Best State for Resident Hunting Opportunties

[Wyobohunter]

I always like the responses from Alaska where the hoods are up and the skies are grey. If you were raised in a state where you had a lot of blue sky and nice weather, you might be in for a rude awakening.

I really enjoyed the weather in AK. Of course I didn’t have to cope with the deep cold of Fairbanks, the insane amount of rain in SE, or the ridiculous snowfall of Valdez. The Kenai Peninsula was never all that hot or cold. It did rain more than I was accustomed to, but it didn’t bother me. I’d move back in a heartbeat if I could find a solid job.

 

[mossyoak52]

Youve been right on many things, but this aint one. Maybe several years ago

Yes he is Colorado still accounts for more record book mue deer then any state in the u.s even today

 

[mossyoak52]

100% WY and it’ll only get better with time, otc hunting for trophy animals for residents and probably some of the best elk and deer hunting in the west.

Plus you’ll be surrounded by other decent states to hunt as a NR.

Wyomng has great hunting but there are several states that will beat it for trophy mule deer and whitetails
And a couple that will give it a run for trophy elk

 

[Gerard Marcaurele]

From experience, I can tell you that it definitely is NOT Texas.

 

[ReaptheHeat]

I have lived in Washington, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Maine, Florida, Hawaii and in 5 other countries thanks to my Uncle Sam. Grew up in Wyoming and currently live in New Mexico.

Here is my take on this controversial topic.

Nobody wants you to move to their honey hole. So the odds of getting an honest answer are completely off. I personally don't care where you move.

Here is my 2 cents:

Wyoming. There is decent over the counter hunting, but it will be competitive. You can hunt elk and deer every year over the counter. Fishing is pretty good, and not super crowded. There is no resident points programs for antelope, elk and deer. You may spend 3-5 years between buck antelope tags.

Montana. Also has decent over the counter hunting, because most of the state is OTC. They were stupid and adopted a resident points program. The goat, moose, bison and sheep tags are on a bonus points program, so you could possibly see one or two of those tags in your life.

Idaho. Has decent over the counter hunting, if you are a bowhunter most of the elk and deer tags are OTC. No points program for anything. More people than Wyoming and Montana, and less land. It would suck to live in East Idaho or Boise and not be Mormon and be single.

Arizona. Great quality hunting if you can draw a tag. Preference points program you are 30 years behind on. Fishing is ok, desert state. Scottsdale looks like a good place to be single, tons of fake boobs.

New Mexico. Great quality hunting if you can draw a tag, but no points programs. We have been residents for 3 years and I have drawn; elk, a crap deer tag, a great deer tag and a javelina tag in that time. If you bow hunt you can almost always draw a tag of some sort. Close to Arizona and Texas for draw hunts. Fishing is better than Arizona. Mostly desert state. If I was single, I am not so sure I wouldn't stay here, as it there are tons of hot women as long as you like spicy Latina brunettes. Especially down here near El Paso.

Alaska. I was single in Alaska the first time, yep. It is a boring place to be single. There are so many single dudes, that a lot of the women are tired of being chased and have given up on men. I was single in Barrow as well as Sitka. In Sikta it sucked, in Barrow it was fine. But I was 25 and all the women were in their mid 30's. They still dated me, but there wasn't good age matches.
There are also a huge number of wallet and chain lesbians in Alaska. So that doesn't help your odds. Fishing in Alaska is the best it can be. Hunting is based on your ability to get to it, because you bought the equipment or paid someone to take you out there. The draw hunts in Alaska have really poor odds. Bear hunting for grizz is over the counter and you can shoot 2 a year. You could hunt dall sheep, mountain goats, moose, grizzly, wolves, wolverine and more every year OTC. Kind of hard to beat that. And have a trap line. Especially if you lived someplace like Glennallen, Tok or Cantwell on the road system. You would still have internet connectivity for your job.

Utah, if you are single and not LDS I wouldn't consider moving there. They also have a super lopsided points program and you'll never get a tag. Quality of hunting is superb.

Nevada. Good place to be single. Points program has been developed for 20 years. Quality of hunting if you get a tag is very good.

Washington and Oregon. Ok place to be single if you like hippy chicks or want to date a transgendered dude. Hunting is a train wreck with long screwed up points programs.

Hooved animal Hunting quality ranked: New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Alaska.

Bear hunting and trapping ranked: Alaska. No place else is even close.

Hunting tag availability ranked (provided you can get to it): Alaska is so far above anywhere else, then Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. I put Idaho above Montana because of Montanas stupid points programs.

Single opportunity ranked: Arizona, New Mexico, gets really weird after that. Depending on how old you are there will always be single moms, and very few professional single women that have never been married. The Northern Rockies is going to be tougher than the Southern Rockies for dating.

Cost of living ranked (cheapest): New Mexico, Montana, Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona in that order. ID, WY, and MT have housing booms that haven't even started to fall at all. Alaska and New Mexico had a mild housing boom. Western Montana is more expensive than eastern Montana.

WY had the best opportunity for res elk hunts for sure. I saw 1/5 of the people in the wilderness during September than I do I CO.

Colorado is a great state to hunt elk and mule, but its overcrowded. Its amazing how I can backpack and camp the NF by my house all summer without seeing more than a handful of people. Come September and I can't even find a spot to park anywhere along the FS road. CPW's "cash cow" OTC tags need to come to a halt...

 

[rsiros]

North central PA for white tail, elk, and bear, and plenty of birds and small game

 

[TJ M]

I’m about to find out, I’m moving to Nevada in the fall. I still think Nevada beats Utah.

Happy hunting! Even with everything I said, I still freaking love it here so much. It’s a beautiful place to call home.

 

[Txarcher]

Alaska or Idaho, I can't tell you how many arguments I have had with my wife over that. A lot of people do not realize how bad of a pay to play state TX is with little public land for hunting.

 

[AK Troutbum]

I always like the responses from Alaska where the hoods are up and the skies are grey. If you were raised in a state where you had a lot of blue sky and nice weather, you might be in for a rude awakening.

This may be true for some, but not all. I was born and raised in NorCal and moved up to Alaska when I was 23. Now, after over 30 year up here, I still would not want to live anywhere else. As far as cold, and gloomy weather goes, things have been changing. Here in southcentral, our summers are definitely warmer and sunnier now than they were 30 years ago (2008 summer being an exception), and we rarely see -30 in the winter anymore. Hell, I remember some winters, back in the day, when we would have 2 and 3 week stretches' that wouldn't get above 0, but that never happens anymore.

 

[Okhotnik]

The large majority of jobs that a person can make a respectable wage that allow you to enjoy Alaska are within a handful of communities and there are only a couple roads out of each of them. So everyone lives in the same place and needs to travel the same roads to get to the same thing. And unlike deer, the type of species that live in AK have a low density which stretches things even further. Whoever has the most time and/or resources does the best.

I grew up in ND and could be eating lunch and decide that I wanted to hunt that evening and it was a done deal. One year I shot nearly 100 pheasants for the season mostly before work and I lived in the capital city. On the weekends I could go hunt in the morning and still make it to church after. In the majority of instances, that isn't possible in AK. Even the most simple trips are a damn production.

If a person has unlimited funds and time off, Alaska is #1 on the list without a doubt. Or if you have a job that could be done in some of the villages. If you just want to do 2-4 bad ass hunts a year that each take 7-10 days then Alaska is great. If you want to hunt most weekends and/or after work and really pile on the days hunting in a year, then I would take a hard look and make sure you have the resources, time, and/or geographic location to do that. I typically do 2-3 fly out trips a year and then I bait bears about 2.5 hours from home and that's really stretching my vacation. Add in kids and visiting family outside and it really gets challenging. I went from hunting over 100 days a year to probably less than 30 when I moved to AK.

I was listening to a podcast with Randy Cooling last week and he was talking about how people always ask him why he doesn't just move to Alaska and he basically said the same thing. He gets to hunt for 4 months straight out his back door and that just wouldn't be reasonable at very many places in AK. In the end, all that is worth it to me (for now) and that's why I choose to live here. But most people moving here think it's a hunting paradise right out a person's backdoor. That is not the case.

ND is a sleeper state. I go every year.

 

[Dirtbag]

Yes he is Colorado still accounts for more record book mue deer then any state in the u.s even today

I wouldn't call it an opportunity state for mule deer just because we have record book deer(which is probably soon to change given the management changes). After all you still have to draw the tag and that's becoming harder and harder every year. To draw most units that are consistently producing record book bucks you are looking at drawing every 2-4 years for an archery tag.

 

[AK_Skeeter]

Man if I was in your shoes I would be in Alaska. Everything you can dream of big game wise on over the counter tags, even elk. Although elk may be a draw but you will run out of September's before things to hunt.

Plus you get a free hunting/fishing/trapping license when you turn 60 years old.
The over the counter tags are free for moose, sheep, bears, caribou, deer, etc.
Seasons start Aug 10 (sheep, caribou), Sept moose, Sitka blacktails into December.

 

[hp48gx]

To those who live or have lived in california, any good hunting spots in Southern California?

 

[Bighorse]

I really enjoyed the weather in AK. Of course I didn’t have to cope with the deep cold of Fairbanks, the insane amount of rain in SE, or the ridiculous snowfall of Valdez. The Kenai Peninsula was never all that hot or cold. It did rain more than I was accustomed to, but it didn’t bother me. I’d move back in a heartbeat if I could find a solid job.

AK weather, sea conditions, mountain turbulence, snow storms, ect….
Like hunting is all sunshine and glory for some folks, cheesh!
Get scared, wet, cold and intimidated a little outa respect for the game your killing. Sure sometimes an easy harvest rocks. The best harvests are at the end of a rainbow where the skies bust rain baby! Roll into a forest with some hail and a dominant blow to cover your sound and scent. Find an ol mossy horn, big eyed, wonderin WTF how u snuck past his bitches into the penthouse? Weather is your friend when prepared. Climbing step country, shit, a steady drizzle is like a liquid cooled engine on that three hour approach.

Don’t be be afraid, be prepared.

I know some get this concept more than most and relish strapin on good boots and a thick coat, slingin a good kit onto their back.

Whatever…. Coffee ramblings, I need to go hunting

 

[GSPHUNTER]

You would have to have a screw loose if you moved to CA for the hunting

No, the screws would had disconnected from thread and been lost along the highway.

 

[marcbateman]

I’m recently divorced and live in TX. I work remotely so there’s not much keeping me at home here either. As a non-resident, I’ve made my own opinions on what states are best for NR hunting but something I’m trying to figure out is which state has the best hunting opportunities for residents. I’m curious which states y’all would live in purely for the outdoors / hunting there if you could. I lean toward elk and large game hunting since we have plenty of deer in Texas. Also why would be nice so I can look further into it.

WI and MN are nice for whitetail

I’m recently divorced and live in TX. I work remotely so there’s not much keeping me at home here either. As a non-resident, I’ve made my own opinions on what states are best for NR hunting but something I’m trying to figure out is which state has the best hunting opportunities for residents. I’m curious which states y’all would live in purely for the outdoors / hunting there if you could. I lean toward elk and large game hunting since we have plenty of deer in Texas. Also why would be nice so I can look further into it.

WI and MN are good for whitetail

 

[Mykolaivka887]

Alaska has by far the best hunting opportunities for residents. In Alaska, resident hunting opportunity is protected by federal and state statute, well above nonresidents.

 

[bwilsonj10]

To those who live or have lived in california, any good hunting spots in Southern California?

I moved to Santa Clarita a week ago (originally from Colorado, moved to Michigan after college for 3 years for work, then came here). If my dream job wasn't here in California, I would be the last one to move here.
I like small towns and hunting in my backyard (like I had on my 7 acres in Michigan).
So I completely understand why people hate on it almost immediately based purely on its political climate and cost of living. But from what I've seen and heard so far, about 90% of those influences come from LA and the Bay area. If you live outside of those places (like I do), things are much more normal than people think.

Anyway, rant over... I would very much appreciate any input other past or present CA residents have on good hunting opportunities within the state.
I've already seen that tags are hard to get and stupid expensive, and have already been told that you have to hike harder and farther than most are willing to. I'm ok with both of those things though if I actually have a chance of success.

 

[z987k]

This may be true for some, but not all. I was born and raised in NorCal and moved up to Alaska when I was 23. Now, after over 30 year up here, I still would not want to live anywhere else. As far as cold, and gloomy weather goes, things have been changing. Here in southcentral, our summers are definitely warmer and sunnier now than they were 30 years ago (2008 summer being an exception), and we rarely see -30 in the winter anymore. Hell, I remember some winters, back in the day, when we would have 2 and 3 week stretches' that wouldn't get above 0, but that never happens anymore.

Nope nope nope. Alaska only has -40 in the winter, it never gets above 30 in the summer. Yet rains.
Hunting is impossible without a boat or airplane. Though it's a crap ton easier with those.

My favorite thing is to listen to people say how they can't afford a boat or a plane while sitting in their new F10,000 that was $75k+. You know what is almost worthless for hunting via plane? A truck that costs more than an airplane. People say they can't afford these things, but looking at their lifestyle, they clearly can. They just have other priorities. And that's fine. But don't say you can't. You chose not to.
Oh and the fishing sucks.
And it's full.
Oh and you can't hunt every day somehow despite some species having no closed season. And you absolutely can't go shoot some deer in the morning and be back home in ANC in time for dinner. Nope.

But seriously, thank you for those who think hunting in AK costs even 5k. We don't need more temp residents. People who come for one thing, aren't really part of the community and have no intentions of sticking around aren't really needed.

My favorite part about Alaska is the weather and the dark. It keeps most of the people we don't really want anyways away.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

A vast number of urbanites in Alaska own planes. It's mind boggling. Freaking planes flying everywhere, all the time. Nowadays we spend more time watching out for idiot pilots who could, can and will smash into us, than we do looking for things on the ground beneath us. The days of relatively peaceful skies we knew back in the 1960's and 70's are gone forever.