good, bad, ugly of Kentucky?

[WestKentucky]

Lonegoose...That limestone washed water on top is karst topography underneath. Makes for the world's largest cave system...and the world's largest concentration of sinkholes. Lots of spelunking to do. My family's homestead sits on a hilltop which after about 2 miles worth of cave crawling dumps out into an underground lake. Too bad it's row crop land and all the sprays have killed what fish used to be there. My grandpa remembers fish from when he was a teenager. He's 87 years young and still chasing women. I think that's what keeps him going.

 

[LoneGoose]

I was born and raised at Ft. Campbell. Lived in Clarksville, TN after that. Still have family there. Clarksville is a progressive, friendly city. Yeah, there is crime there but not in the "nicer" parts of town. And no gang activity. Check out the city's web site.

 

[TJx]

I don't think it was mentioned but one of the good gun laws here is that employers can't prevent you from having you gun in your car at work. I actually think it's illegal for them to tell you can't.

Carrying in a no guns allowed posted business will at the most get you cited for trespassing if you are asked to leave and don't.

The picture I attached is a local hardware store. (not sure why it's sideways)

 

[Ky Larry]

I've lived and traveled all over the world but Kentucky will always be home. There are more miles of streams and rivers than any state in the nation except Alaska. We have the largest elk herd east of the Mississippi. We also have deer, black bear,small game, and water fowl hunting. Lots of places to camp and hike. We have what is considered the best state park system in America, plus national park land. Springtime in the Blue Grass area is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Come visit. I'm sure you'll like it.

 

[WKY]

... and don't forget, we have Sorghum!

 

[Aaron Baker]

Don't move to Louisville. Plenty of people who live there love it, but I lived there for six months and hated. Still hate driving there when I visit.

I live in Lexington, and have for over a decade. Moving to Frankfort (the capital) soon. There's a VA in Lexington, so that's an option for you. Plenty of rural land in surrounding counties if you don't mind a commute.

I've seen open carry, and done it, in Lexington, but it's rare. No one ever freaked out. Concealed carry is extremely common. We don't have gangs, really. We have people who think they're in gangs. I literally live in one of the poorest, most crime-ridden neighborhoods in Lexington currently, and the guys that think they're "hard" would be a joke in any other city's "ghetto" area.

Folks covered most of the other things to know. Don't move to eastern Kentucky. No VA or jobs there, and lots of pills and meth. A fair amount of meth in western Kentucky as well. Really, central Kentucky is the way to go.

There's public hunting land, but I wouldn't hunt it ever again if I didn't want to take the risk of getting shot by an idiot who shoots his rifle once a year. (I've hunted public land and won't ever again.) With that said, you can find private land to hunt if you do a little networking. Or just buy some acreage outside town and fill your freezer from your front porch.

Yeah, there's elk. It's an introduced herd on reclaimed mountaintop removal strip mines. There's black bear, but the season is like two days long, and only in a couple counties. (To give that some scale, Kentucky has 120 counties.) They aren't counties you'd ever want to drive to.

Rifle season for deer is either one week long or two weeks long, depending on what "zone" you're hunting in. Counties are divided into one of four zones. Zone 4 is one week, antlered only. Zone 2 is one week, any deer. Zones 1 and 2 are two weeks, any deer. You can take up to one buck and three does (with extra tags) in the "any deer" zones.

I hunt with SBRs and suppressors. Only NFA that isn't legal for hunting is machine guns.

You can own all the "evil black rifles" you want in Kentucky. No regulation of firearm features or magazine sizes. I suspect there never will be. Kentucky loves guns.

The social conservatism might get under your skin. As a libertarian, it gets under mine. Alaska was a damn sight better on that score. (Spent two years there.) But there's plenty of freedom when it comes to guns, cars, etc. (No emissions or inspections for cars.)

Hope that info helps.

Aaron

 

[ID-shooting]

OK, here are some more things...I look at available positions that match my medical licensing in the VA system there and it seems like a 10k pay raise just for doing the same job vs. the VA I work at now. According to Zillow, houses are cheaper in KY than here. Seems that we could sell our house (10 years left on loan) and use just the equity to pay in full a comparable if not slightly larger/more land house there and have money left over. ~75k would do it and have been looking at 4bed/2 bath homes. This is almost too good to be true and that has me concerned that I am missing something.

One thing I am finding difficult to narrow down. Commutes. What are good townships/communities/areas that are more rual but say, 30 minute commute into Lexington where the VA is located? What are areas to avoid? Constant flooding, Section 8 housing, Nuke waste sites and such?

What are the CCW laws like? Here, I can carry everywhere (except federal facilities/court houses/schools). Busineses can post but all they can ever do is ask me to leave. So long as I do not drink, I can carry into bars/resturants. Parks, the county fair, festivals, are all places I can carry. Outside of city limits, one does not need a permit to conceal carry in Idaho. We do have this pesky "duty to retreat" clause so god forbid, if you ever have to drop a criminal you will have to pass that scrutiny of could you have simply fled the scene. The local 2A foundation is pushing real hard for Constitutional Carry last year and again this year and gaining ground.

How does KY compare?

Suburbs don't bother us although we would love a 5-10 acre ranch with water where we could have a few chickens and other small farm animals, grow a food garden, and such to be self sufficient/reliant. Have a private gun range for getting trigger time and what not would be nice too.

Tell me about this tax thing. Here we pay income, sales, and property tax on real estate. Then we have registration fees on cars, motorcycles, boats, campers, ATV's, toy trailers.

If I get this straight, KY has a tax on your toys and other possesions on top of that?

 

[Cowhide Cliff]

We also have all those beautiful horses and fast women

 

[md2lgyk]

I live just north of Kentucky in indiana, and I love the state. My wife is from Louisville, and we regularly visit her family there. Nice sized city with plenty to do

I forgot about Indiana; beautiful state. My wife and I have camped at the huge Crane naval facility. And my wife fell in love with Loogootie (sp?). If I were ever going to move again, I'd certainly consider Indiana.

 

[fireman 9731]

Kentucky is a nice place. Don't over look positions at the VA in Huntington, WV. Its a 15 minute drive from KY. I'm in Eastern KY. There are some differences between here and other parts of the state but with a little money, you can own a beautiful rural home with a good bit of land and shoot off your front porch.