Why not East?

[Oregon]

Every time I leave the house to hunt I have to head east! As soon as they give out seal tags, I’ll go west.
I’ve deer hunted 13 different states, 4 of those being “Eastern” states(other side of the Miss).
Shooting whitetails is fun, I enjoyed every place I hunted out there.
The only reason I’d try a new state, say New York or Miss would be if I already had boots on the ground there and a buddy invited me.
I have way too many easy, OTC hunts within 16 hours to even entertain researching one that requires airplanes, and hanging out with people who talk funny. Ha

 

[Brendan]

So - some big black bear out here.

"A few bears weighing more than 800 pounds have been harvested in Pennsylvania, although the largest last year was 740 pounds. A total of 60 bears killed last year weighed more than 500 pounds each."

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Moose in Maine/NH/VT if you could ever draw, better to go to the Canadian Maritimes.

Sika deer in Maryland.
Sika Deer

Florida - Deer opens in some places late July and closes some places in February. Spring Turkey opens the beginning of March in some places if you're looking for an Osceola. Hunt Alligators, Burmese Pythons, Hogs. And then - go fishing and enjoy the sun.

Alabama rut deer in January / February.

 

[Ben Nicholson]

There are no deer in Iowa so keep that off your East list.

 

[blackdawg]

There are no deer in Iowa so keep that off your East list.

Hahah,, costs more and takes longer to get that Archery tag today than most elk tags,,, that cat got out long long ago, most of the land is owned by nonresidents nowadays. One of my Wyoming buddies traveled east last year and killed a 170 archery buck,why did he go that far? Cause no matter how much marketing the western states do about their “bigguns” ,,, genetically modified corn bucks grow bigger,, haha!


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[idahohikker]

My personal reasons
1. Whitetails are fuggly with small antlers
2. Real mountains and huge tracts of public land.

Western hunting is amazing. I have little interest in hunting anywhere in the East. I think Alaska is the only draw for most Western guys.

 

[5MilesBack]

I wonder how many of them would be ok with stopping sales to non-residents if it meant their tag fees would triple in price to make up the difference.

I'm OK with that. I'd pay even more to ensure I had the mountains to myself. But that's just fantasy talk as it would never happen.

But I never go east to hunt because elk tags are even harder to get the further east you go. I have no interest in chasing whitetails around the woods.

 

[wind gypsy]

Something about putting 17 miles on in a day and still wondering if the next two drainages over would be better yet.

 

[Poser]

Cut my teeth hunting in Tennessee. More than anything, I miss the squirrel hunting. Big fat grey and fox squirrels that eat acorns and taste excellent , not these puny-ass pine squirrels with a Pinesol taste. I also miss the long deer season: having 100+ days to rifle hunt sure makes it a less stressful affair.

 

[cnelk]

The furthest east I go to hunt 3-4 hrs from Colorado out to Nebraska in Oct/Nov

Its a welcome change to walk 200-300yds to my tree stand and sit there after chasing elk for a month, put many miles on my boots and losing 10+ lbs in September

 

[unclericco]

I've lived either in Utah, Wyoming, and now Nevada my whole life and I couldn't really see myself trying to hunt back east. I didn't draw anything this year in any state but still found OTC archery elk opportunity, which was very expensive but still cheaper than traveling east. If I had grown up back east somewhere I would have made the best of it though hunting gators, pythons, hogs, whitetails and stuff. I like hunting out of a blind/treestand though and have had lots of good times archery Antelope hunting that way.

 

[unclericco]

Cut my teeth hunting in Tennessee. More than anything, I miss the squirrel hunting. Big fat grey and fox squirrels that eat acorns and taste excellent , not these puny-ass pine squirrels with a Pinesol taste. I also miss the long deer season: having 100+ days to rifle hunt sure makes it a less stressful affair.

That does sound fun. Durango though, oh man there is some awesome hunting where you're at. I got a high 180's deer there a few years back that I have on the wall.

 

[blackdawg]

What to I like??I like hunting and fishing everywhere,for everything! I have been a traveling DIY outdoorsman since 1985, it’s really depressing seeing all the hate on nonresidents the last few years and the fleecing of them to support fish,wildlife and “Parks” departments.Keeping the dream alive to see new places, experience different ways of hunting and fishing have kept the passion burning for me about 40 years now,,, the way things are heading,I doubt younger outdoorsmen will have the opportunity to chase all of their dreams. Be careful, we could end up putting ourselves in the cage the anti’s and Dudley do nothings,,want us to be in.


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[Btaylor]

Something about putting 17 miles on in a day and still wondering if the next two drainages over would be better yet.

Plenty of places to do that east of CO. And lots of it equally rugged though not quiet as tall as the Rockies. We also have places that are 10's of thousands of acres and the greatest elevation change is about waist high other than the drop of where the rivers run through. You can find plenty of challenges and adventure over this way too with the added benefit of all sorts of snakes and skeeters that can stand flat footed and breed a layin hen, gators, hogs, bears, deer, small game etc. but there are no ducks. They stop in MO these days.

 

[camping1601]

Once you get past the Mississippi it's a waste of your time.
No challenge, little bucks, and people everywhere.
I'd stick to CO otc Elk.

 

[camping1601]

Something about putting 17 miles on in a day and still wondering if the next two drainages over would be better yet.

This is one of the biggest problems we have. Your not doing close to that off trail around here.
Even on trail that's a tough day.

 

[vanish]

Its hard to justify heading East past the Mississippi when you can hunt 4+ big game species in your home state, let alone in the surrounding ones.

 

[Btaylor]

I feel terrible that we have forgotten to mention how awesome our dove hunting is. It is just awesome and all of you CO guys are welcome to come. Season usually opens labor day weekend. I won't be here but can hook you up with a spot, even my honey hole.

 

[WV Mountaineer]

There was a thread here a while back talking about the miles of roadless areas in Colorado. According to that thread, WV has more of those areas then CO. I often pack my deer three miles or more. Our slopes in southern WV are 3000’-4000’ from bass to top of 65%-70% slope. Often covered in the thickest, nastiest mountain laurel you can imagine. You crawl over it instead of through it. It’s just plain out ROUGH going. Much rougher then Anything I’ve encountered elk hunting. Regardless of elevation. It’d be a hard won victory to come here from the west and actually kill something.

Western guys like the idea of hunting tougher. When in reality, out west can be much easier all around. Physically no one from the west is gonna believe that. It’s ok. One thing they can’t deny is the advantage to spot their quarry from afar. That doesn’t kill it but, the first and biggest part of hunting is accomplished with seeing your game. That’s hard to do when your average line of sight is 50-60 yards due to broken terrain or brush.




I’m not saying this is sheep hunting. I am saying where elk are found, minus elevation factor, the west elk huntiing is a lot easier in comparison to where I do most of my whitetail hunting. That goes for a lot of eastern whitetail hunters too. It’s just not recognized because nobody comes from the west to do it in the east.

 

[307]

Bugs, humidity, too many people, too many trees (can't see).

Whitetail just doesn't inspire me the way western big game does.

 

[Beendare]

I went to AZ and took my hunters ed a while back and honestly got the impression several ppl there didn’t like it. One fella informed me he didn’t like non res getting tags when he couldn’t get one in his home state......

Don't worry about whiny little bitches....just move on.