My wife just accepted a job in Abilene so she will be moving there the end of November and I'll be following when our house sells. We know Abilene is kind of laid back and smaller than where we currently live and are fine with that. We will only be there about 2 years so just want to enjoy the short time we have there. We will not be buying a house as we are meeting with builders now to have one built on our Tennessee property.
Are there decent shooting ranges near by?

Any chance of hooking up with ranchers who need hogs killed off?

PM Jerry Huffaker he lives there.

I've been close, but never in Abilene. I liked little old nearby Buffalo Gap right enough, but then my great grandparents were married there in 1881.

I have driven through there a couple of times. Seems like a neat town. Always wanted to call Jerry but it is usually on the weekend or after work hours. Give him a shout.
Okie

Abilene isn't a bad place at all. I bet you will be able to hook up with some places to hunt hogs and coyotes.

Welcome to Texas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMhaehb5AnE

Thanks, hopefully I can make it there sooner than later with a quick sale of our house in Colorado.

Abilene is a pretty place, not too big, Texas-friendly. My wife & I rented a small farmhouse for a week a few years back, down towards Buffalo Gap. Gotta have a steak Perrini's Ranch, best I ever had, and I've had many! We saw Robert Duvall there. In the overall area there are plenty of doves, ducks and deer. Hog density is rain-dependent. We were there during a dry spell, didn't see any. Good populations of coyote & bobcat, & armadillos everywhere!

Give me a call snowwolfe, I've lived here my whole life. I can tell you whatever you need to know.

5 min rush hour, great southern food, deer, dove, hogs varmints of all kinds, fishing. Some excellent goose and sand hill crane hunting within an hours drive. There is very little high fence hunting here, just a few places and all but one of them are private. 115,000 people. three universities, one texas tech campus, a state technical institute.

All the major stores and restaurants without the traffic and long commutes.you can drive from one end of town to the other in 10 min any time of day. We have an Air Force base and a lot of the military come back here to live when they retire.

If you're not used to it you need to know though hunting is all on private land and isn't free, even for hogs, they aren't considered vermin here because this is ranch country not as much farming as in other areas so the hogs are a resource. We have very nice shooting ranges, rifle pistol, skeet , sporting clays. At the rifle range there is NEVER a line, just drive in, set up and shoot.

Not too cold in the winter and hot summers, 23" of rain annually. No rivers , only a few man made lakes , but the fishing is good, bass, crappy , hybrids.

I have lived there from birth until 19 or close--between Winters and Bronte-- My family still ranches in Winters/Bronte area.It's a great place I love it. I would move back there in a heartbeat, but it is home for me... I'm sure living there is not everyone's cup of tea, but I think it's a great place.It can be windy and hot, and windy and cold, but always windy! Super nice folks though!

Pm me if you need more info.

Ed

Thanks for the input. Jerry I will look you up whenever we make the move and are in place. My wife goes down first and I'll follow when the house sells and that's always a crap shoot.
I already have access to deer and hog hunting about 200 miles south of Abilene so that part is taken care. Plus I will be running back and forth to our property in Tennessee as the house is being and can turkey and deer hunt there. We really enjoy our time on the shooting ranges so its nice to know the city has plenty. Might give me a great excuse to finally buy a decent shotgun

Already have one plus out of the move and that is we will be going to the DSC convention in January.

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Already have one plus out of the move and that is we will be going to the DSC convention in January

Can't tell you about Abilene, but can tell you you'll have a great time at the DSC convention in Dallas. Welcome to Texas.

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Welcome to Texas.

I'll second that!


.

Thanks. Our son lives in Austin but he is planning on moving soon so that's a bummer. Texas seems like it has very friendly people

My son lives in Abilene. Colleges are Christain based. Jerry pretty much summed it up.

The quickest way to blend in is to find a church you like and join. Texans are friendly and you will meet some really nice folks there.

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Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
I've been close, but never in Abilene. I liked little old nearby Buffalo Gap right enough, but then my great grandparents were married there in 1881.

Good Bar-Be-Que in Buffalo Gap at the Bar-Be-Que Barn there if it is still around. We lived in Abilene in the mid 80's for half a year on a work contract.

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Originally posted by Frostbit:

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
I've been close, but never in Abilene. I liked little old nearby Buffalo Gap right enough, but then my great grandparents were married there in 1881.

Good Bar-Be-Que in Buffalo Gap at the Bar-Be-Que Barn there if it is still around. We

lived in Abilene in the mid 80's for half a year on a work contract.

It is still there, I like the dutchlander catfish across the parking lot...good catfish.

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Originally posted by Snowwolfe:
Thanks. Our son lives in Austin but he is planning on moving soon so that's a bummer. Texas seems like it has very friendly people

Austin, despite being the Capitol, ain't really Texas.

As others have said, welcome. Perini or Beehive there in Abilene or Albany. Try Albany. It's about 45 minutes away. The best Iranian/Persian chefs ever.

My wife grew up in Abilene and my MIL still lives there, and owns, of all things, one of the landfills. I really like the place. It is sort of like a small town but with all of the amenities. There are some nice houses available right now, as well as apartments. I would try to rent a house, if it was me. If it takes you 15 minutes to get from one side to the other, you got behind a combine during harvest.

I live in Arizona but hunt near Cross Plains, 40 miles SE.
I would move there in a heartbeat.

Mark

'If I owned Texas and Hell I would rent out Texas and live in Hell' - General William Tecumseh Sherman.

Dumbass you can't even get an insult right.

"If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent Texas and live in Hell” is a famous statement of U.S. General Philip Henry Sheridan in 1866

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Originally posted by Shootshellz:
'If I owned Texas and Hell I would rent out Texas and live in Hell' - General William Tecumseh Sherman.

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Originally posted by Shootshellz:
'If I owned Texas and Hell I would rent out Texas and live in Hell' - General William Tecumseh Sherman.

Glad we made it so tough on the Yankee bastard! Welcome to Texas. Abilene is a good town, perfect size and nice people.

Regarding the steaks at Perrini's in Buffalo Gap, we passed through on a Sunday and I noticed there was a beeline of folks headed there direct from church. I should have suspected good food, but failed to follow my instincts, much to my regret after finding out about Perrini's reputation. If I am ever even remotely close again ...

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Originally posted by DCS Member:

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Originally posted by Snowwolfe:
Thanks. Our son lives in Austin but he is planning on moving soon so that's a bummer. Texas seems like it has very friendly people

Austin, despite being the Capitol, ain't really Texas.

As others have said, welcome. Perini or Beehive there in Abilene or Albany. Try Albany. It's about 45 minutes away. The best Iranian/Persian chefs ever.

I'll second the Beehive in Albany. Some of the best food I have ever had anywhere. I had a nice chat in the bar. with one of the brothers who owned the place. As I recall, he said he and his brother were Iranians with Canadian citizenship who both were retired from the US Air Force living in Albany, Texas. Real nice fella. Fantastic chef.

Interesting change of events. We put up our house for sale 3 weeks ago and not one person viewed it. Managed to buy the house for $50K less than what the previous owners paid to have it built 6 years ago and that didn't include landscaping, fence, interior upgrades, etc. We then listed the house for less than we paid which was lower than any other house for sale in the neighborhood plus we have a 4 car garage vs 3 for the other homes on the market. The housing market in Colorado Springs is pretty bad to say the least and we decided to stay put for awhile longer and wife declined the job.
I do appreciate all the information and regret we will not become Texans, if even for a limited while.

This is surprising especially with the new builds going up all over the place. A prime example is at the corner of Meridian and Stapleton. Not to mention all of the new builds going in off of Woodman going into town near Markscheffel.

We were surprised as well. One Realtor told me the new builds are lower in price as well as on smaller lots with less desirable features. Four homes within 1/4 mile of where we live are going through foreclosure. Realtors do claim the market is strong for homes under $300K. But they are forever trying to create a rosy picture so its hard to believe anything they say.
It is what it is. Fortunately we don't have to sell and can wait out anything presented by the current economics. I am a firm believer everything happens for a reason and will just go with the flow and not create any stress from this.

On a good note I really enjoy the local range and visit about twice a week and now I will stay closer to my bison hunt in SD this winter