Guns and Hunting

Discover America's Top 20 Best Hunting Destinations

Aaron Webber

Published: May 28, 2024 9:30 am

Last Updated: May 30, 2024 11:44 am

With a patriotic love of guns comes a patriotic love of hunting. Hunting is a popular pastime for many Americans. Hunting can be sustainable, helpful, a luxury experience, and a way to control invasive species populations. There are so many different types of hunting, and our list contains a handful of different types. These hunting locations are for varied skill levels and are the best in the country. We included price information, additional activities and benefits, and information about some regarding their impact on the community. Here are our best hunting destination.

Why Are We Talking About This?

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For new hunters, it’s hard to get your bearing about where to go and what to do. We want to help experienced hunters expand their horizons and new hunters explore a wide variety of hunting destinations. We especially want to highlight cheaper sustainable and responsible hunting destinations to help support hunting businesses that actually take care of the environment.

#1 BackCountry Hunters & Anglers

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• Price: Memberships start at $35 annually
• Location: Nationwide locations
• Hunting Type: Sustainable
• Game Type: Multiple

If you are a new hunter or angler, a great place to start is BackCountry. This sustainability hunting program engages new hunters, college students as well as adults, and teaches them sustainability methods through events, group hunting trips, butchering clinics, and workshops. This amazing organization was founded in 2016 with many chapters and college clubs throughout the country. 

Some of their recent trips included things like hunting turkey in Yucatan, hunting prairie chicken in South Dakota, duck hunting in Mendota Wildlife Area, hunting antelope in Wyoming, hunting waterfowl in Oklahoma, hunting pheasant in Michigan, and deer in Oklahoma.

#2 Alpine Creek Lodge

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• Price: Starting at $295 per person
• Location: Paxon, Alaska
• Hunting Type: Sustainable/guided
• Game Type: Ptarmigan, duck, geese, Arctic fox, wolf, wolverine, lynx

Alaska is a major destination for hunting in the United States. Experience one of the most untouched wildernesses filled with wildlife diversity in the world. The remote Alpine Creek Lodge offers day tours, custom vacations, and guided 3-day hunting and trapping trips, as well as predator hunts. Alpine Creek Lodge takes you on an adventure in sustainable hunting and even has custom options to give you exactly the trip and prey you are looking for.  

Alpine Creek Lodge is in a remote location with stunning views that will stay in your memories for a lifetime. Something great about Alpine Creek is they have trip packages for all seasons. They even offer non-hunting activities such as whale watching, Arctic Ocean trips, dog sledding, hot springs, Aurora Borealis viewing, snowmobiling, gold prospecting and panning, backcountry tours, and polar bear viewing. 

#3 Three Forks Ranch

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• Price: Starting at $4,495/night
• Location: Wyoming/Colorado Border
• Hunting Type: Luxury/guided
• Game Type: Elk, mule deer, pronghorn antelope

If you like hunting and the outdoors but also like exclusive concert series, spas, fitness classes, cooking classes, and aquatic facilities, look no further than Three Forks Ranch! This ranch is all about exclusivity, customization, and knowledge sharing. 

This 280,000-acre working cattle ranch is home to 8,500 head of cattle and gorgeous Rocky Mountain views that are dedicated to wildlife conservation. You can join one of their experienced and professionally trained guides who promise to take you on a “true hunt,” complete with fair chase, spotting, and stalking healthy big-game herds of elk, mule deer, and pronghorn antelope. It also offers ice and fly fishing. 

If hunting isn’t the only thing you’d like to do on your luxurious hunting vacation, some of their other activity offerings include archery, axe throwing, mountain biking, sporting clay shooting, hiking, cooking classes, horseback riding, skiing, wildlife tours, snowboarding, as well as snowmobiling. 

Another advantage to visiting Three Forks Ranch is that they have a partnership with the Colorado Ranching for Wildlife Hunt Program, which means you don’t have to participate in the raffle system for tags, and licenses are guaranteed. 

#4 Honey Brake

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• Price: (Need to call for pricing) 
• Location: Jonesville, LA
• Hunting Type: Luxury/guided
• Game Type: Waterfowl, deer, thermal hog, alligator

Located in one of the largest flyway convergences in the contiguous US, Honey Brake puts you in the path of central and Mississippi migratory patterns for many species of birds. Honey Brake offers all-inclusive 5-star amenities, a 13,500-square-foot luxury lodge overlooking Larto Lake, chef-prepared, meals, guided hunts, bird processing, transportation, and 20,000 acres of private hunting grounds parallel to Dewey Wills Wildlife Management. 

Honey Brake is Louisianna’s premier luxury hunting and recreation lodge. Besides hunting waterfowl, dove, deer, alligator, and thermal hog, you can also indulge in fishing, shooting clay, and helice. You can even enjoy boating, kayaking, and bowfishing in your downtime. 

#5 Deltana Outfitters

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• Price: Starting at $26,500 for an 8-Day Trip
• Location: Alaska Peninsula
• Hunting Type: Guided
• Game Type: Big-game trophy 

Deltana Outfitters is an amazing way to experience Alaska’s big game hunting in luxury. For Moose, Grizzly Bear, Black Bear, and Peninsula Brown Bear trophy hunting. Deltana will take you on a guided multi-day adventure and supply you with an expert guide, foot, shelter, in-field meat and trophy care, trophy pick-up coordination, flights to and from Port Alsworth, and even meat and trophy flights. Deltana has the entire process of hunting and transporting your big game meat and trophies back to your home.  

Deltana offers you a thrilling hunt of a lifetime in some of Alaska’s most remote and pristine areas. Deltana truly sets the bar for excellence and value. 

#6 Southeast Alaska Guiding

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• Price: Hunts starting at $8,500
• Location: Admiralty Island, Alaska
• Hunting Type: Guided/by boat 
• Game Type: Big-game trophy 

Want to experience Southeast Alaska big-game hunting? Look no further than Southeast Alaska Guiding. All hunting trips are boat-based and for trophy hunters seeking brown bear, mountain goat, and coastal black bear. This one-on-one hunting experience is for groups of two paired with expert hunting guides for multi-day excursions. You will call one of their two exclusive 50-foot motor vessels home complete with home-cooked meals, hot showers, and comfortable bunks. 

Boat trips offer amazing opportunities for whale watching and viewing wildlife in their natural habitats along the shoreline. 

#7 Grey Cliffs Ranch

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• Price: Starting at $650 
• Location: Bozeman, Montana
• Hunting Type: Luxury/guided 
• Game Type: Fly fishing 

Besides being a luxury hunting lodge, Grey Cliffs Ranch is a mountainside recreational getaway. Complete with 5-star accommodation, Grey Cliffs Ranch is a great place for the entire family. You can enjoy guided fly fishing in the beautiful Madison River, or meander the 5,200 acres of ranch with rolling hills, grasslands, rangelands, high mountain peaks, and wetlands. This conservation restoration ranch started off as a cattle ranch in 2003, but after planting thousands of acres of grasslands and trees, nature is thriving here once again. 

Besides guided fly fishing, guests can enjoy horseback riding, sport clay shooting, hiking, mountain biking, bird watching, tubing, on-site massages, and pottery lessons. Each booking even includes all meals and activities. 

#8 Harpole’s Heartland Lodge

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• Price: Starting at $1,300 for one Day of Hunting 
• Location: Pike County, Illinois
• Hunting Type: Guided 
• Game Type: Whitetail, upland waterfowl, turkey, whitetail deer

Harpole’s Heartland Lodge is one of the only luxury hunting lodges in Illinois. Known for some of the best whitetail deer hunting territory in the nation, Harpole’s Heartland Lodge is located in Pike County, located between the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Pike County has record book bucks each year, and guests can immerse themselves in the long tradition of hunting here. 

Hunts include guides, dogs, meals, accommodations, game cleaning, and game packaging. Some other attractions and activities at Harpole’s include Shawnee Wine Trail, cornhole, ATVs, archery hunting, river tours, wild berry picking, and special events. You can even book the Heartland Lodge for your next wedding or large event. 

#9 Joshua Creek Ranch

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• Price: Starting at $795 (room reservation not included) 
• Location: Boerne, Texas 
• Hunting Type: Guided/luxury
• Game Type: Quail, upland birds, pheasant, mallard duck, axis deer, white-tailed deer

Joshua Creek is a premier hunting lodge and Texas Hill Country Sporting resort that has been in operation since 1990. It has won the Orvis Endorsed Wingshooting Lodge of the Year Award in 2018 and finalized in 2016, 2017, 2020, and 2021. Joshua Creek is open year-round and guests can enjoy a customized itinerary that comes with each reservation. Along with a skilled guide, each hunt comes with gundogs to assist you on your journey. 

Joshua Creek’s rustic-style lodge has 6 lodging options to choose from including four ranch houses, and a selection of private rooms and suites. Each lodging is equipped with large outdoor patios, stone firepits, and spectacular views.  Bring your appetite because Joshua Creek includes lunches, appetizers, and four-course gourmet dinners as well as menu-style dining. If group dining doesn’t sound appealing to you, guests can also book personal chefs. 

#10 Libby Camps

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• Price: $1,850 for 3 Nights/2 Days
• Location:  The North Maine Woods
• Hunting Type: Guided/dog
• Game Type: Brook trout, landlocked salmon, grouse, deer, bear, moose

In operation for 133 years, Libby Camps is one of the prime destinations in the Northeast for hunting- especially upland fowl! Hunters will enjoy the remoteness of this area of Maine wilderness, without other hunters around. 

Each hunting package includes a private cabin with a full bathroom, three home-cooked meals, daily maid service, an Orvis Endorsed Guide, and a highly trained gundog. They even have packages that include a seaplane fly-out. 

This Remote lodge is also ideal for unplugged vacations. Guests can enjoy swimming, hiking, canoeing, orchid hunts, wildlife spotting, fly casting, shooting lessons, scenic flights, cookouts, and picnics. Libby Camps is open year-round! In the winter guests can enjoy exclusive private and backcountry snowmobiling trails. 

#11 Raging Point Outfitters

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• Price: $450/day
• Location: Rim County, Arizona 
• Hunting Type: Guided/predator 
• Game Type: Grey fox, bobcat, coyote, mountain lion

Hunting predators is exciting, exhilarating, and also good for population control and the environment. Come experience a guided predator hunt day or night with Raging Point Outfitters in the high and low desert of Arizona. Raging Point Outfitters uses electronic callers and custom-made hand calls for coyotes and foxes. 

All hunters need to do is purchase a hunting license online. The bag limit for predator hunting in Arizona is unlimited, which makes it a great budget-friendly hunt as well. 

Raging Point Outfitters claims to be running at a 100% harvest rate with a 100% shot opportunity. We will let you test that out on your own. 

#12 West Canyon Ranch

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• Price: Starting at $10,000
• Location: Utah
• Hunting Type: Guided 
• Game Type: Bison 

At West Canyon Ranch, you are guaranteed a 100% shot opportunity. Located on 4,000 acres of private hunting land, a herd of over 100 2,000-pound bison roam freely and feed on natural grasses. This all-inclusive ranch offers licenses, guided services, lodging, meals, beverages, laundry service, a soaking tub, and a field dress with meat processing available at an additional cost of $1,250 per bison. 

With Utah being a leading destination for bison hunting, West Canyon Ranch promises the ultimate trophy hunting experience. West Canyon Ranch is an off-grid and self-sustainable property that runs on solar power and gets water from a private 100-year-old natural spring. 

#13 Acadiane’s Expeditions, LTD. 

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• Price: $1,000
• Location: Franklin, Louisiana
• Hunting Type: Guided/trophy
• Game Type: Alligator

Acadiane’s is family-owned and provides guided wild alligator hunts on 4,000 acres of private coastal marsh. It promises a “unique experience with true southern hospitality.” Prices come with all the equipment needed for the hunt, including equipment, safety equipment, lodging, and meals. Taxidermist, skinning, processing, and shipping are available at an additional cost. 

#14 Ridgeway State Park

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• Price: Hunting license starting at $35.75
• Location: Colorado 
• Hunting Type: Public land 
• Game Type: Antelope, deer, elk, waterfowl

Public Land hunting is a great way to plan a DIY hunting trip. Most states require obtaining a hunting license, hunting tags, hunting permits, paying park fees, and sometimes more. It’s no secret that Colorado has possibly the best and most sought-after antelope hunting in the nation. Ridgeway State Park is one of the premier and sought-after hunting areas each year. Hunters compete for a hunting license in a raffle system. 

Hunting in public land means that you can hunt your own way, with whoever you want, in a fully customizable experience. Hunters should note that unless you are booking your own private guide through an unaffiliated company, it is up to you to bring all of your own gear and accommodations. 

#15 Apalachicola National Forest

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• Price: Hunting Permits start at $17 
• Location: Florida
• Hunting Type: Sustenance/public land 
• Game Type: Feral hogs

Apalachicola National Forest is the largest forest in Florida with the highest population of feral hogs globally. Campsites are available for reservation along with two remote hunting designated wilderness areas. Hunting in the Apalachicola Forest is permitted on over 630,000 acres of land, making it the perfect place for the hunter on a budget, while also feeling remote. The good thing about hunting feral hogs in Apalachicola is that they are an invasive species, and you don’t need a hunting license to hunt. You just can’t transport any hog alive. If you are planning a trip here, pay attention to the designated gun seasons, archery seasons, small game seasons, muzzle-loading seasons, and specific hunting dates for other available game such as spring turkey, quail, migratory birds, fishing, and frogging. All other game besides hog require a permit, stamp, and license. 

Apalachicola also has great fishing (which is permitted year-round), horseback riding, biking, hiking, swimming, fishing, and paddling. It is home to the Florida National Scenic Trail, so whatever your interests, The Apalachicola National Forest is a wonderful place to visit. 

#16 Dixie National Forest

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• Price: Starting at $52
• Location: Southern Utah
• Hunting Type: Public land 
• Game Type: Deer, elk, turkey

Each State has its own requirements for obtaining hunting licenses and tags. For the state of Utah, you need to complete a basic Hunter Education Course which is online and requires one in-person field day, or enroll in Utah’s Trial Hunting Program for hunters to learn how to hunt safely and ethically. To enroll in one of the courses, you have to purchase a Hunter Education Registration Certificate ($12). Once you complete your course, you are now ready to complete an application for a Utah hunting license. 

After obtaining a license, you have to enter the tag system. Residents get first priority on hunting tags, and nonresidents have reported waiting up to 4 years to win tags. Muzzleloader hunters have better odds of winning tags. 

As hunting in Utah is in high demand, the process of obtaining a hunting license in Utah may seem cumbersome. Hunting in Dixie National Forest is worth the hassle. Dixie National Forest is a high-desert climate that offers hunters a unique opportunity to hunt in forests, canyons, and plateaus. It is a great spot for seasoned adventurous hunters who want an adventure feel. 

#17 Black Hills National Forest

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• Price: $25–$250 
• Location: Southwest South Dakota
• Hunting Type: Public land 
• Game Type: Pheasant, white-tailed deer

The Black Hills National Forest has an annual harvest success average of 75%, making it a great place for beginners and first-time hunters. With 30 developed camping areas, several dispersed camping areas, and over 17 different outfitting and guide companies authorized for Black Hills hunting nearby, you can truly customize a hunting experience that will fit your budget. 

A hunting license is required for South Dakota, but the process of obtaining one is fairly easy as long as you apply by the deadline. The Black Hills National Forest spans 1.2 million acres of hilly ponderosa pine land, making this a truly stunning hunt. 

#18 Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge

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• Price: Free
• Location: Eastern Arkansas
• Hunting Type: Public land 
• Game Type: Duck

Hunting duck in Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge will give you an unparalleled duck hunting experience. Refuge status was established for this 160,756-acre property in 1935 to protect habitat critical to migratory birds. During peak migration and hunting season, the largest concentration of wintering mallard ducks in the country gather in this bottomland hardwood refuge. Besides mallards, visitors can also expect to see Canada Geese and Snow Geese. Hunters are only allowed in the north unit, while the south unit belongs to the birds. 

What makes this hunting experience unique is that the hunting areas are only accessible by boat, besides a small number of walk-in sections. Hunting hours are strictly 6 am-12 pm. And unlike other states, hunting permits for ducks are free (you will have to pay to hunt other game, though) and can be obtained at ranger stations, docks, or partner stores. 

Besides mallard duck, the refuge is home to Arkansas’ only native population of black bears. There is also no camping fee or reservation system for the Refuge’s 19 primitive campsites, but is restricted to people engaged in wildlife-dependent activities like hunting and fishing. If hunting isn’t your thing, but you’d still like to enjoy the beauty of the refuge, you can fish, nature watch, or visit the Refuge Visitor Center which contains wonderful wildlife and ecology exhibits. 

#19 Pineywoods

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• Price: Starting at $46
• Location: East Texas
• Hunting Type: Public land 
• Game Type: Deer, feral hogs, waterfowls, coyotes, quail

Depending on the type of game you are seeking will determine which of the 11 Wildlife Management Areas to choose from in the Pineywoods. One of the most popular is the Sam Houston National Forest. This rolling terrain covered with pine trees and oaks, rich bottomlands, and thick woods is ideal for more experienced hunters, as skilled navigation is required. Pineywoods is home to a uniquely sized deer population compared to the rest of the state.

Climate should be considered when choosing Pineywoods. The average rainfall is 36–50 inches with high humidity and temperatures. While not a place where humans necessarily thrive, many types of animals do. The best part is that is located within an hour from Houston, making it a great vacation spot. 

In order to hunt at Pineywoods, you must have a valid Texas hunting license, the appropriate tags and stamps, and a public hunting permit. An Annual Public Hunting Permit is $48 and open for anyone to purchase. 

#20 Shawnee National Forest

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• Price: Varies
• Location: Southern Illinois
• Hunting Type: Public
• Game Type: Big game, especially white-tailed deer

Illinois is another state with a little bit of a tiresome application process that you need to plan ahead for. Most hunting licenses and permits can be purchased online on the Illinois Department of Natural Resources website. Hunters can apply for permits in March for Illinois residents and in May for non-residents. Shawnee National Forest attracts thousands of hunters each year to hunt big game such as trophy bucks. Dispersed camping sites as well as developed sites are available for reservation. 

With its lakes, riparian ribbons, dense timber, and wilderness areas, the Shawnee National Forest is the ideal ecosystem for Whitetail Deer to thrive. It has one of the highest success harvest rates in the North East. Since Shawnee National Forest isn’t contiguous, but interspersed with private land, you might consider using an app, like HuntStand to make sure you are hunting on public land.