Had I known ihis was probably going to be my last hunting season

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Jason_W said:
It's a lesson to relish your hunting and fishing opportunities while you have them. A free day not spent in the woods or on the water is time squandered.
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At my age, I relish everyday the good Lord allows me to hunt/fish, or enjoy my grandkids, or tell my wife how much I love her. At my last High School class reunion, I had the opportunity to spend some time with a good friend I had in school. We grew up across the road from each other and as kids we were always hunting and fishing. After college he move east and our only contact was X-mas cards for 40 years. He told me at the reunion, he hasn't hunted or fished since High School. Life has it's priorities and they can and do change. You say you have no kids...wait till they come along.
 
Good luck. That part of California isn't as bad as some others. It might work out for you.
 
It very well might work out. I'm trying to stay positive and also remember that nothing is definite yet.

I guess, also, that if something is that important to me, I'm just going to have to put in the work necessary to make it happen regardless of where I am.
 
Will the increased income even offset the increased cost of living? Supporting a state load of hippies is costly you know! :(
 
Plenty of stuff to hunt.

I have a friend who has lived in northern California for 40 years. Hunts bear, cats, blacktail and mule deer and guides on the river for salmon. The bird and waterfowl hunting is pretty good too. He Loves it. When a bambi hugger/tree hugger confronts him he simple tells them to whizz up a rope.
 
Jason_W said:
The move would be from Maine to northern California. If she's offered the position, of course (which is about a 90 percent certainty at this point).
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If we're talking North of Sac, the move seems a whole lot better IMO. When you mentioned moving to Cali for a promotion, I pictured SoCal. Born there and BTDT as an adult - forget it! But Northern Cali is nice. Yeah you still have crummy laws, but at least the physical area is nice.
 
OP, I live in the Sacramento suburbs and do a lot of fishing and some hunting too. I have lived here my whole life and there are many upsides to living in this area.

When you get out here, shoot me a PM. I can get you onto a local fishing forum so you can get the lay of the land and meet some like minded people.

Sacramento is a world away from SF and LA as far as lifestyle goes.......if you have some fight left in you you can make your time here very enjoyable.

Good luck.

Edit.....oh BTW I ice fish every year. Caples lake is two hours from here and freezes thick every winter. Lots of trout and the occasional big mackinaw. You can even borrow my auger :)
 
OP, I live in the Sacramento suburbs and do a lot of fishing and some hunting too. I have lived here my whole life and there are many upsides to living in this area.

When you get out here, shoot me a PM. I can get you onto a local fishing forum so you can get the lay of the land and meet some like minded people.

Sacramento is a world away from SF and LA as far as lifestyle goes.......if you have some fight left in you you can make your time here very enjoyable.

Good luck.

Edit.....oh BTW I ice fish every year. Caples lake is two hours from here and freezes thick every winter. Lots of trout and the occasional big mackinaw. You can even borrow my auger
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That's good to know. Especially about the ice fishing. Nothing beats ice caught trout brined and smoked.
 
I would divorce my wife before I'd go back to CA. And we have a great relationship.
 
Jason_W said:
The wife's promotion (if she gets it) will mean a 5-digit yearly pay increase. I've checked the job market in that area (Sacramento) and there is definitely a lot more for me to choose from and the options pay a lot more.

Who knows, maybe we'll be able to make enough out there to afford things like hunting leases or enough for a piece of good hunting land somewhere.
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Don't be fooled by "they pay a lot more". The cost of living is probably much higher than where you are now. Have you checked housing? She wouldn't really be getting a raise, except on paper.
 
I'm from California... San Diego, but grew up in my teen years in Maryland, before Maryland got really stupid. I still live in MD but as soon as I can I will escape to VA or WVA.

IF you've never lived there... and you're from Maine.... you're in for a bit of culture shock, especially if you end up in Southern California on the coast. No, if you've visited you haven't really experienced the utter foolishness of the Southern California coastal population. (It's a free country, and they are welcome to whatever they wish to believe, and conduct their state laws in the same manner... I just don't want to subsidize their stupidity with my Federal tax money... which is all that is keeping them afloat out there - imho.)

You see, the state is tilted a bit to the West, and all the nuts roll downhill toward the coast. And I'm not talking about nuts that you can eat.

Yes there are outdoor hunting possibilities there, but don't spread it around to your neighbors that you hunt, until you get to know their opinion about it. Many are the sane people who have moved to the left-coast only to find that their vehicle or property gets vandalized as soon as it's known that they "murder" innocent animals and ..., God fobid..., no wait, ....goddess forbid...., wait that's wrong too..., possible deity on another physical plane forbid... yeah that's it.... you actually eat the animals.


LD
 
I will also add.....out here in CA, to be an active sportsman, you have to buy into our driving culture. Out west here we don't blink an eye about driving long distances to pursue fish or game. It's a big place out here, i know back east you blink an eye and you're in another state.....not so much here.

Get comfortable with a long drive and the variety of sporting opportunities goes WAY up.

Plus this state is so big that if you drive 6 hours to fish you don't have to get another state's fishing license........
 
California is not anti-hunting or anti-fishing. On the contrary, California really promotes their hunting and fishing programs to the extant of having laws for protecting hunters and anglers engaged in legal shooting, hunting, trapping and fishing.

However, California is pro-regulation and boy do they like to regulate! Three of the dumbest regulations that over shadowed the great hunting and fishing for me were:
When fishing it is against the law to not have your fishing license affixed to your person so that it is visible from a distance.
You must purchase tags to hunt feral pigs.
And the fact that police and prison guards, can legally purchase and own firearms and magazines that are restricted for ownership to combat veterans and regular citizens with much more weapons training than the average patrol officer or prison guard.

Could never figure out how a handgun that was too "unsafe" for me to purchase in California was not "unsafe enough" for a prison guard or rookie cop to purchase.

As much as I enjoyed the hunting and fishing opportunities, I could never come to grips with the over regulation of these pursuits and I eventually took a pay cut for a new job and a move to Arizona.
 
With the present administration, you could just stay there and go on welfare. Having a fellow hunter living off my dollar would be preferable to most of the welfare recipients.

You have to jump through a bunch of hoops but California does offer some hunting opportunities.

PS: At my age, 70, this could very well be my last hunting season. I plan to go out kicking. I've killed 5 deer so far this year.
Keep at it. Perseverance pays off.
 
I'd do the homework and balance out the net effects on your disposable income, on your commute time (a big CA commute is a hassle, costs time & money and reduces the real effect of a raise), on your overall lifestyle.

You'll save on heating bills but spend a ton on air conditioning. Taxes and house prices may surprise you. Compare crime rates too, like the rates of assault and B&E, esp. if moving from rural Maine to big city CA.

I found the landscape, climate and people of northern CA (the rural parts) to be very nice.
 
I've run numbers through various COL calculators. It seems to depend where in the Sacramento area we might end up living. The city itself is calculated as being 1% more expensive than our current location. Some towns within striking distance are a little less expensive, some are a lot more expensive. Seems like there is a lot of variation. Just like there is in northern new England. Portland is far more expensive than Bangor, for instance.
 
It won't be the same as walking out your back door. But with finances going up you can probably enjoy a hunt or 2 a yr abroad somewhere.
 
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