The problem with much of Texas is that the land owners have found that leasing the land to hunters is profitable. High fence places aren’t really that common, but finding a rancher that will let you hunt without spending big money is extremely hard if you haven’t grown up in that small town. You could always drop $400,000 for a 100 acre place to hunt between Houston and Dallas, but that’s not exactly reasonable.

Being that this is a thread about living in base and I don’t even know if the original post hunts, I don’t know if this even applies. You can’t go wrong with either base. Personally, if I had to live in base I’d pick the same two. I have too many toys that wouldn’t work out near Chicago or in California, and I really don’t care for the northeast. As a new hire you won’t be able to bid the widebody flying in any base for longer than if based on the coast. My advice would be to pick what you think the best base for your family would be and bid for it. When you get it simply rent a house for a year to see how you like living there while researching what area you really like, or if that base is even where you want to be. You can’t ski in Houston, and fishing all year in Denver could be unpleasant.