What state would you live in to own and live on hunting ranch

Blandry

WKR
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Nov 26, 2017
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Colorado
You don't want Colorado unless you have the money for 100 acres and that's prob $6M here. I'd go up into WY/SD/ND/ID
 

Yoder

WKR
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Jan 12, 2021
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The problem with the western states is you would need like 10,000 acres to have a place to hunt elk. I could see buying some land but not really a hunting ranch unless you have millions. It would be more of a base camp to head off to public land. You might be able to pick up 100 acres with some deer on it. I love the challenge of hunting public land. Hunting the same property every year would get boring. Maybe when I'm old it would be ok.

I'm on the east coast so I would probably pick West Virginia. Decent gun laws, pretty close to my family and land is relatively cheap. If I was more interested in killing giant bucks I would do Iowa.
 

gabenzeke

WKR
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Oct 28, 2015
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I live in Iowa. You don't need to own land to kill big bucks here. I'm not patient enough to kill big ones, but from what I've seen the majority of people here aren't near as good at hunting as folks from other places. So I imagine a guy could do plenty well on public land if you're better than the competition. I'd buy land in Wyoming or New Mexico if I had my druthers.

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In someone's favorite spot
I used to think I wanted to own my own hunting land. That's the Texas dream after all. Then I realized how boring it is to hunt the same property all the time, even if it's hundreds of acres. No thanks. Give me a well positioned property surrounded by lots of public land and not too many people thank you very much. Then I can see some new ground whenever I feel like it and not have to worry about trespassers, boundary fences, gates, neighbors, neighbor's livestock or pets, taxes, pipelines, etc.
 
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Mish-pop

FNG
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Apr 19, 2023
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SD
I would choose Wyoming for the variety of game, the way they treat residents, and the low population density! Couldn't beat that combo for me. I wouldn't even worry so much about size of ranch as just being a resident would be great!
 

Super tag

WKR
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Aug 22, 2021
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I would choose Utah, surprisingly there’s not much mention of Utah in the thread. Utah probably has the widest variety of terrain suitable for outdoor activities of any state. You get all the big game options, plenty of opportunity to hunt just about anything you want, including predators, If your into fishing or water sports you’ve got endless great choices of Lakes and rivers. Plenty of places for other types of outdoors activities as well, you have the Grand Canyon and all the canyon lands, Moab, desert, mountains, really not much missing. Get away from the cities and the land is wide open. If your into skiing then you’ve got all that. There’s a lot of available ranch land too. Typical winters aren’t nearly as harsh or as long as they can get in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
 

Hnthrdr

WKR
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Jan 29, 2022
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Co
Wyoming hands down. A very good friend and coworker’s family has 1200 acres, with elk, deer, Turkey on it, it’s amazing! But you will need to bring 7 figures to the table for meaningful hunting land in any western state these days… his pops bought it 30 years ago for like 1k and acre, still a lot of money, but nothing like what you need today. AZ is cool, but no landowner tags there… I’m from Co, if I stick around I’ll probably try to buy some hunting land in Neb or Wyoming someday when I’m old and will hunt mostly whiteys and Turks and ducks then haha
 
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I really, REALLY want it to be somewhere out west. But that relies on access to public land unless your net worth is at least, I would guess, $20 million. And given public land hunting is going to shit and our government is becoming more left leaning by the day, I have to say Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, etc. are the only areas I would feel good about investing in for the future, if hunting your own land is the priority.
 
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Joined
Dec 31, 2021
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Montana
To have a place like you are talking, you need sections - not acres. That means millions. Unless you have a large inheritance, Montana is not in the running.
 

WRO

WKR
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Nov 6, 2013
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Idaho
I would choose Utah, surprisingly there’s not much mention of Utah in the thread. Utah probably has the widest variety of terrain suitable for outdoor activities of any state. You get all the big game options, plenty of opportunity to hunt just about anything you want, including predators, If your into fishing or water sports you’ve got endless great choices of Lakes and rivers. Plenty of places for other types of outdoors activities as well, you have the Grand Canyon and all the canyon lands, Moab, desert, mountains, really not much missing. Get away from the cities and the land is wide open. If your into skiing then you’ve got all that. There’s a lot of available ranch land too. Typical winters aren’t nearly as harsh or as long as they can get in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

The only problem with Utah is Utards.


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Joined
Mar 27, 2019
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Lyon County, NV
Not talking "fantasy billions", but something achievable for the average career or entrepreneur, with enough time, wise allocation of resources, and possibly financing...

I'd go with ranch that can at least pay for itself commercially, in a trophy mule deer zone, that comes with 2 landowner tags - I keep one for myself every year, and trade the other for other cool game opportunities outside my area. Nevada, Utah, AZ, NM, or Colorado.
 
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