Trad Gang

If you could hunt whitetails in any state and could only choose one where would it be?????


For me KANSAS no doubt!!!!!!

Iowa

KS, had good luck there before, check my avatar.

Kentucky    :D

Iowa

Kansas for me.

Katman, thats a nice one.  Kansas you never know whats gonna walk by. Had alot of good times up in Kansas.

Kansas  :rolleyes:

probably Illinois

Right where I am at..  Illinois.  Can't believe that, cause when I was young the only thing ya shot in IL, IA, KS etc was pheasants... course, I was in Jersay.   My how times have changed....  Elk in KY, AR and MI and KS.

Right here. No traveling = Cheap. Plus there are still plenty of deer around for now.

Here in Montana, Milk River area is great. Or Illinois is my next choice.

Kansas.

I would stay put

Right here at home in Pennsylvania. We have some nice deer here and are starting to shoot buck as big as anywhere whitetails are found. When you have P&Y deer out your backdoor on your own land there's no need to go anywhere else.

South East Kansas... What a Whitetail paradise..!

Longstykes:

Do ya know a guy by the name of Ed Webber in Big Timber?

Moot point, because I'd be in jail for offing whomever made me have to choose.  Kinda like some people ask "If you had to choose between hunting and fishing, which would it be?"  Invalid question, because I'd be revolting against whomever made me choose.

BUT....hypothetically, I guess I'd have to say Arkansas, because I can walk out the back door and be hunting in two minutes.   ;)

Kentucky.

I won't say where because it is a popular white-tail state. But when I left IN for different pastures I thought I was going to a white-tail paradise. For me it wasn't.  My point being, be careful to look closely at the grass you're standing in.

i don't need to go anywhere else for whitetails, thyre everywhere. and some darn good ones at that. MISSOURI  :saywhat:

I'll be the First to Say... Tejas

Oklahoma is mighty easy.

Easy. Kansas is the one with the best reputation for having the biggest deer.

Well, you did not specify what kind of whitetail, so I will say Coues whitetail in Arizona. They got the best of me on my last trip. I will be back for revenge!

Montana...that way I could switch to mulies... if I had the tags...

Northern Michigan.  :saywhat:

I've hunted both Iowa and Mo....

But I'll agree with Montana, so I could also hunt muleys, elk, speedgoats!!

I am kind of happy right where I am MN.

Iowa or Kansas, I guess thats what keeps me here in weather like this.

:dunno:

Iowa

I'm happy here

Kansas

Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas are probably still the best as far as growing truly huge whitetails.  For hunting and seeing big numbers of nice bucks, I would look into Montana.  I really wanna hunt whitetails there someday.

Texas

Texas for me too!

I went to college at Emporia State in Kansas, so been there. I'd say Montana Milk River. Somewhere different.
Glenn

Virginia. Lots of deer here. Maybe Tennessee.

QuoteOriginally posted by Lost Creek Bows:
Iowa or Kansas, I guess thats what keeps me here in weather like this.

Was feeling the same way listening to this wind howl!  I think you will get a bit more on the ground than me.  No fun!

I'll stay here at home.  Hard to beat a 5 month long season!!!!!!!!  Still got almost a month to go.

BOB

Iowa

Wisconsin- Buffalo County
Go Packers

I made that choice about 4yrs ago and moved to Southern Illinois just for the deer hunting. Soon as I got here the deer moved too. It's gotten worse every yr. since I've been here.

I don't know what's happening to the deer population..coyotes eating them, over hunted, cougars or what..but it's not disease I know. I'm in the woods almost every day and don't find any carcases. It's not me spooking them out from being in the woods so much either, because I don't see them on the roads like I use to. Everybody around the area agrees...less deer every yr. for about the last 5yrs.

I'll say Montana.  The scenery and terrain I've seen in photos from some Montana hunts is spectacular.  Maybe not the greatest trophy potential but would be a memorable trip which is more important to me.  I'm actually pretty happy at home here in Minnesota.

It's not a state, but hunting the big bodied, dark antlered bucks of Saskatchewan would be pretty nice too.

I'll have to consult with my future adoptive parents to see where if we could only choose one state. The Wensels and Mittens are are the front-runners in the custody battle over me. I'll get back to you!

Ohio and Kentucky offer bowhunters the best overall options IMO. Very long bow seasons, ample antlerless tags, great chances at mature bucks, etc.

Missouri (most anywhere in the midwest)

MT. My buddy just bought a place there, and if I draw, I'll be there next fall. There's a bunch of 135 class bucks there with a good chance to see something bigger.

I'm thinkin Indiana is a sleeper state, going to see more and more big bucks come outta there.

I always wanted to hunt one of the bow zones in Alberta.

So many places, so little time...

Texas.......   South Texas.

I would miss Michigan too much if I went somewhere else and could hunt only one state.

The hunting here used to be much better than it is now, but I still couldn`t leave.

i will say, All of the above.  Well, you can't just choose one!!  

If I could go to 5 or 6 states a year to bowhunt without my wife killing me, I would.

Ontario  :D  Not a State but it's as close as we got!

Right here in Michigan. A lot cheaper in the long run. Plus, the only thing that antlers are good for is stirring soup,lol!  :)

Wyoming,SD,Montana. Wyoming has awesome, unpressured bucks and you can choose between the mulies and whitetail.

I've hunted whitetails in PA, NY, NH, ME, MD, VA, AL, TX, MO, MN, WI, KY and CO.  Each state was fun.

My choice would have to be somewhere that I haven't been and somewhere that I have a strong desire to hunt......and having preference points to boot......IOWA!

  :campfire:

OHIO

Massive buck everywhere...AND I could still be hunting right now...that's insane...What a lucky bunch out there...

Everyone should come hunt VT for a season to see how good they have it in their state!

KANSAS

I belive IN is a sleeper state also but don't realy wanna leave my state to chase whitetails bit will for other critters so ill be in kansas for them

Ohio

the hoosier state for me

Right here in Ohio.

Another pick for IOWA...

Louisiana. I really miss living there.

Wisconsin is my choice. I have been fortunate to have hunted whitetails in many states. But theres still nowhere like home.

No way I'm staying right here in Ontario.

I've only hunted whitetails in two states, NE and IA.  From my experiences in IA, hands down that state although they are starting to experience some questionable deer management these days (especially in terms of how it affects bowhunters).  In my hunts over there, about half of the bucks seen were 110" or better, and that makes for very interesting hunting.

I predict very poor days ahead for NE's deer based on their current strategies which seem based more on legislative micromanaging and shotgun management schemes than anything else.  It's too bad, because things were improving gradually through most of the 2000's, mostly by accident it now seems.  I hope I'm wrong.  

Kansas is the state I wish I'd tried.  A very interesting place for a person to live would be in the SW corner of Iowa or NE corner of Kansas.  They could hunt their own state cheap, hunt NE and MO over-the-counter relatively cheap as non-residents, and play the application game at either IA or KS (whichever they didn't live in).  Pretty good gig for the whitetail fanatic.

Kentucky! Heck, I'd move down there if my wife would go...dang her hide! Jason

Michigan, been hunting whitetails here since 1970, hunted opening here with my son since he was 4yrs old and still hunt opening with him every year. Just can't imagine missing any of it. Still hunting my late Grandparents farm the new owner has given me hunting rights for as long as I want it just means so much to  still be in those woods I grew up in.

Thats awesome Doug, Its great to be able to hunt with your son for so many years on the same place you grew up on, Bet it means alot.

Thanks everyone for the powwow chat its really cool how everyone has a State and reason behind it.

Iowa. plus I live here.  ;)

It would be hard for me to travel somewhere, to hunt something I could hunt in my backyard.

Love hunting KY, but having hunted Iowa which put a totally different perspective on hunting whitetails.

I have only taken a couple of P&Y's and I am lucky to see 1 to 2 P&Y's a season.  I have never seen a booner from the stand.

In one week in Iowa,from a stand. I saw two booners, passed on two 130 class bucks, had a monster in close that would never stop in the open where I could pull off a shot yet actually drew three times on him but he was rutting hard. Also saw four other 130 -140 class deer that were out of range.

Where I hunted in Iowa, 8 out of 10 bucks that make P&Y are 2 1/2 yr olds.

Would have to stay in NY only because I hunt with my brothers here. Now if I'm allowed to take them...... Well, then we are off to Wyoming. Love hunting there

Westchester County NY, if you can get access to some private land, you can get onto some really nice bucks, especially if you can get access to abandoned estates.

I am not the right one to ask -- I have only hunted Whitetails in the state of Wisconsin, so my answer is Wisconsin. A lot of public land through out state, particularly like the big northern woods of Wisconsin -- not as many deer though, thanks Jerry.

This might seem a little odd but I'm looking forward to hunting RI this Fall. A buddy of mine has been telling me about the amount of deer he sees while hunting there. The deer are not monsters but then again I'm not a trophy hunter. There are big deer but not giants. The hunting season goes through January and you can hunt on Sundays.

Missouri.

QuoteOriginally posted by LongStick64:
Westchester County NY, if you can get access to some private land, you can get onto some really nice bucks, especially if you can get access to abandoned estates.

x2 on that...My old man told me stories of massive ten points and 16 pointers with droptines when he used to hunt there in the 70's.

He said the 16 point was a non typical and regularly used a run litterally feet from a chainlink fence and I95.He knew the deer was there and setup on it trying to get a shot.Well one time he seen the deer coming,and said that buck got his rack caught in the chain link fence.It started thrashing around and he RAN over to it trying to get a shot and just as he got there it freed itself and bounded off.  :laughing:  

As a kid growing up there I seen some of the biggest buck I saw in my life (Till I went to OH)'Bout impossible to find a place to hunt there.I get to hunt about a 3 acre parcel in Shrub oak periodically.

Grass is always greener.... I love Montana, but 140-145 is about as good as it gets around me.  I would love to hunt KS, IA, or IL where the chance of a monster is a real possibility.  Don't get me wrong though, I'm plenty happy here.

I've only ever hunted in NY so can't judge.  But if the bucks on KentuckyTJ's album all came from Kentucky I'd go there and shadow him.    :thumbsup:  

Any one of those has more antler than I have seen in the past two years if all added up.

id say iowa i live in se kansas and dnt realize how good we have it here but id love to compare it to iowa

Texas...glad I be here...

Any where but Vermont I have been to ohio 5 of last 6 years god willing I will be there thisyear ....Vermont a state of depression

Kansas for sure.  I have hunted it once and saw more large bucks in a week there than I have ever seen in my life in Oklahoma.

I'll stay home for my deer hunting. It's not the secret that it use to be. Ohio has some monsters around.

Right here corn fed bucks in Nebraska!

I like it here in my home state of Pennsylvania!!

I would stay put here in Illinois.

Iowa

Michigan, so all my nieces and nephews can help me drag it out of the woods   :)   !

RonP

...Ohio.... Glad too see not many saying OHIO !! Keeps everyone away from so many HUGE DEER !!! ..lol

QuoteOriginally posted by getstonedprimitivebowhunt:
...Ohio.... Glad too see not many saying OHIO !! Keeps everyone away from so many HUGE DEER !!! ..lol

I was thinking the same thing about Virginia. The southern part of the state is pretty good huntin'. Watermelon and strawberry eatin deer.

Friend,
I would guess that you were hunting with an outfitter or on  private land. (I may be wrong). Iowa  has the least public land per capita of all the  states ((maybe not tops but close), and you'll not find that quality of hunting on public land.

Plus Iowas' deer numbers are way down in most areas.Past couple of years has been the worst (numbers and quality)hunting I've seen in the past 20 years.

I'm pretty happy here in Missouri

Love being home. Alabama

I moved across the state line from OK for 1 reason! Put me in for Kansas!

Kentucky!!!!!!! and CT