Why not East?

[sneaky]

I don't understand these comments. The northeast isnt Texas. Theres tons of public land to hunt in the northeast, especially NY.

Not everyone from back east is from the northeast. People can drive to hunt midwest whitetails from the SE way quicker than they can make it to the Adirondacks. Some states back east have better public access, but don't judge statements like that one off the fact you live near the adirondacks.

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[mproberts]

I can sit and glass for days on a mountainside, but put me in a tree stand and I get antsy within a couple of hours. I don’t know how those guys do it. I prefer to go to the animals rather than hope they come to me.

Yeah it's mentally really tough, almost soul crushing at times. I hunted hundreds of days over years on quality private land loaded with deer before I successfully killed a mature eastern buck with a bow. The buck bow only season where I hunted was 3 months, so that's a lot of days spent in a stand, most of them cold. Grinding constantly and spending tons of time on offseason prep with no true success is a struggle for sure... especially when you see some guy with no prep and a crossbow he bought last week at Dicks walk in after dawn and shoot a trophy deer within the first 15 mins. Trust me it happens and you can put everything in your favor and still more often than not it comes down to a good bit of luck. I know this because the day I shot my first mature buck with a bow I shot my second mature buck less than 5 minutes later... crazy how things work out.

 

[TheHardWay]

Deer ticks are one of the major reasons I'm not a fan of going east. I spent my high school and college years hunting in western, central, and north central PA. I am disgusted by ticks, haha! Honestly though, my style of hunting big game is to actively cover ground in order to spot and stalk. I'd rather make something happen than to sit in a tree watching bait or wait for something to happen to come along.

 

[R_burg]

Not everyone from back east is from the northeast. People can drive to hunt midwest whitetails from the SE way quicker than they can make it to the Adirondacks. Some states back east have better public access, but don't judge statements like that one off the fact you live near the adirondacks.

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I don't like hunting the Adirondacks, and I was not referring to them. There's tons of state land in the northeast.

I live in AZ.

And I recommended that people hunt the midwest over the Northeast 5-10 posts ago.

 

[flinginairos]

I moved to Colorado 12 years ago from South Carolina. I've been back a few times and hunted deer with family, but hunting a small Southeastern woodlot is just not the same as trekking into the Rocky Mountains chasing elk! I would like to line up a multi-day backpack hunt in the Cohutta sometime, but I always seem to have a hunt out here lined up that takes precedent.

I was actually looking at the Cohutta for a trip sometime lol. There is a TON of public land here in WV and you can get a true, rugged backpack hunt if you wanted it. Problem is the deer densities are low so I doubt anyone from out West would go through the trouble lol


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[camping1601]

There was a guy posted on here a couple years ago that posted from his treestand how bored he was with it and was wishing he was back out west chasing Elk.
A guy from Montana responded how bored he was sitting on his couch and wished he could be in a treestand instead.

Seasons are long, and a bow hunter can have a whole mountain to himself. Maybe an option for some with time off to burn?

I've been lucky enough to bow kill a couple Elk in recent years and I can say with confidence that killing a mature mountain buck has an equal feeling.
Now if I had to deal with the crowds of hunter I deal with for Elk, I don't think I do PL deer.

 

[Whisky]

Well, great contribution to the thread. Have you ever hunted mountain whitetails? Anywhere? That's certainly not boring. You're right, you didn't read any of the posts, and it shows.

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Someone asked, I answered. You don't agree, fine. I hunt whitetail sept-dec to fill in the gaps of other adventures. I stand by my opinion, boring as shit...

 

[WV Mountaineer]

Well only speaking from my own personal experience. I manage an archery shop here in Arizona and I have dealt with many customers who are both local the travel out of state and those who are out of state they come in here to hunt. I am not upset by out-of-state residents applying for tags and getting drawn that does not bother me one bit. Many of the people that I have spoken with who are from out-of-state that live back east or know someone back he's have all made the comment that without having a land lease or an inside connection that hunting becomes much more difficult and realistically seems to become pure luck of stumbling across where an animal is. I myself would be very interested in going back east but without having any connections I have not pursued that yet.

Come to WV. I'll get you setting on deer.

 

[sneaky]

Someone asked, I answered. You don't agree, fine. I hunt whitetail sept-dec to fill in the gaps of other adventures. I stand by my opinion, boring as shit...

You're hunting the wrong spots then.

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[Ace of Spades]

“The Adirondack Park at about 6.1 million acres is larger than Yellowstone (2.2 million acres), Yosemite (0.76 million acres), Glacier (1 million acres), Grand Canyon (1.2 million acres), Great Smokies (.5 million acres) National parks combined.”

 

[WJS23]

We do have a lot of public land here in the northeast

 

[Superkodiak38]

I have lived and hunted in Maryland all my life. I have hunted Texas, spot and stalk for Javelina and that was an absolute blast ! However I was on at least 1-2 sometimes 3 groups per day so seeing game keeps you motivated to walk the miles of Senderos. I killed one and it was pretty exciting, would do it again no question. I have hunted pigs on public land in Georgia and walked 29 miles before I saw the first one, not as much fun ! But still a good trip with friends. You can stalk whitetails in certain areas, I do it during muzzleloader quite a bit and have a few spots where I can do it with a bow. We get coastal storms, and hurricanes that blow over huge trees and it turns into a jungle in some areas where the only option is to sit a stand. It is what you make of it, we do 2 man bumps for deer with bows and that'll get your heart started ! Then you have Rinella coming to the shore to hunt Sika, it's a great hunt, can be tough, thanks for putting it on blast Steve !

You can't bait on public here, there is plenty of public spots some are small tracts but they hold deer and some are Pope and Young and some are Boone and Crocket. Picking the right tree, wind, time of day, time of year, moon etc and putting in your time to kill a mature whitetail that will jump your string and leave your jaw on the ground on public land is no small feat. Those deer have survived several gun seasons, pushes, drives etc. They live in the marshes and places you can't go, catch him on his feet during shooting light is one thing and killing him is another especially when he's in a laurel thicket that's like shooting through a wicker basket.

I'm hunting elk this year for the first time and can't wait, it'll be different for sure. Everything has it's challenges, any mature game animal is going to give you a run for your money if it was easy I don't know if I would do it. I am not of the opinion that elk are going to be "easier" than whitetail hunting. I also wouldn't think someone who has never done it would consider hunting here easy.

 

[philos]

You're hunting the wrong spots then.

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sneaky,

Don't hate Whisky. I wish more people thought it was boring!

 

[CatfishKev]

A factor is we have elk out this way. I would go back east to hunt but it would be mostly for meat. If I kill an elk (or one of my kids) there's just no need. I'd love to hunt back east especially PA since that's where im from but it's just easier to do it here.

 

[MattB]

I do a tree stand whitetail hunt every 4-5 years, great ground in IA. Not one of my favorite hunts, but nice for a change. We see lots of deer and some great bucks, but frankly the combination of hunting style and species places them just a rung up from javelina in terms of the species that get my heart rate up. Spot and stalk for WT's in eastern CO might be something.