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Wyoming or Montana

5K views 24 replies 13 participants last post by  NWDave 
#1 ·
Which state do I purchase some land to hunt and fish? Im 38yo and live in Tennessee. I recently paid off my house and all I owe for currently is my new car. I plan on working for 17 more years to retire at 55yo. I make a dang good living here in TN working as a nuclear plant operator and have no kids. The wife and I have been looking at property out west as a getaway/retirement to trout or cutthroat fish and mule deer hunt. Wyoming seems to be a bit cheaper but which state has the best game? Looking more toward to western parts of each state. I dont care if I have to build an off the grid cabin but electricity on site is a definite plus.
 
#3 · (Edited)
I have lived in both states for the majority of my life. Both have advantage and disadvantages for hunting and living.
A few things
Montana has more game tags available over the counter, almost all of WY tags are draw.
WY has more public land for hunting but MT is not far behind.
WY does not have a state income tax, MT does not have a sales tax.

In order of preference that I am familiar with
Sheridan, WY area
Powell, WY area
Cody, WY area
Worland/Thermopolis, WY area
Bozeman/Livingston, MT area
Billings, MT area

Winters are about the same. Western Montana is beautiful but much more expensive and much more liberal. Southern and central Wyoming is high desert and windy.

If you live in northern WY you shop in Montana and save in sales tax and live in Wyoming with no income tax.
 
#5 ·
The eastern part of MT is much less expensive as far as land, and much more conservative leaning. However its not near as scenic overall, though I always liked it. I did in fact purchase 20 acres there once, had it a few years and sold it for a profit. It was pretty neat actually, up above Winnett, a couple hours east of Lewistown.
 
#6 ·
I have been looking for the last couple of years. I hope to move to the Bitterroot Valley. In my case I would see an decrease in taxes of about 3o%. The valley is south of Missoula and votes almost 70% Republican. The cost of living is lower than the Bozeman area but higher than many areas in the state. We want rural but within a hour of a good hospital. We like the area of Stevensville and Victor but are looking down to Darby. The winter is also a little milder than the rest of the state. Search Zillow for Ravalli County. There is a wind range of housing. We have visited the area twice, both time during the winter and like the relaxed pace.
 
#7 ·
If you work nuclear, would think you have friends who were in eastern Idaho, specifically Idaho Falls, from the times the Navy ran 4 reactors and training out there (INEL). They can tell you what it used to be like.

Since the Navy shut down the reactors and training, Idaho Falls has changed a lot, but as soon as you get out of that town things haven't changed much at all.

They might be able to talk about Wyoming living.

About the whole area: my father-in-law used to say it had 9 months of winter and 3 months of damned poor sledding. You don't go anywhere, any time of the year, without a jacket, or heavier.
 
#8 ·
My own take after looking over Wyoming for the past 4 years, Folks in the south western side tend to be stand-offish, it might be my California license plates, one particular shop keeper at a gun and sporting goods store in Jackson was insanely rude while I had my son with me...

I found the Folks up north in Cody and Sheridan to be very nice and welcoming in some respects, Sheridan seems to be going through a boom, some hustle and bustle in both commerce and home construction. I can see my wife and I looking to buy in either community in the next 3-years with a move in the next 5-7.
 
#10 ·
SW is a lot of LDS. Sis in law lived in Green River for a while and hated it.
Hunting is great in Wyo, but it has more DOW POlice than any other state, much more than per capita. There are a lot of i's to dot and t's to cross and a lot of private property, with some capitalizing on rich idiots from NY and NJ, trying to get them to see an elk or a moose and not get run over by bison or ate by grizzly. Can't blame 'em..............or the grizzlies.
Crook, Weston and Converse counties are the most freedom oriented and have the lowest taxes.
It's beautiful up around Sheridan and Story. A major MC has a rockin party there annually.
Jackson is actually a misplaced chunk of Californication.
 
#9 ·
If I was to move again after escaping Kalif 5 yrs ago. Wyoming & Idaho are on the list. back in the mid 70's when I got out of school, one of my friends moved to Victor MT. Went back to hunt with them once and liked the area but has grown in leaps and bounds since then. But then again so has a lot of other areas where people are trying to keep there freedom.
 
#15 · (Edited)
I'd hate to see what happened to Colorado happen to Wyoming or Montana (or any other state).

People move to a relaxed, conservative area (like Colorado used to be) from a tyrannical area (like California and Massachusetts and New Jersey are), and they say, "Hey, this freedom is great!" Then they hear some other well-meaning eastern clown come up with an oppressive new law or regulation that the locals consider tyrannical, but that the newbie thinks isn't so bad in comparison to the democrat hellhole they came from - so they support it as well as the person who proposed it.

Pretty soon the relaxed, conservative area becomes a democrat-run hellhole just like where they came from, run by people that aren't even from here, and the newbie never even took the time to know the difference. It's a freaking plague, coming to a county near you - unless people get off their duffs and say, "Hell no! Enough is enough," and clean house.

We are all slowly boiling frogs.

There was a time I could walk down a street in my town and spot someone that wasn't from here simply by their look, their body language, and the look in their eye. Now everyone is a foreigner and it is rare to spot someone who looks like they are from here.

I guess I'm just a nostalgic old geezer, but there was a time (ALL the time before this generation) when people stayed with their people and the cemeteries were full of their own folk for generations and they had a familial and cultural tie to their own county. Nowadays, no one seems to know who the heck they are or who their own families are because everyone moves away.
People should stay put and keep control of their own heritage.

Sorry. Just spoutin' off I guess.
 
#17 ·
Pretty soon the relaxed, conservative area becomes a democrat-run hellhole just like where they came from, run by people that aren't even from here, and the newbie never even took the time to know the difference. It's a freaking plague, coming to a county near you - unless people get off their duffs and say, "Hell no! Enough is enough," and clean house.

We are all slowly boiling frogs
California use to be quite conservative, a few decades ago some of us natives would have expressed the same as you, I’m a fifth generation Californian, myself. But we’re a welcoming bunch here in the Golden State, took a lot of Liberals off your hands so you could keep some of your heritage, betcha never considering what your troubled children would do once they left your communities for ours, well, now you get to find out...They aren’t all “from” here, some of their parents and grandparents came from Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho, etc. etc. and now their offspring are going home to roost...

At least that’s one way to look at it, I’m just spoutin’ off, you know...
 
#18 · (Edited)
I don't buy into the republicrat/liberal/dempublican/conservative stitch, or the idiotic cheerleadin and hatin that goes with it. IMO, the farther you can get from a centraized fed.gov, the better off you are.
A pretty good idea of how Wyo politics was and is can be gleaned by studying up on the Johnson County War. There's one interesting perspective of it in Col. Charles Askins book; The Gunfighters.
 
#19 ·
Not a lot of Federal government in Tennessee, certainly a lot on the coasts.

A couple of things politically that for a west coast conservative make Wyoming attractive is that it’s not part of the 9th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Wyoming is in the 10th Circuit in Denver, and it’s larger population centers are similar in size, it appears to me that no one area dominates the whole State politically, as is the case on both coasts.
 
#20 ·
All large population areas dominate the state they are located in.

I grew up in Arizona, Phoenix and Tucson control the politics of the state and they are both dominated by liberals.

I lived in Kansas, Kansas City controls the politics and it's liberal.

I lived in Utah, Salt Lake City controls the politics and it's liberal.

I now live in Montana and Helena and Missoula control the politics and they are both liberal with Bozeman doing a good job of helping them along.

Large population centers always control the politics of a state, that's why politicians go to those places and ignore the rest of the state. The truth is that the whole country is slowly moving toward a more progressive/globalist view of how things should work because it sounds like people will get something for nothing. People no longer see the value in working hard physically and building things themselves. They have little or no respect for anything or anyone and that is why society will eventually fail and have to reset itself.

Get used to it, it doesn't matter where you live, progressive-globalism is coming to your location soon.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Ramnac

There is a heavy Blue liberal area in the NW corner? I am guessing this
is the Blackfeet Indian Reservation??

The point on the large metro area's is dead on.

Remember when people were scared that the Russians had ICBMs aimed at all our major cities.....hmmm
 

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#24 ·
Both states are good in my book. I'm from the billings area in Montana. I moved back to Denver a couple years ago and miss Montana so bad. I'm a hardcore fly fishermen but i don't get to do much of it around Denver. My family has a vacation cabin off rock creek in between billings and red lodge. That's where i discovered my love for fly fishing. I can easily spend 9 hours throwing flies. You can buy a piece of undeveloped land off of rock creek for around 20k. I've looked into it but don't have the money. I would highly recommend buying a drift boat cause on bigger rivers like the big horn or upper Yellowstone you need one to maximize your fishing. I have floated and fished those rivers extensively and really miss it, just thinking about makes me really sad. There's nothing that even compares to it around here
 
#25 ·
I was stationed in Colorado Springs (USSPACECOM) back in the '80's and spent many a weekend fishing the golden rivers and creeks (catch and release only) and gotta say, what a pleasure. I feel your pain.
 
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