Best State for Resident Hunting Opportunties

[Ucsdryder]

NOT COLORADO! We whore ourselves out to non-residents like lot lizards at a discount truck stop!

 

[Mojave]

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.

I wrote this a little over a year ago.

Wyoming's real estate boom really sucks. Any decent house with land in most of Wyoming is $650,000-1,000,000. Unless you live someplace remote or someplace that sucks like SW Wyoming, Riverton or Rawlins.

Anyplace in Wyoming worth living is a full on rip off. They know that all the retired police officers and military folks will pay whatever it cost to live there.

If you can afford to live in Wyoming great. Eastern Montana is super cheap by comparison.

You could live in NE Montana and hunt the entire state.

 

[Gen273]

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

You would have to have a screw loose to move to California in general.

 

[Weldor]

I’ve done a lot of research in this because I’m going to retire from the military in a couple of year. My number one choice would Alaska but I would only do that for a like 10 years. The next would be Arizona tied with Wyoming. Idaho would be next followed Montana then Nevada and Utah. New Mexico would be number 1 but their taxes suck.

Az is Draw only , and with the population growth it is getting very hard to any tags. Plenty of small game, doves , quail. Deer tags are becoming premium, otc archery is regulated now with manatory reporting. Once quota is reached season over til next year.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

Az is Draw only , and with the population growth it is getting very hard to any tags. Plenty of small game, doves , quail. Deer tags are becoming premium, otc archery is regulated now with manatory reporting. Once quota is reached season over til next year.

To be completely honest, I can highly recommend Arizona and New Mexico as retirement locations that have excellent resident-friendly big game hunting opportunities. Alaska on the other hand, sucks. I can not recommend Alaska as a retirement destination. But, to each their own.

 

[NorthCountryAB]

OTC Bison?

Not OTC in BC, but draw. And Alberta has a population you can hunt without even having to have a tag IIRC correctly.
Im not overly familiar with Bison, their not in any areas I hunt.
Alberta also had a draw for Bison up until about 4-5 years ago. 200 tags a year.

 

[justinspicher]

I grew up in colorado and didn’t take advantage of the outdoor pursuits it had to offer, left after high school and lived in Washington state for most of my adult life. In Washington I started hunting and loved it there, but after I retired I moved back to Colorado and where I am now is fantastic. I live in a small town that’s between two tourist towns, close to public land. I can hunt all year for various things and enjoy the ability to just get out.

It is expensive to live here, but I think that’s the same issue everywhere now.

 

[BDDFC]

Idaho

 

[dtrkyman]

There is quite a bit of opportunity in New Mexico, however if that includes archery elk or deer in a good unit forget it!

 

[medvedyt]

well i will say our territory mostly otc for everything including bison and for draw if too close from whitehorse or elk, deer and goat for most of it unless you re going at the end of the nahinni in the nwt border. but that is a well kept secret as life is hard and heavy mosquitoes in the summer ...

 

[AK_Skeeter]

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

Also you get used to weather.
Most folks living in Fairbanks like the dry cold of winter,
but we get only 12 inches of precipitation a year so
not as hardy about heavy rains as folks from southeast Alaska.

I have a 16 'river boat and for me boating on the Tanana, winds > 10 mph and its an extremely windy day.

And if its above 80 degrees in the summer time, it feels too hot.

 

[AK Troutbum]

And if its above 80 degrees in the summer time, it feels too hot.

Shit, whenever it gets over 70° here, I feel like I’m going to start melting.


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[AK_Skeeter]

Shit, whenever it gets over 70° here, I feel like I’m going to start melting.


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Yes it was a tough summer on the other side of the Alaska Range.
Did you ever get into the 80s?

 

[marcymcee]

Also for Idaho

 

[Sizthediz]

Definitely not Florida. We're full. Although you can hunt deer(very small), gators, ducks,hogs, salt and fresh water fishing, turkey in shorts. Did I mention We're full

 

[Minute_of_Antelope]

There is quite a bit of opportunity in New Mexico, however if that includes archery elk or deer in a good unit forget it!

I would certainly not call NM an opportunity state lately. I enjoyed my time there and made the most of the draw opportunities I was blessed with. But I know lots of guys that struck completely on all species last two years. Perhaps anecdotal but that’s just unacceptable to not hunt your home state in a given year.

 

[Minute_of_Antelope]

I wrote this a little over a year ago.

Wyoming's real estate boom really sucks. Any decent house with land in most of Wyoming is $650,000-1,000,000. Unless you live someplace remote or someplace that sucks like SW Wyoming, Riverton or Rawlins.

Anyplace in Wyoming worth living is a full on rip off. They know that all the retired police officers and military folks will pay whatever it cost to live there.

If you can afford to live in Wyoming great. Eastern Montana is super cheap by comparison.

You could live in NE Montana and hunt the entire state.

What sucks about SW Wyoming if you don’t mind me asking? I’m also considering retirement income implications and WY is high on the list.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Yes it was a tough summer on the other side of the Alaska Range.
Did you ever get into the 80s?

I think we had one or two days that broke 80.


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[AK Troutbum]

I wrote this a little over a year ago.

Wyoming's real estate boom really sucks. Any decent house with land in most of Wyoming is $650,000-1,000,000. Unless you live someplace remote or someplace that sucks like SW Wyoming, Riverton or Rawlins.

Don’t forget Rock Springs!


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[DuckDogDr]

Been stomping all over the mountains and sage brush of Wyoming for 2 years now and still haven't seen a rattle snake. Saw some small rat snakes in a camp ground. That's it.

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My old boss said that when I lived in Idaho …. Quit being a paranoid southerner he said… relax he said … first trip in the desert for mule deer. Almost stepped on a rattler