Moving - Ann Arbor Michigan vs. St. Louis?

[nettereo16]

I might be moving due to my wife’s career and interested to hear the pros/cons on these two cities from other roksliders.

Primary focus for me is which offers better hunting and fishing opportunities, either locally or with some travel. I can do my job anywhere and her career is going to surpass mine. We’re in our early 30s and will likely start a family.

What should I know about living in either of these cities so I can prepare myself for this change and give my input on our decision? I know St. Louis has rough areas and Ann Arbor is a liberal college town. Does anyone have a good comparison on which offers better opportunity for outdoors stuff and also family life? I’m willing to hunt and fish for anything locally, and still travel west occasionally.

 

[dubllung4]

How close do you need to live to the city?

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I lived near St. Louis for about 12 years and still own land up near Mark Twain Lake. The fishing was phenomenal on the lake and surrounding smaller lakes. Only about 2 hours from St. Louis. The deer hunting is great as is the turkey hunting. I could not have been paid enough to live around Ann Arbor.

One thing, it is hot and humid as hell in the summer.

 

[Seth]

I don’t know about Ann Arbor, but went to college in MO and lived about 3 years in the STL area. My office was downtown, near the arch but we lived in St Peters to the west. We really enjoyed our time there.

Lots of nice areas west and south of STL proper. MO has lots of great public hunting and fishing in and around STL. Bass, catfish, crappie to deer, turkey, and waterfowl. I had a couple of Conservation areas I could squeeze in an evening sit on my commute home. A couple hours of driving gets to some large conservation areas with less pressure.

 

[LookinforDirt]

Fishing and hunting opportunities near St. Louis will be 100x better than Ann Arbor. Weather is way better too if you like it less cold. I’ve hunted and fished in MO a decent amount and lived in mid and southern MI. I’ll take MO every time without a second thought.

 

[Murphy]

I can't speak to st.loius but live within commuting distance to ann arbor my whole life. World class walleye on detroit river/lake erie. World class muskie/small mouth on lake saint Claire. All about an hour from ann arbor. If you can gain access the whitetail hunting is pretty good also. Turkeys small game largemouth bass/panfish fishing all very good. Enough where you shouldn't get bored. Summer and fall it's great here. Winter spring i could do without. I'm probably biased as I'm a lifer here.

 

[Seeknelk]

Also the Chinook and coho salmon fishing especially on lake Michigan is incredible if you like that.

 

[GunsAreFun]

I grew up in St. Louis, moved to Springfield for college and stayed about 8 years, and have lived in Columbia for about 8 years. My family is mostly still in STL.

I personally have no interest in ever living there. It wasn’t bad, but I just don’t like the traffic and all the people.

There isn’t much great public hunting or fishing access within an hour. 1.5 to 3-4 hours you can get to quite a few rivers and lakes for fishing for everything from largemouth, smallmouth, trout, paddlefish, walleye, crappie, etc. with good public access for boats or kayaks/canoe. Hunting wise, Missouri has a decent amount of public ground in the form of conservation areas, Mark Twain National Forest, and core of engineers land. Some areas are better than others, but there are big deer in 75%+ of the state.

 

[Agross]

As was already mentioned Ann Arbor is pretty close to all kinds of great fishing. You would be a couple hr drive from great trout and steelhead fishing as well as salmon. Even closer for bass and Muskie and some of the best walleye fishing.
There is small game opportunities all over. The whitetail hunting can be great if u find the right areas.

“Fishing near St Louis 100 times better than Ann Arbor”.

Maybe in Ann Arbor. Near Ann Arbor ?, huh. Guess I need to get to St. Louis to do some fishing.

 

[Wolverine]

Ann Arbor is definitely a Liberal city but you don't have to go too far out to live in a more conservative town. I have worked in and around A2 for over 30 years and can say it's Liberal but not ghetto.

There is public hunting land 1/2 hour west of A2 that is OK for deer, squirrel and turkey. There is great private land hunting all around if you can gain access or buy property. Good duck and goose hunting if that's your thing. Good bird hunting up north if that's your thing.

Fishing is great all over the state! Within an hour of A2 is world class Musky, smallmouth bass and walleye fishing on Lake Erie, Detroit river, lake St Clair and St Clair river. Plenty of local inland lakes for pan fish, bass, pike and walleye or just simply pleasure boating. Endless walleye, bass and pike fishing a couple hours north and even more options all over the U.P. (upper peninsula).

Plenty of salmon , lake trout and steelhead fishing around the great lakes and some inland rivers. Tons of ice fishing up north and occasionally locally if the weather stays cold long enough. Plenty of charter boats on all of the great lakes for salmon, lake trout, bass, musky or walleye to help speed up the learning curve a bit.

The Michigan Sportsman forum is a good place to get some info on the outdoors around the state.

 

[tp308]

Missourian here (hr west of St Louis) for the last 20 yrs. Great deer & turkey hunting and fishing, with a good amount of public ground sprinkled throughout the state. St Louis city gets a bad rap, and deservedly so, but the surrounding suburbs aren't that bad. The winters are mild and the summers can be brutal humid. The Ozarks are beautiful with plenty of outdoor opportunities. All of that to say... it's an underrated state and it would be in my top 5 if I could live anywhere I wanted. I can't speak specifically to Ann Arbor, just that their football fans are insufferable and the winters are cold, gray and last a long time. (Lived in northern Indiana for my first 25 yrs)

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Missouri's deer season can be strange. One day your hunting in a T-shirt, next day 4 layers on.

 

[Aaron-in-CO]

STL/MO has a lot going for it. Underrated in general. I grew up in the city (in one of terrible neighborhoods that everyone is afraid of). Moved to CO a few years ago.

- Above average hunting/fishing opportunities compared to other midwest states. There’s decent hunting/fishing/hiking within an hour or less from downtown. Even more, the further you go out.
- STL has lots of fun and free family friendly entertainment (museums, zoo, parks)
- fantastic food scene
- pro sports
- pro entertainment (theatre, concerts, orchestra)

I do hate the summer weather though.

Feel free to dm me any specific questions.

 

[Ten Bears]

I lived in AA for 15 years, now reside 30 minutes outside of it. Ann Arbor is just like any major college town, liberal. Some good eats in town. Great hospital system and some really good schools.

Right outside things change very quickly, I had a 60 acre farm 20 minutes from town and it was a completely rural experience. Some good towns close by…take a look at Chelsea. Waterloo State Rec. Pinckney State Rec. Brighton State Rec are all a good time.

As mentioned fishing in Michigan is some of the best period. GREAT Smallie fishing. Muskie. Multiple species of Salmon. Jumbo Perch. Incredible Walleye. Steelies. Splake. etc

Most coastline of any state. Thousands of inland lakes.

Top notch Ruffed Grouse hunting a few hours north. Pheasant hunting isn’t great, but they are there.

Good state for opportunity to deer hunt. Tons of public land up north. To the southwest of AA has good bucks (Jackson County)

 

[tp308]

Missouri's deer season can be strange. One day your hunting in a T-shirt, next day 4 layers on.

Truth!

 

[Steve O]

Have lived within an hour of AA pretty much my entire life. Had an office downtown for 15 years. St. Louis proper is a big city, it has some rough and awful areas much more like Detroit than Ann Arbor is.

Public land in MI is crowded and private is way overpriced. Fantastic waterfowl hunting around AA and tremendous fishing if every kind is never more than an hour or two away.

I’d not worry much about AA being “liberal” I never have run into anything that would bother me and when you are there for a football game, it is as red white and blue as you will ever find.

I’d probably pick St. Louis and live as far out as my wife was comfortable. Easier to find less crowded hunting spots in MO or KS.

 

[Cedarsavage]

I lived in Chelsea 20 minutes from a2 for about 5 years. I did well hunting public there’s plenty of it and one of the better counties in Michigan for hunting. A2 is pretty snobby, little busy for my tastes but there’s worse places to live. If I were you and I moved there id look at grass lake, Chelsea or Dexter.

 

[pacoalcracker]

Do yourself a favor...skip both. Move to Nashville, Tennessee or surrounding areas. If I was 30 or 40 again that's where I would be moving.

 

[rootacres]

Born and raised in MI here, about ~30 min outside Ann Arbor. I have traveled/fished around St Louis. Not sure how anyone can say St Louis will offer better fishing. Im not doubting its good, but MI is top 5 state in the country for inland lakes and has the Great Lakes. Being in Ann Arbor you're not far from the Canadian border where there is also great fishing. Walleye, perch, smallmouth, salmon, trout, you name it and there's a place to go. Whitetail hunting is decent. Solid deer populations in the southern half of the state. Public sees a lot of pressure. Trophy quality is better in other midwest states.

You won't have to travel far outside Ann Arbor to get away from the liberalism. Like many state, get away from big cities and college towns and things normalize. St. Louis is pretty liberal too.

 

[tt_johnsclist]

I lived for about 10 years in and around Ann Arbor. Swore I would never go back and I am sticking with that. But, just about everything the other posters have said is spot on. There is a surprising amount of busy, but accessible public lands within an hour or less and I had a lot of enjoyable archery and muzzleloader hunts. I hid in my basement during gun season to avoid stray slugs. There are also a lot of small lakes nearby, they get fished unbelievably hard but they are there. When you start talking drives over 1 hour then the Great Lakes/St Clair/Detroit river fishing starts to factor in, and grouse hunting and fly fishing and other “up north” stuff comes in to play with a 3 hour drive. If purchasing a small piece of land outside Ann Arbor is in the cards you will be set for deer hunting.

Traffic is horrible, but I suspect the same can be said of St Louis. Ann Arbor is a pretentious liberal stronghold, but very wealthy, safe, and classy. You can quickly escape the liberalism and most of the obnoxious Wolverine fans if you head west or north, the further the better. Head south and you can follow the corn and soybeans all the way to St Louis. Never go east of Ann Arbor for any reason other than to cross the border into Ontario.