My first thought was: "You can't hunt if you can't get a licence". Even though I live in Cheyoming, I would not pick it first because of the difficulty of getting nonresident tags. I like the idea of Sas or BC, but what do you have to do to get into Canada with a gun?
For ease of licencing, and ability to get on a multitude of game, I'd have to vote for Colorado. (Please forgive me lord . . . for saying that).
As far as a rifle? Even though I own many guns, If I were stranded on a desert island and could use one caliber for everything larger than a Cayote, .300 Win Mag!