Moving to montana or idaho!

[RobG]

jthurs - Montana is a huge state with diverse climate. Look at a population density map. The low density places are either wilderness or areas normal people don't want to live for various reasons. Also look at a precipitation map. Areas range from desert to rainforest. Some places are windy enough to blow over semis (just happened Saturday), others have stagnant air problems in the winter. Areas range from impoverished to exclusively for the wealthy. It all hunts pretty well so I would rough out an area based on the climate... Politics and religion also can be considerations. Very few sane people could be happy living in either Seeley Lake or Ft. Peck - they are vastly different. If you want work I think you are going to have to settle for living close to a bigger town.

It would be quite a change to move from Vermont to eastern MT. As mentioned, the weather is extreme. Ft. Peck is sort of a working man's lake. People love that area or hate it, disproportionately the latter unless they grew up there. Descriptions usually include "desolate," "beautiful in its own way" and "where gumbo was invented." Western MT/Northern Idaho are mountainous and have milder weather, but that is because it is cloudy all winter and frequently wet. Seeley Lake gets a lot of snow and it sticks around. People go there and think it is wonderful in the summer but go stir crazy the remaining 9.5 months of the year.

 

[jthurs]

Why do you want to move out here anyway?

The reasons I want to move out there are pretty simple. The hunting and fishing diversity anywhere I have been blow vermont out of the water. The deer hunting here is terrible with low numbers and even lower number of trophy class deer. There is no wing shooting to speak of so basically what we have is a dismal deer herd with smaller sized bucks. The one thing we have that is good is our turkey hunting. I pick a new state every year and hunt public ground for a week or 2 for whitetails and am always blown away by the quality of hunting and dread having to hunt back home. This year If I am able to save enough I will be headed to North idaho around potlatch to do some whitetail hunting and to see if I like the area. Next year hopefully I will have some ideas of different places to try and see If I like them. I have also considered the midwest for a move but I cant stand the amount of leasing that is going on in almost any area I have been and only see it getting worse. I want myself and my family to be able to enjoy hunting without having to hand money to landowners.Thank you guys very much for trying to help out.

 

[antlerradar]

Have you ever looked into the NE corner of Wyoming? Has most of what you are looking for with a better climate.

 

[Poke 'Em]

The reasons I want to move out there are pretty simple. The hunting and fishing diversity anywhere I have been blow vermont out of the water. The deer hunting here is terrible with low numbers and even lower number of trophy class deer. There is no wing shooting to speak of so basically what we have is a dismal deer herd with smaller sized bucks. The one thing we have that is good is our turkey hunting. I pick a new state every year and hunt public ground for a week or 2 for whitetails and am always blown away by the quality of hunting and dread having to hunt back home. This year If I am able to save enough I will be headed to North idaho around potlatch to do some whitetail hunting and to see if I like the area. Next year hopefully I will have some ideas of different places to try and see If I like them. I have also considered the midwest for a move but I cant stand the amount of leasing that is going on in almost any area I have been and only see it getting worse. I want myself and my family to be able to enjoy hunting without having to hand money to landowners.Thank you guys very much for trying to help out.

Your business is your business, but if your sole reason for moving out here is hunting, I hope your wife and kids are on board with being in the middle of nowhere. A lot of people move out here, realize it's not as glamorous as they imagined, and move back after about 2 winters.

 

[roadhunter]

This^^

Might look in the Rapid City area as it will likely be more appealing to your family than Eastern Montana or Wyoming and give you access to plenty of hunting opportunities within a few hours.

 

[idahofishnhunt]

Before we let you in, how do you feel about:
#1 Game Farms
#2 Lighted Nocks
# 3 Texas
# 4 Cross Bows
# 5 Kids younger then 12 hunting
#6 Suppressors
# 7 Public Land
# 8 Cameron Hanes
# 9 Trapping
#10 Utah/Don Peay

This is hilarious...cause just by the word I can think back to one or two threads on each of these.

 

[kansasdad]

An oldie but a goodie.........How many seasons are there in _______________(put your favorite mountanous state in the blank)?? Answer: TWO. July fourth and winter.

Lots of tourists see Jackson WY during the summer and think they would maybe want to move there. Then here comes two foot of snow and 15 below for a high temp that day, and they are thinking of moving on down the road real fast.

 

[James Riley]

An oldie but a goodie.........How many seasons are there in _______________(put your favorite montanous state in the blank)?? Answer: TWO. July fourth and winter.

Lots of tourists see Jackson WY during the summer and think they would maybe want to move there. Then here comes two foot of snow and 15 below for a high temp that day, and they are thinking of moving on down the road real fast.

Exactly. As my friend up to Buford, WY says: "Land of horizontal snow."

Snow gets deeper slammed sideways into the barn than it does building up on the bare ground.

The wildflowers in summer can't be beat and it's is SO beautiful and green out there then, for a few days.

 

[ida homer]

before we let you in, how do you feel about:
#1 game farms
#2 lighted nocks
# 3 texas
# 4 cross bows
# 5 kids younger then 12 hunting
#6 suppressors
# 7 public land
# 8 cameron hanes
# 9 trapping
#10 utah/don peay

lol!

 

[jthurs]

I will also check into rapid city for sure. My wife is onboard with not living in or around a huge population same as I am. We live in a very small town without any stoplights and that is the way we like things. My daughter is 2 1/2 and we have another on the way due in may. Some good info here keep it coming!

 

[Highwood]

If not for EHD White Tail hunting would be a whole lot better in MT. Seems like it's getting to be almost an annual event with the WT's.
I would take the weather by Ft Peck over that of Vermont. That's some heavy snow country. Ft peck area is what? 12 inch annual precipe. Normally, May and June are the wettest months that's in rainfall. Oh yeah there are some nasty blizzards.
The Lewistown area (Judith Basin) is banana belt compared to the Glasgow area.
Look at weather history for this past Winter, Denton MT vs Glasgow MT.
We had 60 degree days in Jan

 

[James Riley]

I don't know what the humidity is in MT but I know the cold back east is colder and the hot is hotter because of it. Once in Indiana I'd like to die in a temperature where I'd have been working outside in shorts in CO.

I always like the St. Joe River Country in north east Idaho. It's not bison country but it's white tail country. I don't know what it's like now but not too many folks lived up there back in the 80s. Avery, Idaho too. Had kind of a "Deliverance" vibe but a beautiful area.

 

[Highwood]

Jthurs, Have you thought about North Central MN? From your posts it seems like that would be the place for you. I have land there, we hunt White tails every year and every year harvest large bodied heavy antlered mature bucks. We allow the young bucks to grow up and they do, no EHD there.
My property has at least 100 Walleye lakes within 20 miles all with public access. (including the famous Leech Lake)
Winters are bitter cold and often snowy.

 

[psinclair]

If not for EHD White Tail hunting would be a whole lot better in MT. Seems like it's getting to be almost an annual event with the WT's.
I would take the weather by Ft Peck over that of Vermont. That's some heavy snow country. Ft peck area is what? 12 inch annual precipe. Normally, May and June are the wettest months that's in rainfall. Oh yeah there are some nasty blizzards.
The Lewistown area (Judith Basin) is banana belt compared to the Glasgow area.
Look at weather history for this past Winter, Denton MT vs Glasgow MT.
We had 60 degree days in Jan

Four winters back...we get one of these every six or eight years it seems. The difference in the weather here versus most of Montana, is the snow we get in November stays until April. This winter was the exception, we had quite a bit of warm weather in January, and February. Did I mention wind?....grin!

 

[jthurs]

Thanks for the replies guys. Very good point about the humidity factor. I hunted kansas when it was -5 and windy and it felt like it would feel when it was 20 and calm back home. This may sound like an exaggeration but it is not. I cant remember a year where we did not at least have some snow left in april and right now there is better than 2 feet where I live. I am very interested in the north central part of the state it sounds perfect! Lewistown is also going to get checked out and I appreciate the info on the climate difference compared to glasgow, that is the kind of info I am looking for. This year we had 48" of ice on lake champlain which is an hour north of me to give you an idea of what we can and do get for cold some years.

 

[psinclair]

It takes a special breed of cat to live year around in this country....especially a women who grew up somewhere else. The nearest Walmart is 130 east of here in another state...

Not trying to scare you off, just saying facts are facts.

 

[psinclair]

There are some benefits.....

 

[psinclair]

I'm here to stay...

 

[James Riley]

I'm here to stay...

Looking at the position of that elk, it makes me wonder if he's not saying the same thing.

Reminds me of George Clooney's character in "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou": "Damn! We're in a tight spot!"

 

[jthurs]

Those are some great animals you have got there. those whitetails are beautiful and I am surprised to see the amount of mass on the one. I am sure it is very cold out there and probably colder than here because of the wind, wind will turn a decent day cold in a quick hurry.