face it, cheap places to hunt are disappearing faster then a plate of brownies at a weight watcher convention. It used to be easy to find good hunting. That's not the case anymore. Sometimes buying property in an area with a large amount of public land is the way to go. While you have to share the land, at least you have property close and can do a lot of pre season scouting. The trouble is, this is the case in many places and people are now charging out landish prices for worthless property near public lands.

leasing property is now becoming the way to go. The best way is to get a group of sportsmen you can GET A LONG WITH. Set rules as to who can and can not hunt, and then lease large tracts. It does produce good results, but the long term ownership effects are not there.

What kind of animals are you looking to hunt? I wouldnt pay to hunt on a private ranch where there are states with BLM,National forest and wilderness areas to hunt. The area i hunted this year you could buy 5 tags if you drew and got lucky, 1 mule deer buck, 1 mule deer doe, 1 bull elk, 1 cow elk and 1 bear. Elk and deer are a sure thing you can count on getting unless u forget your rifle or are sleeping. Colorado offers a lot of public land to hunt and fill your tags. Im not sure of other states but i know Idaho has quite a bit of public land to offer, along with Wyoming if you dont mind the wind . New mexico is another state that offers you hunting land. Next year im hunting the San isabel Ntl. Forest and Greenhorn mountain wilderness area in Unit 84, Colorado. Lots of elk if you can catch them at the right time or go deeeep into the dark timber. Im looking forward to it.

I think Colorado is pretty good for offering opportunity on public lands. I don't worry about a place to hunt because there is so much public land here. I do see some other hunters, but I have found them to be considerate and friendly. ML season is very light on the number of hunters. There are places for deer hunting, which indeed are public, where you wouldn't see another hunter during ML season. For deer, it will take a couple to several attempts to draw though for a ML tag.

Elk, another story, you will share the woods with others, which isn't always a bad thing since elk like to hide in dense timber.

The thing I like about Colorado hunting, is that it involves more than sitting a stand on a small piece of real estate. For elk, it is ideal for still hunting, for deer lots of opportunity is there for spot and stalk as well as stand hunting.I might add that access to public land isn't always clear from maps, especially the state atlas maps. Homework is required or one may find he won't be hunting where he planned. I'm not an expert on Colorado by any means, but if any one is wanting to come to Colorado for huntingand I have any information which would benefit you, I would gladly share it.

Maine, Out of state big-game+ML tag cost less than $200.00. Close to Ontario. Season runs from 2-9DEC '06.

Here's Maine Fish and Wildlife home page. http://www.state.me.us/ifw/index.html

I have hunted (3) different areas of Maine, Brownsville Jct. (Seven Mountain Guide service, Chuck Lloyd guide/owner---sorry don't have His Phone #) , Pittston Farms---north of Rockwood, and Rangely.

Seen Big deer 225lbs plus killed in all three areas.