looking to move west

littleking · Post by **littleking** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 12:55 pm

in the next 5 years im looking to move west (in columbus ohio now) towards wild bird country.

i'm a systems administrator/engineer specializing in virtualization with linux/vmware. i also have a very strong windows background.

so i would also need to be able to find some sort of tech job.

i have two brittany's and absolutely love bird hunting (well hunting in general) and ohio really does not seem to fit my lifestyle (not a whole lot of birds to hunt)

i'm willing to make the move, but really unsure of where to go. I definitely plan on visiting various places before packing up and heading west, but i'd sure like to have some pointers on general areas to look at.

i've found job postings in omaha, ne; cheyenne, wy; etc...

should i also be looking south? (georgia quail, texas, etc..)

romeo212000 · Post by **romeo212000** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:04 pm

It all depends on what you want to hunt. Nebraska would be good for pheasants and some quail, you could also hunt Kansas for good numbers of pheasants and quail. Oklahomas quail numbers have been going down but show a slight increase this year so I am hoping and thinking they should be up higher next year. Texas has good quail numbers and different species. Farther up north you will find woodcock, and chuckars. So figure out what you want to hunt and go from there.

littleking · Post by **littleking** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:06 pm

pheasants/quail.... either or, love and prefer them both

romeo212000 · Post by **romeo212000** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:09 pm

I live in Oklahoma and like I said I am really hoping the quail numbers make a comeback. I am hopefully confident that they will. Of the places you mentioned so far I think Nebraska would be your best option because you could also go to south dakota fairly easily. However, I plan on running my dog out at Black Kettle in western Oklahoma for quail, and heading up to Kansas fairly often for Pheasants and quail I have talked to a couple of people this year who said the hunting in Kansas was great this year. Hope this helps.

DSemple · Post by **DSemple** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:20 pm

Ya got a respect a guy who has his priorities right. ....Don

romeo212000 · Post by **romeo212000** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:28 pm

You got that right. If I ever move anywhere, I will take a serious look at the upland hunting before I pack one box. No hunting means no move.

snowman · Post by **snowman** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:47 pm

How cold do you want to go? Bismarck ND is really growing and a lot of jobs are opening up. We have some great bird hunting that way. You just have to be able to put up with the cold. Plus houses are cheap. In my home town they will sell you a .5 acre of land for $1 if you put a house on it. Atleast they were doing that a few yrs ago when I was home last time.

Casey J.

Post by **Greg Jennings** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:53 pm

Eric,

What is your kid and wife situation?

If you need a really good school district, etc., you might look at jobs in the Omaha area. The Papillion school district south of Omaha and west of Bellevue are top notch. OTOH, the taxes are rough.

Best, Greg J.

Brushbustin Sporting Dogs · Post by **Brushbustin Sporting Dogs** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:25 pm

Omaha would be good but maybe Lincoln even better. South of Lincoln is tons of state ground around Adams, Bennet, south to Beatrice. With lots of birds pheasants and quail both. Great coyote hunting also as a bonus was down there goin to hunt pheasants saturday ran into some guys hunting yotes and ended with 8 for the day I think. Plus sides to eastern Nebraska I-29 is right there quick access to SD and Kansas for other hunting experiences and although I've never been heard Iowa is pretty good hunting also. Go Huskers!!!!

littleking · Post by **littleking** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 3:02 pm

married, no kids... no plans for kids for now.

have two brittanys, a love for hunting and a job to live off of.

this has been my goal my whole life, its starting to come to light and im excited....

cold temps really dont bother me to much, more the wife. so maybe steer away from the 30 below areas

AZ Brittany Guy · Post by **AZ Brittany Guy** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 3:59 pm

I guess we know what kind of beer you like! I think you can get little kings in Sonoita Arizona where the quail is abundent most years and a pretty good job market in Tucson.

Good luck Buckeye.

High Voltage · Post by **High Voltage** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:02 pm

I work in Omaha and live in Gods country, Iowa. I like this area cause there is always some where to get into birds. Southwest Iowa pheasant wasn't as good this year but a couple hours north it was good. I have seen a lot more quail the last couple of years. We are 1/2 hour from Skyline hunting preserve, $100.00 a year membership and you can train there. They also have the best prime rib!
Google is opening in Council Bluffs, Iowa and are hiring techies. Might want to check them out.

NE-Viz · Post by **NE-Viz** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:19 pm

JMO but, Nebraska is kind of in the middle of it all. We have good #'s of birds. The neat thing about Neb is that if you don't mind a little travel. You can hunt western Neb for grouse, priaire chicken, pheasant etc. While in the eastern side you get pheasant and quail. Like already stated, its not a far ride to either SD or KS. Thats not to mention the other forms of hunting we have. We have great turkey and deer hunting as well. Now to get premission on private ground is not all ways that easy, but there is ample amount of public ground to hunt until you get enough private ground to hunt. I almost forgot to mention the dove hunting as well. So I kind of like where we are at, location wise to a lot of different hunting opp. Good luck where ever you land. NE-Viz (PS) Watch out for those Iowa guys...there kind of sneaky

Windyhills · Post by **Windyhills** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:45 pm

Suspect there might be some jobs in Sioux Falls SD--not far to a wide variety of birds there--sharptails, prarie chickens, pheasants, ruffs in MN, waterfowl, fishing isn't bad.

Grange · Post by **Grange** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:55 pm

I have family living in Sioux Falls. There is some good public land pheasant hunting within an hour of Sioux Falls, though they both claim it can be kind of boring there as far as night life is concerned.

Don · Post by **Don** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:52 pm

I have no idea what that stuff you do is, sounds like hi-tech. So I would check with someone like Hewlett-Packard in Boise, Ida and in Vancouver, Wash. you might also look at Micro soft in Seattle, Wash. My first choice would be Boise, Ida.

huntoverlabs · Post by **huntoverlabs** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:20 pm

I'd pick NE before Cheyenne. That part of WY is rough. I've lived there and loved it, but I was working ranches. Game is a lot more plentiful further south in CO. My brother lives outside of Lincoln and I can't get him to shut up about the deer, turkey, and phez hunting. Make sure you visit and the wife like it as well. HUGE difference from Columbus to small western towns. If the wife's not happy, something tells me you won't be hunting too much!!

Post by **Kiki's Mom** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 6:00 am

How West" is West?

The tech market has really grown, with a few key major corporations having moved their offices to Reno, NV and many other major players (Like Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, and Hewlett Packard) having moved either satellite or headquarter offices to Northern NV.

Reno is...well....still very much the "wild West". It sits just below famous Lake Tahoe, where there is outdoor living year round. The Valley quail are plentiful as are Chukars most years. Pheasant can be had just a two hour drive to the SW in Northern Calif/Sacramento area and the elusive Snow Partridge makes it's home 6 hours East in the Ruby Mountains above Elko.

Casper can probably fill you in on his "fun" as he makes his home just south of Reno in the Carson Valley.

The terrain runs from high granite peaks and world renowned snow skiing to high mountain meadow to the high desert and black rock that makes Nevada deserts also famous. If you have never been Chukar hunting ( akin to to Hungarian partridge) you go the first time for fun and every other time after that for revenge. Chukar, in my opinion is the ONLY real game bird worth eating.....it cooks up delicious whether it is fried like chicken tenders, roasted or in a broth with dumplings.

The bird dog community is alive and well...the Northern Nevada Brittany Club and German Shorthair Club of Reno are the two main clubs but there are also NSTRA and NAHVDA chapters , as well as waterfowling opportunities ( and clubs) just an hour east in Fallon NV at Canvas Back in Stillwater.

The state also boasts mule deer, elk, big horn and antelope for game hunting opportunities.

The only thing that may get you is the sticker shock of the home/land prices, although I have heard since our move from there that things have finally leveled off and gotten more reasonable again.

I love NV....and really moved East to live on my husband's family farm in SW PA which afforded us the opportunity to come play with the "Big dogs" so to speak in the heart of ABC Gun Dog country. If Brian and I WEREN'T in to competing with our dogs and he was just the average hunting guy/trainer we never would have left the State. We just would have moved further out into the open country instead. Brian was happy training dogs back there and still misses it.

If you really want "West" check out Northern Nevada ( NOT Las Vegas, which is Southern Nevada and an 9 hour drive to the south)
This photo is taken at the Red Rock Field Trial grounds, where this years' AKC National Pointing Dog Championship is going to be held and is indicative of Spring (May) in Reno.

This photo has actually been taken on the course that the AKC National Pointing Dog Championship will run on this year. Note the FT camp way off in the distance below....

littleking · Post by **littleking** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 6:24 am

thanks a ton kiki, exactly the kind of information that i was looking for.

SeventhSon · Post by **SeventhSon** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:26 am

Boise has an up and coming Tech Industry. Your Linux experience would be very valuable out here I would think.
I'm sure I don't need to tell you about the game birds available here.

Flush · Post by **Flush** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 11:50 am

My suggestion would be check out "The West", as in farther west than the midwest. I live in Colorado, but would not really recommend here as our bird hunting leaves much to be desired. While I like places like NE and KS, and I hunt them frequently due to my location, I much prefer places like MT, ID, eastern OR and WA, and northern NV. Arizonia has great bird hunting and jobs, but you will have to deal with the heat in the summers. NM, UT, CO, and UT in my opionin are all lower on the upland scale than the other western states, but they still have their pluses and can have pockets of very good hunting. Personally when I consider the year-round activities, I would still rather live here in CO and make the long drives out to western KS and NE to bird-hunt than live in eastern KS and NE (which is where the jobs are in those states).

The midwestern states can often have great bird numbers, primarily pheasants, although there can be good bobwhites and prairie grouse hunting too. The more western states often have equally good bird hunting (although different species) but in addition have significantly more public land and mountains to pursue them in. Due to the large elevation changes out west, you have a lot more variety in bird species as well. It's not so much one place is better than another, it's really personal preference, and like I said, having hunted them all, I personally would prefer to be in the western states that have a huge percentage of their land base as state, BLM, or National Forest. It opens up a lot more options for the outdoorsman in both the fall hunting season as well as in the summer when you can play (camp, mtn bike, fly-fish, white-water raft, etc..) in the mountains. Of course if you like big-game the Western states have good deer and turkey hunting, plus Elk, not to mention antelope and potentially big-horn sheep and moose.

I would investigate some of the larger cities in MT, and also Idaho. WA and OR have lots of tech jobs, although most will be in the western part of the state and most of the best upland hunting will be in the eastern regions. There are some nice towns in Eastern OR or WA that would be great if you could find work.

Good Luck, going to visit some of these places first would probably be the best thing for determining where you really like. Like I mentioned while I prefer the "western" states, others prefer the midwest states.

-Flush

Post by **Kiki's Mom** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:31 pm

Happy to share, Little King. I was pretty homesick after writing tho. ... :roll: Only been here in these parts for 17 months now. It has been a culture shock to say the least.

BoJack · Post by **BoJack** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:14 pm

Livin' The Dream.You're a Lucky man!

Maverick · Post by **Maverick** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 4:18 pm

Move while you can littleking !! I have been trying to talk my wife into moving west ( Alberta ) for quite a while with no success.
Good luck in your job search!!

Mav....

Casper · Post by **Casper** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:37 pm

I cant add much more than Helen did. Reno life is pretty good if you like going out for a night on the town as is Tahoe. There really is quite a bit to do around here. About the only thing I can add is Chukar hunting is way cooler than them lowly pesants folks chase down ditches.

You probably wouldnt believe it but this is Nevada Grouse country

Nevada has 2 species of partridge (chukar hand huns), 3 species of quail, 3 species of grouse (blue, ruff and sage), and most all your big game species (tags alloted through a lottery). You can fish your heart out in the Sierras Mtns. Basicly the opportunities are endless here. The housing market has leveled nicely and prices have become more affordable.

FWIW

DSemple · Post by **DSemple** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 9:48 am

Ah wives, a little advice from an old guy about asking them to move.

If she is really tight with her mom and or her sisters, like most of the good (and lucky) ones are, you can generally get them to move before she has children, but good luck after.

And, just to give you a heads up, 5 years from now when your living in that far away state chasing dogs and birds, with a couple of kiddos running around, pick a city with cheap airfares back home and a house with an extra bedroom, because you and your wife, and her parents and your parents, and your families, are going to be doing a lot of going back and forth.

Because, after all anybody who love dogs, or a man who loves dogs, is going to love children too. And, part of loving children, is she is going to want to share them with the people that mater the most to her, her family.

And you will come to find that you wouldn’t have it any other way.

....Don

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