Residency, Oregon vs Washington

Between Oregon and Washington, which state has the most hunting/fishing opportunities.

  • Oregon

    Votes: 48 82.8%
  • Washington

    Votes: 10 17.2%

  • Total voters
    58
Joined
Jan 17, 2023
Messages
10
Hello, Rockslide members. I’m not as active on here as I should be. I use this forum for TONS of information. I grew up in Oregon hunting/fishing a very very small amount with my father. I joined the Military and ended up meeting my lovely wife in Georgia and staying there for ten years. During that time I became and avid whitetail hunter and fisherman. Through a series of life events I ended up working remote and she is a traveling nurse. We’ve spent the last 6 months in Oregon and we are headed to Washington for the next 6. As an adult I’ve realized I took the hunting/fishing oportunities here for granted. My wife has historically never been a hunter or fisherman, but after catching her first salmon and steelhead she is hooked (see what I did there?). We are SERIOUSLY considering relocating permanently to the PNW and we’ve narrowed it down to Oregon vs Washington. From a strictly hunting and fishing point of view where would you live? Washington or Oregon? and if you could take the time to write why I would greatly appreciate it. If you’re looking for a fishing buddy or wouldn’t mind having a couple join you on a fishing trip we will be in the Tacoma are until next June. Cheers! And thank you in advance.
 

Bachto

WKR
Joined
Dec 13, 2018
Messages
420
Location
Benton City, WA
I am from Oregon and currently live in Washington.

Go to Oregon, if my stepson's dad didn't live here and we could easily move. We would leave Washington tomorrow.
 
Joined
Dec 3, 2022
Messages
90
The only advantage WA has is no income tax. If I had to choose between the two with worrying about taxes and more taxes I would choose Oregon. Oregon still has spring bear and better fishing. WA fish and game commission is a joke. Just stay away from the Portland area for living. Even if you have to commute to work in the city don’t live there. Plenty of better areas outside of town. Better yet live in eastern or central oregon. Southern Oregon probably OK to.
Portland


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Tmac

WKR
Joined
Mar 16, 2020
Messages
918
Lived in and hunted both. OR 60%+ public land, WA 42% ish iirc. OR has about 27k sq miles more land mass. Then fewer people and very restrictive NR quotas, advantage OR.
 

ianpadron

WKR
Joined
Feb 3, 2016
Messages
1,994
Location
Montana
This is like choosing if you'd rather get hit by a bus or a semi...both options are awful for the vast majority of sportsmen.

One of the best days of my life was driving the Uhaul across the WA state line a couple years back, haven't set foot there since.

The hunting/fishing used to be world class, but barely exists anymore. Rivers are usually closed for salmon/steelhead, and the WDFW commission is actively working to end hunting all together. Sad state of affairs.

The elk hunting is a joke, West side has hoof rot, East side takes 10 years to draw a bull tag...deer hunting is great in pockets but the competition is steep compared to all other states I've hunted.

With the flexibility you and your wife have with jobs, there is no way either of those states would be on the table unless you happen to be raging leftists...in that case, it doesn't get any better LOL
 

Oregon

WKR
Joined
May 15, 2018
Messages
821
Location
Oregon coast
Oregon.
Washington has 8 million people, Oregon 4 million. Oregon substantially larger in landmass.
I don't know anything about the fishing in Wa except there seems to be a lot of Washington boats on my local water trolling salmon or drifting for steelhead.
 

ianpadron

WKR
Joined
Feb 3, 2016
Messages
1,994
Location
Montana
As someone from Washington this post hurts real bad to scroll through.

But that no income tax is pretty freaking amazing.
We ran an in-depth analysis prior to leaving WA.

The property taxes, sales tax, gas tax, RTA tax, long term care tax, etc. actually worked out to being significantly more expensive than living in a state with lower COL and an income tax.

State level capital gains tax is coming too...regardless of what the state DNC says.

Pretty insane tbh.
 

Blacktocomm

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 10, 2023
Messages
135
Location
Temporary Expat
We ran an in-depth analysis prior to leaving WA.

The property taxes, sales tax, gas tax, RTA tax, long term care tax, etc. actually worked out to being significantly more expensive than living in a state with lower COL and an income tax.

State level capital gains tax is coming too...regardless of what the state DNC says.

Pretty insane tbh.

Yeah - we have our eyes peeled for that cap gains tax. I have lived in ID/UT/AZ/NV/OR so I have kind of seen most of the west - but there is a chance we land in Wyoming in a little bit.

We also just got asked to move out of country (to England) for my career - so when we move back we are going to keep our eyes and options open.

But we do have an income tax, they just creatively named it.
If you are talking the LTC - we purchased our own LTC insurance so we don't "technically" have that. It was cheaper to buy our own than pay the amount that WA would have levied against our earnings.
 
Joined
Jan 13, 2015
Messages
853
Location
Veradale, Wa
Yeah - we have our eyes peeled for that cap gains tax. I have lived in ID/UT/AZ/NV/OR so I have kind of seen most of the west - but there is a chance we land in Wyoming in a little bit.

We also just got asked to move out of country (to England) for my career - so when we move back we are going to keep our eyes and options open.


If you are talking the LTC - we purchased our own LTC insurance so we don't "technically" have that. It was cheaper to buy our own than pay the amount that WA would have levied against our earnings.
Yes LTC, as well as PFMLA.

99.9% of Washington residents are and will be stuck in that for life. Directly tied to income.
 

ianpadron

WKR
Joined
Feb 3, 2016
Messages
1,994
Location
Montana
But we do have an income tax, they just creatively named it.
Isn't it ironic that "progressives" viciously defend the most regressive forms of taxation?

Doesn't matter if you're making $10M a year or $10 an hour, you're still paying close to 10% on every purchase you make, and $5 a gallon in gas in the state.

I could go on all day about how mis-managed WA is, but I think I've made my point to OP haha.

By almost every metric, WA state should be a mini-Alaska, a true sportsman's paradise. If you talk to guys who were there when Boeing was the big dawg in town instead of the worker bee tech hives, they'll say just that...unrivaled. Where else can you fish for steelhead in a rainforest, hammer giant alpine muleys, and dust high desert quail and roosters all within 2 hrs of your house...ALMOST makes me miss it ha!

We pray for WA from a safe distance now because it really is an incredible place...but man oh man it's difficult to imagine anyone WANTING to move there in 2023.
 
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