Do western hunters long for eastern hunts

Broomd

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Um, no.
I lived in Alaska for a long time and scratched that DIY itch with some great mountain hunts.

But geographically, I can't imagine heading East for anything afield.
 

Mike 338

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I Cant help but ponder this from my few years of studying and learning in preparation to hunt out west. Any of you guys who live out west have dream hunts that can only be found here in the East or South?

No... but I do admire the often times, liberal bag limit on deer. Fact is, I hardly ever see game when I hunt in my State of Idaho. Big country and with the wolves now, the game tends to behave more cautiously. No doubt it would be better hunting for me if I put more effort into it pre-season. IMO, the best reason to hunt the West is to see new places or just hunt big country. I hardly ever see anybody once off the road. Hunt success can be hit and miss and the odds drop if you don't know the area. I guess I'd be more interested in hunting the East if I knew somebody there but I pretty much stick close to home due to the convenience.
 

prm

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Grew up in CO, currently in VA. I doubt I would ever make a trip East to hunt if I still lived out west. Having said that, one reservation to moving back west is how limiting the hunting can be. Short seasons and limited quotas. Where I live now, I can hunt deer everyday from September 7th through April 26th. My regular license is for 6 deer, but I can get unlimited doe tags. Not saying it’s better, just different. There are a lot of guys out east who hunt and kill a lot more game than those who only hunt out west. I just toss in a couple trips out west each year to get the best of both.
 

Doc Holliday

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It would be like a marlin fisherman longing to catch bluegills and catfish in a farm pond. Maybe as part of a retirement strategy though

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 

Jimss

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I grew up in Wyo and now mostly hunt Wyo, Colo, Alaska, and other western states when I can draw quality tags. There are so many different hunting options in the west that it's tough to get too terribly excited about hunting eastern species. I've always dreamed of getting a monster whitetail but have always put that off since it usually takes a lot of time and it's something I can likely do when I physically can't do many of the western hunts. I started hunting turkeys and have harvested quite a few rios and merriams…...some day would like to harvest a true eastern!
 
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Yes, I lived in VA for 3 years and loved hunting whitetail. The best part was I could hunt before and after work for 4 months with 3 buck tags and unlimited does. And not burn any vacation time. So every November I do think of the whitetail rut.... I have made several trips to Arkansas to hunt on my friends deer lease just for fun with the kids. However I don't think I could ever move back east after living in the west (WA CA UT CO AK) and hunting all over.
 
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SWOHTR

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With some of the comments here, I can’t help but wonder if some people have never left their (western) home state for anything. Obviously a few have, but based on some of the responses it sure doesn’t seem like it.

Oh well, to each their own.
 

DWBMontana

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To answer your question from here in Montana, No. But if it makes you feel better, I do not long for the west coast either.
 

Broomd

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With some of the comments here, I can’t help but wonder if some people have never left their (western) home state for anything. Obviously a few have, but based on some of the responses it sure doesn’t seem like it.

Oh well, to each their own.
What you may not realize is that many of us grew up in the East. After decades of "sign, sign everywhere a (no-trespassing) sign" we finally said 'Eastern U.S., GFY!'...
 

SWOHTR

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What you may not realize is that many of us grew up in the East. After decades of "sign, sign everywhere a (no-trespassing) sign" we finally said 'Eastern U.S., GFY!'...
Oh no, I get it. Some people’s comments just make it seem like they have never left home! I’ve lived in WI, IL, CA, ID, and RI. ID is the best, RI sucked but if you like fishing it’d be great. I found all of this out through firsthand experience where it seems like a lot of people are like “I heard it sucks so it must be true” bandwagon when in reality they may be missing a lot of opportunity or new experiences.
 
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With some of the comments here, I can’t help but wonder if some people have never left their (western) home state for anything. Obviously a few have, but based on some of the responses it sure doesn’t seem like it.

Oh well, to each their own.
I respect that people love the East. I'm sure there are some truly great places to live out there. If I lived there I would still hunt of course. Having said that, I have been to a few places on the east coast, NY, FL, NC. Driven across this country. Been around the world to first and third world countries and I haven't found a more free and beautiful part of this world than the American NW. Well idk, South Chicago might be a close second :p
 
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A couple years ago someone NE guy just back from their western Elk hunt posted a thread from his treestand. He said how bored he was sitting in his treestand and wished he was out west again.
Some guy from Montana responded how bored he was sitting on his couch and how he wished he could be in a trestand .

I'll be the first to point out how much it sucks here and people should stay away, but I can be hunting suburban deer 5 min. from the house, drive another 7 min. and be hunting farm land, and another 30 and be in the mountain on public land.
118160
 

kiddogy

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With some of the comments here, I can’t help but wonder if some people have never left their (western) home state for anything. Obviously a few have, but based on some of the responses it sure doesn’t seem like it.

Oh well, to each their own.
I for one will never leave Idaho , brutha ! rest of the world ain't got nuthin I need.
 
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I Cant help but ponder this from my few years of studying and learning in preparation to hunt out west. Any of you guys who live out west have dream hunts that can only be found here in the East or South?


Alligator in the south
 

Idaho CTD

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Aug 13, 2016
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Boise, ID
I really want to go back to Puerto Rico and shoot iguana's. That was some of the most fun my dad and I have had together plus it's the first "hunt" I've had my boys on. I doubt it has the long term draw of big game hunt here in the west and AK but when 4 of you shoot 150 in 4 hours with air rifles (many of which had to be shot 4+ times) it's pretty fun. The guides were super cool too. I will go back with my own rifle and scope next time though. Their scopes sucked super bad. There was only about 70 in the picture but more then half were too hard to recover due to the thick brush under the trees. We shot over 30 from the big tree behind us. Another bonus is I got to combine it with a family vacation.

Iguana hunting 2.jpg

About the only thing besides that the east has that we dont is hogs and different species of turkey's.
 
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