If you could live in any state for hunting, where would you live?

[KyRidgeRunner]

Love it in ky...  But I was born and raised here and God willing my children's grandchildren will say the same.  There's a good amount of critters to hunt here.  If you look at the zone map on ky game and fish you will see which counties are zone 1.  Those counties have an unlimited bag on antleress deer, which is fun!  I live close to mammoth cave national park and wouldn't live anywhere else in the nation!  Good luck in your search!

[YORNOC]

Wyoming.

[Friend]

The grass always looks greener in another state except for Kentucky, where it is blue.

[beaunaro]

One of the magazines recently had an article listing the best cities to live if you like hunting, fishing, and the outdoors in general.

Might have been Field and Stream?
I can't remember for sure.

Rapid City topped their list.

Personally, I really don't mind spending winters in FL or TX, hunting hogs, and the rest of the year in the Midwest.

[el chupa nibre]

Thanks again, everyone! Lots to think about...

[Bladepeek]

I love Michigan, but if I could afford to I'd sure as heck go somewhere else for the winter!

19 degrees in November sucks!

[mangonboat]

Most hunting I know of requires a modicum of expenditure, so you have to have a job or inherit the family fortune. For most folks, its the former, so you need to live in a good place to work as well as hunt. Last I checked, it was impossible to sit for the Hawaii bar exam and practice in HI unless you went to law school there.Also a VERY expensive place to live.

[philos]

Wyoming for big and bigger big game-elk, antelope, mulies & whitetail.  

If you never hunt anything larger than deer then South Carolina is not bad.  I live in South Carolina and while the weather is hot in early season the deer season in some parts of the state runs from August 15th through January 1st.  Wild hogs, turkeys and a few bear to be had as well.

Kentucky is a great state for big deer also and as noted above elk are thriving. I believe the Kentucky elk herd is now over ten thousand.

[Jahmi]

Take a look at Oregon.  Lots of public land, mild climate, long hunting season and a good variety of game.

[el chupa nibre]

Originally posted by mangonboat:
Most hunting I know of requires a modicum of expenditure, so you have to have a job or inherit the family fortune. For most folks, its the former, so you need to live in a good place to work as well as hunt. Last I checked, it was impossible to sit for the Hawaii bar exam and practice in HI unless you went to law school there.Also a VERY expensive place to live.

Not sure of where you heard that information, but you are be able to sit for any bar exam that you wish so long as you've graduated from an ABA-accredited law school. Having such a provision necessitating graduation from a same-state law school program would discriminate against interstate commerce and would therefore likely violate the dormant commerce clause (not sure if the Fed has spoken directly on this topic and too lazy to do the research lol).

But yes, it is expensive to live there but I don't need much in terms of worldly things. The biggest issue of Hawaii for my particular circumstances is that the legal market is not very developed compared to other states, meaning less opportunities.

[Tater]

You can go 300 miles south remain in the state of Illinois enjoy a rural lifestyle, reasonably priced property and long liberal seasons, Whitetail, Turkey and great waterfowl hunting if so inclined.

    Do your research, I was born and raised is So. Illinois moved to Colorado 1979 spent the last 35 years there, retired at the end of June and relocated back to So. IL always was my plan, love it here we have a great a little farm that backs up to Natl. Forest.

  Good luck with whatever you decide!

[Tater]

Dang double post!

[el chupa nibre]

Originally posted by Tater:
You can go 300 miles south remain in the state of Illinois enjoy a rural lifestyle, reasonably priced property and long liberal seasons, Whitetail, Turkey and great waterfowl hunting if so inclined.

    Do your research, I was born and raised is So. Illinois moved to Colorado 1979 spent the last 35 years there, retired at the end of June and relocated back to So. IL always was my plan, love it here we have a great a little farm that backs up to Natl. Forest.

  Good luck with whatever you decide!

Not sure if I'm ready to commit to living a rural lifestyle just yet. I guess I'm kind of a city slicker. I was raised in the Chicago area my whole life, but I also happen to love the outdoors. In that way, I really stand out as an oddity in my family: no one has any inclination towards participating in outdoor activities like myself.

Furthermore, I'm ethnically Korean, which makes me even more of an oddity, from both perspectives of hunters and non-hunters alike (especially in Illinois as there aren't many Asian hunters/outdoorsmen as far as I can tell). But I do agree that staying in Illinois has its advantages. Without going into too much detail about the divorce itself, I just think I need the fresh beginning and moving to another state has its perks.

Thank you for the well wishes!

[centaur]

If you are a city slicker, maybe the front range of Colorado would be up your alley.

[MnFn]

I would say North Dakota except so much of it is privately owned. It is tough to find public land , except in the west.
You have a chance to draw permits for whitetail, mulies, turkeys, moose, elk and sheep.  Admittedly, the last three are near impossible to get but it lets me dream about it every year.
Also great walleye fishing.

I like Colorado, but would miss the deer hunting in MN and ND.

[Tater]

Like Centaur (Pat) said if you like traffic,left wing liberals, urban sprawl and big cities move to the front range of Colorado, don't get me wrong I loved the years I spent there it is beautiful.

  BUT it's not the same state I moved to in 1979!

[CRS]

Originally posted by centaur:
If you are a city slicker, maybe the front range of Colorado would be up your alley.

I agree,
If you want to chase more than whitetails and turkeys.

[jonsimoneau]

I've always had the desire to move out west but if I did it would have to be an area with good whitetail hunting. I just don't see any species of big game taking over my love for whitetails. I live in Illinois. We still have some big deer here but gaining access to them has become very difficult. My largest chunk of private ground is about 20 acres of woods. The public areas around my home are absolutely overrun with hunters. I hunt as often as I can and I normally see around 30 deer per season.  I imagine parts of Iowa are the same way. I went to college in Southern Illinois and while I'm sure things have changed there as well, I'd move back there in a heartbeat. Even if you cannot get permission to hunt private ground there are 250,000 acres of public ground.  Big bucks are not common but they do exist and getting away from people is not too hard to do. I would also consider living in Kentucky if I could. Nice climate and good deer numbers. As a whitetail hunter I'd love to be in Iowa but it seems to me that it would be very difficult and perhaps expensive to gain access to good deer hunting.   Steve O mentioned AZ and honestly I have never even considered that. My uncle lives out there. But then again if have to leave my whitetails.

[ishoot4thrills]

Somewhere where I can buy over-the-counter elk tags and also hunt whitetails and that is "gun friendly" as well.

[Friend]

Merely a desirable dream:

The forum "The Hawaiian Connection" reveals numerous attractive exotic-type species and hogs as well as having a lengthy turkey season. The terrain, as a ground hunter, is personally attractive.

I feel quite fortunate, blessed and well pleased residing in my own area of KY, however Hawaii's varied beautiful game has me nibbling at the bait.