If you could live anywhere...

[Mengle]

First time post.
My family and I are interested in moving and need advice.
We currently live in Houston, TX. As most of you know, Texas has almost no public hunting land. We would like to move somewhere where resident odds are in my favor for elk and deer with reasonable public land availability. I have a job that is relatively mobile. I would need a city of 150,000+. As a final caveat, we would need to live somewhere with a more temperate winter. Snow is fine, just not brutal cold.
If this was you, where would you move?

 

[roadhunter]

There are places to hunt public land in Texas. I archery hunted the COE land around lakes many times and can only think of one time I saw another hunter but that was driving by in a boat. Plus ther are some pretty nice pieces just across the border in OK.

As far as your questions my recommendation is somewhere around Denver such as Colorado Springs or Ft Collins. Only places I know of North of there that are close to your size requirements are Rapid City and Billings and both would probably be a disappointment coming from Houston as far as winters and things to do.

Colorado Springs would be my recommendation.

 

[VanHook]

You "need" a city of 150,000 or would "like" a city that big. I think Wyoming is awfully tough to beat. Over the counter deer and elk tags and plenty of antelope tags to draw with no shortage of public land. No cities are big enough there though so like roadhunter said, you'd probably have to go to Colorado.

 

[Joe Hulburt]

Oregon is a mecca of public land and opportunity hunts. We are not necessarily known for a lot of trophy quality hunts but my family has been able to subsist on venison, fish and bear for many years.

We have a greater variety of species to hunt than any state in the country I would say. Draw tags are not easy to come by but west side hunts are mostly all OTC so you can always hunt.

Salem and Eugene are both nice cities that meet your requirement. You can be hunting deer, bear and elk in 30 minutes of either.

Winter is moderate, temps are mostly in the 40's or 50's with 20 being really cold. Lot's of rain though!

 

[Kiwi]

+1for Oregon. Only lived there for 12 months but a beautiful state with so many hunting options.

Alternatively, you could move to NZ - plenty of public land and no tags

 

[pabearhunter]

Welcome aboard.

 

[deer_shooter]

For me it would be Anchorage.

 

[HighDesertSage]

Grand Junction, CO. I believe the entire metro area is about 146k. Mild winters, awesome hunting, gorgeous country. I love it here!

 

[jvanderlinde]

I give my Vote for South Dakota.

 

[Gr8bawana]

One place I would NEVER live is Texas for the reason you stated among many others.

 

[Tom]

Albuquerque, NM has over 500K people. They have elk and mule deer and other game on public land and its a little farther south than the other spots to consider.

 

[Tom]

Albuquerque, NM has over 500K people. They have elk and mule deer and other game on public land and its a little farther south than the other spots to consider. Salt Lake City, Utah has 180K plus people and they have elk, deer and public land.

 

[ccc23454]

Wyoming is out since it doesn't have population requirement with a state population of 584,153. as a matter of fact the 3 largest cities combined in state equal just about 150k (Cheyenne, casper, Laramie). southern colorodo and Utah are decent and NM and AZ have areas you may consider and what might be the best option is Nevada! no taxes, lots of land, great deer good elk and even some pronghorn and system favors residents it seems. in the end everywhere is better than TX for what your looking for...

 

[dcopas78]

I really like both Wyoming and Montana. I don't know how many people live there but I like the Missoula area a lot. That being said, I full intend to relocate to Montana or Wyoming in several years. It is just according to what area I can find a little bit of land and some "convenience " of a city or town relatively nearby.

 

[OriginalOscar]

Grand Junction, CO - very nice town

St. George, UT - Southwest Utah. Weather is great. General Utah tags easy but draw odds are getting harder each year.

Boise, ID - Nice town.

 

[Baerman]

Nobody has mentioned Boise, Id. But we have wolves so there aren't any critters left here.

 

[Djfan]

At my house in Wyoming, thanks.

It sucks badly here. No one should come here. Awful. Terrible. Very cold and backwards. Yup. That's Wyoming, I tell you....

 

[worm]

Sounds like Reno would be a good fit.

 

[SFC B]

From a Springs resident who has lived all over the world....Colorado Springs is pretty hard to beat if you want the good stuff along with the big city stuff. The climate here kicks ass, OTC elk tags, RFW tags (a great resident benefit) and a decent cost of living.
BTW, all of these critters were in my yard at one time or the other :hump:

 

[putm2sleep]

Don't go far - Oklahoma should work for you.
Or check out Cali.