Hi all,
My Wife and I are seriously thinking about moving to Texas. She is still working but can work from anywhere as long as there is internet. I retired as a Correctional Sergeant last year from the Wisconsin Dept. of Corrections. My Wife and I are solid Conservative voters. I would probably look for a part time job. I am not real familiar with TX but here is where I have been on pig hunts and I really like the area. We hunt about 15 miles from Palestine near Tennessee Colony. I believe it is Anderson County. I like that part of the State of TX. My hobbies include deer hunting, duck hunting, PIG HUNTING and turkey if available. I know deer hunting can pose a problem but will probably come back to Wisconsin to hunt for deer.I am a FFL Dealer and I can transfer it to TX. I just workout of my house now. I would also be willing to guide hunts for pig hunters if someone is looking for a guide.
We are not into the Arts, or Symphony etc. More concerned about living in a small town or in a rural area. Doing are own thing and being good neighbors I would like to be someplace within 25-30 miles of a decent sized town for groceries, shopping etc

Bill

I’ve only driven through TX a handful of times, obviously others have a lot more insight but living cost was reasonable in the Waco area. To me the Texas hill country was easily the most scenic part of the state.

Stay away from Austin.

Ask ol Flave.

I would live as close to Roger as I could so I could be his wingman!

Lots of nice small towns in Texas. Pigs are damn near all over. Further East you go the more water there is. Texas is just BIG. I would visit different areas.

I live in the Houston area now but spent most of my life in NW Louisiana.

I like the Lufkin / Nac area and we will likely end up around there depending on where the kids & grandkids end up.

I like the hill country are best though but it is expensive relative to east texas.

And pigs are pretty much everywhere...

I drove through Texas many years ago and drove though a little town north and west of Dallas/Ft. Worth somewhere between Rhome and Bowie. I think it was on Highway 287/81. It was cotton country. A little flat and there was some oil stuff going on but I liked it. It was what I think of as a nice little Texas town. That was 40 years ago but it is still fresh in my mind. To each his own but that was what I liked.
kwg

Yep. Anywhere but that Libertard schitthole.

Depends on what you want to do and how comfortable you are in smaller towns.

PM me if you want my views.

I always liked San Angelo, but don't know how Kalifornicated it is these days. Nacogdoches and surrounds is good country too. Also like the country between Houston and San Antonio. Schulenburg, Flatonia, etc. Texas has something for everyone. I think many Texans would agree that a rope is what they have for Californians . . .

Something for everyone except......................



Millions of acres of public land to recreate on???

Paris, Tx was a cool little town

Tyler is a good medical/shopping area. No far from Palestine. Lots of pigs, some deer, no turkey. I’m equal distance from Tyler and Dallas, I go to Tyler. Van Zandt county is where I live so I’m bias. Someone mentioned Schulenburg and Flatonia as well. Beautiful country down there. Oak and Pine here. Giant Live Oak and scrub there, less trees overall. Heavy Hispanic population here, more there. It’s different than Wisconsin for sure, I was there last February and found it beautiful but cold for a Texan.

Thats simple, do you want freedom and want to be left alone for life or have to camouflage and operate amongst them?

The answer to the first is where nobody else wants to live, the second is everywhere else.

Could never live more than a short drive from the coast.

From what you have described, most anywhere near Nacogdoches, Lufkin, Tyler, Marshall, Livingston, Huntsville, Bryan, Fairfield, etc. may work fine for you. You are already familiar with Palestine and seem to like it around there. Note that Texas is a big place with very diverse terrain and demographics. There is a huge difference in say Jefferson, Uvalde, Marfa, Lubbock, Wichita Falls, Del Rio, Paris, Seminole, Beaumont, Victoria, Borger, Galveston, and McAllen. So much so an outsider would have a difficult time believing these were cities within the same state. It is 880 miles across I-10 from the Louisiana line to the New Mexico line and about the same north to south. It's a dang big and diverse place. Lush pastures and forests in the east and desert mountains in the west. Open plains in the panhandle and coastal plains and gulf beaches in the south and all sorts of mixes in parts between. All with the same road signs. My best advice to you, other than avoiding Austin proper, is for you and your wife to take a few days, or maybe a couple of weeks, and take a driving tour or the state. If you really like the area that you are already familiar with, start there. If you really like that terrain and demographics, you can probably eliminate most anything west of I-35. Not to imply that areas west of I-35 do not have value, quite the contrary, but just judging by what you say you like so far. That still leaves you with a tremendous size search area opportunity.

Not to disparage any proud Texans but if it were me looking to retire to the South West. Arizona is more scenic, has public land to roam and is more varied in terrain and critters to hunt

Unfortunately, both are turning "purple" , TX perhaps slower than AZ.

I have relatives in AZ and they are amazed at how it's changing.

San Angelo looks more like Mexico nowadays.

Yes, Arizona is on the brink of becoming just an Eastern province of California, with all the problems. Wont be much longer.

San Angelo would be good as would a similar town, Abilene. I would lean West or Southwest of Fort Worth and you will get Western culture. East can be more Southeast. I've got direct family names in the stained glass of the painted churches in some of the towns mentioned above and I don't know much but from talking to friends who've lived there I would be nervous about moving back and being accepted despite blood, seven or so generations and names as recently as a couple a generations back. West can be accepting of kind outsiders, which is not always the case everywhere. East is not really my thing. Maybe I'm wrong. Many love Austin, even those from California want to live there. I stay away from Austin. Dallas is good if you want to make money and it has a huge airport so you can get out with the money you make. and do fun things.

Lubbock area would be good (Ransom Canyon is cool) as would near Amarillo, such as Canyon near Palo Duro. I would probably live in or near Lubbock or near Amarillo with a preference to Lubbock (Rocky Mountains are not too far from either and Amarillo can get cold). Also, I like Weatherford / Aledo / Benbrook / Granbury / Glen Rose if you want to be close to DFW.

Retirement is 18-20 years away for me. I’d like to to retire to AZ but probably won’t for that reason. Unfortunately we’re running out of places to run to.

It is a nice town.

Athens would be on my list to check.

Lake Fork area is nice.

Lots of great choices.

DF

Have you thought about Oklahoma, Arkansas, or Missouri?? Seriously. Less crowding, lots of lakes and forests, less goofball liberal transplants who wanna turn them into the same liberal schidthole they’re running from. Texas is getting ruined.

Regarding our Southern border, Biden just sign an EO releasing all illegal detainees and now ICE will effectively be put out of business....last year ICE had returned approx 192,000 criminals back to Mexico, and South America....that is approx 15,000 criminals a month...now it's going to be bad news in Texas especially along the southern border...

Compound that by how many anchor baby/dreamers they’ll pump into the system

This is just insane, even for DemocRATS.

If you already know and like Palestine, then why not there? There's really not a lot of difference in the northeast quadrant of Texas. You get over towards Dallas and you get into more blackland and real farming country and a lot less Pines. It looks more like what you'd think of "the west" looking like. You get farther east and you get more Pines, some swamps and a lot more like the Deep South. It's sort of gradual. I don't know why you'd think deer hunting would "pose a problem". They're overrun with deer. The only problem is they're not very big.

You get very close to Dallas and you get into some big city problems even on the outskirts. Texarkana is a big city too, and Tyler and several others are significant population centers with all the ups and downs that comes with. Somebody mentioned Paris. There's about anything you need there without it being too big. Not that much different than Palestine. You get into other areas and things are totally different. Southeast Texas is very similar to Louisiana and the rest of the Deep South. South Central Texas and the Big Bend you're going to get into a lot of Mexicans. Some desert type areas. The Hill Country is nice but becoming very populous. The Panhandle is desolate, not desert, but close, with plenty of Mexicans.

I would steer way clear of Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, El Paso and Beaumont. Just too many people.

Trees to mountains to seaside, you will have to drive around, see the country side.

Better have some Money set aside for a hunting lease. Used to live there and you pay to hunt, few exceptions.

I liked San Saba.

That entire state is a schit hole.

And it's only going to get worse.

Fire up your DuckDuckGo and look elsewhere.

Utopia

Unable to relocate outta here, but I do like Oklahoma!

what about carthage, nagodoches, that area? seemed nice when i lived in shreveport in the 80's. big lake down that way. no idea the demographics though.

I disagree. They need more conservative voters in Austin, not less. Besides, it's a beautiful part of the state.

If you like to fish or just prefer to be in an area with trees, the Lake Fork area would be a great choice. If you like more open country, Graham is okay and Haskell's okay. If you like REALLY wide open country, Post is not a bad little town.

The further west you go the drier it gets, but far west Texas has some decent mountain country...some forested and some rugged and bare. Diversity of terrain, flora, and fauna is pretty amazing here.

Why would someone wanting to leave liberals behind, go from the frying pan into the fire?

There's red counties. Lots of them. Pick one.

Wife and I are both from WI. Moved to TX for work in 1986.

We have been all over the state and if I had to live in TX, and could live anywhere in the state, I'd be in the Fort Davis area. Low population density and enough elevation to make summers tolerable.

After 35 years, I still cannot stand the summers in low elevation Texas.

We bought land in rural Ozark County Missouri 10 years ago and love it. Happiness will be TX in our rear-view mirror....sooner rather than later! Better weather, cheaper land, lower taxes (for a retiree) and we speak the same language as virtually everyone else. Can't say the same for here...not even close.

Texas is a beautiful state in all directions. If I were to move there--and I've thought about it--I'd choose Amarillo or Lubbuck areas. When I was working in that region some 30 years ago, people would tell me the best thing about the area was "nobody wants to live here".

I was born in Lubbock. Grew up on a cotton farm outside of a small town called Idalou. Later in life I lived and worked in Tyler. Still later, I lived in Pearland and worked in the Clear Lake area. I’d rather have my nutsack slammed in a pickup door than ever live in any of those places again.

Texas is a good place to live. It isn’t, however, someplace that is cheap to retire to unless you’ve got a schit load. And seriously, if you are coming from Wisconsin, you really need to experience a complete summer from Little Rock south before you move. Seriously. I’m not kidding. Even for those of us born and raised here, there are two to three months of the year where you pretty much only feel like moving from one air conditioned spot to another. And as you get older, it gets worse and worse.

It’s not so much the heat. Lots of places get hot. It’s the length of it. Day after day of high 90s or hotter with high humidity. You can laugh and discount it, but you damn well wish you hadn’t sold everything and moved into it after a couple of summer of it.

What you talkin’ about Joe Bob? I enjoy the August evenings here around 10:30 pm at 94 degrees. 😁.

Kawoodie's right. After a day of 107 degrees and 75% humidity, 94 in the evening is sweater weather.

Somewhere near Decatur.

Dont go to Horseshoe Bay....no steers there....

I’m like Roger. I prefer to live close to the coast. I can be in the water 20 minutes from my house.
Best hunting is in South Texas but it ain’t cheap. Hill country has a lot more game than east Texas, but it’s also pricey.
Centerville area is real nice. Close enough to some large lakes for some fishing. Pretty good hunting. Hasbeen

LOL. The big town of Idalou ! I’ve got lots of relatives in the Leveland Cemetery.

I could live in Amarillo. I like those wide open spaces. And not too far from great hunting and fly fishing in Colorado 🤠

Me too, and Oklahoma is prob’ly gonna stay a Red State longer.

Yep! And they’ve got Indian Casinos! 🤠

Never been in one.

Last place I want to go is a place full of damn people. Damn grocery store to too full of people for me! But I gotta do the shopping.

Marshhawk, If you come here prepare yourself for over abundance of short fat brown fireplugs in spandex shopping and talking on the cell phone with 8 kids running scot-free thru the phuquing store.

To many tornadoes rumble across any area north of Dallas for me. Hasbeen

Palestine area is chock full of prisons. Tennessee Colony, Palestine area, hosts several. If that doesn’t concern you then community of Montalba has beautiful country surrounding it.
We live at Cedar Creek Lake, approx 30 mi from Athens and 20 mi from Kaufman and an hour to Tyler or Dallas. Beautiful area w homes and property for sale. Cost of living is very moderate w demographic here above 90% Caucasian. Lots of pig and deer in river bottoms.

Have a place near Leakey. Canyon country that is very scenic and up high at 2500', we almost never use the AC. Very conservative, tons of pigs and deer and exotics... You'll need water for birds. Close to rivers and not too far from San Antonio for a plane. 40 miles to I10 to go east or west if you need.

I live about 25 miles east of downtown Austingrad. We are getting a new Tesla factory about 12-14 miles west of us!! Isn’t that exciting????

Oh!!!

And a new private airport about 4 miles from the house!!! I can’t wait!!!!

I have always liked Brady but it's expensive and filling up with Karen's. Like Alpine and Fort Davis as well also expensive.

Did you see that article from the California transplant who moved to Austin and called it a “conservative dystopia”? Lol

Texas sounds pretty Urban!

No!!!! I chortle at his confusion!!!

Thats scary as hell if the sunofabitch thinks its "conservative".

Well, to be fair, he bought a house in Bee Cave.

Some of it is. There are about 20 million people in Texas and almost half hive in the Houston metro. It's 832 miles from my house to El Paso.

Well,,, I still say that’s leaning to the liberal side. However, get past the Pedernales river and it changes some. Not much until you get past Spicewood

Close to 30 million now. Mostly along or east of the I35 corridor.

At the same time far West Texas includes some of the most sparsely populated counties in the Lower 48.

I here ya Bob ! One of the main reasons I don’t do Walmart. That and all the illegal meskins!

The Casino’s are just full of blue haired old ladies playing slots, so you might actually like it. 😜

I lived in the panhandle back in the 70's. Good food in Dalhart and Amarillo. Some of the small towns in the panhandle are basically oil field towns, I lived in one and would not recommend it. The local population was ecstatic when the new fancy restaurant was coming to town - Denny's.

I didn't like Midland at all!!!

My son lives in San Angelo and my daughter live in Corpus Christi. I've pig hunted south of San Antonio.

Pig hunting is often close to free. Deer hunting or any game other than pigs and prairie dogs is expensive, in my opinion.

If I were moving back to Texas I'd look at somewhere around San Angelo or San Antonio.

Little Brother just built a big house on 13 acres on the road to Perdenales Falls State Park. Land cost a damned fortune.
And too closed to Libertards for me.

Probably a reason no one lives out there.

Only takes about a 1000 acres to raise a cow out there Big Jim.

I am from North Carolina. But in the past ten years I have driven hundreds of thousands of miles across Texas in the Big Rig. The more I see of Texas the more I like it.

I have a nice place here, I own 48 acres and a big custom made log cabin that I built. I don't want to move.
But if I did I would move to Texas.

Stay outa North Texas! We don't want that f ucked up!!

I've been to Texas a few times. I have nothing against the place. But there's too many Californians moving into it these days.

Between the increased influx of illegals that the government is going to flood the country with and the expat Californians moving into the place, I strongly suspect that Texas is going to experience a significant cultural change over the next 2 decades.

I’ll take three Mexicans for every Yankee I get to send packing right now. And most people here I know would agree. Mexicans tend to work hard and do their own thing. They don’t care too much what you do and they damned sure don’t run around saying “But, this is how we do things in Mexico”.

It's not just going to be Mexican illegals coming in. South America is going to get flushed into the Southwestern U.S.

Still preferable to Yankees. And I’m not kidding.

My childhood bud that passed two years ago, his widow is having issues with a new neighbor that just can’t seem to understand that he lives in the middle of ranch land and not a subdivision. This is maybe 15 miles north, north east of the falls if that far. A true phuggin moron.

I know what you mean. The Pacific Coast people are their own kind of crazy, too. I think I would feel more culturally attuned to some Central European people than I do Pacific Coasters. They're a peculiar bunch.

I'm friends with a couple out there. (Washington) The wife is very conservative and she calls here talking about how bad it's gotten,...how her child is being indoctrinated by the school system. But her husband seems oblivious to what's going on around him. They have enough money to live anywhere they choose. But the husband won't leave the Seattle area.

It's mind boggling to me. Literally, I wouldn't live where they do if someone *gave* me a house and paid all my expenses,....and they're paying a huge amount of money for a house in the Seattle suburbs.

If you can get a tag. I was born in AZ and lived there till I was 19. Except for rabbits and doves, I hunted in NM.

Yep. That's the catch in TX.

Some of the rural areas may not have good internet or cell phone service.

The land of the 10-80 cow.

Making a cow live in Texas is a crime against nature , The reason why there are a gazillion miles of 5 strand fence in Texas , is because its the only way to keep the cows from going to Mexico and the wal mart bags from blocking out the sun !

https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/public/

ouch

aint that where 'longhorns' came from?

JMHO-
Do as some have posted and take a few months
and rent some place before you jump.
Things have changed drastically here in the last
few decades. Before the Dallas television show,
I wouldn't have ever even thought of wanting to
be anywhere else. Now there's way too many
imported yuppies, too many border jumpers,
too many university snowflakes that have pretty
much screwed up the near paradise this used
to be. Land has shot up through the roof the
last decade, and many acres have been turned
into HF hunting preserves now.
I'd buy enough to have a buffer zone between
yourself and any potential crap neighbors.
I know of more than a few that made a good
profit on their place and abandoned ship for
other places, but of course they had bought
10 or more years ago.

It's a crap shoot. You lay down your money
and take your chances

I hear Cali is the chit to live in now or Michigan .

Cool.

But that's pretty damn sparse. Judging by the utter goatfuck trying to rifle hunt public land in western WI was, I would be wary.



Catron County has 3.6 times that.

Not dissing TX, but public land isn't something it's known for.

Which is a big plus in ny book......keeps the dumbass general public off my hunting ground and out of the way.

actually not a lot of people hunt the public land here.

Amen!!!

It is a tad chilly here at times. I THINK we will have enough ice on the lakes by this weekend to drive full size pickups on it. Where I live. North of me they probably have been for awhile.

Thank you guys for all the responses. Lots of things to think about. I am a you leave me alone and I will leave you alone type person. I am not the kind of ahole that would move next door to a gun range and then bitch about the noise. Whether we move to TX,OK,MO,AZ or anywhere else. We will bring our patriotic conservative values where ever we end up.

Thanks again

I'd say that was an interesting observation from S. FL...

Been to FL, been to TX, between the two, think I'd pick TX. Of course, TX is about 5 states rolled into one. You'd have to pick what area you liked, something for everyone in TX. Property taxes are high, especially around the big metro areas

No one mentioned moving to LA and becoming an honorary Cajun....

We have around 5 different type areas, as well.



DF