I notice that a lot of guys on here are white tail hunters and it got me thinking. Could you or would you give up your hunting for western hunting? For instance would you sacrifice 4 or 5 deer tags a year for one deer tag? Don't get me wrong I love chasing big desert mule deer and Coues deer as well as elk bear javelina turkey pronghorn and bison as well as sheep but I really would like to be able to take several deer a year. Who would give it up? Im not talking CO either where you hunt elk every year. Im talking about waiting 5+ years for huge elk and triple that for sheep and lope of you are lucky.

I feel blessed to live in a state where I get 6 whitetail tags, 3 turkey tags, and 1 bear tag on my big game license.
But, I would love to be able to pursue muleys, elk, moose, coues deer, hogs, each year.
I guess the grass is always greener.  Much the same reason I end up with so many different bows I guess...LOL
Ken

I'd give up a deer season for another week in elk country. I've been twice but nobody told the elk I was there.

I'd punt arkansas in about 2.1 seconds if I could get somewhere with fewer people and more open country.  That said, I enjoy the hunting here, but the west has much more variety (assorted upland birds, more than two types of small game, and more than one or, if you really stretch a point, two big game species).  But to me the main thing would be fewer humans.  People are like drinks: okay in moderation.  It's just that some of us, admittedly, have a lower tolerance than others.

According to our state game laws, I understand that I could shoot as many deer as I want, if I buy tags for them.

BUT...

My life is pretty hectic, and I just don't have time to set up and monitor trail cams, knock on farmers' doors seeking permission to hunt their land, and learning the whitetails' own backyard in public land at least an hour away well enough to kill them in it.  I have to rely on a bit of dumb luck, and that has translated to mean lots of TIME in the woods, which, again, I haven't got. So that means that I don't need all those tags!  I've hunted here since 2004, shot a small deer in 2005, and that's it.

I am from the west (Alaska, Washington), and I miss being able to climb hills, glass for game, and try to chase them down.  Even though I was never a hunter-extraordinairre in the west, I would never trade western hunting for the kind of deer hunting I've encountered in Illinois.  Some guys surely have more time and better access to land than I do, but for the casual hunter like me, the west is much more enjoyable.

I gave it up 20 years ago, moved from Nebraska to WY. Best thing I ever did. I still go back east to hunt whitetails. Non-res whitey tags back east are cheaper than non-res tags out west.

QuoteOriginally posted by Shedrock:
I gave it up 20 years ago, moved from Nebraska to WY. Best thing I ever did. I still go back east to hunt whitetails. Non-res whitey tags back east are cheaper than non-res tags out west.

Except Iowa!  

I intend no disrespect to those with the opposite opinion.

My stance is that I wouldn't trade any of my current hunting time in Ohio for a future trip somewhere else. Life doesn't have an expiration date and your time stamp could be tomorrow or in 10 minutes. I will take and be thankful for what I have today and save any extra cash a little at a time for a future big trip. Life is short and I figure I will enjoy what's here now. That's just my opinion and I am sure there are others that would disagree with me. Everyone has different goals and priorities.

God bless,
-Charlie

Nope, nada, and in no way would I trade what I have for something else.  Like Charlie stated above, you never know when you will be dead so live.  I never really had a problem with other hunters in AR (except for one leaf eating tree huggin hippie), but I go out of my way to make sure I am out of most peoples area...100 yards from a parking spot.

If you have to have a boat, hip waders, or start in shorts and change into your winter clothes at the stand due to a long walk, you will be alone.

God Bless,
Nathan

No way.  I love my home state of Indiana and almost unlimited deer tags.  Plus I can go west when I want, which is generally every other year.

I would certainly like to spend some time out west hunting game we don't have in GA, but overall, I am a whitetail hunter and would not want to give up our long season permanently.

I will make it out west for a few hunts in the next 10 years, as work and finances allow, but there is no way that I would give up hunting here at home to make the trips.
 For me it is not about antlers, but about the great times that I am able to spend with my 11 year old daughter in the woods.  She has turkey hunted and deer hunted with me since she was 4 years old.  She shot her first deer this last January and has high hopes of shooting two this fall with her muzzleloader.  She has really started shooting her bow a lot this year with plans of building up her strength and ability, so she can bowhunt next year.  She loves to sit in the stand with me, when I bowhunt and she is becoming a really good tracker.  On top of that she is going to be extremely hard on the squirrel population come September 1st!
 Although I have never shot an elk myself, I would love to get her a chance at one and hopefully we can one day soon.  But for now we are making too many backyard memories to give up our local fall seasons.

Luckily my active duty military time, plus hunting with military friend, I got to hunt Pa, Va, Mo, Tx, Az, Ca, Wy, Mt, Nc, Ok, Id, Nv and Ak.
I love sitting in an oak ravine for whitetails, turkeys and squirrels.  Sitting on a small ridge watching for 'bou and griz in aAk is such a unique experience.  And west for elk and mulies where you can see them over a mile away gets your heart beating for two hours or more. There is so much to love in each scenario,  that picking just one is difficult.  All that said, hunting a place that ensures you tags annually has an appeal.  I guess at my age, I will just plow up a mountain and look for mulies.  My tags this year open within 5 days of one another but the designated areas are 200 miles apart.  Elk in central Nv and deer in northern Nv.  Pluses and minuses in every situation

Yup, I would give up whitetails to live and hunt the Western states on a regular basis.  I've killed a lot of whitetails, but still long to take down many Western species.  In a heartbeat I would.

I would not give up whitetails to go hunt out west forever but perhaps for a season yes.