Population Growth and Hunting in Rocky Mountain States

[rwc101]

1,536? Thought Wyoming seemed crowded this year.

 

[noharleyyet]

It sure is a strange phenomenon. Politics and partisan tribalism has so infiltrated the American psyche that the chief consideration of where folks will move is R or D, and in Montana's case R, and even further, can be centered on a single personality.

I sat in a hotel hot tub this weekend and chatted with a young couple who were leaving Idaho for Florida because they loved Ron Desantis. When my drunk compatriot, who up until that point had been giving them fatherly advice, beautifully and hilariously berated them intensely for how shitty a place Florida would be compared to Idaho - there is not hunting, mountains, public lands, lack of people - it was as if it couldn't compute. Florida was Red and a lot of the people there were too and their governor was cool - that was all that mattered. The lens through which they put a value on place was partisan and little else, and frankly, that's weird. At least we had the hot tub to ourselves after that.

Yes, Montana is being flooded with well-to-do conservatives, and the obsession with politics of so many people my age who are coming here is gross to me. But, I have made friends with some of these immigrants, and they still want the things that make this place great to persist. It just takes education, and friendliness, and an openness that is the opposite of an obsession with politics. If ya just give up on em it's over, but more and more lately I've met and had conversations with Republicans new to Montana who like hunting the breaks more than they like Greg Gianforte and plutocrats in general.

Doesn't mean the odds aren't in our favor, but it's something.

 

[noharleyyet]

You have virtually opened the floodgates @Nameless Range

 

[Nameless Range]

You have virtually opened the floodgates @Nameless Range

 

[hank4elk]

This storm will drop NM into the -2000 range.
I can foresee the red & blue stickers fleeing the stark reality of the thaw to come, on dirt roads.
Unless one has a duck...

 

[Ben Lamb]

This dude paid $19,000 Euro for two cabins & 5 acres in the Italian Alps. He's Dutch, but don't let that weird you out.

 

[BigHornRam]

This dude paid $19,000 Euro for two cabins & 5 acres in the Italian Alps. He's Dutch, but don't let that weird you out.

Cheap housing in rural Japan too. Young people there want to live in the big cities. Young and dumb I say.

There are more than 8 million empty homes in rural Japan, and local governments are selling them for as little as $500 in a bid to lure residents

In Japan, local authorities are giving away renovation subsidies to incentivize people to move into the country's rural areas.

www.insider.com

 

[Ben Lamb]

Cheap housing in rural Japan too. Young people there want to live in the big cities. Young and dumb I say.

There are more than 8 million empty homes in rural Japan, and local governments are selling them for as little as $500 in a bid to lure residents

In Japan, local authorities are giving away renovation subsidies to incentivize people to move into the country's rural areas.

www.insider.com

Japan has some really good hunting for deer & bear. It's also got trout & salmon fishing, incredible offshore fishing & the arts communities in rural areas are practitioners of the old ways. I could live there easily. The language barrier isn't going to be much of a problem, I've been watching a lot of Samurai movies lately.

 

[BigHornRam]

Japan has some really good hunting for deer & bear. It's also got trout & salmon fishing, incredible offshore fishing & the arts communities in rural areas are practitioners of the old ways. I could live there easily. The language barrier isn't going to be much of a problem, I've been watching a lot of Samurai movies lately.

I could probably subsist on tempura battered shimp for the rest of my years.

 

[SAJ-99]

Here are two screen shots of an article in the Steamboat Today (local paper). Home prices in Routt county (CO) have doubled since 2016. The average price is now $1.1 million!?! This development is so depressing to me. I was really hoping to move back there in 2024 after retiring from the military, but the market is moving out of my reach. I don’t foresee this trend slowing down anytime soon. View attachment 207629View attachment 207630

Nothing corrects high prices like high prices.

Also, beware getting real estate trend data from a realtor. These numbers are a bit tortured. Not saying they are wrong, just that they portray the view that benefits the industry.

 

[Mountain Man]

Nothing corrects high prices like high prices.

Also, beware getting real estate trend data from a realtor. These numbers are a bit tortured. Not saying they are wrong, just that they portray the view that benefits the industry.

Noted about being mindful of the source. I was referring to the data from the title company that processes all the sales. While the title company also benefits from high volume, it is at the tail end of the process so I think it is a reasonable source when presenting historical data. The bar graph is from a realty company and they are exaggerated compared to the title company percentages. I’ve also been following the market in this county weekly for years on a subjective basis so I am confident that prices have doubled. Either way, things are drastically more expensive now than 5 years ago.

 

[Ben Lamb]

I could probably subsist on tempura battered shimp for the rest of my years.

 

[Gerald Martin]

View attachment 207662

FIFY

 

[Ben Lamb]

FIFY

Sir, Panda's are Chinese. Not Japanese.

Racist.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Sir, Panda's are Chinese. Not Japanese.

Racist.

Geographic ignorance is not racism. Besides, I have friends who are samurai and friends who are panda. I can’t be racist.

 

[SAJ-99]

Noted about being mindful of the source. I was referring to the data from the title company that processes all the sales. While the title company also benefits from high volume, it is at the tail end of the process so I think it is a reasonable source when presenting historical data. The bar graph is from a realty company and they are exaggerated compared to the title company percentages. I’ve also been following the market in this county weekly for years on a subjective basis so I am confident that prices have doubled. Either way, things are drastically more expensive now than 5 years ago.

No doubt they are up big, like the rest of the west. It hits first time home buyers the hardest. My problem with the data is that I throw in a zip code for that area and I see the number of transactions in 2021 was less than half that of 2020. Avg sale of $1,000,000 is about right, but the average can be easily skewed by a couple expensive transactions. Those high-end buyers are less price sensitive, and more willing to pay cash. It shows the same problem as everywhere else - lack of sale inventory. Not sure when we get back to normal, or even what "normal" is, TBH.

 

[BigHornRam]

Ben when he was a young samurai

Oh shit.... O J Simpson was in this one....

 

[Ben Lamb]

Geographic ignorance is not racism. Besides, I have friends who are samurai and friends who are panda. I can’t be racist.

 

[trb]

Japan has some really good hunting for deer & bear. It's also got trout & salmon fishing, incredible offshore fishing & the arts communities in rural areas are practitioners of the old ways. I could live there easily. The language barrier isn't going to be much of a problem, I've been watching a lot of Samurai movies lately.

You just sent me down a serious procrastination rabbit hole of Googling hunting in Japan. As a teacher I have seriously considered doing an stint abroad and teaching there for many of the reasons you listed. Just want to do my part in depopulating the West. And then repopulating it 2-3 years later.

 

[Ben Lamb]

You just sent me down a serious procrastination rabbit hole of Googling hunting in Japan. As a teacher I have seriously considered doing an stint abroad and teaching there for many of the reasons you listed. Just want to do my part in depopulating the West. And then repopulating it 2-3 years later.

You can rent some of these abandoned houses for around $85 a month. You can purchase some of these properties for around $8K or less. Some are even free.

Also, there are a few species of upland game birds to hunt, as well as goose & duck.

I've spent most of my morning looking at these properties, right up until my wife walked and shut it down hard.

Guess I won't be moving to Japan anytime soon.