I have 2 main hunting areas which are 200 km apart and I live right in the middle. Recently bought a property for hunting in the one area (160 acres) and either day trip or take the camper out to the other one (just because it's fun having a hunting camp). It's nice; general tags for 3 point & up elk and general white tail buck and doe tags every year. Makes it easy to set out trail cameras and scout. And with all this good fortune, I got skunked this year lol.
I live in NW MT, I can hunt from home for whitetail. Can do elk and mule, but as I get older I do not enjoy walking hours in the dark with all the griz. Also the forest is rally thick and difficult for elk. So I tend to travel 3 or more hours for elk.
Yes. I hunt behind my house and at my farm a few miles down the road. I killed the biggest deer in my life shooting out of the window at my house. My favorite hunt of the year is my annual pilgrimage to CO each September though. I would trade that one week of elk hunting for the entire deer season at home without hesitation.
My home/property borders public land in a OTC area, so I hunt from the house almost exclusively. I have to drive 30 minutes (at minimum) to hunt elk or Bear, but I usually end up traveling further. Most of my hunting now is actually just taking my two young sons out, which is pretty awesome.
Both my kids shot their first deer within a couple hundred yards of the house on our property, but after each one got their first deer I've been taking them out on public land for all their hunting. Ground squirrels and coyotes are a mix of public and private land.
I grew up hunting a combo of private and public lands, sometimes waking up in my bed and sometimes we'd setup a camp further back in the mountains. I think its time to break out the wall tent and get the kids further back into the woods... but compared to staying home and sleeping in my own bed.... camping is a real pain in the butt