So tell me why I should leave Phoenix, AZ for Boise, Idaho

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Outlaws

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Next summer I am leaving Phoenix. Its all but set in stone. Towards the end of this month I will be picking where I go. I want to shoot, fly fish, maybe get a boat. That kind of stuff. I will be working as a diesel tech and Boise looks nice from all the pictures I can find.

I like the wide open country, and I like mountains, but I would also like to be in a fairly large city with easy access to those features. (Not New York large though) Phoenix is a bit bigger than I would like at this point. Plus land wise the great outdoors is too far away now. I have to drive for 45 minutes to reach the outskirts, and a solid hour or more to really be able to do anything...and usually there are too many people around for shooting so I have to go even further.

One thing I really want to start doing is long range shooting. I have never competed, but I think it might be fun to start. I don't doubt there is plenty of land to shoot 1000 yards, but are there any 1000 yard ranges and do they offer competitions?

Whats the fishing like? Are the lakes good? Are there any lakes? I was told you have good fly fishing, so I assume there are at least a fair amount of rivers and streams.

Is there ever going to be a professional baseball team? I know..... but I just had to get that out of my system.

Oh ya, I am still college age ...ish. Whats the nightlife like? I don't need Miami beach, but I also don't need lights out at 8pm.
 
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If I were you I would search at Idaho Fish and Game, go to Idaho or Boise web sites were you can look into outdoor or indoor recreation. Also look into Weather, housing costs, wages, General cost of living etc. Do a bit of google earth and look around some. You need far to much information to be provided in a fourn such as this.
One thing I will do for you is, if you choose this area to live ping me once you arrive and get settled in a bit and I will gladly give you plenty more information such as I can.
Good luck in your search for a new area to live in.
 
NO STAY AWAY. BOISE SUCKS. STAY AWAY.:evil:;)

Okay I suppose there's no stopping you guys is there. You've all been swarming into Treasure Valley for the past twenty years. It's like trying to hold back the tide. :p

My city (Caldwell) which is (approximately) 25 miles west of Boise has gone from 19,000 to 45,000 in the past seventeen years. In the past seven years we've had approximately 12,000 people move in. I work for the city so I have access to the figures.

Our sister city (Nampa) has exploded from 50,000 in 2000 to almost 90,000 in just seven years. Nampa is now the second largest city in the state.

Yes there is alot of outdoorsy stuff to do. Tamarack, the Owhyees, River of No Return, Valley County, Sun Valley, Lucky Peak, Black Canyon Resevoir, Snake River, and on and on.

I've seen the valley go through some staggering changes in the past twenty-one years. I can hardly believe it.
 
I hear you. The Phoenix-Metro area has gone up almost 40% in population since 1997. We are currently at over 4 million. I don't know if that counts the undocumented.

Ranges guys....any long range stuff?
 
Boise

Well If I remember right there is a 600 yrd range at Mt Home AFB and it has/had public access. Been 9 yrs since I was there but am returning next spring. And for flyfishing. Some of the best in the country. You have SF Boise below Anderson Ranch only 1.5 hrs from Boise. Then Silver Creek, Big Wood rivers about 4 hrs and Henry's Fork and Teton River Around 6 hrs from Boise. All of these are OUTSTANDING blue ribbon trout rivers. Plus a few others in between them all.

Quite a few lakes/resivoiurs around too for that sort of fishing/water skiing.

Plus good snow ski areas nearby too.

It sounds like a long drive but its not bad and worth it. North of Boise is some good camping/backpacking bit it can be a bit crowded. However just a bit further off the beaten path and you see very few people. Its very gun friendly and Also has good hunting and shooting very close to town too.

Its a University town so for your age plenty to do. So have fun and enjoy yourself.
 
There are gun and rod clubs in the area. Alot of the long range guys go out into the vast emptiness of Elmore and Owhyee Counties and do some shooting. Ada County (Boise's county) is not so gun friendly anymore. Even the cops have had to close their ranges for many reasons.

Several of the Federal agencies come out and use my department's range since they have nowhere to shoot in Ada County. It's mainly because Ada has become so populated. However there are many gunshops in the area. From locally owned to a Cabelas and a Sportsmans Warehouse.

The increased population has brought both problems and bonuses. Gangs, Meth, drive bys, an increased murder rate, water shortages, Democrats. Jobs, higher pay, more variety,economic competiton and so on. Give and take. It's the way of the world.
 
Well Outlaws, I hope you like that white stuff that falls out of the sky. I ain't talking about bird poop or Paratroops either.

I don't. I am a Florida boy, married a Los Angles girl right after I got back from my second tour in Vietnam in the late 60's. When I got out of the Corps in 76, the compromise was Arizona, Mesa. Both my Daughters were born and raised in Mesa. My oldest graduated from ASU. Yea I like the valley of the sun. My oldest bounces between NYC and LA.

But I agree greater Phoenix has gotten very crowded.

On the other hand.

My health requires me to stay pretty close to the VA, and I frankly couldn't suffer an Idaho winter.

Funny Arizona's got good gun laws, lots of work. lots of ways to go play, and everyone wants to grow up and go somewhere else.

If I was wealthy I would be a snow bird though. Summers in Boise, and winters in Phoenix. Now that makes sense to me.

It's like hair, nobody likes the hair they got.

Go figure.

Fred
 
+1 to what Checkman has said. I've been here (Caldwell) for over 20yrs and while I love Idaho I don't want to see it become another SoCal and population pressures in the Boise area just keep getting worse. However, BOT I'm a member of the Parma gun club and they have a 24/7 unsupervised range w/dedicated pistol, tactical, rifle, shotgun & .22 areas. There are target gongs on the rifle range out to 1,000yds. Well worth the 30min drive from Caldwell, IMHO.
Tomac
 
I agree, it sucks here, stay out, there is nothing to do. No gun in city limits, fishing permit costs $10,000, a $4000 tax for leaving to the outdoors, ID/citizenship check every 50 miles of hiways...

DARN IT! No, none of that is true. I am a native, can't blame me for trying :evil:

OK, here is the scoop. With in two hours of Boise there is world class fly fishing, open BLM land as far as you can see, top notch white water, 8 different resiviours to go boating on, Nat Forrest as big as you want. Small resort towns, remote ghost towns, hot springs/camping, big game hunting on public lands, upland game hunting on 3 LARGE management areas.

9 - 10 month motorcycle season, 12 if you can dress warm.

Snow in the valley is not too bad, we get a slushy day every now and then, somtimes it will dump a foot overnight but those are very rare.

It will get COLD. Look for 2 to 3 months of below 0 weather in the winter.

There is a river in the middle of town that is stocked with trout, steelhead and salmon year around. This means good fishing during your lunch or after work to blow off some steam.

That said, there are some cons. massive influx of Californians and thier libereral voting habbits, big PC/tolerance push, rising property taxes (40%) in the last 3 years, Over 1mil in the metro area wich means huge crime burts (drive bys, drugs, muggings, shootings every week) Very large illegal population, Spanish becoming the primary language, world refugee relocation center, most are hard working folks but don't expect them to speak English, drive like a sane person, and aviod thier neighborhoods. The metro grew much faster than the roads were built and thus we have gridlock for two hours every day. Somone from LA will tell you it is nothing, but for us who grew up here, it SUCKS.

In the last five years, two major employers had massive layoffs, HP (where I worked) and Micron, the job market is a bit flooded but 10 - 15/hr jobs are plenty, just not the best work with the best bennefits. Have some savings with you. Rent in town is going to run you 600-1000 a month depending on your needs. Less if you don't mind trailer parks, more if you want to live upscale or downtown. Expect 250,000 for a decent house in town, 150,000 in one of the remote towns with an hour drive every morning to get to work.

I hope that fills you in. All I ask is don't move here thinking we need anything voting wise, that is the largest area of resistance and contention. We like being backwoods, redneck, church going, conservatives, at least us natives at any rate.

If you want more details, just ask.
 
All the natives of Boise have it right.

I wish I could comment on the Fishing and Hunting, but I haven't been fishing for a while and I am now just getting into hunting (thanks to my girlfriend of all people :))

Right now is a good time to buy a house if you can. The housing market is crappy, there are a lot of people who are dropping the prices on their homes by an easy 20k.

ID Shooter is right on the money about the area growing to fast for the roads. Seriously, right now you cannot drive anywhere in Boise without passing by some sort of road construction.

Idaho is a red state, but Boise is very full of a hippy liberals. I don't consider myself part of either party, but I hate the hippy liberals.

The summers will be nothing compared to Az, but the winters might take some getting used to. We don't get a whole lot of snow in the Valley (thanks to Al Gore inventing global warming :) ) and if we do, it's usually gone by noon. But it does get cold.

Its also incrediably easy to get your CCW. If you have taken hunters ed you can go down and apply, if not, you take a class put on by the sheriff about the use of deadly force (only a couple hours long) and then you can apply. My g/f and I got our CCWs on the same day (how romantic, huh?).
Or you can just open carry, I haven't seen anyone in Boise do it, but I've had friends see people in Nampa/Caldwell do it.

We have an indoor shooting range that is alright, but I don't really like going to it to shoot. We have a number of outdoor ranges, none of which I have gone to. Some cost money, some don't, but there are a few places you can go just outside city limits that is free.
 
liberalgunnut
just be sure not to tap your foot in the mens room.
Click to expand...

Actually that happened to Senator Craig in the one of the men's room in the Minneapolis International Airport. Not Boise.
 
Idaho is the tick fever state, anything within easy drive of Boise is jampacked, there's nothing like Ben Avery.

Might try someplace like Prescott or Santa Fe where you can pick your climate by the elevation and not be kept indoors by the heat in the summer and the cold in the winter. Lot of jobs in the overthrust belt - Rock Springs WY is a nice drive north to Yellowstone. The university towns, Missoula, Bozeman, Moscow or Rexburg have a lot to offer.
 
Rock Springs WY is a nice drive north to Yellowstone.
Click to expand...

Nope Wyoming sucks . Stay away . Besides Rock Springs has NO , NONE , ZIP , ZERO housing ........................

I have to drive 3 mins down the road to shoot over 1500 yards .........sucks .
 
potatoes.... all you can eat....

I don't know.... I'm just guessing. You asked for a reason.

btw - you don't WANT Miami Beach... let alone NEED. I live here, I can't wait to leave! Gun laws are ok, but nothing that can't be had elsewhere and with less traffic and other baloney.
 
Idaho is the tick fever state, anything within easy drive of Boise is jampacked, there's nothing like Ben Avery.

Might try someplace like Prescott or Santa Fe where you can pick your climate by the elevation and not be kept indoors by the heat in the summer and the cold in the winter. Lot of jobs in the overthrust belt - Rock Springs WY is a nice drive north to Yellowstone. The university towns, Missoula, Bozeman, Moscow or Rexburg have a lot to offer.
Click to expand...

I don't really get what you mean. Maybe it just didn't translate over text, but Ben Avery and Rio Salado are generally packed when I go. Are you joking are serious. I know there is close to a million people in the metro area of Boise, so you could either be joking or serious based on that.

:cool:

But wouldn't Missoula keep me indoors for a longer period of time than Boise? I think that is only about 100,000 people in their whole metro area. I don't know how small that really is, but it seems really small (I am just used to this monstrosity of Phoenix lol). But, Missoula is on my list that I can pick from. And Montana is on my short list.
 
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