I am getting antsie, today is the first time I have actually calculated it out.

I still think we are probably headed to Fairbanks so I can use up that wonderful POST 9/11 GI Bill money. That and the Military hospitals are close.

My 10 month old daughter seems to think that it is her job to test out the Australian Emergency room services a couple times a month.

How's the summer going?

Does that mean Wyoming is no longer on your mind?

Congratulations!

Phil,

Picking between Wyoming and Alaska is like picking between your kids.

Like deciding what side of the steak to eat first.

Right now it's torture. I was born in Wyoming and I have lived there quite a bit. In Alaska I have only lived in Barrow and Sitka, and I have spent a lot of time in Barrow and Anchorage. But honestly I have spent almost 20 years living away from Alaska and Wyoming, and 13 of that I have spent either in Europe, Australia or floating the salty seas on an aircraft carrier.

Wyoming isn't full of people, around half a million wind swept souls. But Wyoming has a million Montanans, a million Idahoans, 3 million Utes, and 4 million Greenies at the border. That and it's a hard days drive from 65% of the Nation.

I don't like the change that Wyoming and Montana have taken. Orange spotted mountains during the hunting season, and fishing with your 40 best friends on most rivers during the summer.

In a couple months I'll fly back to Wyoming for the final survey before we figure it out. Dad drew a moose tag, his 7th moose if we get her in the icebox. I am in Australia so it's a pretty major jaunt to help with a cow moose, and I don't think he cares weather he gets one or not. Just going to be nice to be hunting with my dad after all those hunting seasons I spent in Afghanistan, Djibtoui and on the Air Craft Carrier.

I don't begrudge my military career, I have had a hell of a good time, it's time to do something else.

Wyoming's always on my mind, but the Wyoming of my dreams is slowly fading away. I am sure that Alaska is the same as most of those idealistic places from the 1970s are shot. Alaska is just doing it at a hell of a lot slower pace.

MOA TACTICAL

Congratulations on your upcomming Retierment.

RETIREMENT is WONDERFUL.

I have spent a lot of time around Kaycee Wyoming, and driven on most all the other roads there.

I have spent a lot of time around Troy, Libby, and Eureka Montana, and driven on most of the roads in the Western part of the state and a few in the east.

I have spent a lot of time in Idaho around Elk City, and driven on most of the roads in the rest of the state.

I have spent some time In Anchorage, Dillingham, and in Nome Alaska.

I have found the local people in all of these places to be very friendly.

Some people cannot live in remote places, I could, as long as I can get gun supplies shipped in and get good Scotch...

So, here is my take on living permently in the above places.

Alaska, The main negative about Alaska is the price of most things. Since everything has to be "delivered" from far away, everything is more costly in Alaska. If you are on a retirement income, this can be a problem.

Also to do any quality hunting in Alaska you need to be able to fly in, unless you are in a remote place like Nome, then you can go by snowmobile a hundred miles or so, and have have great hunting, but fuel is $$$.

I really liked all of my trips to Alaska, and I liked the people, including the Inuits [Eskimos to you lower 48'ers], I had great fun with them on Front Street in Nome, they treated me like I was the King of Siam. Very friendly and nice people.

MOA TACTICAL, I live in Sitka, and dont know you but wanted to thank you for your service for our country and freedom.

Wyoming.

Again the People were most friendly, the hunting was great.
But Wyoming has just too few trees for me. The area around Pinedale was kinda nice. The elk hunting was good.


Montana.

I really like the area around Troy, Libby, and Eureka. I hunted there 12 years. The people were very nice, very friendly and very helpful to me as an out of state hunter, year after year. I really like this type of country.

The wife and I thought a lot about retireing there.


Idaho, around Elk City. I have hunted near there a bunch, in fact I black bear hunted there twice a year, spring and fall for several years.
Again the people there were most friendly. I became friends and hunted and fished with the two Sheriff Deputies stationed there and became good friends with the State Game Warden. I was buddies with the people thart owned one of the Motels, and the guy that owned the food store.

I spent a lot off time in the little town of Dixie, and all of the people there were first rate.

There is great black bear hunting there, great mountain lion, and grouse hunting and good fishing.
It is the only place I know of in the lower 48 states that you can shoot 2 black bears and 2 mountain lions every year.
[Except Texas, mountain lions are considered varmints here, there is no closed season and no bag limit, you could shoot 200 a day here].

The elk hunting has been hurt by the wolves, but there is good wolf hunting. I havew seen several wolves up close...

So IF I was going to move from East Texas, I would highly consider, and recommend my favorite area of Montana.

But for ME, I would move to Dixie Idaho, the Dixie near Elk City,[there are two Dixie's in Idaho], as I have made several good friends there and I love the heavily forested mountains.

Texas is a good state to live in/retire to.

We have good gunlaws, a great Concealed Carry program.
No State Income Tax, car license tags, and other State fees are not too bad.

Areas in Texas to consider, are the Hill Country,say west of Houston, and Austin around San Antonio, near Kerrville, Brady, San Angelo, etc.

If you like the "ocean" and deep sea fishing then check out the Texas coast, from Port Arthur to Port Isabel/Boca Chica.

Another great place in Texas is East Texas.

Start around Paris, and go south to say Beaumont. Basically everything East of Hiway 45.

People are friendly and you can find land prices that are affordable.

The one thing BAD about Texas is that there is basically NO Federal Public hunting land in Texas.
Most all hunting land is privately owned, so a "deer/turkey/pig lease will run around $2000 a person, give or take.

The advantage here is, that you can usually have year round access to your Hunting Lease, and you and your lease buddies will be the only people hunting on that property.

There is great deer/turkey/pig hunting here, but no elk/bear/grouse hunting.

There is good dove, and duck and goose hunting in various parts of the state.

Also you are not "that" far from driving to hunting in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, or Idaho.

I saw 2 deer 20 feet off of my property just last night...

Some very good things about Texas, if you like to hunt, is that you can hunt pigs 365 days a rear, 24 hours a day.
You can hunt them with artifical light, with a suppressor, and with a maching gun.

Our deer season is very long in most parets of the state. The bow season is the month of October, rifle seasonstarts the first part of November, and goes to the first week of Jan in most parts of the state. You can kill 4 or 5 deer depending on what part of the state you are hunting in.

Wild pig meat is my favorite 4 legged game meat to eat, and outr deer taste very good so you can really supplement you food supply.
The wife and I eat some sort of wild game meat 3 to 5 times a week.

In most other states you do not have near as many hunting days, nor near as many animals you can harvest. Nor is your success rate near as high as it is here in Texas.

A good deer/turkey/pig lease will pay for its self in meat harvested, not to mention the fun factor.

I want to simplify my life a bit.

Small town, remote, good place to raise kids.

Might teach school, might work in aviation (20 years experience), might do a whole list of other things.

Not looking for a magical Severus or Frost kind of Alaskan life, just a small town, catch some fish, do a little hunting, hopefully run a very small trap line. Eventually I'll hang up a gunsmithing shingle.

I have wanted to go to Alaska for good since I was 6 years old. I went up in 2000, worked for about 10 months then got called back into the military.

I like Texas, and I love Wyoming. Even if my wife hates it, and she probably will, but she can work that out on her own. Small town simple life. Room to breath. Wyoming in the 1970's kind of feel.

Maybe when we are old we can snowbird, but it's time to do something I have been dreaming about my whole life.

Good deal MOA. Caribou haven't showed up yet up this way. About 10K came through before subsistence season started, but they kept going towards the border. Friends in Dawson are shooting the heck outta the 40 mile herd along the border; maybe place to be when state season opens. Locals that have been flying haven't seen many either. Just how caribou are, we always get our share, sometimes not till snow is on the ground though. Been watching a few moose, and seeing bear here and there, but blueberries are thin this season. Anyway, life is good up this way.

Zhurh,

Well I hope you guys bump into a few bulls when the season opens.

Do you guys get to bait for grizz this season?

I'll try and call you this weekend or next. We won tickets to a Australian Football Match tomorrow afternoon, so might be next weekend.

Nx Spring, you can shoot grizz that come into blk bear bait station; but not bait grizz specifically. We haven't had a frost yet either.

Here's to a hard cold tick killing winter.

I haven't bought a hunting license for this year yet, but I have been getting my North Slope Election propaganda in the mail regularly.

Easy moving someplace your already a resident of.

Looks like we will be there December 17th or there abouts, of 2013.