Pick a state to become a resident ...

[glass eye]

Alaska. ....do I really have to spell out why ?

 

[glass eye]

Ah....lower 48 only

Arizona

 

[DFS]

This is an easy one. Wyoming

 

[brymoore]

This is an easy one. Wyoming

Wyoming is great!

 

[Irishman]

If you're actually considering opportunities for your kids as well as hunting, then I'd say Utah or Colorado. If it was just hunting then Alaska, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana.

 

[JLDemo]

but it's all tradeoffs still right?

i think on some levels all those inconveniences and downsides are positives when you think about all the proverbial baggage that comes with the extra restaurants and ability to buy appliances and cars in places like fort collins or further south along the front range.

it's batshit down here man. i'm often convinced i would easily forego great restaurants on every corner and a home depot down the road for some gawddamn breathing room living around laramie. my blood pressure drops the second my tires cross the state line on 287. every time.

would really miss costco though.

Our office is out of Denver but I'm able to telework all but two days per pay period. I live in Wyo and when I do travel down to Denver, I lose a few days off my life with traffic. But hey, at least there's Buc ee's to break up the drive.

I still have to pay CO state taxes, haven't figured out how to skate that just yet, but it's absolutely worth it to live up here. Really close to good bird hunting and just a one day drive to any body of water I desire to fish for multiple species. Big game speaks for itself.

As for the OP, perfect case scenario if I could split time between Wyoming and Southern Florida, while keeping my Wyoming residency. Hard to beat the fishing and weather down there.

 

[Redmt]

Shit can the state of your choice and make AK #48.

 

[jt13]

The most serious conversation my wife and I had on the topic had us looking at Colorado

 

[WildWill]

View attachment 322996

After Wyoming my number 2 is somewhere on the Texas coast. Might not get as much hunting in but the inner coastal fishing would fill the gap.

 

[LuketheDog]

Like Coffee shops, yeah, about 3 choices. Restaurants? Oh, about half a dozen that are worth going to twice.

Fernandito's has some pretty good Mexican food! Found that place in October...

 

[Dan O]

Not enough craft beer, beard oil, or coffee shops...it won't work.

They will bring it with them and update the culture

 

[BMountaineer]

Think about it....with people comes all the issues that cause problems in this country. I'd way sooner deal with wicked weather than deal with humans. That's the best state.

 

[Hawk Tuah]

Wyoming, obviously.

There is a guy on here who gets so many big game tags every year that he posts a photo of them and then throws half of them into the trash can.

That ain't happening in other states.

 

[TheTone]

It’s gotta be Wyoming. I might consider Arizona also, especially if you’ve got the funds to hunt other states on the years you can’t draw resident tags

 

[ccc23454]

Idaho: deer, elk and archery lope every year and best odds for residents in west for big3. Only hunting down fall is no bison tags.

 

[BuzzH]

Wyoming, obviously.

There is a guy on here who gets so many big game tags every year that he posts a photo of them and then throws half of them into the trash can.

That ain't happening in other states.

Just wait until this year. Pitched only 4/9 last year. Wolf, bear, and lion don't count.

 

[Bullshot]

Honestly by the time I’ll be able to move or retire, I fear my hunting will be in its waning days. So WY is probably off the list, 365 living is not for the faint of heart. I’m “only” 48 YO, but kinda feel already that I wasted my life. I was sooooo close… living out of my truck all over the west at 22, just bumming, fishing, and hunting and loving it… before I came back east “temporarily”.

So I am an expert in knowing that decisions on where to LIVE should be made early and that life flies by quickly. And now, anchored in quite possibly one of the worst states to live & retire, the allure of moving has even faded a degree. Although I hate admitting it, ya can’t buy back time. And what’s the perfect place without all the time to enjoy it.

* Disclosure : This is apparently my three whiskey mood tonight. LOL.

 

[GigiBobert]

I love how everyone talks about retiring someplace where they can western big game hunt. If you're talking a lot of elk hunting, you needed to do that in your 20's, 30's and 40's. I know, you'll still be running marathons into your 70's (yeah, right). I've lived in Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming my whole life, and elk hunting the way I've done it involved a pack frame and backpack tent miles from the road. I've killed a lot of bulls and packed a lot of boned out meat since 1982. Not doing it like that anymore. Will still do mule deer that way, but closer to the road with a muzzleloader in nice weather. When I lived in Wyoming 20 plus years ago (live in Colorado now) I could draw a buck antelope every year. My buddies up there now say every 3-5 years is now the norm for residents in the units we hunted. Deer hunting nothing like it was, elk hunting probably better. Still great hunting, but not quite like it was. What is? Fishing better where I'm at in Colorado. Upland bird hunting sucks on the western slope.

I really think taxes are kind of a wash. My house in Colorado is worth 3 times what my house was worth in Wyoming and my property taxes are about the same. I don't pay that much in state income tax. With coal not running the show in Wyoming anymore, I think taxes will be going up.

I believe there are something like 6 million folks living in Colorado now. Stay away from the front range and life is good!

Politics are politics. You can either have Polis and vegan husband running the show down here, or the John Birch Society II running it in Wyoming. When I lived in Wyoming it was still kind of a live and let live state. Both Wyoming and Colorado have changed a bunch in 25 years! Enjoy your life and family and count your blessings. You'll probably be happy where you're at!

 

[Phaseolus]

WY, ID, or MT would be my picks, in that order, if big game hunting was the only consideration... CO isn't as bad as people make it seem either, with all of those there are plenty of places you don't want to be within the state...

That’s because we live in Western Colorado

 

[Hawk Tuah]

Just wait until this year. Pitched only 4/9 last year. Wolf, bear, and lion don't count.

They are your tags to do whatever you want with.