Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Thoughts on relocating to Wyoming or Montana

Pro's: Great hunting and fishing
Con's: Long, cold winters.

I think I would love Wyoming if it wasn't for the winters.

Sounds to me like you like you need to rank your priorities.

If finding high paying work is your priority, I wouldn't even bother with MT or WY.

While everyone rants about MT and WY being "conservative", both states are seeing a shift there as well, in particular Montana. It also depends on the cities you live in, some cities in Montana and Wyoming are not that "conservative" at all. Politics are a joke, and I wouldn't rank that any higher than about 99 of 100 on my list of reasons to move from, or to, any State/city.

I was born in Montana and lived there for 30 years before moving to Wyoming 15 years ago.

The wife and I had a plan of moving to Wyoming based on only living here 5-7 years and then move back to Montana. That's all changed now, as financially, we couldn't have in Montana what we have in Wyoming. That's based on not just wages, but also cost of living, outdoor recreation, etc.

As far as hunting/fishing opportunities, Wyoming buries Montana almost across the board...with a few exceptions of course. Fair to note that I have not missed a Montana elk and deer season since I was old enough to hunt in 1980.

If I were to live in Montana again, it would probably be in a place like Helena, Lewistown, etc. where I had more access to the Eastern side of the State.

I don't see myself moving back to Montana anytime soon.

Good luck with your decisions...strictly from an outdoor standpoint you cant go wrong with Montana or Wyoming.

Is the oil boom still on in South Dakota? They were actively recruiting and paying double what you could earn elsewhere. I think McDonald's was paying entry level $18 per hour.

Montana actually consists of two states. There is Eastern Montana, where the people are what you would expect when visiting Montana. Then there is Western Montana, where you meet more dirty hippies than normal people. If you plan to move to Western Montana you will need to; buy a Subaru station wagon, become a democrat, get a medical marijuana card, grow your hair out and wear a beard, wear sandals all the time, worship wolves, grizzly bears, buffalo, and sage grouse at the expense of all other living things, live in a housing development and call it a ranch, pay at a minimum 10X what you would have paid for the same house in Eastern Montana, believe that seeing mountains from your yard makes your property worth $10,000+ an acre - even though you live on a sage brush flat, and finally, you'll have to accept that none of the stuff that you moved to Montana to enjoy is accepted by many of the people around you. That, or you could live in Eastern Montana. It's generally free of hippies and those that are here are, for the most part, shunned. The oilfield is still hiring, but property is still at hugely inflated prices. I pity the people that have moved in and purchased homes in the last several years. A home that sold for $25k pre-boom might be pushing $200k right now. When the boom ends, that same home is going to be worth less than $50k again. I know of homes that were given away so that the owners wouldn't have to continue to pay taxes on them that have sold recently for nearly $100k! Aside from the oilfield and the urban areas, most of the other areas of the state have pretty poor economies. As an electrician, you would find that your services are in high demand in most areas, but the amount of work available may not be what you would find necessary to support a lifestyle that you are accustomed to. In the end, you would make a lot of sacrifices to lead a life that in so many ways is absolutely incredible in the outdoor opportunities that you have, but not necessarily as financially rewarding as you would have elsewhere. To me, Eastern Montana is paradise. For many others, the winters are too nasty, the pay too low, and the comforts and services of the city too far away.

Montana and Wyoming are both great.. Wyoming is more beautiful, at least to me.. Love those rocky high plains. If I was moving to MT again, I'd move somewhere fairly central, like Big Timber or Great Falls. I used to prefer living in Eastern MT and going to the western side for recreation, now I'm sort of switching that around, but maybe that'd be different if I didn't live on a gumbo road..

Eastern Montana has good paying jobs, especially in the oil fields. It is part of the Bakan oil fields they talk about in ND. Only issue is oil prices are down right now. It may be a bust now but can easily become a boom area if prices rise again. They definitely need your skills. Not sure how bad it is right now. Sister hasn't said anything about the brother in law, who works in the fields. They are in Minot.

Here's a guide to State of Wyoming jobs: http://www.wyoming.gov/loc/06012011_1/Pages/default.aspx

There are several sites on the web for private industry jobs. Here's one: https://www.wyomingatwork.com/vosnet/Default.aspx

Our standard if living is alot less than most, wife has stayed home with kids since we had our first. I work and go to school full time on the gi bill that i am finishing up now. Working as a Millwright now and finishing up the electrical this year. We get by on 40k give or take. bills are paid and family comes first.

Just looking for a place a little more open less left leaning than Iowa has seemed to get since we moved back. Lots of people that are happy just sitting and having nothing and feeling like they are owed something.

Wyoming = no income tax and good schools.
Montana = Reservations. Crime. Butte. Venereal diseases. Walleye fishing. All the good deer were shot out a long time ago.

Wyoming kicks ass.

Listen carefully, this man knows first hand what he's talking about.

Don't look at the sheep, kinda like in a Muslim country LOL

Check the overall tax rates. Montana has no sales tax, but income tax hits 6.9% pretty quick. Wyoming, no income tax, state sales tax 3% plus whatever the locals charge. From what I've heard, Wyoming property taxes are quite a bit lower.

Deer and antelope numbers took a severe hit a few years ago (Whitetail -90%, Antelope -75%, Mulies -40%) in north-eastern Montana, and will take several more years yet to come back.

Not me personally. But a guy I know.

Are you sure you don't live in my neck of the woods?

I think that is a common denominator everywhere. Thanks for all the input. Is there much difference from one side of the state to the other? We were looking around Gillette and possibly Cheyenne but we mostly up for anything. Turn 30 in a few weeks and figure got lots of work left ahead of me. So might as well do it somewhere that we both want to be.

If you're from Iowa, I won't tell you to check it out in February. Anyone from warm country who falls in love with MT or WY needs to check it out in Feb.

Sycamore

I would avoid Billings Mt, to much growth and they have no idea what to do with it, they think they are a little city still but have big city problems.

For me I do not want to be to rural, I admit I like being able to go to a store and have some restaurants to choose from. My rule of thumb is if the town is big enough for a costco or a home depot it works for me. I just left Montana for a job out of state but will strongly consider the Helena area if I moved back. Bozeman and Missoula are where to expensive/liberal but Helena has decent jobs and reasonable housing. I know Boeing was in Helena for a while and they could not hire enough electricians because everyone was heading for big money in the Blaken oilfields.

well I have no dog in this fight...do not bring your "lib" ways and bring them up> ever ! Missoula is libtard..and if u aint into that - u have no job! (great hunting west of there thou ) winter /cold...man up ..u can put on more layers ...if your hot after u r naked.. wtf do u do !!! P)

I agree 100%!
Leave the scheitt in the toilet!



One of my long time hunting buddies moved to Belgrade Montana a numbers of years back from Northern California.
This dude is a hunter's hunter, (almost 2 Grand Slams of N/A sheep, Huge brown & black bears, giant muleys, blacktails and is a predator killing machine....etc..).

I think in his mind he thought that by moving there he would be entering a hunter's paradise with gates swinging open for him onto an American Serengeti.

Certainly it feels great to escape the absolute madness that is California, but the truth is he has really struggled to find that imagined Shangrila, as there is so much competition for the limited access.
Here hunter numbers are low, when compared to the rest of the population, so many people in Montana hunt, there are guides and outfitters tying up much private ground and the landowners often save their ground for friends and family, hunting easily accessible national forest ground means you had better be in extreme physical shape or have livestock to escape the many other hunters you will be competing with if you expect consistent success.
Just a heads up in case you haven't spent much time there.




I've worked in the cold all my life and have often used that very same analogy!

Spot On!!

WCH seems to be wanting to 'preserve' his own gold mine.

Retirement for me may include a move to WY. And, do know just where I'd move.

Douglas......Laramie mountains to the South, Grasslands to the North.

Varmint hunting, big game, fishing, camping/hiking......check!

Fishing at LaBonte Canyon and Toltec reservoir does just fine.

Not a concern so much for the retired....but, as far as work....coal and oil. The locals declare those jobs are tougher to get, but most good jobs are.

We go out that way 2-3 times a year. Heading out there Friday, with a zone 7 cow elk tag.

It is good.

(And, my political leanings would shift Wyoming's weighted political 'mean' to the right.)