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how far would i have to move to be able to run bear or lion on a regular basis. i live in springfield MISSOURI and have been considering relocating for a while now and was just curious. i know the extremeties like montana and such but is there any options closer to MISSOURI?

I think montana is the closest then Idaho, Mew Mexico,Utah,Arizona,and Nevada.

rock_dog,

Montana doesn't allow running hounds on bear just lions, so don't move there; neither does Wyoming. I'd look at New Mexico, Idaho or Arizona first then Utah last because they have over the counter lion and bear tags for residents whereas Utah has a bear tag draw............

keep'em treed,
ike

thanks alot ike i appreciate it!

I agree with IKE, I would try New Mexico first, Utah has a good population of both bears and cats regardless of what you may hear as does Arizona but New Mexico is the closest to you.

Treed (Coop) has a farm in missouri and he drives back and fourth from Arizona to visit the farm and coon hunt.

Don't let spanky fool ya utah has dang few lions and are bear hunt in the spring it's still snowing

Lightning Ridge does have a point about the lions and bears, and is why I put Utah last on the list. Our lion hunt is year round in the big horn sheep areas to remove or reduce the lion population for the high dollar sheep hunting. Therefore, lions are pretty hard to find in some areas. I use to run down fifteen or twenty lions a year and kill half a dozen, but have pretty much given up the guiding and only do catch and release these days, as you just can't guarantee a hunter a tom lion on most of the units I hunt in the time period you have to do it in.

Bear in the northern units don't get going to nearly Memorial Day and you only get about a week of good hunting out of the two month season. You can go down south to La Sal and the San Juan units or Book Cliffs and the boars are out middle of April with the sows by May.....but you also run into alot of dog boxes. The first two weeks of the summer pursuit are too hot to run and by the time the monsoon rains start it's August with only a week or two of good hunting left. September or fall pursuit is closed unless you have a tag, and with 2000 plus people applying for 200 tags you might draw out every four to seven years.

But if you like to hunt and don't expect getting on a hot track and under the tree everyday Utah is a great place to live. Personally, I'd look at British Columbia if I could make a living up there and had a great interest in lion and bear hunting.

good luck with the decision,
ike