What's life like in Washington?

[Bigjay73]

Have a job opportunity in Seattle. Other than the fact that the Seahawks suck, what's life like in Washington? Is there public land? Antelope,elk, deer? How difficult is it to get decent, (good success rates, not trophy), tags? Fishing opportunities?

 

[rtraverdavis]

Lots of good fishing, tough to get trophy tags. Best to put in lots of time on OTC units, figure them out, and hunt every year. Maybe invest in a Weyerhaeuser pass. Washington beats the hell out of lots of places but it’s no Colorado.

 

[SDS14]

There is really good salmon and steelhead fishing and you can dig for clams and go crabbing. If you live west of the Cascade Mountain range you will be hunting roosevelt elk, blacktail deer, and black bear. Rainy season is from Sept thru June (my opinion).

 

[Colorado kid]

Cost of living is through the roof and the traffic is horrible!! But it's a good area if you're an outdoorsman or woman! Lots of family up there and they love it.

 

[Letthemgrow]

When you say "Seattle" do you mean the City of Seattle or somewhere on the west side of the state?
If you are seriously considering the job you need to look at housing costs.
And by that I mean you should come to Seattle and actually look at homes in the areas you think you want to live.
Housing prices are incredibly steep.

The fishing opportunities are great, better than Colorado in my opinion, but I like salmon fishing.
If the mule deer hunting in Colorado is a 10, then Washington is a 2.

And one more thing . . . Go Seahawks!!!

 

[Washington Hunter]

There's no way I'd move to Washington from Colorado, especially Seattle. Unless you're really wanting to get into salmon fishing.

No antelope hunting here. Elk hunting- your best bet would be to drive to Idaho. It's not that far from Seattle. Deer hunting can be good, depending on where you go. Blacktails on the west side of the state, mule deer and whitetails east. Plenty of public land to hunt. Most private timber company lands on the west side now require an access permit, which are limited in number and generally around $300.

In short, if you like hunting, don't move to Washington. Unless the job pays well enough that you could afford to hunt out of state often.

 

[wa_archer]

crowded...weekends can be super crowded mid week a little better, hard to get away from people even in the backcountry. You can hunt every year at least with OTC but expect to see lots of other people no matter what weapon type. The variety of fishing, clamming and crabbing on the west side is amazing but I couldn't handle the crowds. Still the only thing I miss about living on west side.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

If I read the sign...NO!

 

[cedahm]

crowded...weekends can be super crowded mid week a little better, hard to get away from people even in the backcountry. You can hunt every year at least with OTC but expect to see lots of other people no matter what weapon type. The variety of fishing, clamming and crabbing on the west side is amazing but I couldn't handle the crowds. Still the only thing I miss about living on west side.

I find it ironic that this entire quote except for ‘clamming and crabbing’ could also equally apply to Colorado

 

[SFC B]

Here is my perspective......I spent 4 years stationed at Ft Lewis (south of Tacoma), started hunting in WA and now have been in CO for 9 years. There are places I would live in WA but NONE of them are REMOTELY around Seattle. The politics and accompanying laws and regs are horrific, cost of living is even higher than Denver and for that you get very limited sunshine and a freaking social experiment gone bad. I don't believe the hunting opportunities are even in the same realm as CO. Now if you want to chase Rosies or Blackies, you can do that.....otherwise I would place it at the bottom of Western hunting. Fishing isn't my thing really but the salmon opportunities are good ( I did it once and caught a cooler full for mama). From the Cascades east and on the Olympic you will find good, hard working, reasonable folks.....around the sound, not so much. I still remember when the war kicked off and they made us take the DoD stickers off our vehicles because of the fine Sounders who were breaking our windshields and keying our cars. Yes I am a little bitter. I have been back several times on TDY and found the city to be over run with mean, spiteful homeless folks that are given free reign to accost. While I am no fan of Denver compared to the Springs I would take it everyday and twice on Sunday over Seattle. JMO

 

[Bigjay73]

Thanks guys. Sounds like I'll stay put. pay would be about 20k a year more, not sure if it's enough after looking at housing in Seattle. Like one of you mentioned, sounds just like Colorado. Crowded and expensive, minus pronghorn.

 

[Bigjay73]

Here is my perspective......I spent 4 years stationed at Ft Lewis (south of Tacoma), started hunting in WA and now have been in CO for 9 years. There are places I would live in WA but NONE of them are REMOTELY around Seattle. The politics and accompanying laws and regs are horrific, cost of living is even higher than Denver and for that you get very limited sunshine and a freaking social experiment gone bad. I don't believe the hunting opportunities are even in the same realm as CO. Now if you want to chase Rosies or Blackies, you can do that.....otherwise I would place it at the bottom of Western hunting. Fishing isn't my thing really but the salmon opportunities are good ( I did it once and caught a cooler full for mama). From the Cascades east and on the Olympic you will find good, hard working, reasonable folks.....around the sound, not so much. I still remember when the war kicked off and they made us take the DoD stickers off our vehicles because of the fine Sounders who were breaking our windshields and keying our cars. Yes I am a little bitter. I have been back several times on TDY and found the city to be over run with mean, spiteful homeless folks that are given free reign to accost. While I am no fan of Denver compared to the Springs I would take it everyday and twice on Sunday over Seattle. JMO

Damn. Sorry for having to deal with asshats. You paint a rosy picture lol

 

[Irrelevant]

I find it ironic that this entire quote except for ‘clamming and crabbing’ could also equally apply to Colorado

While you might think that's true. Take the number of people you see in CO and add 50%.

WA is a great place to live simply because of the ocean and the mts. You Rocky Mountain guys don't really understand just how rugged it is. The Bob ain't got shit on the North Cascades, the Frank is close, but shorter. However, because of ruggedness there are places you can get away from people. The challenge is simply getting there. You'll probably need a couple days, a couple hundred feet of rope for protection, and a good climbing partner. I ventured into an area this weekend that had miles of untrailed ridges that see zero people, but the level of effort to get to them is just absurd. And all that for a 150 buck.

 

[thomas89]

Headed to JB-LM this fall from Cheyenne, if I wasn't looking forward to it before I am dreading it now.

 

[SFC B]

Headed to JB-LM this fall from Cheyenne, if I wasn't looking forward to it before I am dreading it now.

Live on post if you can. Decent housing in a decent area is $$$$$$. You can hunt for Blackies in the training areas on Lewis. That was my first hunting experience and I saw a LOT of does....but not a single buck would come out of the really thick stuff. It has been a while (2003) since I was stationed there but PM me if you have any questions.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Run Forest Run!

 

[fishing4sanity]

These guys don't paint a very nice picture of Seattle or Washington hunting do they? Sometimes guys will bad-mouth a place to try and keep interest in it down - that's not why all these guys are slamming WA. If you go hunting in Idaho or Montana, you'll see lots of WA license plates, there's a reason. However, I've been hunting those states since the '80's so I'm not part of the problem.

 

[Elkdog]

The first year we lived there we didn’t see the sun for 167 days. Then it came out one afternoon. We didn’t see it again for 27 days. Unless you like doing everything in a drizzle don’t go. Friends who were raised hunting there say elk hunting is worse than ever. We toughed it out for 7 miserable years and are so happy to be back in Nevada!

 

[marshman]

The first year we lived there we didn’t see the sun for 167 days. Then it came out one afternoon. We didn’t see it again for 27 days. Unless you like doing everything in a drizzle don’t go. Friends who were raised hunting there say elk hunting is worse than ever. We toughed it out for 7 miserable years and are so happy to be back in Nevada!

I have lived, hunted and fished in Washington my entire life of 57 years, it used to be a decent state if you got a little - or a long way from Seattle. But with 7 million people and counting it is a lost cause. Even the salmon fishing is being destroyed. I'm retiring to Montana if at all possible!