Utah...considering a move

[ginkgo72]

Any have any advice on moving to Salt Lake City? I have a job offer that may be too good to turn down. I'm a DIY hunter and I'm thinking being a UT resident may be a good thing for hunting in the state. Please share your opinion of Utah.
Thanks!

 

[nidahunter]

Been there, done that and would not go back. Came back to Idaho the first chance I got. There was some neat country there but it seems like it was a 2-3 hour drive out of SLC to get anywhere. Also most tags are a draw (if I remember correctly) and the elk season was so early it would be hard to get the meat out before it spoiled. Poosibly better opportunities if you archery hunt. We also went for a job that was too hard to pass up but for me it wasnt worth it. Far better hunting opportunities in all neighboring states.

 

[Big Sky]

Likely better than Minnesota, but as western states go it doesn't make my top 5 favorite states to live in. I lived there for 17 long years and have zero desire to move back.

 

[ida homer]

Way better than Minnesota!

I have spent a lot of time in Utah. Not my first choice to live, unless you love to ski then in that case you can't beat it. But hunting wise it gets you a lot closer to Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. Not a bad drive to any of these states.

 

[ERSS]

Interesting place to live for a lot of reasons, both parents are from there and I spent some years there in college. Hard to think of a state that has more diversity as far as terrain. Hunting options are limited when compared to other bordering western states. Can be in some neat remote country, but will take you 2-3 hours often to get away from the SLC crowds. Not sure what is it like where you are now, but it is pretty crowded/traffic from Ogden all the way through the Salt Lake Valley through Spanish Fork. SLC is not on my list of places I would want to live.

 

[fez]

From downtown SLC you can be bowhunting in 10 minutes. With a 3 1/2 month season for deer and 4 months for elk. Kinda hard to beat that for opportunity. Just a couple hour drive will put you into wyoming or idaho for some good hunting also.

Deer tags are on a draw. If you apply correctly you shouldn't have a problem getting tags. Archery elk is OTC so no worries there.

 

[Stubaby]

I've only seen 3 deer over 200 in my life. All three were within a half hour of downtown. The skiing is the best in the world and I would know. Nothing beats the snow and terrain of Alta or Snowbird.

You can kill a cow or spike bull elk semi-easily with a bow every year OTC. Archery deer hunt from Aug 15- December.

Great people for the most part. If you wakeboard or water ski there are tons of places close by. Weather is nicer than Minnesota, ESP if you can get above the inversion.

If I could make Good money and live anywhere in the world I would pick Idaho Falls, then Sheridan Wyo, then St. George, Ut. Salt Lake isn't the top of the list but as far as a real "City" goes its probably the best out there. Boise or Denver maybe, but there isn't a "City" in MT or WY.

Would you have to work like downtown, or just anywhere on the Wasatch Front?

 

[1_pointer]

I lived/worked in the SLC for 8 years and echo everything posted above. Though I liked it better than where I am, I wouldn't go back if I had other western state options. That said, it's a very clean and pretty nice city as city goes. Be aware, that depending on where you live and work, commuting can be pretty bad traffic/time wise for a city of that size.

Hoping this doesn't hurt too many feelers, but Utah has some of the friendliest people but IME is one of the hardest places to make "friends" of anywhere I've lived. If you are LDS that may not hold true.

 

[smarandr]

Hoping this doesn't hurt too many feelers, but Utah has some of the friendliest people but IME is one of the hardest places to make "friends" of anywhere I've lived. If you are LDS that may not hold true.

As a faithful LDS member, my feelings are far from hurt. Utahans are definitely a peculiar people.

 

[ginkgo72]

Thank you for the great responses. I would be working and living in SLC. Compared to MN I'm thinking this would be a good first step to living out west. Keep posting if you have more info....anyone know how decent the fishing is?

 

[cowboy]

Thank you for the great responses. I would be working and living in SLC. Compared to MN I'm thinking this would be a good first step to living out west. Keep posting if you have more info....anyone know how decent the fishing is?

All I can say is after having lived in Minnesota for 367-1/2 days the only good thing that came out of there was I-90 west and my second son. Go for it.

 

[OriginalOscar]

Waterfowl incredible, chukars are great, blue ribbon trout all 1 hour from SLC. Enough deer and elk opportunities to fill several weeks each fall.

For amazing places to lose yourself Utah is unbeatable. South is vast red rock and "very" remote places. Go east and you have the Uinta primitive areas, Book Cliffs and Tavapuats Plateau. Go west you have the vast Great Basin desert.

Known for our red culture but we have lots of blue areas. If you are working in Salt Lake there are lots of neighborhoods with a diverse nature. Feel free to PM me if I can help with areas to look. The state is doing well and a great place to live.

 

[ERMINE]

We have family out there that are LDS, they are nice people. I like the state as it has some great deer and elk opportunity. I'd rather live in Provo than Salt Lake it is cleaner and the people are not too weird. The funny thing is SLC is a ton of non LDS gypsies and the rest of the state is molly mormon. I think the state is in for some big legislative changes soon as the population is shifting towards a other than LDS majority. Most of the laws encompass LDS values which is contention for me. I like that we can buy real beer and booze at almost anywhere in Montana, and most other states. The biggest problem I see is the air quality in the winter if you live in the valley, that makes Provo and SLC undesirable in my opinion. That being said I will be applying to University of Utah and would only stay for 4 years.

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

One thing I would look into is getting a lifetime resident hunting license, particularly if you decide to move back out of Utah. I have heard that with the lifetime license you will be able to apply in the resident pool even as a non-resident. However, I believe you still have to pay nonresident fees if drawn.

 

[elkantlers]

One thing I would look into is getting a lifetime resident hunting license, particularly if you decide to move back out of Utah. I have heard that with the lifetime license you will be able to apply in the resident pool even as a non-resident. However, I believe you still have to pay nonresident fees if drawn.

If you could still by a lifetime license I would have one. Not available anymore.

 

[HighDesertSage]

Utah is a great place to live. The Wasatch mountains are awesome. I lived there in 2007 and never ran out of things to do. Strawberry Res was always a blast.

 

[fowladdict]

I have never been in a city with so many kids that have such few manners, and I grew up in a pretty big city in Cali.

 

[Wyoming Sage]

I lived in Vernal for about 8 months in 1979, the hunting in the Uintas was good back then, but I couldn't wait to get out of there. I could see in the years before that with a native buddy from there when we hunted and fished, that is was going to be a place for rich hunters and the hunting community in Utah wouldn't stand together against this. He finally left in the early 90's and is now in east Washington somewhere.
If you look at it as a starting point that would be a good plan for sure.

 

[Matt Foley]

SLC is great, if you like big city living. I grew up in rural Utah and moved to SLC for work. I was use to being able to driving up the mountain and getting away from people quickly and easily. Every place that is easily available, has a ton of people. The Wasatch extended is great for opportunity but there is very little road access, so it is hard to take the kids. The two things that I am really going to miss is the chukar hunting and the snow boarding.