If you could move anywhere in the West...

[Jon Boy]

Move to Montana for the scenery and Wyo for the people.

 

[TexanSam]

Following. My home state has little to no public hunting and I'm ready for a change once I graduate.

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[heysharkie]

Health care is stone aged in MT. I'm guessing similar in WY.

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[DaveS]

Before considering Montana you should watch this video so your expectations are set appropriately.

So You Want to Live in Montana... - YouTube

 

[AK Troutbum]

Wyoming is a god forsaken state and there is no amount of anything that could get me to live there.

Really?? You're joking, right?

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[c.brown]

I'm following this one too. Wife and I are trying to figure out where to move when I retire from the military in a few years.

 

[JWP58]

Wyoming is a god forsaken state and there is no amount of anything that could get me to live there.

Truth.

 

[ssssnake529]

Utah is the answer.

 

[cnelk]

I'll weigh in on this.

You want God Foresaken country?
Try N. Minnesota next to the Canadian border, Lake of the Woods area.
That place is 100 miles north of where Jesus jumped out of his sandals.

I spent the first 25 years of my life there. So yes, I know.

I then moved to N. Colorado in the 80's.
Best thing I ever did.

The weather here is perfect.
All 4 seasons.

You want hunting?
You got it.
If not Colorado, In 4 hours I can hunt Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming.

You want good economy?
Its here

You want to get get away?
Its not far away.

You want taxes?
Its here too

I can tell you tho, making marijuana legal did not help this state one bit.
Transients have arrived in droves.

Stay away from Boulder area.

Good luck in your search.

 

[Beendare]

OP I'm going to make some assumptions number one since you're coming from Seattle it would drive you crazy to move into a town with one grocery store and one café. So I'm assuming you would need to have some of the best parts of a city like a couple decent restaurants and such....but without the congested traffic. With that in mind here are a couple suggestions:
Colorado up around Fort Collins or the SW corner in Durango. Both college towns which means liberal but will have things to do.

Helena, Mt- milder weather than in many parts of Mt, centrally located and of course good hunting fishing

Idaho: more than a few good spots. Some of those towns are booming; Boise, Twin Falls and a couple more but there is room to live just outside of these towns and have the best of both worlds.

Wyoming is a nice place to visit- grin

FWIW, elevation would be a prime criterja for me. If it's high like over 6000-7000 feet , long winters. So if you're a skier then fine if not it might be better to look at a little lower elevation.

 

[ianpadron]

Awesome advice so far everyone. I really appreciate it! We're taking a roadtrip this summer to scope things out.

I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin, so the Seattle thing has actually been WAYYY overwhelming haha.

Looks like I've got plenty of homework to do.

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[cnelk]

I would add only this:

Move to a place with the highest elevation you can grow tomatoes outside.

[There is a lot of meaning to this statement]

 

[JWP58]

Boise is pretty awesome.

 

[boom]

retirement just registered as a faint blip on my radar. i'm hoping i can realign my dish and get a stronger signal ASAP.

wife and i are gonna check out Reno. Nevada has some badass hunting, and a resident tag couldnt suck that bad...and Nevada isnt one of the big hunt states that always gets mentioned. i'm hoping that translates into less traffic.

i think taking some of my CA property value and moving it into some non-CA property will get me out of my office that much faster...

 

[WyoElk]

Wyoming really is a great place but its not without its drawbacks. It is very hard to describe the effect that the wind will have on you. Some people say you get used to it but I say BS. During the windy months (October through May) it has an effect on everything you do. It truly does drive people crazy and to suicide.There are some parts of WY that are less windy and if you decide to come I would seek them out. I would suspect that if a children's hospital is non-negotiable then WY will be eliminated from your search. Cheyenne is the biggest city in WY and has a regional hospital but does not have a children's wing. Sick kids get shipped to Colorado.

Montana is the next up and coming Colorado. I know I will catch heat over that comment but it is being over run each day by the same kind of people. The progression has been slower and there is much more MT that is more traditional, but its happening. I hate to admit it because Ive long dreamed of moving to MT myself but unfortunately thats they way its going.

Idaho has had a significant migration of political refugees. Mostly conservative types that got fed up of where they were and went to ID to escape the liberal takeover. I like the idea that many like minded people are going to the same place but that just means that we are losing everywhere else.

I would try to spend some time in each place during every season and see what feels right for you and your other.

 

[Jon Boy]

Montana is the next up and coming Colorado.

This is very true, and I live in MT. Too bad. I'm looking more and more into moving to Wyo. I like the overall geography of MT better but the people in Wyo are much more my kind of people.

 

[justinspicher]

I moved to SW Colorado, near Durango in May after I retired from the military. I wouldn't suggest moving here. Rent is high, so I bought a house in a small mountain type community, saved me almost $500/month having a mortgage instead of rent.

There are tourist here ALL the time and in the fall/winter you get the added bonus of college students. The fall also brings a ton of out of state hunters who drove around on their quads all day because they didn't train or account for the altitude.

However, I'm ten minutes from 2 million acres of national forest and from 200,000 acres of Wildnerness. I've got two nice reservoirs within a short drive as well. I see elk almost every day, Mule deer in my yard daily along with Merrimam turkeys. I've seen the occasional bear and I always see moose when I take a trip to the Wildnerness. The fishing is pretty good here, and the river is close. Hell, I can fish in town at halftime during a broncos game. We have a brewery in town as well. Not bad for a place with 2500 people.

Taxes suck, but it's a reality. It's better than Kansas, where I moved from. Lived in Washington prior to that and almost moved back until I found this place.

I thought the hunting seasons here were odd until I got them figured out. Now I can probably hunt from August to January if I play my cards right.

Arizona, New Mexico and Utah are within a few hours drive. Exceptional elk hunting. While I wait to draw a tag for one of those I'll learn for dirt cheap here in Colorado.

I was given free licensing and registration plus a lifetime small game and fishing tag here in Colorado as well.

I did two elk hunts in Montana and while it's nice, it's not for me. I grew up in Colorado so it was an easy choice to make.

 

[ben h]

Beendare, I always enjoy your posts. There is a lot of truth to what you said. I have a house in SLC at around 4300' and have about 1M people in our valley; I also have a mountain home at around 7400' in NE Utah with fewer than 1,000 residents, and winter can set in there around October and last till May, and of course you'll get at least 1 snow storm in June! Small towns are quaint and nice to visit, but many of the amenities of "city life" are absent.

 

[Beendare]

I have a house in SLC at around 4300' and have about 1M people in our valley; ......

Ben, Thats really about the perfect elevation 4,000- 4,500, IMHO. It can get hot but will cool off at night. That SLC area is nice but growing exponentially.... traffic has gone crazy in the last 10 years...but on the outskirts is probably pretty nice. I like Utah a great deal. Hunting wise you have some great deer and elk spots...but on the flip side it can still take you many years to draw a good elk tag.

 

[realunlucky]

Montana is probably the closest to meeting your wants

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