What do you think of your state?

[Dan Morris]

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

[Swift]

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....

[popplecop]

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.

[Rocky Raab]

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!

[Adam Helmer]

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

[buckhunter]

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.

[dovehunter]

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.

[M.T. Pockets]

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.

[700LH]

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.

[skeeter@ccia.com]

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.

[fabsroman]

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.

[skeeter@ccia.com]

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..

[Dutchman01]

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.

[dovehunter]

Originally Posted by Dutchman01

...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!

[buckhunter]

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