[Jack]

Westerner, you may have some bad info. There isn't much Federal land to hunt east of the Mississippi, that's true. There is, however, a lot of state land open to hunting in many states. The amount of land varies by state- the various state Department of Natural Resources, or whatever they happen to call it in each state would show the locations and availability in each state.
Hunting on state land will be free.
As to private land, there's no standard. Often people hunt on land of someone they know, and that likely will be free, too.
How hard it is to find a place to hunt in an eastern state will vary by state.
In my home state of NY, there are more than 6 million acres of public land, open to hunting by anyone- for free. Pennsylvania, I know, also has huge tracts of public land open to hunters.