I grew up 15 minutes West of Des Moines Iowa, great place to live. The economy is fantatic, very inexpensive housing market (land is way expensive though) The pheasant and quail popukation is WAAAY down compared to 15 years ago but getting better (JOIN PHEASANTS FOREVER/DUCKS UNLIMITED please) There are obviously big bucks there, always saw a 160+ during bow season on grandpa's 90 acre farm.

That being said Northeast Iowa is a huge sleeper part of the state. People always travel to Souther Iowa and for good reason, but 2 of the top 4 trophy producing counties are up NE.

Easier to make a great living for yourself/family in Iowa


moved out to Bozeman Montana July of 2013. Montana is a whole different ballgame! Longest bowhunting seasons in the West I believe, huge variety of animals to chase after. I called in a 386" bull elk for a buddy to 18 yards, and had aother mid 340" bull at 32 yards but my buddy setup on the wrong tree.

I got a pretty nice pronghorn with my compound, and there are guys shooting some really nice 190+") muleys. I havent seen any, thats my fault as I didnt scout nearly enough..

It is tough to hunt out here, and truth be told I really miss my family and stand hunting for whitetails back in beautiful Iowa.

Hard choice, ideally I could buy a hunting cabin/home on some land back in Iowa and still be able to hunt here in Montana. The mountains are just gorgeous, fantastic hunting opportunites and some of the best fly fishing in the world.

Good luck with your choice

QuoteOriginally posted by Biathlonman:
Kentucky. Great deer numbers with long liberal seasons, land that is still relatively affordable, booming elk herds, and an ever increasing bear population. Weather is also pretty decent most of the time, and the economy is the central part of the state has been fairly recession tolerant.

X2...Kentucky is the place to be for me!

I did see futurama a once. Funny. Any way, I sure like bow hunting in NJ.

May I ask what is wrong with IL? I know the area around Chicago is gone price crazy but what about further south? I know they used to turn out a real good deer heard in lower 1/3 of state. There used to be a couple National Forests that were good hunting also.

I'm going to vote for Maryland, the eastern shore specifically. Beautiful land, fairly flat, excellent whitetail herd, excellent waterfowl and small game habitat, and the Chesapeake bay and everything that amazing waterway has to offer. Deer seasons are long and you can take more deer with the basic license than anyone really needs to take.

If I had it to do over again, I'd look for the place I could buy the biggest chunk of land, with a decent climate.

Another vote for Kentucky...great hunting and my home state

Id have to vote for S.Dakota as a great all around choice especially if you factor great fishing. It has low population and HUGE chunks of land that arent ruined. Wyoming is nice if your game is elk,muleys,moose. Trout fishing is good also.

It would be hard for me to choose a state that did not have more than two or three big game species. Any of the rocky mountain states would do it for me. I do not like the short seasons and limited bag limits in WA, but love the variety of species. You can hunt Elk for 2 weeks, Whitetail, Muley, or Blacktail for a little more than a month in most places, Moose/bighorn sheep/mountain goat if you are very lucky, black bear, cougar, pheasant/quail/grouse/turkey/geese/ducks. The only thing we don't have is pigs and squirrels and antelope. No wolves or Grizzly to hunt either (though they are here in limited numbers).

Oh yeah, there is also 13 MILLION acres of public land open to hunting here too. Almost forgot that part lol.

Alaska is great I love it here. It is a great place to hunt. But there are very few advantages to bowhunting such as longer seasons. All of my hunting is done competing with the rifle hunters. Also like mentioned it takes more of an expedition to hunt here. There are a lot of hunting opportunities off of the road system but most of those get hunted pretty hard and very little of the state is accessible by road system. But the variety of game is good.

Thanks for the replies everyone! It's very appreciated!

As for why I am looking outside of Illinois, my soon to be ex-wife will be remaining there and I think I need a change in scenery.

what Whip said X2

Everything that was said above! Whatever you do, don't come to Texas! Texas is a terrible place to hunt, no one ever wants to come to Texas to hunt!    

LD

Arizona is my pick after having visited every state in the US and hunting in 20+ and 6 provinces. AZ has it all--mountains to desert; and I believe more species of big game to hunt than any other state--no moose or mountain goat but everything else.

Oh yeah, winters in AZ on top of giant Midwest whitetails and September in the mountains. Yeah, that should do it.  

Lived in Iowa my whole life so some might find it crazy that I'd choose a different state.  But, aside from white tail deer and turkey - we don't have much to hunt.  Small game hunting is not great and the fishing is poor at best compared to a lot of states.

Most of our prime hunting land is leased up or at least very hard to get permission on.  If you said 'own land' then maybe I'd look at Iowa again.  

I absolutely love the Western landscape and the variety of animals to hunt.  That would drive me outside of Iowa.

I would choose Colorado or Wyoming.  I would consider South Dakota as well for the fishing in the off season!!

I've lived in Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, and Kentucky (in that order). I liked all those states (and this KY) but I wouldn't move back to any of them.  Because I work from my home I can live anywhere I want (in the lower 48) EXCEPT, my wife of 37 years and I don't want to live much further than a stone's throw from at least one of our children and our grandchildren. So, I'm quite happy here in KY.

If the who tribe would go with me I'd pick Colorado and try to ignore the deteriorating politics there.  Several species of big game, OTC tags for many and of course it is a beautiful place. My first job was three months "counting trees" in Colorado back in 1977.

Indiana, or Montana....

Right here in GA.....

Big Deer in parts, turkeys, grouse, bears, small game...and hogs YEAR ROUND!!!