I can look at every individual State's hunting regulations but I'm hoping there's a better way.

Does anyone know of a single source for information on what States ban rifles for deer/bear, etc? It would be nice if included states information if only straight walled cases are allowed, etc. but that would be asking for a lot. I Googled about 20 different wordings trying to find this but most of what I found was really old and posted by some extremely stupid people.

I'm looking to retire somewhere away from the granola states (less fruits, nuts and flakes) but I don't want to live in a state where I can't rifle hunt.

Thanks for any information.

Frank: Most of those 'rules'
ARE written by some mighty stupid people!

And I don't want to live anywhere I can't carry or shoot a handgun either.

George

Where do you live, and what do you want to hunt where you move to. I live in Merlin, and we can only hunt black bears on a draw, and that only for the last few year. But LOTs of them in PA and they kill like 3,500 in their season, which is only a few weeks lone. But if you want to hunt Elk and such, presume you want to go to Montana or some such. Most state, like Indiana, that requires shotguns are real flat and open. Might be able to help if you let me know where you thinking of moving and what your want to hunt.

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
I'm looking to retire somewhere away from the granola states (less fruits, nuts and flakes) but I don't want to live in a state where I can't rifle hunt.

Thanks for any information.

Looks like you'll be joining the White Flight as well out of California. Good luck. I just passed through Bakersfield last week and can't say I blame you a bit.

quote:

Does anyone know of a single source for information on what States ban rifles for deer/bear, etc?

Don't think there is one such site.

Pick the states that are a possibility for you and do your research.

It can take a bit of work in sorting out some state's laws. They can be convoluted for sure and do chance often.

I know of Illinois and Ohio does not allow rifles. There is a certain zone in Michigan that recently banned rifles. Ohio and Michigan have straight walled cartridge length limits.

Kansas use to not allow rifles, but I am not sure if this is the current state of affairs.

Frank,

Take a hard look at Wyoming if your retiring. It's amazing what a guy can hunt there with about any firearm. get to know a couple locals and your set. If you pick the right area generally the winters are mild. I gauged the severity of the winters there by whether I actually had to use a shovel at all.

Mark

From what I have experienced looking around the country and Canada working on putting together a hunt, every state/province has odd regulations in place.

Some places do not allow hunting on Sunday, other places have caliber restrictions. As George pointed out Colorado had restrictions on Black Powder rifles.

I view it as the price of doing business, if you want to hunt, you follow the rules or look for someplace that has rules that are not as odd or are easier to live with.

Depending on your financial situation, it would probably be better if you chose the state you want to retire to based on the tax treatment of seniors, real estate, and retirement income..

and to kinda answer your question, stay out of any of these states... NH, VT, CT, MA, HI, RI, NY, NJ, MD, DE, and ME.. (some are for tax reasons some for gun law reasons, or both.) So you have 39 left that are better choices to choose from.. good luck!

Just an FYI, and I dearly love Texas, but if hunting is an important part of the equation, 97% of the land in Texas, or close to that figure is Private Land, and lease fees are not cheap.

I love my home state, proud to be a Texan, but if it wasn't for the fact that I am not interested in shooting anything other than a spike or a doe on my employers properties, I would not have a place to hunt deer.

Frank,

Try googling for shotgun only states and go from there. Maybe the back-door approach will narrow your search more efficiently.

But from the looks of things, PaFrank has a good list started of places to avoid. Delaware is very attractive from a tax standpoint but that only.

I will be retiring to WY in 3-1/2 years....maybe sooner depending on tax reform.

One comment I will add, if you are at retirement age and you are trying to base your decision on being able to rifle big game in a certain state, you might want to throw your potential future physical health into the equation.

Thanks guys, I've suffered through living in California just so that I could invest enough to retire early.

I've researched enough states to have developed a black ball list for reasons like taxes, government idiocy, etc. (California is number 1 on the "No-go" list just in front of Hawaii and most of the Northeast.)

Wifezilla also has a "No-go" list and that is anything above 40 degrees North latitude (basically south of the bottom of PA and the top of Kansas).

I want to go to St George, UT, but Wifezilla wants more greenery so we're looking around at a bunch of other States. I'll just have take our top few states for COL, taxes, etc. and research them.

TENNESSEE
UTAH
INDIANA
KANSAS
WEST VIRGINIA
TEXAS
MISSOURI
ARKANSAS
OKLAHOMA

quote:

Originally posted by LHeym500:
I know of Illinois and Ohio does not allow rifles. There is a certain zone in Michigan that recently banned rifles. Ohio and Michigan have straight walled cartridge length limits.

Kansas use to not allow rifles, but I am not sure if this is the current state of affairs.

Actually, ohio does now finally allow straight wall rifle cartridges as does Indiana. It is crazy though, I can't deer hunt with a 30-30 or 35 remington, but I can use a 50 alaskan or 45/70.

Frank,

I really like relocation states in this order: Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, South Dakota, Idaho, New Mexico and Arizona.

I grew up in Wyoming and Montana, I go home as often as I can. Most of Wyoming and the eastern half of Montana have a lot of wind. It wears on people. It doesn't personally bother me, but it bothers a lot of people. The Dakotas also get some wind.

Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota have had an influx of population change (not necessarily growth) from the oil-patch in Texas and Louisiana. The hurricanes pushed quite a few of them up. So it isn't 100% the people I grew up with. Most of those people left North Dakota. In Wyoming, they have changed things drastically from what my cousins tell me. But it is still Wyoming. I guess it is still the West, but these people aren't very Western if that makes sense.

The central middle of Montana is the cheapest place I have found other than South Dakota. Not quite as pretty as those glacial valleys in Western Montana, but isn't as ugly as Cheyenne.

The best thing about Montana and North Dakota is that they aren't a playground for any big urban area. Where Wyoming has been full of weekend Utes and Coloradoans my entire life. Salt Lake is 300 miles plus from most of Western Montana, and Denver and Minneapolis are 600 or 700 from Western Montana. Western North Dakota is 450 miles from Minneapolis.

Most people will only drive about 3 hours one way on the weekend to get away from someplace.

Compare that to Wyoming, and then drive around the backcountry and see how many Utah and Colorado plates are out there.

When we leave Europe in 2019 or 2021, we will hopefully be moving back to the western states I outlined in my first sentence, but life throws a lot of lemons before you have enough to make lemonade.

Not trying to be rude, but I said Ohio allows straight walled cartidge limit cases in the quoted text. These are essentially pistol calibers in carbines and rifles, throw in the he 450 bushmaster that makes the grade in the no rifle zone in Michigan.

A very flawed system on that we both agree. The OP can add Indiana to the list that do not allow rifles, but limited straight walled cartidges. I am loving KY more and more. Folks tell me TN is cheaper to live in. TN had had a couple of members from Alaska relocate. To hunt on public land in TN is more expensive (more fees in TN), but all things being equal TN seems cheaper.

It might and sadly be eaiser to list the states that allow rifle cartridges.

Thanks guys,

Wifezilla and I have lived in different parts of the country (FL, MA, SC, ID, OH, CA) so were pretty familiar with most of the States. (I've been in every state except Iowa).

The new place can't accumulate more than a foot or two of snow and I'd prefer to live out west but Wifezilla likes more green trees without the elevation. I don't want flat farm ground in the middle of more miles of flat ground so southern OH, TN, KY, MO, AR, are high on the list, something with hills, hollows, trees, etc.

I would pick Tennesee or Kentucky. I have lived in both, and worked in both.

Draw a 40 mile circle around Nashville, St Louis, Cincinatti, and especially Memphis and buy a farm outside of that circle. Land is cheap, the biggest whitetails are closest to Cincinatti.

Kentucky taxes the hell out of you. TN not so much.

As a former Kansas resident, I can tell you Kansas has always allowed rifles for deer over most of the state. There are some more densely populated areas that specifically prohibit rifles.

Frank, I live and do a lot of hunting in Northeast Kansas. The land is pretty much what your wife describes. The flat stuff starts west of Topeka.

I also own my property in west Central Missouri on the Kansas border. The land there is cheaper, as are the taxes. My 36 acres costs just $500 per year in taxes and I bought it for about $2k per acre, with the outbuildings and a "house". I have hunted all over Missouri, and the only bad thing I can say is that there is not a trespasser or road hunter alive that doesn't like Missouri. It just seems that MOST of the rural folks in MO feel like if it has land and deer on it, it is theirs to hunt. From the places I have hunted, I have seen fences torn down (mine), gates left open (mine and a friend in Northern Mo), tractors stolen to get the deer out of another field that they poached and then left the tractor in the field, and countless incidents of dog running (legal in AR, not MO), spotlighting and road hunting. Anyway, rant over.

If you get the right spot, they are both nice for hunting with lots of public land and even some hogs in MO.