A one day hunt for deer or elk is actually more "doable" than a day hunt for small game in my opinion.

As a life time resident I figure a range of 100 miles is about the limit for a one dayer. Depends on how much you like to drive and the weather.

Excellent elk hunting can be found inside of 100 miles from the metro area, pretty much the same for deer. For decent small game these days you have to plan to travel a bit more...again just my opinion. I haven't seen really good small game hunting inside of 150 miles in a few years. Just got back from a week long deer/antelope/coyote/pheasant hunt in combination and it was couple hundred miles from the metro area but all in one place and private.