Only one state!
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Crusader dad
14-Apr-17
If you were forced to choose ONLY ONE STATE to bowhunt deer for the rest of your life, which state would you choose and why?
From: EmbryO-klahoma
14-Apr-17
Oklahoma, it's what I know and has decent deer.
From: Jaquomo
14-Apr-17
Only one for the rest of my life? I'm a muley guy but looking at the future of my own hunting as I get old? One of those states where you can shoot as many deer as you want and the season goes for like, 5 months.
But I wouldn't want to live there....
From: Crusader dad
14-Apr-17
If I could live there and have my own piece of land, I'd choose the milk River region of Montana. They have lots of deer and I like the scenery.
If I'm always stuck living where I do then I'll stick with what I know which is WI.
From: Woods Walker
14-Apr-17
Let's see.....I'd choose a state of unlimited financial resources, then I could hunt wherever I chose!
From: Brotsky
14-Apr-17
My home state. I have two kinds, good numbers, and decent size.
From: bigswivle
14-Apr-17
Florida. Don't have huge deer but we have a lot of them and we can kill a lot of them.
From: casekiska
14-Apr-17
For me, gotta be WI! Good deer numbers. Good deer quality. This is where I live and own land.
From: Bake
14-Apr-17
I'd pick my home state of Missouri. We have some decent deer. But more important to me is the time I get to hunt. I live 15 minutes from most of my hunting spots, and therefore get to hunt quite a bit before and after work, and get to spend a lot of quality time in the woods.
That's important to me. I'd rather hunt 140 class deer for 50 days a year than 160 class deer for 10 days a year.
From: skull
14-Apr-17
Iowa that's where the monsters are
From: drycreek
14-Apr-17
Right here in Texas. I'm too old to change my ways.....
From: MathewsMan
14-Apr-17
We have land in South Dakota- but the bucks here in Colorado can be worthy of an arrow.
From: sticksender
14-Apr-17
Hard to answer that question without qualifying it. Am I moving to that state? Will I own land in that state? Unlikely I'd move to any state just to hunt whitey's. But Colorado and Idaho and Montana all have good whitetails, and better yet, they have 8-9 other big game species to hunt too.
From: PECO
14-Apr-17
A farming area, where the deer eat crops and lush green hay fields and acorns and taste yummy. A place where I can have at least 3 tags a year. A place where I would want to move to, or where a nonresident can get 3 tags for less than 3 hundred dollars. A place where there are nice bucks, because I am a meat hunter first. A meat hunter first but I love a nice rack as much as the next guy.
From: Glunt@work
14-Apr-17
Wyoming
From: WV Mountaineer
14-Apr-17
For whitetails, I'm here. For the best compromise, Colorado. Everything else lives there except the grizz. With otc units for ell, units a person can expect to draw Miley tags basically every year, throw in for the host and mouse possibilities, and bears galore, it's be heaven on earth. God Bless meb
From: elkstabber
14-Apr-17
Colorado would be tough to beat if you wanted to hunt deer because I enjoy variety. There's mule deer in the western half of the state and whitetails in the eastern half. Mule deer can be hunted in the low sage, above timberline, or in any of the timber in between. Then you could also hunt whitetails in the rolling farmland. Plus, while chasing the deer you could run into any of the other 8 or so big game animals that can be hunted in Colorado.
This would also be true in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and a few other states.
While long seasons and liberal bag limits (like where I live in VA) seem great for hunters there are many of us that are looking for variety. Hunting the same property over and over just isn't much variety. The greatest variety would be at least two species of deer and lots of public land available. The states with the liberal seasons seem to lack abundant public land.
From: wacem
14-Apr-17
I like Wisconsin. I can sit in a tree with bow in hand from mid September until the first week in January.
From: Woods Walker
14-Apr-17
....and then there's the CHEESE!!! And Packers!
From: Sage Buffalo
14-Apr-17
Montana hands down.
From: Genesis
14-Apr-17
EYE-OH-WAH.....
From: Crusader dad
14-Apr-17
Ok,, so I'll clarify more (this didn't cross my mind when I started the thread)... You Do not have to live there but it's the only state you can ever hunt whitey's in for the rest of your life. I'll even give you 30 vacation days to do it.
I'm taking Montana.
From: Kodiak
14-Apr-17
Can't narrow it down to one...Iowa simply for the genetics and Wisconsin for the country. Wisconsin is really pretty, especially in the driftless region. Perfect ag/forest habitat for growing big deer.
Either one would be fantastic.
From: Scooby-doo
14-Apr-17
I love where I hunt in NY, I can walk out my door and be deer hunting and my other spots are less then 10 minutes away. I have hunted the same land for close to 50 years. That said if I had to pick one and just for whitetails I would live in Kansas. That way I could hunt Iowa every couple years and Nebraska every year and throw in South Dakota each year as well. Shawn
From: Rocky D
14-Apr-17
Scooby love the concept but math does not add up to "just one"
From: hunt'n addict
14-Apr-17
I would choose WY or MT. I have had the pleasure of hunting the Milk River area and it lives up to what the TV shows portray, and there are a lot of other species that I could hunt as well. The down side is it seems the WT get EHD there often. But WY also has WT and a lot of other species. I could live in either one without a problem.
From: BOHNTR
14-Apr-17
Arizona.....BIG mule deer and BIG coues whitetail.
From: Scar Finga
14-Apr-17
AZ... The Kaibab baby!
Scar.
From: oake
14-Apr-17
kanzass
From: oldgoat
14-Apr-17
The state I live in at the time! Deer aren't worth non resident tag cost. Except for the 2 for $55 doe tags in Nebraska! Still haven't done that either but am toying with it for years I don't draw a Colorado plains deer tag!
From: happygolucky
14-Apr-17
Ok, not a state but a state of mind - Saskatchewan, CA. I'd take the great fishing to go with the great hunting and I would be safer for when Russia and North Korea start bombing us :). They do have really big deer too!
From: Scooby-doo
14-Apr-17
Rocky D yes it does, just one state to live in was the question. I would choose Kansas as I said. In 3 years I will be living in Kansas for at least 4 months of the year. Shawn
From: WV Mountaineer
14-Apr-17
Scooby, here's the second scenerio given by the OP. He didn't ask what state. Said what state for whitetails if you can only hunt one.
"Ok,, so I'll clarify more (this didn't cross my mind when I started the thread)... You Do not have to live there but it's the only state you can ever hunt whitey's in for the rest of your life. I'll even give you 30 vacation days to do it. I'm taking Montana." Originally posted by Crusader dad.
From: Crusader dad
14-Apr-17
Thanks WV, even in my original post I didn't say you had to live there. You can live anywhere you want. I just wanted to know which one state you'd choose. That's why I revised it to out of state if you like and you still get to hunt that state for 30 days.
I'd take living in northern AZ and my 30 days would be Montana. Obviously, if I lived in Montana I could deer hunt more than 30 days. That's a choice you'd have to make.
I get the feeling most on the main forum would choose their favorite elk state to live in and that 30 day deer hunt would just be a bonus.
From: pav
14-Apr-17
Three answers....
If I remain a resident of Indiana....I would currently choose Ohio as my "one state" for whitetails.
If I change residency and only want to hunt whitetails....Iowa... hands down.
If I change residency and want to hunt a variety if big game (including whitetails) as a resident....Colorado
From: t-roy
14-Apr-17
Iowa. I already have the land and all the food plot equipment bought. It would cost too much to ship it elsewhere! Plus, I can get up to 3 archery buck tags and multiple doe tags without having to put in the draw for them.
From: pointingdogs
14-Apr-17
wyoming
From: sawtooth
14-Apr-17
Anywhere south of wolves and winterkill, and east or west of liberal entitlement type state governments.
From: Hopeless Place
15-Apr-17
Depends on your financial status. I would consider Sonora.
From: rick allison
15-Apr-17
Well...I'm a Cheesehead who'll never leave my beloved Wisconsin...so I guess that's my answer.
Yeah, we have a wolf problem...and the CWD debacle...and private land access is getting tougher every year...but as mentioned earlier, we have generous seasons with changing climate conditions ranging from hot & skeeters, to snowshoes & frozen dingleberries.
However, I do miss the days of healthy knees and Wyoming's high country.
From: Scooby-doo
15-Apr-17
Only hunting one would state would never be an option for me. Never! Scooby
From: BOWUNTR
15-Apr-17
Alaska... no doubt. Ed F
From: Willieboat
15-Apr-17
Oregon....Blacktails..Mulies...Whitetails and last but not least Columbian Whitetails ! Now thats variety !!!
From: Arrowhead
15-Apr-17
I cant believe it, nobody picked Alabama. Hands Down the best state in the universe. A spike here counts the same as a 200 class anywhere else. Come on guy's get with the program. Challenge yourself. Oh yeah, the turkeys here have x-ray vision. Never mind just great eyesight. They can see your reflection off a satellite. Put your big boy pant's on and come on down now, Ya Hear!
From: APauls
15-Apr-17
Give me either Saskatchewan or Alberta I'd be a happy man
From: Pete In Fairbanks
15-Apr-17
All very good choices, but I am happy to select Alaska. Five months of deer season and limit of at least 3 (sometimes more when populations are on the rise.)
Besides, the added adrenaline rush of having to, on occasion, fight brown bears for your venison gives it a rush that you Southern guys just cannot come close to!
Pete
From: 12yards
15-Apr-17
IA
From: willliamtell
16-Apr-17
I can tell you a State it definitely wouldn't (or won't) be - California. Which is a shame because on the face of it there is a lot going for it. The anti's have ground it down to the ragged edge of being worth trying (being able to really) hunt at all. Me and a whole of others are stubborn though, and feel it is our solemn duty to gut it out here (for now) and warn you-all of what is happening here and could happen to an area near you to make hunting worse…and worse…and worse (you get the picture).
From: Kurt
16-Apr-17
BC has 4 species of deer, whitetails, mule deer, Columbian blacktails and Sitka blacktails. A hunter could get one each of the first three and five Sitka blacktails in a year. That said, rifle season is about 2.5 to 3 months long in most units, making the deer hunting difficult in many areas. It would be a major accomplishment to take the BC slam of deer in one year, and I'd have to give up too many other species hunts to try right now.....but might be fun down the road!
From: TK
17-Apr-17
For WT Texas, MLDP properties - season runs from October 1st thru end February.
From: elk yinzer
17-Apr-17
I'd stick with my home state of PA, since family keeps me from migrating West. In spite of our poorer trophy potential, we have mountains, big woods, and ample public land. I'm a public land guy, all the private land in the Midwest whitetail meccas, being stuck on the same 40 year after year, makes me claustrophobic just thinking about it. The deer I kill here taste good and I know that inches of antler are relative.
