How many of you who dont live out west, or Canada, or Alaska but have hunted there and paid thousands for hunts over the years would have just moved there if you knew what you know now??

I grew up out West, in Alaksa, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii (we moved arround alot), and now unfortunately for work I live back east. I'd give almost anything to be back out west...

I lived my entire life, until 1 year ago, in the west. Moved for the job. I am going back just as darned fast as I can. I have not lost anything worth coming back east for. Though the trapshooting has been good to me.

Mike

I love the west and lived in Utah and Colorado for a time. I still try and get my mountain fix whenever I can but there are good things about living lots of places. When I lived in the west I found I missed the water and the trees.

Jeff

Sure would, in fact, I plan on remedying the situation sooner than later.

quote:

Originally posted by Skibum:
I love the west and lived in Utah and Colorado for a time. I still try and get my mountain fix whenever I can but there are good things about living lots of places.
When I lived in the west I found I missed the water and the trees.

Jeff

Jeff, I don't get it.
Do you mean now that you DON'T live in the west, you miss the water and the trees?

We have streams, rivers, lakes and TREES all over the place...

I've lived in Colorado, Texas and California and enjoyed what they had to offer. For me though there is no place like home, Western PA.

Flippy, I believe Jeff meant he missed the water and trees of Michigan. If you've never experienced a "real" fall like those in Michigan, or better yet, New England, you've really missed something... nothing in the West can quite compare with it.

I think our fall fell on a Tuesday last year.

Brad, that makes sense.

I bet we have as many trees AND they stay GREEN ALL YEAR...
I own a rake, but it is seldom used.

Ive lived out west all my life but Ive seen every state in the lower 48 with the exception of Rhode Island and Ive been 5 miles from it.

There are a lot of great places across this country. The southern states have a lot to offer for outdoor enthusiasts as do places like Pennsylvania, Maine, Minnesota and so on. Of corse I havent lived there and do prefer the west to them, but I wouldnt take anything away from those who do like their lives there. Even upstate NY has a lot of unspoiled beauty.

Sometimes I kind of envy the people in the eastern states who have the problem of deer infestation and are forced to take several of them each year, that is a problem I could definatley deal with. I would also love to take advantage of black bear hunting opportunities that are much better in many eastern states than here in my homestate.

quote:

Originally posted by Wstrnhuntr:
Sometimes I kind of envy the people in the eastern states who have the problem of deer infestation and are forced to take several of them each year, that is a problem I could definatley deal with.

Yeah, twist my arm...

quote:

I would also love to take advantage of black bear hunting opportunities that are much better in many eastern states than here in my homestate.

Go West, lot's of bear hunting opportunity in CA on public lands with an over the counter tag. 12 hour drive from UT to black bear central in NorCal. Non resident hunting license is 115.75 and a non resident bear tag is 196.50.

quote:

Originally posted by Jarrod:
How many of you who dont live out west, or Canada, or Alaska but have hunted there and paid thousands for hunts over the years would have just moved there if you knew what you know now??

Jarrod,
I have a friend here in Alaska that moved up when he was in his mid-twenties, for the exact reason you asked about. He's still here and happy. Most folks either love it or hate it and the difference is quickly sorted out.

quote:

Sometimes I kind of envy the people in the eastern states who have the problem of deer infestation and are forced to take several of them each year,

I'd think that a meat hunt for does in the Southeast could be arranged for a pretty reasonable cost.

Be interesting to see what some of the residents down yonder would suggest for us venison loving Westerners with frequent flier miles.

wstrnhuntr,
the problem is we've got to many damn deer around here so a lot of them are little.
Most of the time just to kill a deer is not usually very hard at all.
It is the trophy deer that can sometimes present a challenge.

quote:

I'd think that a meat hunt for does in the southeast could be arranged for a pretty reasonable cost



I know a lot of people around here that would probably be glad for you to kill some does on their property. Most of them probably for free.

I grew up predominately in Virginia, but being the dependent of an Air Force officer, we moved around a lot... but always in the east or in Europe....

I spent 15 years in Minnesota. The military brought me to the Pacific Northwest back in 1977....

Moved to Oregon in 1995. Miss some of the East Coast once being "Home" but the places I grew up are long gone and turned into suburbia.... When I grew up in Virginia as soon as you crossed the Potomac River from DC, you were " down south"....

Nowadays it has more in Common with Westchester County than it does with the Virginia I grew up in.....

I have to make a lot less money etc, but I now live where I would go each year on vacation just to get away from the rat race...I pray the Good Lord willing, I will never ever have to live any further east than Colorado.... and the liberals have even made Colorado a NON Western thinking state any more.....

Politically even the West is NOT the West anymore.....Sad state of affairs if you ask me!


Bummin!

seafire

quote:

Flippy, I believe Jeff meant he missed the water and trees of Michigan. If you've never experienced a "real" fall like those in Michigan, or better yet, New England, you've really missed something... nothing in the West can quite compare with it.

Brad is right Flippy. I remember the first year I lived in Colorado and people were all excited to take me on a color tour. I think I disappointed them when I asked if there was anything but yellow. Same with the water. Inside of an hour drive I can get to over 100 lakes, including Lake Michigan, and a half a dozen rivers. It's not necessarily better, just different in a good way. I'll never quit traveling west though. I do love the mountains.

Jeff

If I could do it all again... Well, I've got friends that have lived in Montana their whole lives, never left. Their perspective on living here is quite different from mine. I love it here because I've lived in other places that didn't suit me as well. I would have never known that had I not left and come back. The same goes for someone who loves New England or the desert southwest, but only if they have experienced being away form "their heartland". So, if you've found your heartland you are truely blessed, if you have not, I wish you luck on your journey. Remember though that you will never know the land of your dreams until you have left it and come home.

Fortunately, I knew enough by 26 to move here, and stay....

Found a spot to hunt California quail yesterday. Which really bums me out, because I can't find a spot on the schedule this Fall to take advantage of it...... That's torture of a different kind! FWIW, Dutch.

I've lived and hunted in the west for my entire life, but if i had it to do all over again, I wouldn't live in Oregon, I'd live in Arizona.

I like the weather and the politics a whole lot better, and if you draw an AZ tag for elk, mule deer, pronghorn, etc., you'll have a great hunt. That state manages its herds for quality. Not only that, but you have great hunting states all around you, even if you don't draw an AZ tag, and they're all within a reasonable drive -- Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado -- all the states I best love to hunt.

AD

I lived in Washington State for 5 years, Alaska for 7 years and South Dakota for 3 years. The farther West and North West the better for me.
The climate is more tolerable in Alaska than Louisiana. If I were single and childless my scrawy butt would start hitch hiking back to the "Last Frontier" in a hurry and Louisia would only be seen in my rear view mirror!
BTW I will return to Alaska in October for a full week of fishing and hunting on the Tsiu river!

Jarrod:

I have lived all over the place, including Alaska. I live in AZ for a few reasons: I can shoot at long range 30 min from my house, I can travel cheap, and the hunting is pretty good.

When I lived in Alaska I used to do a sheep hunt, caribou hunt, and salmon trip every year. I was in the army. When my service obligation was up, I thought about staying in AK, but it dawned on me I could do the caribou and salmon trips every year for only a few thousand bucks.

I suppose that I risk sounding kind of full of it, but my advice to any young person (I don't know how old you are) is to figure out how to make a lot of money. With it, you can do a lot of hunting. without it, you are the whims of draws, the state you live it, etc.

The West is great, but in all honesty, I haven't hunted anything other than deer here in some years.

quote:

It is the trophy deer that can sometimes present a challenge.

Jarod,

There is never a "Trophy" that is worth taking that doesnt present a respectable challenge.

Dutch,

I wish my hunting dilema's were the same as yours, too many hunting spots and not enough time to get there.

quote:

Be interesting to see what some of the residents down yonder would suggest for us venison loving Westerners with frequent flier miles.

Yes it would! How 'bout it guys, any southen' recepies for venison?

I lived in N.MN. for many years. It was kind of a frontier when I was in my 20's. Lots of hunting and not many people. It was changing fast and I got out. The west is where I should have moved years ago.I never knew how much I loved it here. I can hunt something every day, I guess I can't put it into words but this is where I have always belonged.

When I was a young graduate of good old "Murray State University", a small but very good school in western Kentucky, with a teaching degree in Chemistry and Biology, I had my dreams on Alaska. A land where the teachers made big bucks. I had a wonderful wife and two babies and Momma didn't want to leave her Momma and all the help with the babies that relationship offered. I certainly didn't want to leave Momma, so I put my Alaska dreams on hold and concentrated on life. Many years later and many trips to Alaska, New Mexico, Colorado, Alberta, Africa, I really couldn't ask for anything better. I love Kentucky and all the great Deer and Waterfowl and small game hunting it offers, and I still get to visit those far off places, now with five fine grandsons and a grandaughter, all of which will have the opportunity to go with old granddad someday, and already have. Yep I love the West, but home is where the heart is, and that means Momma, who tolerates this old hunter with quite grace and loving memories, and lets me hang all that stuff all over the house. Good shooting.

quote:

Originally posted by Jarrod:
How many of you who dont live out west, or Canada, or Alaska but have hunted there and paid thousands for hunts over the years would have just moved there if you knew what you know now??

I do know what I know now. I used to work at the shipyards in Virginia and could be back there making pretty good money. I could then come out to Wyoming for 2 weeks every other year or so and hunt. But I have to be living it. So here I am and loving it.

quote:

Originally posted by allen day:
I've lived and hunted in the west for my entire life, but if i had it to do all over again, I wouldn't live in Oregon, I'd live in Arizona.

I like the weather and the politics a whole lot better, and if you draw an AZ tag for elk, mule deer, pronghorn, etc., you'll have a great hunt. That state manages its herds for quality. Not only that, but you have great hunting states all around you, even if you don't draw an AZ tag, and they're all within a reasonable drive -- Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado -- all the states I best love to hunt.

AD

How is the wine this year in the Big town of Dundee?
Whoa I'm from Madras stationed here in Arizona. I like it down here it is one of the most gun freindly states in the Union and I have been lucky enough to have been drawn everytime I put in for a couse deer tag here on Ft Huachuca But home is in Oregon and I wouldn't trade it for anything even though the politics do suck there.

Reason why I really asked this is because i'm 26 not attached to anyone. So if I want to move I can move. I love to hunt. Im out of the army and in college now.
I thought that if I moved to the west which I believe I would really like it. I would have a lot better hunting opportunity and thought at the same time that I could hunt a lot of what I want to hunt by givng 20dollars for resident tag and hunting on public land or on soemone who will grant me permission to hunt on their land and not have to pay 5 or 10thousand dollars to a guide everytime I want to hunt.

If I had it to do all over again, I would finish my education, work as hard as I possibly could for 10 years, learn all I possibly could about investing, attempt to make some very good investments, retire at 40, and move to a nice ranch outside of Cody Wyoming. No need to go anywhere else.

I lived in Colorado for 5 years and decided it was a waste to live in the state for a whole year and put up with the California liberals that have taken over there just for 9 days of medium/big game hunting.

So I moved back to Florida where I can hunt deer alone for over 4 months and turkeys and small game for another 2 months and fish year around.

If I really miss hunting in Colorado now I'll just do a guided trip and hunt the rest of the year here.

$bob$

Phurley5,
I have a step-brother that graduated from murray state university.

Jarrod,

I moved to Alberta, Canada 2 1/2 years ago, from Europe. Never spent thousands on guided hunts, I just knew it had to be good. The only remorse I have is that I didn't do it 15 years ago!

Frans

I lived my first 26 years in New Mexico. The next 17 were in Texas and the most recent 15 outside the U.S. I think it is about time to go back home to New Mexico.

If I knew what I knew now, I would have applied to college in Alaska or in Wyoming and then hunted and fished as a resident while working on a masters while avoiding fall courses

Nearly 30 years ago I asked my bride to go with me to live in Wyoming, but she made her case for not leaving kin. It was a good argument then and now.

I would have liked to understand the length, breadth, and cost of chasing species when I was 18...but as they say, life is wasted on the young. However, difficulty adds to the value of a thing.