Hunting: Most BANG for your BUCK

[Roger Norris]

Michigan, Upper penninsula

[longbowbryan]

I hunt every year in Arkansas. $100 for a 3 day license which is good for 2 deer.

[Pack]

If I was you I would check out Colorado.  Millions of acres of public land with good deer numbers. I wish I could recommend New Mexico, but the deer hunting is sub-par.  Now elk, that is another story.

I would not recommend NW Iowa. When out of area folks come here they expect to see monster bucks hiding behind all of our few trees.  The public land  areas are small and the deer get run around quite a bit before the bow season begins and those that put up tree stands on public ground claim that they own those spots, even when they are not hunting them.  Many locals are heading to south central Iowa for some elbow room.  There are reports of getting some harassment in the public woods down there as well, but it is better than here.  Access to private land in Iowa is very difficult to come by. There are a number of NW Iowa hunters heading out to Nebraska every year, I have been tempted myself, but the drought has caused some problems with deer die off in greater numbers west of here due to the blue tongue epidemic.

[TOEJAMMER]

FYI All deer in Colorado are on a draw.  Applications must be the Department of Parks and Wildlife early April. April 2nd was the deadline this year.

[Fletcher]

Sure isn't Illinois - very little public ground and an embarrassingly high buck tag.  Doe tags are OTC and cheap, tho.

Wisconsin has the good deal going this year, half price tag if you haven't hunted there in the last ten years or something like that.

[Tajue17]

Maryland or New Jersey..

[MAGICMAN]

Oklahoma is great plus hogs do not require a licence or season enemy for non residents! Lots of public land!

[SKITCH]

Originally posted by MAGICMAN:
Oklahoma is great plus hogs do not require a licence or season enemy for non residents! Lots of public land!

Hey Jason...I was told if hunting hogs you DO need to have a license on you and if something is in season you need to have a tag for that with you too.  Punched or not.  ??????

[Mojostick]

Depends what you're looking for. If you're looking for a hunt where you have a reasonable chance at a bigger, mature whitetail buck, Ohio or Kentucky probably best fits your listed criteria.

If you want to camp in some great places, enjoy eastern US upland forest and you don't care if you see mainly yearling bucks and maybe a 2-3 year old 8pt in the 100"-120" class if you're really lucky and can kill a doe (or 2), much of northern Michigan offers lots of public land, the most public land east of the Mississippi, and tags are over the counter.

Non-resident tag fees just recently changed, but I think it's still around $250-300 for 2 "either sex" tags for archery.

Keep in mind, if you choose Michigan, you likely won't be alone, unless you pick places with low deer density, like the UP or the northern tip of the LP. We have 350,000 bowhunters in Michigan. Any public land with decent deer numbers will probably have bowhunters all over it.

[Shawn Leonard]

I speak from experience, OHIO. License and doe tag right around $165 for out of state, Plenty of public land and the couple counties I have hunted you can knock on doors and get permission. I knocked on a couple doors and had over a thousand acres of private land to hunt! Shawn

[TraditionalGuy]

Ohio is starting to look like the winner so far. Just and fyi, I'm a meat first, rack second guy. If I could take a couple of does versus a big buck, I will almost every time. Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm not planning a hunting trip until next season, so I might have to revisit this thread later this year or early next.

[bowless]

Great thread!
What's the hunting pressure like in TN?
Very crowded here in MA.

[TraditionalGuy]

Out of curiosity, why are you able to kill more does than bucks in most of the midwest and eastern states? Here out west, it is harder to even get a doe tag, much less be able to take more of them than bucks. Is it a species difference or one of wildlife management rules?

[halfseminole]

Here, it's a management issue.  They shoot every buck they see here, if we didn't take some does we'd have serious imbalance issues.

I talk to very, very few meat hunters these days.  All they want is that rack.  Every year we see more deer left to rot in the woods.  Makes me sad and embarrassed for my state.

[Bazooka Joe]

How about Wisconsin!

[Keb]

Missouri would be a good place, lots of public land and deer and a reasonable chance at a big buck. If you decide, I'm from north west Missouri, if you decide on it, pm me I put you in some good areas, I've hunted over the years.

Good primitive camping on most of the public areas.