Eastern Hunts For Western Hunters

[BTH]

Yes, I'd like to see what it's like back east. I hunted Texas earlier this year and had a great time. I'd like to see the whitetails in the mid west and hunt whitetails in pretty much any eastern state.
But...air fare, meat transport, and other logistics just get in the way. I spent a pretty penney hunting in Texas, between the St. Judes auction which got me the hunt and the gettin' there and back and the associated other costs. Unless I get a nice windfall of disposable income I'll be staying here in CA, chasing blacktails, hogs, and turkeys on over the counter tags and trying to draw the elk and antelope hunts.

[BTH]

And, yes, I went to Africa and am now officially broke with transport and taxidermy fees!

[mikecc]

Me and a friend traded a hunt with some guys from Ohio and had a ball hunting whitetails. Had more shot opportunites in 4 days than in 4 years here in Utah. They had a great time hunting elk here and I really enjoyed the hardwoods and green grass they had out there. I just wish I had more patience and experience with treestands, I just couldn't hit those jumpy little whitetails. Being a small game addict I was constantly moving around and winging arrows at all the squirrels which probably scared the deer away. I did end up getting a shot and hitting a nice 6 point but he made it onto an adjoining farm some other guys were hunting and although we looked as much as we dared we couldn't recover him. I was sad but I look forward to hunting out there again. I just wish someone would bring a few trailers full of whitetails here to Utah and turn them lose so we had something to hunt. The mule deer population sucks pretty bad.

[Rik]

Considering that most of us have a finite amount of vacation time, it's not easy for us to pass up exciting spot-and-stalk hunts here in the Rocky Mountain back country in favor of sitting for days on end in a tree next to some farmer's field back east. Not much adventure in that, and most of us westerners crave adventure----it’s why our ancestors left the east and moved here in the first place. It’s in our blood.

Packing deep into the mountains, living in a small tent for a week or two, eating grouse and hearing the bulls scream all night, well, that's pretty hard to beat.

Climbing two hours through knee-deep, wind-blown snow in late November to reach the top of a craggy granite mountain before dawn to stalk mule deer in the rut, that's pretty hard to beat.

Sneaking around a knife-edged ridge to kill a  black bear feeding on fresh spring grass just below the snow line, that's pretty hard to beat too.

Sure, the 60 seconds or so before you shoot your white tail from a tree stand 15 minutes from the pavement might be exciting, but other than that, you have to admit, that kind of hunting is fairly low on the adventure scale.

Don't get me wrong----killing deer is great, and you easterners get to do a whole lot more of it than we western ridge runners.

However, killing deer while having a huge adventure deep in the back country----well, that's a whole different matter.

Basically, it comes down to "what's the funnest, most exciting way to spend my vacation time?" With limited vacation time, for me, the high country or the Australian Outback always seem to win out over Farmer John's bean field.

Signed--------Love to kill a whitetail, but elk season's too much fun to give up. WAY too much fun!

[myshootinstinks]

I've never hunted anywhere but the Rocky Mtns so perhaps I take it for granted. I'll tell you though that a hunt on the edge an easy-to-access corn field has it's appeal. Rough terrain is hard on a guy.
   Don't think I could ever give up the mountains though, if you spend 40 years doing something a certain way it becomes what you are.

[houseman]

I was born and raised on ohio.  I stil have a little honey hole in ohio, and in west virginia.  Don't think I could ever give up my whietail.  As much as I love chasing elk.

[alligatordond]

I've got it pretty good in Florida. FLORIDA you say!! The Florida interior is surprisingly rural,a downright wilderness in places with a pretty fair amount of public access, though we could use more.

We've got a good whitetail population, abundant hogs, great Osceola turkey hunting and lengthy seasons. Also the gator hunting is more available than it ever was before.

I've hosted a couple of western residents on my place and the initial reaction is always surprise that there was any wilderness in Florida. And they seem to enjoy coming back(especially in winter:-)

If I had the time to be a proper host I would love to have more of you western guys down here for some hogs, turkeys and gators. Maybe when I retire.

[gregg dudley]

Some of you guys have been watching too many hunting videos if you think there is not any adventure involved in Eastern hunting.  Hell y'all don't even have alligators out there and the snakes you have are candy #**%* compared to ours.

  )

[stick flipper]

I couldn't give up hunting giant ohio whitetails from the end of sept. to the beginning of feb. and we can take 7 deer a year!!!! I have been elk hunting and I absolutely loved it! But it is only a month long and I can use my vacation time to hunt the elk. I am a firefighter and I am blessed with a great job with great hours    24 hours on and 48 hours off!!! So I really enjoy the 4 month long deer season and I am within an hour or two drive of some other great states to hunt.
 I do envy you western boys    but at the same time I love being in the Nov. whitetail woods  

[koger]

Hey Silvertip, what WMA are you talking about, I live in Monticello KY, probably about 2 hours from you. I have acces to some pretty good hunting here, maybe we could go hunting together sometime, yours or mine and have another trad. buddy in Corbin that would jump on this, increas your areas to hunt if your interested?

[myshootinstinks]

Keep the snakes    ....don't care for that kind of adventure.

[Jedimaster]

Check out Honey Island Swamp. I don't live far from there.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_Island_Swamp

People go in but they don't come out.  How's that for adventure.  Yessir, bear, panther, alligator, hogs and four varieties of poisonous snakes and these are the things we do know about. LOL. I have roamed in some federally designated wilderness areas in the east as well.  You can get away and stay away from folks for a long time.  The hunting can be tough and rewarding.  I have sat on some bean fields too, don't nock it till you've tried it and although there are some high fenced operations around I can attest that most of us good 'ole boys don't hunt like they show on them fancy videos.