My wife and I are contemplating a move to Florida, prob. the west coast, but possibly Jacksonville.

I love to fish, sail and swim. But I also love to hunt! What kind of hunting can I expect in Florida? Does anyone have a good link to a state website or other overview information?

There is alot of hunting in Florida. You'll really like the Northern section if you came from up north and love the change of seansons. I live way down south where the weather never really changes. You'll be able to hunt Deer, Hogs, Turkeys, Squirels, Quail, Dove, Duck, Goose, just for starters. If you have the money you can pay to hunt the exotics from Africa and such.

Lots of public land, private, and lease land available to you also. I'll try the "link" thing for you.

florida waterfowl

florida fish and wildlife

Let me or the others know if this is what your looking for. And welcome to the board and possibly Florida.

Your in a pretty good area, within short driving distance there is good deer hunting, aroud Liveoak, Perry, Ocala. There are hogs just about everywhere and if you go south just a little ways you can hunt both eastern and osceola turkeys. There is lots of public land in that area as well as private land.

hunting here is the best...the deer might not be as big, but it doesn't change what the hunt is all about, that's still the same....

Chubber - The hunting down here is good... but different.

I grew up in upstate NY, north of the adirondaks... big deer everywhere, lots of ducks and geese...

Here in FL, the deer are smaller and more wary, its harder to hunt them. Depending on where you are, the geese are very sparse, but there are ducks if you know where to look. Plus, there are hogs down here, and boy, they are fun to hunt!!!

There are lots of WMAs for you to hunt on, and if you get a quota hunt permit, the pressure is low.

Unfortunately, unless you know someone or can pay lots of money, public land is the only thing available.... hard to get permission to hunt private without paying for it.

Jax is a good area, change of seasons (even if the "season" only lasts a couple of weeks) and good hunting and fishing opprotunities (both salt and fresh water)

Good luck on your move

Thanks to everyone here for the good news and encouragement. Wifey, Baby and I are all coming down to Tampa in a couple of weeks to defrost from the north, look around and get a feel for the job and housing market.

I am an independent software developer, so I am not just looking for a 9-5 job. That is easier in some ways and harder in other ways. The wife works full time in the house and the daughter works full time driving Mom crazy.

Ill report back to the group when I get back to let you all know what I think.

Chubber

Hey I live i jacksonville and it is turkey season right now. There are a few WMA around here to hunt and also you can join a hunting club if you want to pay out the cash. I got a nice 6 point last year and hope to get a nice turkey on friday. If you move up this way I would be more then gald to take ya out hunting and show you around.

Kevin,

Thanks for the kind offer. I just got back from the Tampa area today and have some mixed feelings about the area. I like the price of housing and the availability of finding recreational activities. I wasn't always pleased with the KIND of housing I was finding. I am alergic to overbearing homeowners associations and strict covenants. I didn't see a ton of work in my field, so that is a primary concern.

On the hunting front I may have to sell all of my cold weather gear and buy bug repellent gear.

I spent some summers and holidays with my grandparents and aunt in Jacksonville and St. Augustine and can't imagine where the hunting is. But, then, I usually spent my free time at the beach...

If i can find some work, Ill be more interested in the details.


Chubber

In Jacksonville you have some home owners associations but I am sure its not as bad as tampa or more down south. We just built a house two years ago and the houses are not right up next to each other like you see all over the place down south. We also have a home owners association but all they want is your money they don't pay no mind to ya. Plus you got the Superbowl coming next year so that will be exciting. THe place I go hunting is about 40 min out of Jax in a WMA. IF you don't want to shell out alot of money and join a hunt club thats about your only choice. Let me know if you come back down this way and me and the wife will be glad to show ya'll around I sure it has changed alot since you been back here.

Chubber - definitely check out Jax... there is alot of work coming out there for 'puter dudes.

Jax is more like S GA then FL, I found the people nicer there too. I lived in the Mandarin area of Jax, and most of my nieghbors hunted too.... heck, they loved it when I set up my tree stand in the big oak in the front yard and flung my arras (wife didnt like it, but the neighbor dudes did).

Like I posted earlier, there are like four or five WMAs in the area, plenty of places.