Possibly making the move to Wyoming! (Basic Hunting/Living info)

[Scoon81]

Hey guys! First off I'm sure there has been a dozen threads similar to this one so if you can link me up with them that would work just fine. I don't want to annoy the socks off of anybody!

First off I've been thinking for years about packing up and moving West. (Current Iowa guy) I've always wanted to chase after large game animals that us Midwestern folks don't have the privilege of having in our area. I've traveled Through SE Wyoming a few times and the area has always intrigued me. I've been looking at everything from how the hunting is in the area to Jobs, housing and so on. And to be honest with you it has been pretty tough to get good solid information about much of anything in the area from basic internet searches. So I'm hoping someone who lives in the area or is familiar with the area can give me a run down on just about ANYTHING SE Wyoming! Thinking of living near Cheyenne or Laramie fyi.

How does the resident hunting work for ELK? Do you apply for certain areas or do you get a state wide tag and does being a resident guarantee a bull elk tag? If not what are the odds for a resident to get one in the Laramie area? How is the ELK herd in SE Wyoming compared to the rest of the state and does the area produce quality bulls? Just basically any info you can give me that a NEWBIE might want to know would be awesome!

Also, if by chance that you live in the area and always welcome a new guy into your hunting camps and would take a guy under the wing, I would love to be humbled by what I could learn. I've taken a few under my wing for Whitetail hunting in Iowa and hoping I could find someone that could help me in my new adventures. Thanks a ton for your time!

Jesse

 

[laxwyo]

Any area listed as general can be hunted with your general elk license, which is a lot of the state. Some units are limited quota that you need to apply specifically. If you don't draw a tag, you can still hunt with a general tag. If you do draw, you are limited to that unit. You can only get one type 1 tag but can buy more cow/calf tags in some general units. Elk herd everywhere is pretty solid in my opinion.

 

[go_deep]

I moved to Cheyenne from northen Wisconsin 3 years ago and job, weather climate, and yes hunting wise it was the best move I've ever made. There is more tags than time so I wouldn't worry about the hunting aspect. There are a lot of jobs so getting some work lined up won't be to hard, the cost of a house is a little high in my eyes, but the economy here is great so that's the price you pay. What job field you in? I know a bunch of people might be able to help you in locating employment.

 

[Hilltop]

Scoon, I am a Laramie native who now lives in Nebraska. I can't speak for Cheyenne but I can tell you Laramie's cost of living is over double what I pay in small town Nebraska. I believe the university drives much of the cost up but it has gotten really bad in my opinion. Basically, housing is high and wages are low... I was a field rep for a national company for the last 18 years. Over my last 7 years, Laramie was one of 3 locations nationally that we had to pay our managers a cost of living supplement just to get them to move there.

Most of the Laramie valley is private so the antelope opportunities are limited. There is plenty of national forest to hunt elk and deer. The deer herd is well below where it once was. The elk herd is decent by Laramie but not better than many cheaper to live areas in the state. Bottom line is I enjoy visiting Laramie but will never live there again...

 

[ssliger]

I live in Laramie, the cost of living sucks. It's better in Cheyenne. A house in Cheyenne going for 350K sells for over 500K in Laramie. Job market is not great. Like Hilltop said, Antelope hunting is limited, deer numbers suck, but we have decent elk hunting on a general tag. What kind of work do you do? If you do move to the area, I'd be happy to show you around.


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[HiMtnHnter]

If you're looking to "live the dream" and you have no attachments I would not make Cheyenne or Laramie my first choice . . . I would look at the western or north central part of the state.

 

[okielite]

I did a similar move about 5 years ago from Oklahoma but I am originally from Wyoming. We looked at Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, Kansas, and Nebraska. Traveled to these areas and looked into the housing, jobs, schools, etc.. From my experience of living in Wyoming I wanted to stay away from the boom/bust oilfield towns like Rawlins and Gillette. The gypsy oilfield trash that live in those towns is downright terrible and can really screw up a school. I found that the oilfield/mining jobs in places like Wyoming can be good but the property values seemed to follow the pay so there really was not that much to gain from those high paying jobs.

We found that some places in NE Colorado were nice once you got away from the bigger cities and hipsters. We found Laramie, Cheyenne, and Sheridan to be the most interesting places in Wyoming. Hays, KS is really nice but is not exactly close to mountains. We ended up in NW Nebraska for a few reasons.

1. Cost of living is low, homes are reasonable to buy.
2. Unemployment is extremely low.
3. There is no oilfield activity in this area. No Texans and Okies screwing up the town.
4. No Boom/Bust. Just steady growth.
5. Outdoor recreation. I found a good amount of wildlife and recreational opportunity and I rarely see other people when I am out enjoying the public land in the region. Most people dont' realize the wildlife that NW Nebraska has. I have everything from Antelope to Big Horn Sheep within a few miles of my house. Tags are easy and aside from the week of rifle deer season it's pretty quiet as this is not a tourist destination like the NF in other areas of CO, WY, and MT can be.

 

[2rocky]

A lot of things go into choosing to live somewhere new. The only thing I can offer you is to go where you can have a rewarding career you will excel at, in order to develop the time to pursue your hunting passion. Now does your passion require Hunting every weekend and mornings and evenings like I see many midwest whitetail guys able to do? Or would you be happy with a week or two of vacation doing a destination hunt, with some weekends thrown in ?

The latter gives you more lee way in where you live. It is the decision I made based on family and career. The ultimate goal being to earn enough to retire and move to where the former is an option in 20 years.

Live where you want to live, Work where you want to work, so you can hunt where you want to hunt. There are a lot of places I'd Like to hunt but not live or work....

 

[wyohunter1]

Any area listed as general can be hunted with your general elk license, which is a lot of the state. Some units are limited quota that you need to apply specifically. If you don't draw a tag, you can still hunt with a general tag. If you do draw, you are limited to that unit. You can only get one type 1 tag but can buy more cow/calf tags in some general units. Elk herd everywhere is pretty solid in my opinion.

General can be good

 

[wyohunter1]

I moved to Cheyenne from northen Wisconsin 3 years ago and job, weather climate, and yes hunting wise it was the best move I've ever made. There is more tags than time so I wouldn't worry about the hunting aspect. There are a lot of jobs so getting some work lined up won't be to hard, the cost of a house is a little high in my eyes, but the economy here is great so that's the price you pay. What job field you in? I know a bunch of people might be able to help you in locating employment.

Where in northern sconnie?

 

[go_deep]

Where in northern sconnie?

Barron, WI

 

[Scoon81]

Thanks for all of the info guys! Here is my background....I'm a 33 year old guy who is single and has no kids. I've been chasing white-tails in Iowa since I could walk. I'm wanting new adventures and new experiences...Hands down my favorite hobby is hunting! It's somewhat of a life-style for me....I'd almost put it ahead of having a Great job! Maybe my priorities are not straight but it's just who I am. I would be leaving a solid job for a very well known Ag equipment company. I make decent money 55-65k a year. I have nothing holding me back beside my job. That's it! I can't afford to hunt large western game consistently on my salary and allotted vacation. I love small town living, but I'm also interested in some what of an area with a thriving/active city near by. I'm very open to my relocation...And I'd be willing to check out other areas around Wyoming, I'm just wanting to gather as much information about the areas before taking that next step.

I'd most likely look into taking a Labor job of some kind of driving for someone since I have some experience hauling. What are the Oil careers like overall? What are other career options that Wyoming seems to bring to the table?

LAST BUT NOT LEAST....Given my situation. Where would you put yourself in Wyoming? Where could I thrive with my hunting adventures and with a decent career?

 

[laxwyo]

If I could move anywhere, I'd probably move to Star Valley aka afton, wy. Really small rural area with palisades lake nearby. Be in hunting heaven. Only real industry is the Simplot phosphate mine up there. Star valley would be relatively close to jumping over the mtn into Logan, ut

I don't live far from pinedale, wy but I always thought it would be cool to live there. Multiple rivers and hundreds of lakes and possibly thousands of mountain lakes. It's in the middle of hunting heaven too.

 

[go_deep]

Star valley would be good, I like Saratoga, Dubois is a really nice area also.

 

[laxwyo]

The further you get from the SE portion of the state, the better the hunting lol

I live in rock springs and we still have decent industry but every thing around town is limited quota hunting...damn good hunting but you'll be luck to hunt it

 

[Scoon81]

The Star Valley area looks nice. What is the industry like there? What are the towns like?

 

[2rocky]

Pinedale Oil and Gas Jobs...

Pinedale Job Board

 

[Scoon81]

Your talking in the Star Valley area 2rocky? So are these considered Minding/Oil towns? Are wages good? What the general labor work like with Oil and Gas jobs?

 

[tim]

star valley is where the locals who can't afford Jackson live.

I have only visited star valley a few times, but I would not move there looking for industry jobs. very rural and not much going on. Great place for people who can make money on there own. My buddy lives in Bedford, he is a modern mountain man and that is how he makes his living. and flying planes around the country for people and selling sheds and going to Alaska to fly and guiding and trapping and etc etc.

 

[laxwyo]

The area is a little more LDS than I like in star valley but the valley runs north south with a bunch of small farming/ranching towns along the way. A few larger towns but they are still small. Afton and alpine are the larger ones. Other than the mine, I don't think there is much beyond ranching/farming. Mountains right out your front door in every direction.

I second Dubois area. Lander/riverton would be nice too. A little bit larger towns with more industry. Lander looks nice because the wind doesn't blow as much. It's sits at the base of mtns and Dubois isn't too far.