Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Best hunting state

Montana, if you are a resident

We have great quail and upland bird hunting here in Az....but for big game, I have always loved Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Got spoiled in all three locations
with my grandfather having lived there in the 60's and 70's.

It sounds like there is pretty even support for Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. The states I already felt were best. I think maybe I can't go wrong with any of those four? The arguments for each are really great.

No Colorado is going liberal democrat.

Canada

I had great success in Utah, and Nevada years ago. Don't know what success rates are today.
Ducks, geese, pheasants, grouse, swan, mule deer, elk, bear... list goes on.

Did pretty good at fishing too. Rainbow, cut throat, brookie's, crappie....

NV can be good IF you can get a tag. That's much harder than the hunt itself. A few years ago I bought some llama saddles from a guy near Reno. He was an avid hunter but he hadn't drawn a tag in over 5 years, either deer or elk. He gave up and sold his pack llamas. He was going to quit trying in NV and just go with out of state guided hunts. I felt sorry for him but I sure got a good deal on the saddles.

Canada has long gone far left. I'd pick Montana.

Wyoming has a lot of variety, but the seaons are pretty short, at least for gun hunting with OTC deer and elk tags. For gun hunters, the period between mid-September and the end of October can be pretty hectic, and the abundant public lands have extremely abundant numbers of hunters. You can pick up some quality hunting time by archery hunting. In fact, I don't even like to gun hunt for deer or elk anymore.

I have hunted WA, British Columbia, Oregon, and Montana.

It is all terrible in every state on public land.... until I hand over hundreds of dollars to a rancher and I am the first to hunt. Big bucks for big bucks.

I have handed over hundreds of dollars, been the third to hunt, and got as skunked as I do on public land.

It's also not a state.

My limit on caribou is 5.

Per day. Season virtually never ends, tho the 'bou might not be present... Some restrictions apply.

In the GMU I currently reside in. They get stingy in the civilized areas...

Moose season runs August 15 into March, if one has the right permit. Restrictions apply.

Moose, griz, wolf,. and some other stuff on drawing permit- musk ox, sheep. Elsewhere in the state there is goat, bison, elk, deer, black bear. Black bear season/means/limits are generous.

Best of all, chances are there ain't nobody else there where you are hunting... or damned few.

Just how much wild game can you eat, anyway?

My wife cooks about once a week. But my kids move mass quantities of venison and antelope from the freezer at my house to the freezers at their houses.

Even if I shoot 6 animals, none of it is used for dog food.

This meat sharing with the relatives dates back to the stone age.

+1, Idaho sucks, to many Californians.

While Montana has some decent hunting, good luck trying to make a decent living...

Big Sky: Your quote " While Montana has some decent Hunting, good luck trying to make a decent living..." - I would rather live on welfare or under a bridge in Montana than be a millionaire in the schitthole state I moved out of 20 years ago.
And for you to describe the Hunting in Montana as "SOME decent Hunting" I will say this: YOU need to get out more!
The Hunting in Montana is all around excellent!
And you can quote me on that.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Don't come to South Dakota. Whitetail and pheasants are fairly easy to get, elk and antelope permits are harder. I know people who have drawn an Elk tag in fifteen years. Montana has us beat hands down, their seasons are longer and better, their weather is better, and they like out of state people who move there.

I talked to my brother in Montana today. His propane tank was hissing. It sprung a leak in the 100 degree heat. It has got down to 50 below in his town. He says the hot and cold and snow do not bother him. It is the gumbo mud and the wind that bother him.

Houses cost 10X as much in Seattle, but cars cost the same. I have to drive a tiny car in Seattle to fit in the tiny parking spots. When I go to montana, guys leave their trucks running with a rifle on the seat when they go into the store. I have gone to bars in Montana where all 20 vehicles out front were trucks.

In my zip code in Seattle the median house is $1.4M.
In Montana where my brother lives, the average 10 section ranch [ask price that I hear] is $3M.

That's just sad Clark.

A lot of deer and elk run to private ranches but a few they hidden. That why it is called hunting.