What would you willing to do, to move to a very rural life in hunting country?

I would do it in a heart beat. If the oppurtunity ever came up were I could move to Kansas or south dakota it would be done. Just gotta get the dog in the truck. I'm a young guy with no girl, no kids, and a few dollars in my pocket. I don't want to look back and say damn I shoulda done that.
 
I left Alaska in 99 to see what we were missing Outside. We discovered we are not missing much. We live in Juneau part time right now because we have a house in the Lower 48 that needs to get sold.

To go pheasant hunting is simple as far as I am concerned. I get the truck & camper set, get the legal paper work to pass thru Canada with long guns, vet papers and enjoy the drive. I will never regret experimenting & trying the 48, but having learned I will never(this is an absolute) leave Alaska again. My ashes will be spread on the dirt, in the rivers and in the salt.

So yes, we like smaller towns, I love Montana, Wyoming, N&S Dakota in the fall when temps are cool.
 
Well....

I found and applied for a job in east central South Dakota, that appears to be better than the one I have now, which currently wouldn't take much....

So I have my fingers crossed and am saying extra prayers hoping to hear back from them soooon......
 
Good for you Bill, I hope you get it.:cheers:
 
Mild Bill said:
Well....

I found and applied for a job in east central South Dakota, that appears to be better than the one I have now, which currently wouldn't take much....

So I have my fingers crossed and am saying extra prayers hoping to hear back from them soooon......
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Best of luck. Hopefully we'll hear all about it after you get it!

Matt D
 
thanks for the words of encouragement.

Haven't heard back yet for an interview. I have my fingers crossed and am saying extra prayers....
 
njp158 said:
I'm struglling with a similar situation to this right now. There may possibly be an opportunity for me to take a job training hunting dogs, doing a little guiding etc. The salary is 15k a year plus an apartment with paid utilities. Also comes with health insurance put no pension or anything like that.

I'd be giving up a 55K a year job, pension, 401K etc., etc., I'm 31, so while I'm not to old to start over, It's not like I'm just starting out either. I'm not married but do have a fairly serious gf who most likely would not be coming. On paper it sounds so dumb. But I don't think there is anything else I'd rather do.

It's easy to sacrifice things you don't really have yet but it's a lot hard to make sacrifices once your life starts rolling in a certain direction.

I reallydon't know what my decision will be, but it sure isn't an easy one.
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At age 31 it might be great fun to live on minimum wage and be footloose and fancy free to hunt, but if you choose that path...

You'll probably never find a wife who is wiling to starve in the boonies so you can hunt. Marriage never works unless it's both give and take. Don't expect a woman to carry more than her share of the financial load while you play.

You'll never be able to afford children. You'll eventually be too old to hunt regularly, and you'll have almost nothing to live on. Do you want to find yourself age 70, too arthritic to hunt, broke, starving alone in a trailer?

Hunting is lots of fun, but there are other things in life too.

Stay where you are, earn a good living with preparation for the future 20 or 30 or 40 years down the road. Take some vacation and travel to hunt.

You will come to a point in life where killing a few more birds isn't worth the price of having sacrificed everything else.

When I was a kid I wanted nothing more in life than to be a race car driver. My father offered me a choice: he'd either pay for four years of college tuition, or buy me a race car. I chose college. That allowed me to make a good living, and later on I could have bought a race car too. I never did. Turns out I didn't want that as much as I had thought.

Be careful what you wish for. Ancient Chinese proverb.
 
My oldest son waited until his early thirties to marry. He and I do a lot of hunting together and we used to see those beautiful Colorado ranches on our elk hunts and I had this advice to him, "Son, you are the only hope a Byrd will ever own a ranch like this and the only way is to marry the rancher's old maid daughter. Son, please don't be too picky.":) Well, he didn't take my advice.
 
Do what you truly want to do. There are no guarantees in life. You can work a job you hate all your life and make lots of money for what, or you could work a job you love everyday yet not have all the material things all the commercials tell us we need.
 
M. R. Byrd said:
My oldest son waited until his early thirties to marry. He and I do a lot of hunting together and we used to see those beautiful Colorado ranches on our elk hunts and I had this advice to him, "Son, you are the only hope a Byrd will ever own a ranch like this and the only way is to marry the rancher's old maid daughter. Son, please don't be too picky.":) Well, he didn't take my advice.
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:D :10sign: :p
 
Livin' my Dream

I did it in 1999, took a pay cut from $19 per hr to $ 12 per hr to move to SD. I was single so no problem there.

Did it work out? Well now I'm married to the love of my life, she owns 973 acres in the heart of SD pheasant country and we live in the Black Hills among the pines in deer and elk country. Yes I would say it worked just fine for me.
 
SDJIM said:
I did it in 1999, took a pay cut from $19 per hr to $ 12 per hr to move to SD. I was single so no problem there.

Did it work out? Well now I'm married to the love of my life, she owns 973 acres in the heart of SD pheasant country and we live in the Black Hills among the pines in deer and elk country. Yes I would say it worked just fine for me.
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Good for you!!!:cheers:
 
Made the move to a small town in KS after 22 years in the Army. Great idea for the right people. Our nearest Starbuck's, McDonald's etc. is about 30 miles away. We don't miss them. Small town life is different. But in our case the rewards outweigh the drawbacks. We can get to Kansas City for baseball, football and restaurants, but spend as much time in our local diner. Its nice sitting out on the deck in summer and watching the horses and cows. I've actually pass shot migrating geese off my back deck. No one complained. When you pass a car or truck everybody waves. Pretty nice. But not for "city folks" who need the hustle and bustel.
 
Nothin better than country livin!!!!

I've been in the country all my life except for years of college in Omaha (which was hell on Earth). I'm not a city gal. My husband and I both agree that we are living on the farm forever! We won't move :) We're only 2 miles from town and that's close enough! You can't believe the wildlife we get out here, pheasants, wild turkeys, deer and even bald eagles!
 
Hi farm girl- (roosterfetcher)
grew up in the big woods of North Minnesota- moved to Lawrence in 1970- move to country 2 years ago- man this country farm life is great-

much the same here as to what you have there- and loving it

post some pictures of your farm site- I'll post some of mine
 
I would do it in a HEARTBEAT if I could. I would love to move to S.D. My family has never been what you would call "CLOSE". My father is deceased and my mother is 86 going on 87 in a nursing home and in failing health. I have a son from my first marriage, but he is 32, on his own and doing fairly well. My current wife and I don't have any children, but she is VERY CLOSE with her family and therin lies the problem. Plus, she could not take the winters and would want to be close to shopping malls and other big city amenities. Oh well, I will be retireing in a year or two, so instead of taking hunting trips to S.D. every 2-4 yrs., I will just have to make the trip EVERY YEAR!
 
If anyone is contemplating a move to SD, you better bring your money with you, because you won't make much here. I left a Fortune 500 company to come back to be with elderly parents. They are now gone, but the struggle to survive in today's economy continues. For retirees on a pension, or those with Gov't jobs, it would be OK.

For those that think living in bird country means all of your neighbors will let you hunt their property gratus, think again. The state has turned into a pay-hunt mecca in the prime bird areas.

The oil patch in ND/MT area is hot for workers now, but you will live in a trailer and work long hours. At least the pay is good. The low taxes and gobs of public land make WY the place to live.
 
I currently live in Stillwater, MN but have been guiding elk hunts on horse back the past few years in central Colorado and before that western Montana. I love every minute of it but it would be a hard sell trying to convince the wife to up and leave for good. After a while in the Army I don't have quite as much trouble as she does being away from family and what not.
 
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