We hear all the time about guys who live in "non big buck states" traveling to "big buck states" and experiencing the best hunting of their life. They conclude the hunting is easier in those states due to a higher number of big bucks or unpressured hunting. Obviously, there are those that live in the big buck states who take offense to this. It almost discredits what they've accomplished in those states. So we all know guys from lesser states will travel to some of midwestern heavy hitters. Does anyone from big buck states travel to states not known for big bucks? Are hunters from Iowa traveling to hunt Michigan? Are hunters from Illinois traveling to hunt New York (yeah I used that example on purpose :D)? If they are not, can they really conclude that the hunting isn't "easier" where they live? Are guys that put down 3.5+ bucks in Missouri also killing them in Pennsylvania? I ask because I have not seen it discussed the other way around. This should be fun. Place nice.
Vito I do not look at it as easier, just more oppurtunity. You have to look at where they are going, I bet someone from Ohio would hunt the Sanctuary in MI. Spending 2000 thousand to hunt land in ILL for a week that is in primetime area, is going to yield even guy who hunts ILL better results. There are places in MI just as good as the best spots in ILL, same goes for NY, PA and other states. It's about access and in places like ILL folks have access to these primetime spots($). In MI they simple do not exist on the scale they do in ILL, nor does the pay to play access.
Let me make this perfectly clear. States do NOT mean better deer hunting. Location is in the ground YOU hunt.. not the state. Once you GET THIS as a hunter.. you become a big buck killer. That's the way it is. In ANY state. Guys come to the "big buck" states.. hunt outfitter land... or land basically surrounded by outfitters and think the whole state is awesome. Put me on a piece of outfitter land in New Jersey and I'll say NJ rules too. Or surround me with outfitted land in Maryland and I'll think Maryland rocks! Bottom line.. guys like to compare apples to oranges. Come hunt the real Illinois ground with me... or go hunt the real Wisconsin ground with peakrut.. or try a Dakota with TJF. You wanna compare something.. then lets make it apples to apples.
I believe I stated this aleady, just not as clear:D For 2 grand for a week I can put you on some great land in MI:D
IMO Maryland actually is a big buck state but, as stated, you have to hunt the right land here in MD. 85% of the bow kills are on private land. That means, roughly, 85% of the big bucks are arrowed on private land. You either need the right permission (good luck ) or you need to find the public land that the big boys sometimes wander on to.
No arguments from me. Every year some GIANTS come out of Maryland. But again.. Its ALL in the land you get to hunt. And you Marylanders just don't have the 10,000 outfitters we do in Illinois... 90% of which are nestled in like 12 counties.
i live in north mo, and i have relatives in southern mo and ark and they simply dont have deer the size that i do here, i would not hunt south of where i am at period. also there a huge public ground in upper mo near the Iowa border ie. deer ridge with primitive camping. also there are a lot of managed draw hunts on the best ground the state has to offer 50 miles outside of st.louis with bucks the outfitters could only dream of. here is a little news, some of the deer lease big clubs that went behind a lot of our backs and lease the hunting rights from under a lot of us here in north mo and ill had one problem .... they didn't pay the landowners. and if you look around here there are a lot of landowners pissed and looking to make up the slack in lost revenue from there ground because of this shady group. so do your homework.
LOL No outfitters, but the land is all tied up in farms and you can't even pay to hunt on most of them. I was talking to an electrician and he is also a farmer. He said they have fields they no longer plant on because the deer devastate the crops. Can't hunt there, though, because the matriarch of the family is an animal lover and will not allow deer to be killed LMAO. Or they are Amish farmers. Southern MD has a whole bunch of Amish farmers.
Hunters who want to take a trophy buck, will have better odds hunting them in a state/place, where there's a better chance of them taking one. The Mid-West has several states that produce bigger bucks due to their soil/hunting methods/agriculture, etc. I don't have a problem with people traveling and hunting in other states. It brings in revenue to the state being hunted in that goes to their game and fish commission. I'd personally rather pay to go hunt a "big deer" state, than go hunt inside a fenced in area, where you can only shoot what you can afford.
Good topic Vito. There's no doubt In my mind that there's prime land In every state that holds awesome bucks but there also Is no doubt In my mind that some states have many more of these places then others do. It Is what It Is, no way around It. Never though have I taken any credit away from a deer hunter who hunts In great buck states that Is successful, never!!
But some states have better regs and less hunters which equals better public land (which is what i hunt). I completely agree that property's within the same state can be night and day. But as a whole i think some states are better than others. Where is this "real illinois ground" you speak of, your lease that you and justin filmed on?
Put me down as someone that would go to a non big buck state. I'm probably in the minority, but I'd rather hunt somewhere with a large deer population. I've seen 19 deer from the stand TOTAL this year (including bow, shotgun and ML season) and 11 of those were Saturday morning.
I can't see how someone can deny that in general, as a whole, on average,(however you want to state it) that some states are way better than others. I hunt pretty good private land in PA, & mediocre public land in Ohio, yet, IMO my odds at a big buck are every bit as good, if not better on the mediocre public land. In a few days "commuting" & just driving around to my hunting spots, I saw as many quality bucks as I have in PA in the last 10 years of living there. There is NO question, that places like Iowa, Illinois & Ohio have better hunting and better odds at big bucks than most other states. But then again I'm just one guy from PA trying to justify why its so hard here, and that everyone else in IL, OH & IA have it easy
