What do you think of your state?
 

O.K., I've had enough of Michigan and it's swindling politicians.....it's a long story, and I'll not bore you with it, but both my wife and I have decided that when we get our daughter through school, we're packing up and moving out....

So, tell me about your state. Of course, I'm interested in hunting/fishing/guns & gun rights, but I'm also interested in education, taxes, geography, other 'unknown' things that the area/state might offer, ect. Also, anything that you think might be a 'negative' would be appreciated also.

Some of the states that I've visited so far & liked were: Eastern Va, TN, & North & South Carolina. Been to 48 states, but only parts of some. I have only ruled out two states so far: NY (my dad's family came from the Niagara Falls area....loved to visit, but it's obvious that Albany is controlled by NYC) and California, for the same reason.

I like to bird hunt, esp. ducks.

I know I can look up a lot of this stuff on line, but I like to get a 'first hand' feel, if you know what I mean....

thanks for filling me in on where you live!:)

Well lets see, if you want to hunt it you pretty much can in Texas. We have every type of terrain and temperatures imaginable. And Eagle Lake Texas area (central Texas kinda) is the goose hunting capital of the world. . . . . You can hunt duck, deer, squirrel, quail, dove, hog, turkey, alligator, etc etc etc here. We also have great fishing (assuming you bring a boat)

And depending on where you live winters are mild and summers are HOT, or summers are mildish and winters are freeze your bits off bad.

GoodOlBoy

I've been debating this myself, but I'm going to be stuck to Maryland for at least another 20+ years since my kids are really young and we intend on having at least one more, and considering that I'll be building up my practice in Maryland, leaving might be a pipe dream. Anyhow, once we get a single family home I would like to buy a farm. My question is going to be where to buy that farm. I was initially thinking somewhere on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, but that would limit my options of leaving this place. I feel sorry for those on the Eastern Shore because their lives are run by three counties and a City that either surround DC or are directly north of DC along I-95. Everybody else in Maryland is stuck with what these super liberal counties decide to do.

So, I have been mulling over land in North Carolina, South Carolina, and possibly Florida. I love wing shooting, and if I could find a farm that would lend itself to upland game such as doves, quail, and pheasants, and also be in the Atlantic flyway, I would be in heaven. Then, if I really get sick of Maryland I can spend a good portion of my time at the farm. In another 20 years everything will be electronic anyway.

Colorado was great when I moved here. Over the last 35 years, it has become over populated, more liberal and left wing.Kinda anti in every respect. I often think of Wyoming as being better.
Just mio dos centavos worth.
Dan

Oklahoma sux ya'all find some other state to move to. No Ducks, no Deer, no Quail, no Fish, nothing that would interest anyone, go to Maryland.

Utah is not a four-letter word.

16 As you can see i live in mi also i have family that lives in ther states i do not have much desire to leave the state and restart but others do have a plus to them like ky has no property taxs for 65 and older.
Resident land owners do not have to pay for a hunting lic to hunt on there land.
Being frome mi i have to say i am mi at hart and would miss it the fishing and hunting the largest problim we have with the outdoors here is the popcorn styl of outdoor management but with half the u.p. and 1/3 of the lower open to public to hunt and fish we are next to a.k.
I do have to say other states are more firea arm freindly mi then again i am not ready to retire yet so i would be hard pressed to say were i would go.

Well my state of South Dakota just sucks so stay away lol.
Really I love it and keep coming back.
Dan I lived over 5 years in Colorado in the 70's. I was in the Loveland area and it was just great and glad I lived then to enjoy it = today a different story I am sad to say.

Rocky, Utah AND Wyoming are in my mind....haven't met a lot of folks from UT. I never met one from cowboy country that I didn't like! Don't get west that often....mostly WY or SD.Gonna have to decide soon....2-3 years. Gonna see how Elk goes this year....rest of the hunting here is a draw!!...big game....birds ya gotta have a friendly land owner...rest of em are $$$ minded.
Dan

Wrenchman:
Its great to have so much land to hunt on....to bad that the state can't manage it for any other species but deer!:mad: Haven't flushed a grouse or woodcock in 15 years in areas I used to see 7-8 in a five hour hunt! Rabbits? Haven't flushed one of them in quite a while either. Might as well have an extended gorilla season, as you have just as much chance of seeing one of those as you do a pheasant! God forbid we should put some money into upland hunting (other than the Szechuan debacle). ...and I was so P.O. when we lost our bid for a dove season; Where the hell was our DNR and organizations like M.U.C.C.? Not ONE positive ad for dove hunting, and this was several years after we, as a state, voted for "sound, scientific management".....Bah!:mad:

You know why Ohio doesn't float into lake Erie? Because Detroit sucks!:p

Thanks for the heads up about Utah, Rocky.....I'll have to check it out more; the only place I remember from our travels was Salt Lake City.

I did really like S.D. & N.D., but my wife wasn't too crazy about them.....what is the shopping like?:D;)

a man brother i hear yu on a lot of what you say.
I have a nother good one for you why dont they expant the elk hurd and let more hunter hunt.
They complain about the deer hurd in the south but try to get access.

SLC is really the only urban area in the state (although St George is exploding). We have two million folks in Utah, with 1.5 million of those in the 100 by 20 mile oval between Ogden and Provo, wedged between the Wasatch Front and the Lake. The rest of the state has small towns, but is essentially empty. As far as I know, we are the only state with only one major airport - which says a lot about our demographic distribution.

Wyoming is even less densely populated, has no income tax (but higher sales tax) and even more open land. But little in the way of great restaurants, cultural things like theater or much shopping variety.

Take your pick.

I really do not think much of the southern half of the state.
Best,
Ed

I love Colorado; love the mountains, the elk, etc. but everything Dan said is true. I would consider Wyoming and Montana in a few years. Maybe Utah after reading RR's description. We moved to CO about 7 years ago from VA. Virginia is a pretty state, but talk about overcrowded! I might have to go back to the east coast for work but I'm very much trying to avoid it.

Mike

What Rocky said about Wyoming is true. But I didn't come here for the theater or shopping. I do the bit of shopping I need to do in Montana..no sales tax and as he said no income tax in Wyoming.. Sales tax is 5% here....which IS less than most states..especially where I came from(Md) but I did most of my shopping in Delaware with no sales tax anyway. Live on a small ranch at the end of a road and a half here and there is no traffic or hardly any people. Rocky is also right when he says the restaurants aren't great. But living near Cody everybody thinks they have great stores restaurants etc. They are ok if you are a tourist. There are a couple of really good restaurants in SLC..but then again..most restaurants don't know squat about seafood out here. Oh...Did I tell ya thee is NO income tax in Wyoming...yeeeehaaa! and the hunting is still good in most of the state. If the residents finally get fed up 'nuff with the wolves and grizzlies and start killin some the hunting WILL get better.

FWIW...sales taxes in the metro area are 7.9%.........not to mention a worthless public utility commission what rubber stamps any thing utility companies want to do...come to think of it..there are a LOT of rubber stamps in Colorado!
Dan
:cool:

Out of PA , VA, CA , and ME. I choose PA. ( yes I lived in all the ones listed)

Now if we can just get rid of slick Eddie....

Well despite high taxes and an idiot lame duck govenor, I'll stick it out in Wisconsin. No longer much of a big game hunter anymore, hunted Montana for years. Did enjoy it then. Now a days I'm a bird hunter and we have my favorite upland birds grouse and woodcock here, also love bunny hunting. My waterfowl hunting is done here and Louisiana. I guess as I get older I'm just more comfortable here, like an old pair of boots.

Skeet, I thought that the Wyo sales tax was about 7% - to make up for the no income tax. I must have been wrong. Thanks for the correction. I do know that the Wyo gas and road tax is extremely low - gas is usually ten to 12 cents a gallon cheaper in Evanston than anywhere in Utah. Booze tax, too!

Mr. 16 gauge,

I live in PA on a farm in the rural northcentral section. We used to have great deer hunting until the game commission in 2002 foisted their BOGUS deer ecology on us and instituted concurrent doe and buck season resulting in killing off the deer herd. The PGC lamely touts "Healthy Deer, Health Forests, etc." which results in darn few deer in hunting season and after with very few deer tracks in the snow.

We have far too few grouse and phesants these days, so owning a farm merely means I have a place to shoot paper targets.

Adam

Move to Mass. You can give up your guns. Give up your wallet. Pay taxes up the ying yang. Not much upland hunting. Ducks and Geese are OK. Deer isn't bad if you bow hunt. Politican steal everything they can get their hands on. Stay in MI.

I'm out of here withing the next few years.

One of the places you mentioned you were considering is Eastern Virginia. I live in let's call it eastern central Virginia. I have lived here all my life. I think I am fairly safe in saying that Virginia - all across the state except maybe northern Virginia, outside of DC - is a very "hunter friendly" state. We have lots of game and the Va. Dept. of Game & Inland Fisheries owns and maintains numerous wildlife management areas across the state and very actively encourages and promotes hunting. We also have several very large national forests. Many of the large timber companies also allow hunting on their holdings. Fortunately it also seems that most of our politicians, even if they are not actively pro-gun and pro-hunting, are at least not noticiably "anti". I have traveled to virtually every state up and down the Atlantic coast and as far inland as West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, and I can't think of any place that I would rather live. About the only down-side to hunting in Virginia is that we still cannot hunt on Sundays - a situation that I think will hopefully change over the next few years.

Minnesota = 6.875% sales tax plus 8% income tax. How can I defend a state that has elected Al Franken to the Senate ??

I live near the SD border and it is unreal how much different things are as soon as you cross the border. More pheasants, deer, ducks & geese and better fishing in SD & ND. They take their habitat much more serious, less intense farming and the people seem to care more about quality of life. I love both states, I do feel sorry for the locals when the non-residents take over during pheasant season though.

Idaho is fine with me.
Other places have better this or that, but when I look at the overall picture I will stay here. A little farther from the greater Treasure Valley metro ( Boise) area would be nicer.
The little valley we are in is still not that populated, 10 to 15K in the county, and has a small town rural atmosphere Karen and I both like.

Pa is a great state if as mentioned above get rid of Gov Randell....only worries about raising taxes and gambling...but far as hunting, W.Pa is deer heaven even though numbers dropped after the long doe season..but as I state to everyone..it was the PGC that gave the opportunity to take more than one doe but it WAS WE THE Hunters that shot to fill all the tags they could muster..then wasted the deer to point they had to start a share the harvest program ..so even I have friends that don't eat deer but still shoot at least 5 a yr and give them away..is hunter that killed off all the deer, not the game com.....Now it is true...Pa is the land of taxes..and since I live in Beaver Co. I have to pay and extra $30 a yr for emmissions test on vehicle while all around me don't..they closed all the steel mills around here..we don't need that...far as hunting..is still one of the best..lots of deer, bear, grouse, phesants (GC just stopped stock program but still do for the Jr guys)..fishing is great..lots of game lands and lots of state forests to hunt on..but if go far east..you best belong to a hunt club cause they tie up most of the huntable land.ya know..dr's, lawyers, indian chiefs that still post it and hang the "all mine, keep out" everywhere...seasons..we have all 4..about get fill of one and the next is upon ya..the hilly views can't be beat.. Just need get rid of the tax happy Gov.

The reason they hang the "all mine, keep out" signs is the same reason why your deer population is down. Hunters in general just don't know how to be reasonable when it comes to killing things. Imagine owning land and working hard on that land to make it a favorable place for game to hang out on. Would you really want to leave it open for everybody else to hunt on while you weren't there? Word would quickly spread about how awesome the place is. Guess how long it would stay awesome after that. It comes down to greed. Humans in general want as much as possible with as little work as possible.

Have to agree fabs about the ones that don't care if posted or not and slip in esp if you do plots etc..sure I think I would have to do some posting but maybe written permission only..I didn't point any fingers about the lawyer thing it just happens that while bear hunting out east Pa. the land posted by private clubs only is unreal and the cost to join one is out of my pocket book range...these guys even went so far as to park outside their gates just to block the area that happens to be open to the public in bear season..oh and dogs arent alowed during bear season but you should of heard the dogs running around in their area..I live about 100 yds from that farm I told ya about while ago and so far I have not posted my ground..but I did put safe zone signs on one corner due to the guy that has his stand on the corner..I dealt with him few yrs back and those are the kind of guys you were talking about..keep them out...I will stand by what I said about the game com arent the ones that killed off all the deer..was the hunters and lots don't even eat the things..now that gets them words from me..why clean them out..I say .do one here.then go to another area..don't just sit one spot and wipe out the whole lot of them then grump next yr cause there are no deer..we just got our local county parks open for archery a few yrs back..I just came from there an hr ago cause that is where I am going sat..open day for 2B bow..seen deer too..glad you enjoy hunting as well and hope you can some day move to the area you can manage..good luck all this hunt season...just leave some seed for next yr..

Northern Arkansas is a great place to live and it's my homestate for boot. The hunting is good. The local people are great. Unfortunately, we've had an influx of folks from other places, like california and mexico that are changing the state somewhat and not for the better in my opinion.

That is a problem which, unfortunately, is not unique to Arkansas!!! Here in Virginia we can also add all the liberals that work in Washington to the list!

:mad:

Hey Dutchman,
Where you from in Arkansas. Spent a lot of time in a little town of Earle

Lived in La, Fl, Ca, NC, Virginia and NJ. NJ was the worst, the state motto should be "where fun goes to die". I now live in Tennessee and love it although moving there from FL my kids went through mall withdrawal. Plenty of public hunting that the state keeps up fairly well. Prices are reasonable and there is no state tax. Folks are friendly and the winters are not that bad at all. I must say though that while I lived in NC with my folks we loved it. We were down around Cherry Point while my dad was in the Marines and if they had let him move off base I would still be ilving there. I have not been back in years but it was a great time. Virginia was great also but I have not made it back in years.

Come on out to SD. The shopping is good near the larger cities, esp Rapid City and Sioux Falls. Elk tags are harder to score, but deer and lope tags are fairly easy. Ducks, geese, and pheasant. Dove and quail. Most in these parts respect gun owners and the right to bear. Fishing on Lake Oahe is 2nd to none, my opinion of course. Rivers, creeks, ponds, lakes and stock dams. I don't think you will have any issues with finding a favorite fish to pursue either. Come on out and stay awhile. Don't get me wrong, SD has its issues, but I think we have it better than most.
________
Emilia

Illinios...enough said.

McPat

Sorry about taking so long to get back to ya. I now live in russellville. It's a nice little college town right on the Arkansas river. I hunt in the national forest just north of here. These days there doesn't seem to be a lot of hunters up there. Just me and the wildlife. That includes a growing number of black bears, yah!

My people are all from the hills in stone and cleburne counties. Where in the devil is earle? It sounds familiar but I can't place it. Are you from mass? Do ya miss us dumb ol' southerners up there in anti-gun country? :D

Ohio is fine for us, but if I did not work at a state university and was fortunate enough to send my kids to private school, we would need to consider moving. But not necessarily back to Pennsylvania.

On another topic, Fabs, what about buying land/having your farm eventually in Garrett County? Seems like a beautiful area when we have passed through and/or stayed there though "touristy" in the Deep Creek and Oakland areas; and the county was certianly made famous by Meshack Browning, so the hunting may still be good!

Actually I think people need 6 months in one place 6 in another..I cant take that cold weather....guess you gotta pick your poison as far as your hobbies go, fresh water, salt water etc..elk, bear or deer ..lots to consider..I like Georgia myself,

Earle is the NE conner about 30 or so miles from Memphis. Will be back there sometime in the spring. Its one of those little town that your thru it before you know you were there.

I live in Florida. If'in we could get rid of the illegals and the yankees, it would be a nice place. ;)

Your illegals are yankees. :D

OK you guys quite picking on us Yankees even if were Red Sox fans.