I don’t.
I would love, love, love to be able to.
We’ve looked around since Covid as the housing market was favoring sellers, and we could have sold our house for almost wide what we owe.
But, land has risen, if it’s available, and the cost to build has risen dramatically in our area so we would have to take out more than what we would like to. Also, interest rates are almost triple what we have now….
I travel fifteen minutes east to hunt my Father In-laws and 30 minutes north to hunt on public. Not out the back door, but not too bad either.
My first passion is hunting ruff grouse. I have a cabin 2 hours from home in NW WI surrounded by great grouse covers (I had over 50 onx pins of spots I wanted to hunt this year). With starlink now I can work from there and I specifically avoid booking work travel for much of October and November so I more or less go live there and hunt daily. Generally work from around 6:00-2:00 go bird hunt a couple hours and then finish out my work day. We deer hunt rifle season there as well and while I have not bow hunted there in recent years next year I also plan to bow hunt. I will burn a bit more PTO but I will plan on bow hunting first light, go to work until mid afternoon, go bird hunting and then hit the stand until dark, finish out the work day. Burning 1 day of PTO a week will cover this schedule assuming I work a bit in the evening. Its not exactly my bed but it more or less is, actually sleep better there than at home and spend 60-90 nights a year there.
I have some public hunting areas near my house as well (not grouse but pheasant and deer) 250 acre chunk, 350 acre chunk and 1000ish acre chunk within 10 minutes. Another 25k acres 15-30 min away depending on where I access from. But they can be crowded, there is little to no chance that you can show up on a weekend and not have trucks parked there already, and given limited parking areas most guys still go in when there are trucks there already. I generally will not but most will. They can be ok for week day hunts though outside of being right near opener.
Sometime in 2025 or early 2026 I will be buying a new house on an acreage near where I live now and ability to easily harvest a white tail or two on my own land will be a requirement. I wont be ready to pull the trigger until fall but have been watching the market and there are nearly always 3-5 places that meet both my requirements an my wifes and are within our budget so it should not be too hard to find something when we are ready. I figure we have from fall 2025 to late summer 2026 to try and find something, I would hate trying to move during hunting season.
We would not mind moving farther out but I need reasonable airport access for work.
Currently looking at a place to move to thats adjacent to 7900 acres of federal forest on top of the 20 that it comes with. It's a large contributing factor in my purchase so my boys can have the experience of growing up like that.
To me, hunting close to him can add stress, as I try to squeeze in hours etc. when I’m away from home I’m all in and concentrated.
If that makes sense?
Wife’s uncle (oldage) always shot deer out of a window in the house but Native American so no rules.
Last time he had the window open and went to get his .22LR came back and shot a doe but his daughter had closed the window unbeknownst to him so he had a nice little hole in the window. He was in his mid 80’s then and no more deer stand climbing.
The daughter didn’t want the deer shot is why the window got closed he found out afterwards.
I can literally walk out my back door and deer hunt. As I was pulling out of my driveway this morning a young buck was chasing a doe around in the field beside my house. Same for turkeys and doves.
I have 26 acres to hunt on, but I enjoy going out and seeing new scenery. Anymore it's not about the kill, it's about the views and the experience. Here is a deer my buddy shot on my property, and a couple coyotes I shot.
I am one of the lucky ones being able to live on our 330 acre property. Used to drive 2 hours each way, but a remote job enabled me to move down full-time 5 years ago. From front window I see whitetail and turkeys daily, coyotes and bobcats on occasion along with every other species of wildlife. Best part aside from being able to hunt any time it makes sense, which is normally 5-7 sits a week (and having all of my gear hanging and ready) is to be able to fully experience a rural, outdoor lifestyle. I grew up in a suburb of a major city and have to say.. the peace of rural life is addicting.
I and everyone i know hunt from home 100% of the time minus the occasional “trip” either out of state or a different part of our home state. I think the idea most are hunting differently, traveling more, or spending more money is mostly just perception based on how you’re hunting, how your group is, or which forum you hang around most. I’d bet overall most hunt from home.
I whitetail hunt out of my house 99% of the time here in PA. Land can be tough to come by so not everybody is fortunate enough to do it. I will travel from time to time up to camp or out of state. We hunt public land in Maryland every year as well.
Interesting how many folks have access to hunting close to home as well as the species hunted.
I am lucky w where I live and was able to get up to my mining claim (silver mine) that is 30 min on a dirtbike from my house or a hour when ya trailer up the snow machines and pulled the card on a game cam my dad put up. Did not expect so many critters and one buck w actual potential!
I’m blessed to live on the farm my family owns. Close to 200 acres of field and woods in the east. However, I’d say I’m in the great minority in my area. Most of my buddies drive at least an hour to get to even “ok” hunting land whether it be overpopulated state land or overpriced leases.
I was hoping something would show up in my back yard by the 15th, but nothing. Had a muzzy permit and my place is any deer for the late season. Oh well.