Do you hunt from home?

Joined
Apr 13, 2019
Messages
536
I grew up with several hundred acres in the family surrounded by 10’s of thousands of acres of public ground I could be hunting on out the back door. Now I’m about 15-20 minutes away and we’ve been buying pieces of the family farm, hoping in the next 10 years to be physically back on that property so my son can experience some of that. 75% of my hunting takes place within 15-20 minutes of my back door. White tails and small game anyway.
 

Yoder

WKR
Joined
Jan 12, 2021
Messages
1,652
I live in NE PA. There are thousands of acres of public land all within an hour of my house. Most of the areas I hunt are less than 15 min away. I can even hunt NY and NJ.
 

bozeman

WKR
Joined
Dec 5, 2016
Messages
2,868
Location
Alabama
Yes, very blessed to be able to shoot deer in my yard and turkey hunt on about 100 acres of adjoining neighbor land. Can fish as well, neighbor who adjoins has two 7-10 acre ponds.
 

cjdewese

WKR
Joined
Sep 8, 2020
Messages
585
It's not easy but I have So Cal national forest out of my back yard and hunt from my house most of the time.

Feel pretty blessed to have access to nature so close.
 

Olympics777

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 16, 2014
Messages
182
Location
Moscow ID
I occasionally still camp but the last few years my most successful areas for deer and elk have been 30 minutes from my house so I just go home at night. I might start backpack hunting more seriously next year if I have the time though, I miss it.
 

Hnthrdr

WKR
Joined
Jan 29, 2022
Messages
3,484
Location
The West
I have a couple from home places and most are not. it’s just the nature and reality of front range Co these days. buddies dad was killing deer on the hog back west of c470 back in the day, so jealous. My wife’s family is all from Prescott,AZ spending time down there, there is loads of hunting 15-45 min in every direction from town, most of my spots are 1.5-2.5 hour drive just to get there. I’m about as close to the hills as you can get on the west side, but population growth, and type of people who moved to Co has put a damper on a lot of the things you used to be able to do close to town. There are still a couple folks that will let you hunt on close properties but way different these days.
 
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TaperPin

WKR
Joined
Jul 12, 2023
Messages
3,217
The farthest I ever hunted from home, was a six hour drive one way, just to hike up to one small ridge, eat lunch and head back home. There have been some whoppers on that ridge, so it’s not as crazy as it sounds. Just like a rock hound visits multiple places, and develops favorites, pocket hunters are always pouring over maps & adding spots where old deer have been hanging out.

For someone with a license that has a wide variety of country to hunt, and a lot of time to do it, having a variety of good pockets is a lot of fun and ideal way to break up the season, or to fill in between seasons. If there are only two days to hunt, I wouldn’t pack in anywhere.

Many good animals come out of Wyoming, shot after or before work, let alone weekends. We used to hunt every day after high school, and my fall grades in college were always a letter grade worse than spring - I like to think entire class schedules that only meet on Tuesday and Thursday were dreamt up by hunters. Nowadays, Western Governors University would allow someone to hunt as much as they wanted and still graduate fairly quickly if they are disciplined. 20 year old me might struggle with that much autonomy. :)

There’s some good memories waking up at 2:00am and driving tired, but excited, and returning home with only enough time to grab 6 hours of sleep and do it all over. I worry about kids driving tired, and I suppose our parents worried about us, not to mention old guys doze off with the slightest amount of relaxing music, or after a big breakfast, so I would worry if I had to be the driver now. Lol
 

Meshnasty

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Apr 19, 2018
Messages
136
I can be in elk within 45 mins of leaving the house. Even with that I’d rather stay on the mountain and get more sleep. The wife and kids like if I drop in midweek to hang out for a night though.

My limit for a day hunt is about a 3-4 hour drive. Anymore than that and I like to spend the night.
 

Wallace

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 3, 2018
Messages
205
Location
Boone, NC
Whitetail, some bear, some upland hunting from the house. Whitetail I'm hunting within 5 minutes of leaving my back door (walking).

Ducks and geese I'm not in my main bed, but I have a camp with my own room and sleep there.

Everything else is camping, house rental, or hotels.
 

TSnave

FNG
Joined
Oct 21, 2021
Messages
99
Location
Montana
As I grow older (I'm 57), I've been laughing about my circles getting smaller. How far from home am I willing to go? How far from the truck am I willing to go? I am fortunate in that I can hunt mule deer within a few hundred yards of my house and have lots of access to whitetail and elk within an easy drive. When I retire in a few years I may get back into some overnight expeditions, but for now I prefer hunting from home.
 
Joined
Oct 6, 2014
Messages
359
Location
Western Montana
it's a 30 minute drive for me to my preferred hunting spot. but i can hunt for elk deers and bear within 2 miles of home if i wanted to.

that said, montana sucks, don't move here. i hear idaho is nicer. they have two time zones you can pick from and a trader joes in boise
 

robby denning

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Feb 25, 2012
Messages
15,643
Location
SE Idaho
After a trip to the shooting range I was talking w my father about how hunting has changed, the technology, and the travel involved.

Anyway we were wondering how many folks get to hunt from the house anymore? Sleep in your own bed set an alarm and go hunting. It seems with guys chasing the best perceived unit, out of state guys, and heck even front "rangers" setting up camps that it is getting less and less as in my fathers day they never traveled to hunt.. Now I am lucky as most of my scouting/hunting is from home w overnights and 2 nights mixed in there. Or almost everything I hunt is a hour or 2 from the front door even if ya count the hike, dirt bike, side by side, or jeep to approach.

So how many of you guys sleep in your own bed and hunt from your house? Does not matter what ya hunt just wondering how many folks get to hunt like this and what ya are hunting?
about 10-20% of my deer hunts are still from home I'd guess. proabably about the same % as it's always been.

If it's more than about 50 miles, I really prefer to stay there. Hate being late!
 

ceejay

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 9, 2020
Messages
232
I can deer on the property that I live on, for which I am incredibly grateful that I have it and I am able to do this. That being said, I honestly miss the "deer camps" from my younger days. In a lot of ways, I wish my son could experience the comradery of a group hunting together. But times have changed.
 
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