Looking to Move

[The Lone Haranguer]

I'm not a hunter, but my adopted home state of TN has plenty of hunting and fishing with no rifle restrictions that I know of. It also has "shall-issue" CCW, but you can now keep a loaded gun in your vehicle without a permit. (This may or may not apply to when you're hunting.) Switchblades (THR has a non-firearm weapons section, so this is on topic) are now permitted. Unless it has a road running through it, a house built on it or is cleared for agriculture, pretty much the whole state is forested.

 

[redneck2]

I am 64 YO and grew up in Indiana. If I had life to start over, it would be in one of the mountain states. I go to Montana every fall to hunt. Incredible if you like a rougher life style.

I'd start at Montana and work my way south towards New Mexico/Arizona until you hit the climate you prefer. No way in hell I'd stay in the Midwest if I knew then what I know now.

Mountainous areas of Arizona or New Mexico look particularly appealing to me, assuming you can get away from the crowds. I'd probably avoid Colorado since so many libs from Kali are polluting their political climate.

 

[22-rimfire]

I have been pleased with TN and prefer the Middle to Eastern parts. Lots of lakes. Land is reasonable. Hunting can be very good if you have a place to go. Clubs lease up a lot of the better mountain/forested land. But you can join the club. Lots of ranges available. The handgun carry permit requires a class, but at this point I am comfortable with that as the permit is valid in many states. The main thing I pay attention to is whether I am required to declare if I have a loaded handgun in my vehicle if stopped by the police for ordinary kinds of things (traffic and so forth) when I am outside TN.

 

[txblackout]

texas is very expensive east of I35 and west of I35 will probably end up in even worse drought conditions in the future.

There are lots of smaller things to hunt but not a huge variety like you get in the mountains., The terrain east is somewhat flat and the land is still pretty expensive.

Also property taxes are high (2-3%) unless you get a farm type exemption. I think property taxes should be one of your key considerations

 

[jamesinalaska]

I recommend Alaska

She will meet all of your requirements, and demand a few from you as well.

 

[RustyShackelford]

Handgunlaw.us , central FL.....

I'd suggest these resources to get a feel for the gun laws, CCW, use of force, land-hunting issues, public safety, etc.
www.legalheat.com www.gunlawguide.com www.nraila.org www.mylicensesite.com www.floridafirearmslaw.com .
I would not suggest Florida or central Florida.
The 95/Daytona Beach FL area has some of the most dangerous highways-roads in the nation.
I4 the main route across central FL is under a huge construction project & will be a huge mess until about 2020/2021 or so(with brand new toll roads, ).
Many of Florida's counties are poorly managed & under-funded. 911 or priority calls for fire/rescue or sworn LE can take 45min to 2hr, .
The elected sheriff of Florida's Martin County states the agency is under strength 287 sworn deputies.
Florida Highway Patrol response times and calls for service can take 2-6 hours on avg.
Hunting and fishing are big as are the tourism industries but the Florida towns and coastal areas are kinda dank & seedy at night, .
The Florida schools and education systems are a complete mess too if you have school age children. If not you still deal with a lot of min wage zombies and vagrants-transients.
I'd lean more towards maybe Kansas, Iowa or the south central CONUS. Somewhere within about 2hr of a metro-urban area but still safe & with decent quality of life.

Rusty
PS: Florida has no state income tax for residents but a few other places are going that route: NV, MS, AL(I think).

 

[gbran]

AZ

Nuther vote for AZ, but if possible, go to the north. Too hot for me, but you might be OK with it. Lots of jobs in PHX area.

 

[Red Wind]

That sounds pretty awesome. A bear hunt is part of my bucket list. A friend IRL has recommended the Dakota's. Do you know much about them?

They are cold in winter. Really frigid. But in Summer, you can see Custer State Park in South Dakota where you will see more animals than anywhere in this United States And I've been in 49 of them *(Missing aloha) North Dakota has the wonnderful Teddy Roosevelt National Parks where you will see up close and personal the biggest bison on the continent.

The gun laws are very good and South Dakota has more concealed gun carriers per 100,000 population than any other state, bare edging out Alabama..

I hope this helps. You are young and have much time. Us old guys just sit by the keyboard.



One final caveat. I have lived one year or more in the following states since 1942: California, Arizona, Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina and Texas.

My choice remains Arizona for you. Good luck.

 

[SSN Vet]

It would be helpful to know where you are now and what you don't like about that location.

As for being able to get a job anywhere, I suspect you may be misinformed about just how bad the economy still is in some locations.

As for being willing to flip burgers..... the problem is that you need to balance the cost of living in an area with the wage scale in the area.

For example, where I'm employed, starting wages are well above minimum, at around $9 to $12/hr (depending on experience). But you would wind up spending > half your wages just to manage a single bedroom apartment.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Missouri sucks....

 

[captmoto]

A friend of mine retired in California and intended to build in Arizona on a piece of property he owned there. It was in the Colorado River vicinity. It was surprisingly expensive to permit so he gave it up. I don't know if it was due to his county or river proximity but something to consider in AZ if you intend to build.

 

[X-Rap]

The Rockies is probably where it's at unless you want to go all in and hit AK. I spent a about a month there last summer just looking around and I wish I were 30 yrs younger.
The libs are making inroads in all of the RM states and any of them could use good conservative voters immigrating in. You won't find better gun laws, public lands, or better hunting than those 7 states. All you need to do is decide on COL, taxes, climate and your in business. If your 25 or younger I'd be headed to AK.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Most of the southern states will have what you're looking for.

Here in Arkansas we don't have very restrictive gun laws and game is plentiful. We have great woodlands with plenty of both large and small game to hunt.
Our elk population is even growing more and more. You still have to draw a permit to hunt them, but it's looking up.

 

[hank327]

Texas is no good for you if you are looking for free land on which to hunt and shoot. Texas has virtually no public land open to the public. Except for a few relatively small National Forests near the Houston area, you will have to pay to hunt in Texas. Hunting leases in Texas are for the most part quite expensive so your idea of shooting some cheap meat to eat doesn't fly in Texas.