunt rural and suburban areas, state parks, federal lands all over the state, we even have game you can hunt all year with no hunting license or season in fact two fur bearing species , it's wonderful hunting and trapping in the Old Line state, YAHOO

See RymanCat's answer, but add a good 4WD truck with shell.

Ohios good if you like hunting whitetails. Ohios herd was at an all time high of a little over 700k a few years back so they raised the limit. It dropped too fast to about 600k so they lowered the limit. The herd is now at about 700k before hunting season. Only about 220k-240k are killed each year so it's a tough job trying to keep the numbers at or about 700k. Our dnr does a fine job. If you like trophy whitetail hunting or even meat hunting Ohios great, plus if you can't find work in Ohio your not looking. To the guy whining about Ohio's herd, when I started hunting we had about 15k deer. It took till 1980 to get it up to about 120k. We thought that was heaven. Now its 700k so every town ,field, and patch of woods has deer in it almost. We do have hunting pressure so you gotta actualy hunt. My favorite thing to hunt is elk so if I still had my health I'd be back living in Montana. I've killed enough whitetils for one lifetime. The only thing about Montana is you gotta be versatile at making a living unless your doctor or something.

Just forget NC there are to many deer, to many lakes an the weather is terrible. Mild summer an winters in the middle of the state next to the VA line same problem. In a hour an a half or two you can be at the coast. Don't care for the coast go west young man an be in the mountains. Best hospitals in the world if you need them...In service Ft. Bragg, Seymour Johnson, Cherry Point, Camp Lejune. Yelper I would not think twice about NC! Hope this helps.

I use to be pretty content here in Iowa. Really good deer, plenty of turkey. Pheasant and quail weren't bad either. But in recent years most of the good hunting ground has been bought up or leased for deer hunting. I've lost at least 90% of my hunting ground. What I have left is the less desirable hunting ground. I'm thankful that I still have some though. Much of the mid-west is experiencing the same thing.

North Eastern Iowa where I live has a lot of public hunting. Some of it is over hunting but if you're willing to hike you can get to areas with little hunting pressure.

I've praised SC recently and in the past, but please disregard my past praisings. I still love my state and home city, but recent news stories have stated that 40 people a DAY are moving to my city, and I'm not sure where we are going to put them all. Places I hunted 20 years ago, you can't throw a rock now without hitting a house - literally! Sandbars I fished 30 years ago, now have 50 to 75 boats all rafted together to form one large party regatta all summer long - literally!

I know I'm not unique, and I'm half joking - but I'm half not as well. Lol

I hear Florida is great!

Just slide over the border to Idaho. You'll be amazed at how much lower the cost of living is and how much public land there is. Very generous hunting seasons and no messing with a drawing for deer, elk and bear tags.

California has horrible politics but good opportunity for hunting just don't get caught releasing your arrows during an earthquake.

Oh ya I was born in Minneapolis moved here when I was a kid.

I'm getting taxed out of my home state (NJ) . The cost of living is ridiculous, Personally I have great bowhunting here. My own land bordering state land, not very much pressure. It's just the quality of life with the high living costs and the restrictions. Always thought I'd join the wagon train to bordering Pa.,(4 miles away) but seems like living costs are high there too.

Best state is where the people are the best. That's Oklahoma.

Senior lifetime fishing and hunting lisense cost me $25. Cost my older brother $15 but they raised the price.

"but recent news stories have stated that 40 people a DAY are moving to my city, and I'm not sure where we are going to put them all. Places I hunted 20 years ago, you can't throw a rock now without hitting a house - literally! Sandbars I fished 30 years ago, now have 50 to 75 boats all rafted together to form one large party regatta all summer long - literally!"

Texas is worse. I hardly even recognize the state I grew up in.

The population here has doubled since I was in high school, the acreage of public land obviously has not though, and most larger tracts of land are being divided into 5-acre "ranches."

If I could wave a magic wand, I'd live in Montakwany. Combined qualities make the best state of all. Montana/Alaska/Washington/New York. Nuff said... Oh, one more thing. Senior LT Hunt/fish >70 yrs, $5... But they'll kill you in taxes to make up for it.

There is no "best" state. It all depends on what you like to hunt and what environment you like to live in. One man's paradise is another man's hell hole.

Though VT is a very pretty state, it's not the place for a deer hunter who would like one every year. This year is a good example of poor management. We had a very easy winter which helped the herd tremendously. What does the state of VT do? Show their greed by doubling up on doe permits that will be allowed for Muzzleloader. It was a nice spring/summer seeing many deer for the first time in years! Unless we have an easy winter again, this will change. The prior year was very rough on deer with sub zero temps throughout the whole winter. Very glad that I decided to purchase land in Ohio 7 years ago. To bad it's a 10 hour drive to get there, and I can only make it for a week a year; if I can afford to do that with the price of lodging. Working my way to the dream of putting a small place on the OH land. That's the state I got my first deer in 2008 "My first year hunting OH"; after hunting almost 20 years in VT eating my tags. Every year I have gone to OH; filled at least one tag, and put the precious meat that my family loves on the table.

Virginia is the worst. Don't come here, even to try it. ;)

Chuck172, cost of living is much higher east of the Susquehanna River than it is here in the rural area of the Allegheny Mountains. We don't have enough "going on" here for the yuppies and those others who have to have entertainment. Our biggest cities are in the 40,000 range, but most small towns like Bedford are around 6,000. If you have to work in N.J., that won't help, but if you're looking to retire, this is a wonderful place. I know property tax alone is bout four times higher in eastern Pa. than where we live. My offer stands. I'll show you around some beautiful and affordable country whenever you like.

It depends on what you like. I know guys who moved to South Dakota for the pheasant hunting. I hate South Dakota myself (altho I go there pheasant hunting)but they're in heaven.

Ditto what Chesapeake born said about MD despite its loathsome politics. So much varied terrain from mountains to farmland to seashore to marshes. And we have that little exotic that drives us wild, the marsh ghost, the Sika deer. We also have insane liberal bag limits too if you're a deer glutton. And don't forget our salt and brackish water fishing in the bay and ocean.

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