Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Colorado Springs

Figured this would be a good spot to ask.

What's the forum's thoughts on Colorado Springs? Looking for a place to grab a house so I can put the kiddos in private school in a number of years, and am starting to sniff around looking at different towns, schools, and churches. Colorado Springs jumped out at me and house prices seem reasonable on Zillow. Demographics looked good too. I don't mind long drives, so I assume as a resident of CO I'll be pretty much able to hunt elk and deer every year in some part of the state? Or is it all locked up in draws?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I like Colorado Springs! Its a beautiful town and you would be just a few hours drive some some great hunting be it in the high country or the plains. If you decide to fly down and look around look me up

We moved here April of this year from Eagle River. Very nice climate, but we live just east of the Springs and it is usually very windy. Super intense sun since we are at 7,000 feet. So far I have never had to shovel the driveway and my snow blower has been unused. Prices of everything are a lot less than Alaska with the exception of vehicle registrations. Rough guess is it will cost you about 2% of what the car is worth for tags for one year. $25K car will cost about $500 to register. Houses are cheaper by roughly 25%. The market is super slow and its a good time to buy. The house we bought was on the market for awhile and two homes close to us went on the market in June and they are still for sale. Our current home is 1/3 bigger than the one we owned in Eagle River but the electric and natural gas is about 40% of what we paid in Alaska. To give you an example our present home is 4,200 square feet and this month the electric was $110 and gas was the same. Today gas was $2.97. Also add sales tax and state income tax.

Hunting? So far I noticed most people here are a lot more closed mouthed about where to go hunting than they were in Alaska. Lots of permits, points to accrue, etc.

I guess if you met the right bunch of guys hunting would be OK. But there are a ton of bunny huggers around here. For example, there are nine homes on the cul-de-sac where we live and not one hunter among them. Pretty happy that we moved out but was expecting more in the way of hunting. But that's ok, I have a buffalo hunt scheduled in SD in a couple of months and its less than a days drive to get there. Then next year we will be deer hunting in Tennessee.

Were you around when Colorado passed all of their recent gun control bills?

Good number of illegal immigrants as well in the Springs if it matters. It isn't as nice as when I was stationed there, but still a nice place. Some of what used to be the nice area is the slums. There are some monster mulies along the freeway and ofcourse the USAF accademy. It deffinetly will be a change from Alaska and the tax rate is high. Used to be where I wished I was. I like the Fort Collins area better myself, but wehat do I know I live in NM?

Thanks! Didn't realize you moved there. Glad to hear about the cost of living first hand. That's a big factor of making my plan work. Not looking for a huge house though. A smaller house or a nice condo is what I want. Looks like around 120k for a 3 bedroom condo right now.

I guess I should add that I will be keeping my home in AK, and returning with the family every summer to fish. (how I get my income) Now that I got to thinking about it, I'll be really borderline on which state I'll be a resident of. My wife/kid will be CO, but I'll be up here fishing for about 6mo a year.

I have been here since 1974, moved from New Mexico. It's big city now
The SE corner of town is pretty bad crime wise Gangs,drugs ,etc. The rest of town is OK. I live outside of town,about 25 miles NE when I moved, now more like 12 miles.

I am not a city person so I could not live there.
If I was looking to move to Colorado, I would look towards Grand Junction and vicinity.

You might look on the outskirts , further out, maybe towards Elbert, in Elbert county. Keep out of Douglas county as taxes are higher. If you like warmer, look into Penrose, SW of COS

Calvin,
As far as a retirement area I would vote no on the Springs area. To big and to busy. But if you go west for more space then you are facing colder winters and somewhat higher prices for fuel, utilities and a place to live. But being west would give you easier access to better hunting.

We did not pick Colorado per say but it picked us as my wife is employed by the Feds and the plan was to get moved anywhere in the lower 48 so we could find a place we wanted to retire to. After all, it is much easier to travel the lower 48 from the lower 48 compared to living in Alaska.

We are in the process of buying a 42 acre parcel of land in Tennessee that has never been timbered off complete with a lake, deer, turkey and small game. Low property taxes to the tune of about $300 a year for the property. No state income tax but a high sales tax. Overall the cost of living is much lower than CO. We also considered northern Arkansas as land was a little cheaper than TN but most of it was timbered off. It is a juggling act to find a nice area without having excessive humidity and high summer temperatures yet moderate winters. Like you, we are planning on returning to Alaska in the summers once the retirement home is built.

My wife and I are both shocked that we don't miss Alaska. Think after 35+ years we just got to burned out on the weather and isolation. Of course we miss our annual Koyukuk moose hunts and trips to Kodiak for black tails as well as the fishing in the summer, that can not be equaled anywhere. But most of the trips became so expensive the last couple of years it just became a cash drain. Ocean boat, river boat, $6+ per gallon of gas on the Yukon, etc. The Bison hunt I have scheduled for this winter is actually cheaper than our Koyukuk hunts.

Gun laws in CO? We got here after they passed the last rash of BS and frankly I don't see what the complaints are. I can go into any store and buy any gun with the proper ID and clearance check.

You couldn't pay me enough to live there. Big cities suck!

If you're going to move to Colorado, there are definitely worse places to be than CO Springs. My good friend that is a fisherman/outfitter out of Cordova wintered in the Springs for many years, but just recently sold his house there and moved permanently to Cordova. As for hunting, yes, if you're in the state, you can hunt elk every year with an OTC bull tag. The units usually aren't that stellar, but at least you're hunting. If you put in for points, you can hunt some better units in limited license areas. Deer are all limited licenses, so you have to put in for those. There are many hunting opportunities if you look close enough.

If you don't like the big city, then CO Springs, Denver and suburbs, and Ft. Collins are not for you, but like Saddlesore, it isn't too tough to find a place on the outskirts of any of those that gets you away from the city for the most part. Grand Junction/Clifton area is worth looking at. Grd Jcn is growing and becomes more "city" every year, but it doesn't have the "cosmopolitan" feel to it and doesn't try to pretend it's something it isn't like Denver.

Cost of living: Co Springs and surrounding areas are probably less than any place on the front range. I would think that the western slope (Grnd Jctn) would be the cheapest, but I'm not sure about taxes, etc. There are some very nice, smaller towns on the western slope like Montrose and Paonia, and even Gunnison, but you're more isolated and travel (flight) becomes more involved.

Hope that helps.

I've been there a few times. My daughter lives there. As small cities go, it's not bad .. but it IS a city with typical city considerations. I haven't hunted there. We went up to Boulder to a rifle range to shoot with some friends of mine and I saw a lot of p-dogs. Got my interest. Good hiking opportunities in / around town. Some fishing.

I'm really a small town person but if I had to move into a city, especially outside Oregon, Colorado Springs would be very high, if not the top, of my list.

Tom

snowwolfe said ". But if you go west for more space then you are facing colder winters and somewhat higher prices for fuel, utilities and a place to live."
Not true for Grand Junction. It is considerably warmer

Thanks for the advice. I've got some time to think it over, and watch the housing market. As I mentioned earlier, a good private school and a good church is the motivating factor to making a seasonal move. My heart will always require me to be in Ak during the summers grinding it out on the fishing grounds, but wouldn't mind a little change of pace during the rest of the year. Momma sure wouldn't mind it either.

I hear you about the costs of AK hunts getting out of control. Given I live in SE AK, a good moose hunt in the Koyo region runs me over 5k..and up to 8k depending on the transporter. Pretty crazy, eh? I wouldn't mind the colorado residency, and then just grab a few Sitka Blacktail tags at the NR rate in AK and get my fix in the alpine before I head south.

There's better choices than the springs.

Rush hour.. Like I'll have a job. (grin)


I hate traffic, so that is noted.

Traffic is a bish in downtown Elbert or Kiowa, too.....

I grew up in the Springs and lived there many years. I left because I wanted to live in a smaller community but there are definitely things that I miss about Colorado Springs.

For a community of that size it is pretty good. Decent economic opportunity, better than average schools, infrastructure has pretty well kept up with growth so you will see less traffic than other similar sized communities, very comfortable climate, a lot to do in the local area. Real estate values fluctuate are a little bit "boom and bust" but much better than they used to be. At least they increase over time (unlike some other places).

I have noticed that in CO, AK, WA, MN if you ask someone where they�re from about 80% of the time their answer is one of those other 4 states. It�s kinda like the type of person that likes one of those states is drawn to the others.

My son will be graduating from Colorado College this spring with a geology degree. I like CO myself. Went to school at Colorado School of Mines for a couple of years back in the early 80's.

Calvin - what you need to remember is: 300 DAYS OF SUNSHINE A YEAR!!! and probably around 10" of rain. The downside is that you'll lose you webbed feet and gills. Oh yeah, fishing will suck compared to AK.

DIY hunting is a piece of cake compared to AK too.

LOL..I just noticed something. That picture said it was the Springs. Look at it. I'm surprised nobody said anything.

When i've had to go to the springs i've run into that kind of traffic, so I guess the picture shows what i'm talking about, but that picture isn't even in the US.

Calvin,

Check out Fort Collins. Less crowded and hectic but everything you might need is here. Housing is reasonable. If you decide to come out and check it out, I can show you around and put you up for a few nights. Good hunting and fishing all around.

Lefty