Best state (lower 48) to own hunting land

[Warren1726]

If you could buy 500-1000 acres of hunting land in any lower 48 state which would it be and why? Maybe where in that state more specifically as well.
You know, just in case I fall ass backwards into a pile of money!

 

[SDHNTR]

With property that size, Texas. No it's not the Western mountain hunting that most of us here love, but 500-1000 acres really isn't enough to hunt western game extensively. In TX, there are no draws and you can shoot piles of deer on one license.

Or I'd want a property of that size that butts up against exclusive access public land. In a state with multiple OTC tags. That's hard to find though.

 

[Warren1726]

That's something I've noticed on landsofamerica, the big hunting lands in the mountains seem to connect to public, which would be awesome!

 

[charvey9]

Maybe I'm biased, but I'd choose 1000 acres in Eastern, OR. I just don't enjoy waiting for midwest whitetails any more, and although 1000 acres isn't enough to hold an elk herd it could support decent mule deer hunting out there. Pick a spot with some decent wetland and cover, and you'd have excellent upland and waterfowl property too. Majority of the state is OTC for elk and bear anyway.

 

[2rocky]

How about a 640 acres of Alfalfa in Wyoming.

Hunt the Early seasons in the wilderness for Mule Deer and Elk (ya know since you are a resident) and hunt Antelope and reduced price cow elk and does on the Alfalfa in the late season.

 

[Jpeaston]

Nevada, tax benefits, and landowner tags that can be used unit wide.

 

[SDHNTR]

How about a 640 acres of Alfalfa in Wyoming.

Hunt the Early seasons in the wilderness for Mule Deer and Elk (ya know since you are a resident) and hunt Antelope and reduced price cow elk and does on the Alfalfa in the late season.

Now we're talking!

 

[MuleyFever]

Nevada, tax benefits, and landowner tags that can be used unit wide.

This is really the only good western option. Maybe not NV but another state with landowner tags good state or even unit wide. With all the public western hunting though it would be hard to not pick WI, MN, IA, KS, or another heavy hitter for big whitetails. Just because land access for big deer is so hard to come by for whitetails. 1000 acres in the upper Mississippi river valley would grow you some great deer.

 

[Shrek]

SE Alabama would be my choice to actually own land. With its season starting late November and a January rut it would dovetail well with elk and mule deer out west on the millions of acres of public lands. Deer , hogs , turkey , quail , dove , and ducks in late winter with mild weather. No way a thousand acres does much in the west but down south it could be a mini hunters paradise to pass the winter in.

 

[SethH]

With my limited knowledge of the west I'd say Colorado. Mostly because you could possibly fill Elk, Shiras moose, mulie, whitetail, antelope, both big horns, mountain goat, black bear, and mountain lion tags in that state and a decent number of them possibly on your own land with enough of it.

 

[Broomd]

Nice thought Seth, but one is still beholden to hard-to-draw tags.

The premise here seems flawed to me.
Why not buy one or two acres (or ten or twenty) which abuts National Forest or BLM land and save the literally hundreds of thousands of $ spent on "many acres." Think about the taxes alone.
Here in remote Idaho we have 30 acres which abuts land owned by a power company, and we're surrounded by thousands of acres owned by a timber company. It is secluded, and we kill everything we need right here. Just my .02.

And btw...real living starts West of the Mississippi by God. To each his own.

 

[Pilgrim]

500-1000 ac is most likely going to steer my search east of the Rockies.

 

[Broomd]

500-1000 ac is most likely going to steer my search east of the Rockies.

Yeah, but then a guy has to live east of the Rockies! Only have one life. Del Gue said it best....

 

[Matt Cashell]

In MT, with a 640+ contiguous acres in a permit elk area or 160+ contiguous acres in a permit deer area you would qualify for "landowner preference" for some of the hardest to draw permits in the state (good district-wide).

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

In MT, with a 640+ contiguous acres in a permit elk area or 160+ contiguous acres in a permit deer area you would qualify for "landowner preference" for some of the hardest to draw permits in the state (good district-wide).

^^^this

 

[Beendare]

I like the Montana, Nevada, NewMexico ideas because of the landowner tags...some of the midwestern states would be nice to have prime whitetail hunts...but if you narrow it down to someplace you would have to live...then it gets tougher.

Then places like Oregon and Wash [for the great fishing and soso hunting] start looking better...I don't know what I would do...probably a whitetail state.

 

[Trr15]

Central/north central PA. Chasing those scrubby mountain bucks through the mountain laurel makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. The Bear and turkey hunting is pretty darn good too.

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

I think that unless you have a big chunk of money and don't know what to do with it id just buy 10-20 acres in a good area out west with a lot of public land and hunt out your back door basically. Like already said that's not much land for western hunting. The landowner desk would be sweet but I can't imagine that's going to be cheap land...

 

[Pilgrim]

Yeah, but then a guy has to live east of the Rockies! Only have one life. Del Gue said it best....

Buddy, I hear ya there! Sounds like Bitterroot Bulls decided for me...

 

[TEmbry]

MT 640+ acres in a good draw unit with plenty of public access to pull landowner tags annually for elk/deer. Hunt your own land if it's good, but have plenty of back up options if that doesn't work out