retirement : moving to Tenn. or Kentucky who's bow seasons better

[Red4arm]

I live in east tn. I lease land on ky to hunt.
I ownland at home and drive 5 hrs to western ky to hunt if that tells you something.

[jeff w]

I feel that what others have said is pretty accurate about KY;   lower deer numbers in the eastern part, but maybe more public land. If I had to stay in Ky-I would go to the western part. If I was looking for somewhere to live within @50 miles of where I am now, southeastern Ohio would be my choice.

[turkey522]

Ky does have hogs in western part of the state.Private land might be hard to find,but not impossible.Plenty of public land to hunt too.

[Bowwild]

I wish KY had no hogs. They are fun to hunt but a blight on the landscape.

KY, like most of the eastern U.S. has very little public land, less than 10% of its 26 million acres.

If you were considering the west I would go there for sure! Much more public land and a variety of big game to pursue. What I do like about KY and many eastern states are the very long bow seasons -- I wouldn't know what to do with only a month or less to bowhunt like many western states.

KY's deer season starts the 1st Saturday in September and ends on MLK day in mid-January. Turkey bow season overlaps the deer season completely as well.

In my area of KY I can shoot as many does as I care or am able to do. I rarely shoot an antlered buck because I don't want to fill the single buck tag with anything other than as big or bigger than I've killed.

We have the largest elk herd in the eastern U.S. and larger than some herds in the West at 10,000+ animals. It is difficult to get drawn (40,000+ applicaitons for 1,000 or so tags). If you do get drawn though the success rate is 76%+.

The free-ranging elk herd is in 16 east KY counties covering 3,000,000 acres -- 90% private land though.

[RC]

Ga. Gods country and over a million acres of public land.RC

[jrbows]

Not sure of the current situation but when I was stationed at Ft. Campbell Ky. I read an article in the state game magazine that said Ft. Campbell and Ft.Knox had the largest deer populations in the state I've been on both of those bases and they're not that far apart,that may be something to consider if you land  in Ky. but I don't know what a civilian has to do to hunt on a military post anymore,wherever you end up enjoy your retirement.