Any Montanans frustrated with population growth, sprawl, rising prices, etc?

[Dougfirtree]

Your state Dept. of Commerce did not get the memo. Got this in the mail yesterday...

 

[MTLabrador]

Does the QR code show a grip and grin of a 1.5 year old mule deer?

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Does the QR code show a grip and grin of a 1.5 year old mule deer?

 

[David658]

I am a wanna-be Montanan, and I am very fed up with population, sprawl, and rising prices! My lifelong dream of living there seems to have been thwarted.

 

[geewhiz]

Yes.

 

[Sytes]

Well, I've added to the problem as the gov't has me on the short list to leave the U.S. for a few years...

Sold house in Missoula and purchased a house in the Whitefish area six/seven years ago. Placed on market two Fridays ago. by that Sunday had multiple offers and closed showings with a close of Monday eve for all Offers. Needless to say, tax free Yuuge extra chunk of $400k+ has brought fresh out of state blood to Montana. - Y'er welcome, oh and... thank you.

 

[PaulRevere]

Wow

 

[brockel]

Glad I live on the “ugly“ side of the state. Something about 30mph winds with -30 degrees and 90% humidity seems to help too

 

[antlerradar]

Glad I live on the “ugly“ side of the state. Something about 30mph winds with -30 degrees and 90% humidity seems to help too

Please just keep telling people that all of Montana east of Billings looks like Baker.

 

[brockel]

Please just keep telling people that all of Montana east of Billings looks like Baker.

Whenever someone mentions moving out here I just send them these pictures



Beautiful weather

 

[timmy]

Whenever someone mentions moving out here I just send them these pictures
View attachment 203211
View attachment 203212
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Unfortunately it’s all ready happening. The country is a shell of its former self. Took a stroll through my old stomping grounds yesterday and there were more herds of Minnesotans than herds of deer. Sad to see and if you didn’t live it you will never know.

 

[brockel]

Unfortunately it’s all ready happening. The country is a shell of its former self. Took a stroll through my old stomping grounds yesterday and there were more herds of Minnesotans than herds of deer. Sad to see and if you didn’t live it you will never know.

Up north on cabin creek by the old Seteren place has looked like a small city this year with the amount of tents

 

[timmy]

Up north on cabin creek by the old Seteren place has looked like a small city this year with the amount of tents

Yeah I can’t go out in November without being irate. Frustrating to get asked where are the good bucks and more recently where are the does. She’s done we cooked the resource. And houses are flying off the market at ridiculous prices, nobody local is buying.

 

[brockel]

Yeah I can’t go out in November without being irate. Frustrating to get asked where are the good bucks and more recently where are the does. She’s done we cooked the resource. And houses are flying off the market at ridiculous prices, nobody local is buying.

I actually had a group stop and ask me today when I was feeding horses if I knew where some whitetail does were at. Said they’d been looking since thanksgiving morning and hadn’t found any. Said if you are having to look that hard then maybe should lay off them this year. Seen later tonight on Facebook they found two.

 

[brockel]

Yeah I can’t go out in November without being irate. Frustrating to get asked where are the good bucks and more recently where are the does. She’s done we cooked the resource. And houses are flying off the market at ridiculous prices, nobody local is buying.

Here’s one of them. Going into winter without any fat on them.

 

[Jason73]

 

[timmy]

Here’s one of them. Going into winter without any fat on them.
View attachment 203214

Will be interesting what next year looks like. We didn’t have the extreme harvest in other droughts. People certainly haven’t held back. I’m ok with that, we reap what we sow.

 

[Dougfirtree]

Also, in my memory, Montana was a lot more diverse...

 

[mtmuley]

Been frustrated with it for 40 years. mtmuley

 

[Nameless Range]

I am frustrated by it, but here is a question with some context.

I am on a local committee centered around Parks, Trails, and Recreation for the county in which I live. It's a conundrum. On one hand, we want to bring folks to our communities to spend their money, and help local economies/small businesses etc. On the other, if you surveyed the residents of Jefferson County, the majority would tell us to shut the hell up, and quit advertising those historically seldom-visited chunks of earth tied to their identity.

I think a fuzzy fault line in those survey responses would be business owners and those who rely on them vs those further downstream. We all love Montana in a way tied to its lack of crowds, and yet for half a century, Montana has been ranked in the last five or six states in terms of ability of its residents to generate wealth. For a long time it's been low wages, inclement weather, great hunting and fishing.

The Dept of Commerce's role is to generate business to some degree. So for those of you who are business owners, has the explosion of Montana's population benefitted you? Do you know folks, particularly business owners, who have struggled for years who are finally gaining ground financially? I do, and they matter, and it's a balance and yet seems unsustainable to the point where eventually, one must ask themselves the question: What good is wealth when a place has gone to hell for keeps in the ways that mattered most to you?

I don't know the answer, but I do believe if we ceased all advertising and coaxing in the name of tourism and business, it would have a negligible effect on the deluge which seems inevitable.