TheMadCatter
Well-Known Member
Lately, I've noticed people curious about hunting out of state and the information provided by others essentially "buried" in the Iowa Whitetail Conference forum. Sligh and I decided to make a "Hunting Out of State" section on the forum for better access to more information about hunting out of state. I'll be posting regularly about draws, statistics, and tactics to make you more successful on your next adventure!
A little background for those of you who don't know me. I'm originally from Southwest Iowa and lived there my entire life up until college. I was spoiled with big bucks and lots of property to hunt because my Dad only hunts once in a while to spend time with me. My first out of state trip was to Kansas to turkey hunt. Since then I've been hunting in Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, South Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas. Spending most of my time in Wyoming and even going to the University of Wyoming for a while. I'm now working at Cabela's in La Vista, Nebraska and will be going to Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa this fall and graduate in May 2019 with an Agriculture degree.
If you have any questions along the way feel free to ask!
Terms
One of the biggest questions I've received over the years is "How do I even get into hunting out west?" One of the best things you can do for yourself is to learn the terminology first for the state your planning to go. I started out mule deer hunting in Colorado and learned pretty quick that hunting out west can be tricky at first! You have all these new terms like...
-State Land
-BLM (Bureau of Land Management)
-National Forest
-National Grassland
-Wilderness Areas
-HMA (Hunter Management Area)
-WIA (Walk-In Access)
-Block Management (Montana ONLY)
-Open Space (Colorado ONLY)
All these terms can be overwhelming for a hunter who is trying to figure out how to hunt out west for the first time. I'll cover the more generic information in the thread and you can do your own research or ask more specific questions about the state your researching here!
BLM (Bureau of Land Management)
https://www.blm.gov/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Land_Management
"The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers more than 247.3 million acres (1,001,000 km2) of public lands in the United States which constitutes one-eighth of the landmass of the country.[2] President Harry S. Truman created the BLM in 1946 by combining two existing agencies: the General Land Office and the Grazing Service.[3] The agency manages the federal government's nearly 700 million acres (2,800,000 km2) of subsurface mineral estate located beneath federal, state and private lands severed from their surface rights by the Homestead Act of 1862.[3] Most BLM public lands are located in these 12 western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.[4]"
In other words, the BLM is one of the largest public lands coordinators in the US. Most of the land is PUBLIC but limited access in some areas where ranchers have blocks of private land surrounding it. Most states you're allowed to camp on BLM as long as you're not being destructive toward the land. Be sure to check local, regional, and state fire bans that might be in place.
You can do more digging on the blm.gov site. If you have more specific questions feel free to ask I'll attempt to answer them to the best of my ability. Here's a link to the hunting and fishing brochure on the site...
https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/documents/files/BLM Hunting and Fishing 013018.pdf
National Forest/National Grassland
https://www.fs.fed.us/grasslands/index.shtml
https://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/map/state_list.shtml
People are normally surprised they can hunt National Forests and National Grasslands. You can even hunt SOME national parks! (https://www.doi.gov/blog/hunting-and-fishing-national-parks-and-fish-and-wildlife-refuges)
"In the United States, there are 155 National Forests containing almost 190 million acres (297,000 mi²/769 000 km²) of land. These lands comprise 8.5 percent of the total land area of the United States, an area about the size of Texas. Some 87 percent of National Forest land lies west of the Mississippi River in the mountain ranges of the Western United States. Alaska has 12 percent of all National Forest lands."
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Forest
Most of the National Forests and National Grasslands are open to camping with heavier restrictions than BLM. Make sure you check out which state and or national forest or grassland you might plan to hunt!
"What should I hunt first?"
This is the question I receive the most from everyone! Here's a video I've made to encourage people to start out antelope hunting in Wyoming.
I only spent $425 TOTAL to hunt four antelope does in Wyoming. This is including gas, tags, ammo, food, bags for processing, game bags, and a few other small things.
On another hunt, I took out a few friends for their first time hunting out west. We were able to hunt for two days and made the most of it! My Jeep broke down on Day 1 and we were only able to shoot one antelope on Day 1. Luckily it was a quick fix and they had the parts in and we were back at it again on Day 2 and Olivia was able to harvest her first animal ever in one of the hardest units to hunt in Wyoming for antelope! (56% success rate).
at 1:50 I asked him "How hard is it to shoot an Antelope in Wyoming?"
Please let me know what you think about the thread and I'll continue to add more information.
Should I make separate threads for separate species of animals or keep all the information in one thread?
A little background for those of you who don't know me. I'm originally from Southwest Iowa and lived there my entire life up until college. I was spoiled with big bucks and lots of property to hunt because my Dad only hunts once in a while to spend time with me. My first out of state trip was to Kansas to turkey hunt. Since then I've been hunting in Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, South Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas. Spending most of my time in Wyoming and even going to the University of Wyoming for a while. I'm now working at Cabela's in La Vista, Nebraska and will be going to Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa this fall and graduate in May 2019 with an Agriculture degree.
If you have any questions along the way feel free to ask!
Terms
One of the biggest questions I've received over the years is "How do I even get into hunting out west?" One of the best things you can do for yourself is to learn the terminology first for the state your planning to go. I started out mule deer hunting in Colorado and learned pretty quick that hunting out west can be tricky at first! You have all these new terms like...
-State Land
-BLM (Bureau of Land Management)
-National Forest
-National Grassland
-Wilderness Areas
-HMA (Hunter Management Area)
-WIA (Walk-In Access)
-Block Management (Montana ONLY)
-Open Space (Colorado ONLY)
All these terms can be overwhelming for a hunter who is trying to figure out how to hunt out west for the first time. I'll cover the more generic information in the thread and you can do your own research or ask more specific questions about the state your researching here!
BLM (Bureau of Land Management)
https://www.blm.gov/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Land_Management
"The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior that administers more than 247.3 million acres (1,001,000 km2) of public lands in the United States which constitutes one-eighth of the landmass of the country.[2] President Harry S. Truman created the BLM in 1946 by combining two existing agencies: the General Land Office and the Grazing Service.[3] The agency manages the federal government's nearly 700 million acres (2,800,000 km2) of subsurface mineral estate located beneath federal, state and private lands severed from their surface rights by the Homestead Act of 1862.[3] Most BLM public lands are located in these 12 western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.[4]"
In other words, the BLM is one of the largest public lands coordinators in the US. Most of the land is PUBLIC but limited access in some areas where ranchers have blocks of private land surrounding it. Most states you're allowed to camp on BLM as long as you're not being destructive toward the land. Be sure to check local, regional, and state fire bans that might be in place.
You can do more digging on the blm.gov site. If you have more specific questions feel free to ask I'll attempt to answer them to the best of my ability. Here's a link to the hunting and fishing brochure on the site...
https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/documents/files/BLM Hunting and Fishing 013018.pdf
National Forest/National Grassland
https://www.fs.fed.us/grasslands/index.shtml
https://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/map/state_list.shtml
People are normally surprised they can hunt National Forests and National Grasslands. You can even hunt SOME national parks! (https://www.doi.gov/blog/hunting-and-fishing-national-parks-and-fish-and-wildlife-refuges)
"In the United States, there are 155 National Forests containing almost 190 million acres (297,000 mi²/769 000 km²) of land. These lands comprise 8.5 percent of the total land area of the United States, an area about the size of Texas. Some 87 percent of National Forest land lies west of the Mississippi River in the mountain ranges of the Western United States. Alaska has 12 percent of all National Forest lands."
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Forest
Most of the National Forests and National Grasslands are open to camping with heavier restrictions than BLM. Make sure you check out which state and or national forest or grassland you might plan to hunt!
"What should I hunt first?"
This is the question I receive the most from everyone! Here's a video I've made to encourage people to start out antelope hunting in Wyoming.
I only spent $425 TOTAL to hunt four antelope does in Wyoming. This is including gas, tags, ammo, food, bags for processing, game bags, and a few other small things.
On another hunt, I took out a few friends for their first time hunting out west. We were able to hunt for two days and made the most of it! My Jeep broke down on Day 1 and we were only able to shoot one antelope on Day 1. Luckily it was a quick fix and they had the parts in and we were back at it again on Day 2 and Olivia was able to harvest her first animal ever in one of the hardest units to hunt in Wyoming for antelope! (56% success rate).
at 1:50 I asked him "How hard is it to shoot an Antelope in Wyoming?"
Please let me know what you think about the thread and I'll continue to add more information.
Should I make separate threads for separate species of animals or keep all the information in one thread?