Where to live if Public Land Hunting is a major draw?

[AK Troutbum]

Texas.

^^^This!

 

[Pony Soldier]

Each state may have millions of acres but often you may have to cover a few hundred miles to find something. Lots of hunting. Sometimes very rare killing.

 

[OXN939]

Virginia has everything you said you were looking for.

Native Virginian here. I would definitely not say VA fits OP's bill. In 20 years of hunting, I've seen two whitetail over 120 on public land, and deer is pretty much all we have. Also, anyone considering moving to VA for public land hunting should first google the dog hunting fiasco... that would be a hell of a surprise after relocating.

 

[loganwayne]

Tennessee,sc,nc,ga, northern al. All fit your bill for public land whitetail. I've hunted all of them from the mountains to the coast. Also gotta decide how much traveling your willing to do to hunt. Buddy can drive 5 minutes and shoot all the deer he wants but it's to flat and hot for me in the summer time.

 

[BBob]

Maybe NM, albeit the govna’ is a communist bitch

She’ll be gone soon (term limits) but Deb Haland will likely replace her which will more than likely be worse. RIP NM

 

[timekiller13]

Most southeastern states have what you are looking for. And while the SE states may not have the “cool” animals like elk, moose etc, there are plenty of deer, turkey black bear (in some areas), and abundant small game. Deer populations are much better in the SE. if you just want to shoot some does, you could kill a truckload on any piece of public here in the SE without much effort.

 

[Agross]

Michigan. Four seasons. Lots of small game. Lots of deer. Quite a bit of public.

 

[WV Mountaineer]

Native Virginian here. I would definitely not say VA fits OP's bill. In 20 years of hunting, I've seen two whitetail over 120 on public land, and deer is pretty much all we have. Also, anyone considering moving to VA for public land hunting should first google the dog hunting fiasco... that would be a hell of a surprise after relocating.

I live 3-4 miles from the WV and VA line. VA has everything the OP asked for when you get out of coastal VA. It politics suck but, it’s hunting on national forest is as good as it gets.

 

[RadialJett]

Considered Northern California?

 

[LongWayAround]

If I wanted to hunt whitetails, rabbits, and squirrels, with warm weather, I'm definitely looking from Missouri East.

 

[Lwink]

Maybe find a town within 1.5 hours of the Minneapolis airport on the Wisconsin side, like eau Claire or something, there is a good bit of private but also public opportunity. The further you get from the city the better your options may be, but there are a lot of people out and about in Wisconsin public hunting lands. Grew up out there.
Utah might have 34 million acres of public land but 30 million of that is barren wasteland - a bit hyperbolic but not totally untrue . Live there now.
Check out West Virginia too, might not fit the airport criteria but consider that part of the world for some good small game and deer opportunity.

 

[grfox92]

I absolutely hate that every FNG ask this same question every other week.

The Search function bar is in the top right corner of your screen. Use it. Move to Nevada it is 90% public land.

Your speaking my language here. It's been driving me nuts.

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

 

[taskswap]

Wisdom of Rokslide, if you were starting from scratch with those constraints, where would you be looking to live?

Definitely not Colorado. It's a terrible state taken over by liber-bulls and hunting is just terrible there. Do any other state but not CO.

 

[Swamp Fox]

[...] The only two criteria I cannot avoid (for purposes of this discussion) are that it needs to be in an area with hardline (not Starlink) broadband internet and within 1.5 hours of a major airport.

Wisdom of Rokslide, if you were starting from scratch with those constraints, where would you be looking to live?

I cannot argue against relocating to Virginia or the Carolinas strongly enough.

The predator/nuisance hunting close to any major town is non-existant, and the small-game hunting is shrinking close to non-existant or is very competitive on public land. Good luck finding private for small game. It's usually tied up in a deer lease.

You can have a blast doe hunting, especiallly if you bow hunt, don't mind dog-driving, and are driven to find out-of-the-way places, but for the rest of it ---- GO WEST, YOUNG MAN.

 

[Traveler]

Native Virginian here. I would definitely not say VA fits OP's bill. In 20 years of hunting, I've seen two whitetail over 120 on public land, and deer is pretty much all we have. Also, anyone considering moving to VA for public land hunting should first google the dog hunting fiasco... that would be a hell of a surprise after relocating.

Plenty of deer, OP didn’t say he wanted 120+, in fact focused on does. Lots of small game. I’ve only seen dogs in east part of state.

 

[PredatoronthePrairie]

Utah

 

[WV Mountaineer]

Plenty of deer, OP didn’t say he wanted 120+, in fact focused on does. Lots of small game. I’ve only seen dogs in east part of state.

If he wants a 120” deer then the national forest is exactly where he’ll find it. Lace up your boots though. You’ll put on more mikes finding the deer then you ever have finding elk out west.

 

[Speaks]

I live about 45 min north of Minneapolis, the public land near my house gets a bit crowded, but drive 45 minutes north or east and there is tons of it. I have a cabin in WI 2 hours east of me that is just surrounded by tons and tons of county forest land.

If you are open to flying out of Duluth and connecting through MSP that opens up all of NE MN and NW WI. Same out of Green Bay.

60-90 minutes outside of MSP though can out you close to good deer hunting if you go south, good grouse and bear hunting if you go north, and good small game and fishing all over.

I work from home and travel 100-120 days a year for work so had similar requirements to you, though I didnt just want an airort, I wanted a hub where I could fly direct nearly everywhere. MSP was one of the best options that checked that box along with outdoor activities.

I do work from my cabin on starlink around 50 days a year as well and dont notice substantial downside compared to the fiber I have at home. But within the area I described you can almost always get good regular internet.

 

[hoosierhunter11]

Indiana - south of Indianapolis. That puts you in the Hoosier National Forest. Lots of deer and other game. You can hunt hut mixed ag or big woods.

 

[TSAMP]

I'd start hunting again first, then worry about moving should i determine that the area I'm currently in is not living up to my standards.