best deer hunting area?
 

Hi everyone, I feel this is a silly question to ask but which state out of these has the best deer hunting opporuntities, i.e nice size bucks, pleanty of deer and not too crowded.

Missouri
Kentucky
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Alabama
Mississippi

Preferably i'd like to know your opinions by listing in order which states have the better hunting overall.

Thanks very much.

(Partly the reason im asking is that if I move i dont want to be limited on bucks, I will be mostly bowhunting too. I'd like at last a nice 8 point) Don't want small deer. I know Kansas is supposed to be great but tornados and flat land are not my cup of tea lol.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

Remington Girl.....I'm pretty partial to Missouri so its going to be hard to brag on any other state but here's what I can tell you from experience and talking with several hunting friends. ;)

Missouri has lots of Mark Twain National Forest that You can hunt in free of charge,you just have to haveyour Bow or Rifle hunting license or out of state hunting license for the seasons your planning on hunting.During Bow Seasons it isn't very crowded but as Rifle Season draws nearer more people will be scouting,hanging stands and messing up your hunting area.

Bow Season Starts Sept 15, 2008...runs up to and stops for the11 days of thethe Rifle Season Nov. 15 to the 25 then Bow Season starts up again Nov. 26 and ends Jan 15 2009.I think you can Bow Hunt during Rifle Season but you are required to wear Hunter Orange during that period instead of Full Camo Clothes?Oh Yeah.....You also get 2 Turkey Tags during Bow Season to tag a Turkey with!

(During Bow Season)..You can shoot 1 Buck before Rifle Season and as many Doe's as tags you want to buy,then Your allowed to shoot another Buck after regular Rifle Season.

During Rifle Season in our County you can get an "Any-Deer" Permit in which you can shoot a Buck or a Doe and you can buy a Bonus "Anterless Only" Permit where you can shot a Doe only.In Northern Missouri you can buy extra Doe tags but you need to find out which Area's/Counties allow this.

Be careful to read all the Rules and Regulations forthe County you plan on hunting in because it is possible they will be different for each County or area,the Mark Twain National Forest will have several different rules to abide by also like NO screw in steps,your deer stand has to have your name,address and possibly phone number listed on it,you can only Walk In to most of their hunting areas,No ATV's,some area's allow you to only shoot Bucks others only Does etc....!So be careful to read any rules for the CA Conservation Areas and you can find the rules on www.mdc.org

I talked to a friend of mine that hunts in Kentucky and he said the Deer Hunting there was really good with plenty of Doe's and several nice Bucks.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

out of those i would either go with northern missouri, or western kentucky

heres something for size of the bucks
boone and crocket map

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

What do you do for work?
This might be another question, as some areas are stronger than others for certain types of work / pay???

Maybe Virginia? It may not have as many Tornados OR Hurricanes, also it's closer to Illinois & Ohio, etc... where the big bucks roam

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

North Carolina is the worst, Georgia is not too bad as far as the number of deer goes, but if you are looking to hunt 120's or better the mid-west is probally the best in the world.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

i live in kansas and the reputation that it and some of the surrounding stateshave adopted is its curse. each year more and more get leased out on high dollar amounts, and the public is getting rediculous. there are spots that can be found but it would take you a while to find them. most people come to kansas believe they are going to get big deer and end up leaving having just killed a small buck or nothing at all, you will probably see more people in the woods than deer.

lol, kansas is also everything but flat, everybody that comes here thinks is flat and ends up getting winded bythe endless steep hills, and the chance you would see a tornado in season is less than 1 in a million. i hunt the flit hills region and it is all verticle looking hills, with half thick woods and half open plains.

missouri isn't bad, i see tons of deer on the sides of the roads and it is cheap to hunt there. i hear the numbers of deer there are rediculiously good. i don't know how available the land is or how the public is.

you are better off marking off any state that has a reputation of being a "big buck state" unless you pay a guide or get in the right hunting group.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

I agree with Rory/MO.......Your chances of scoring on any deer with a bow is best in New Jersey. We have some big bucks, but they are far and between

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

You should have put Ohio on your list. We havea long bow season and lots of nice bucks.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

id have to go with missouri..... great deer and lots of public land....

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

Yeah if you're coming overseas just to hunt whitetails, go somewhere in the midwest like Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, or even Kentucky these days. I'm partial to Alabama myself. We're starting to catch up with all these corn-fed states through year-round food plot management programs. I took a 150 class 13 pt buck from my private land this year. Last year a guy in the hunting club bordering my property took a 140 class 8 point over 24 inches wide. You won't see the 200 class monsters walking through the corn fields, but we aint no slouch down south. Our bow season starts in October, gun season comes in at the end of November and they both go out Jan 31, one of the longer seasons of all the states. And if you ever wanna do what I love more than anything, kill a hard gobbling longbeard.....Alabama's the place to be. Again, I'm partial.......probably because I've never hunted anywhere else, haha. But that suits me just fine.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

Illinois or Iowa are the best in my opinion.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

X 2. I have hunted both of those states,butI'd take Ohio over both any day of the week.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

thats just because youre from ohio;)

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

I work at Glasgow international airport for the TSA. So i'd like to do the same over in the US. My boyfriend is an American citizen and has an associates degree in science, a dimploma in Aero engineering and mechanical engineering. Not sure what he could do there, hopefully something good with his background. I would like to live somewhere not near a city but where the TSA are. About 20 miles from my work max.

But with good opportunities for hunting etc.

Nice climate, not cold or anything too. Not run down but progressive and quite laid back. No overspill from a city like some which are so busy.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

i believe S. Carolina has the longest hunting season in the U.S. it starts in August and runs throughout the year. they also have generous bag limits.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

Don't come to Ohio, we don't have any big bucks at all, nope not ohio go somewhere else like Michigan or Iowa.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

Hmmmm....?St. Louis Mo. has their Airport,you may have to drive a little ways outside the City limits to hunt Deer......heck I know several guys that have shot some really nice Deer in the suburbs of St. Louis! ;)

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

Cool, that's nice. I like the idea of where I am just now. I am 5 miles from my work but im also 20 from our biggest city. I like being rural.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

And I think you can firearm hunt the whole season too.SC definitely gets my vote...

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

This is my opinion with limited knowledge, but here goes.

1) Kentucky - there's lots of good reports on W. kentucky near Illinois
2) Missouri - I've seen many good reports on Missouri as well.
3) Alabama - late rut as far as rut goes and that makes it nice. Gun season is still long though.
4) Mississippi - I've heard alot of good about Mississippi.
5) Georgia - I live in GA. Numbers are great, but it's rare to shoot bucks over 120, and almost
impossible to get a booner. Rifle season is too long and deer limit too high IMHO.
6) South Carolina- to long of a gun season in many areas.
7) Virginia - don't know much about it.
8) North Carolina- don't know anything about it.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

I would think that it would depend on the particular area of the state rather than the state itself. If you end up living right across the road from some off-the-beaten path public ground in a not-so-good state, it would probably be just as good as living 2 hours away from public ground in a great state. Also, land values vary greatly from area to area, even within states. In some places you could very well afford to buy your own land, which would be great even if the deer hunting is not as good as another area..

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

Good Ole' WISCONSIN

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

Just like Scotland, cold winters....I want a hot/moderate climate like Kentucky etc

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

I have hunted SC. It is nothing to write home about. The liberal bag limits = no qdma (in most areas). North Carolina has a nice climate but the deer are smallish and most shoot anything that moves around here. I know you will be better served for deer hunting in the midwest.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

So I would guess that Western KY, MO, KS, OH, OK would have nice deer sizes?

I would LOVE to get a BIG buck to mount

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

I'm glad everyones avoiding Nebraska. Gives me a little more comfort knowing nobody cares about our puny 5x5's. I guess I'll just have to settle on going after them all by myself.:) Oh, and if you're worried about tornadoes in this area, they only last a few minutes then there gone.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

Awww Mottz, nothing wrong with NE. I know a guy that lives here that is from there. Good deer there.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

i would say those are great choices, with fairly cheap land prices, and got some giant bucks.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

I've got an idea. With the money i save here i could afford to buy a small place over there (get double for the dollar)

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

According to some on this forum, you didn't list the best state to hunt whitetails.....that is Canada of course, eh. More specificly Sask. and Manitoba. Bow hunting starts lst week of Aug. Still nice weather at that time of the year.

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

dreamer, i believe she does not want TOO cold of winters

RE: best deer hunting area?
 

OHIO!!!