Humor Me

[lone sailor]

Oh, and I also enjoy riding my bike. I know there are lots of good roads for cruising on the weekends.

[iuki001]

Originally Posted by Gretchen B

The White Mtns in eastern AZ have quite a bit of wildlife and fewer people. Here's a photo I took of a herd of elk we saw on the way to Big Lake. The fishing is good over there, too, in the Black River, the Little Colorado, and on the lakes.

I showed this to my hubby and he asked me to find it on the map (LOL).

Thanks for sharing.

iuki

[Ponderosa]

I really love the outdoors and want to get back to my roots of owning a small piece of land where I can also hunt off of.

We do not have that kind of lifestyle here. Anything that might have more than jackrabbits living on it is public land - national forests and BLM land. There is a lot of that (literally millions of acres) and you can hunt it, but overall hunting just stinks here compared to anywhere like MO. Fishing is OK but you have a long drive to and from the far-flung lakes.

Because of all the public land, there is great opportunity to get away from it all and ride quads, hike, cross-country ski in winter, and camp.

Anyway, don't move here for the hunting or the rural lifestyle. There is little of either. Arizona and New Mexico too, are urban states where the vast majority of the population lives in urban clusters like Phoenix, Tucson, Prescott, Flagstaff, etc. The remainder of the state is public land as I said and then a relative handful of small towns based on agriculture or mining or the welfare economy. If you come here you live in or near Phoenix or one of the urban clusters, put up with the humanity and traffic, and use your weekends and vacations to seek solitude and explore the great outdoors.

Honestly, if the quote above were my major concern I would take AZ and NM off my list and look at eastern Oklahoma and NW Arkansas. They have decent winters, cheap land, low property taxes, and game galore. I own land in NE Oklahoma - love it. The main thing I miss as an outdoorsman is the public land. Somebody owns everything there, it seems.

[lone sailor]

Thanks for putting into that kind of perspective, Ponderosa. I will definitely keep that in mind as we decide on which compromises we will make and which we will choose to keep.

[saffordpastor]

Lone sailor....I live in an area that is not that big, but has a lot of what you like to do.
Safford and the area is about 35-40,000 folks, is a farming, mining and ranching area, and has plenty of outdoor opportunities.
I am a hunter and fisherman, and although I dont do a lot of big game hunting, the small, game, upland bird and waterfowl hunting can be terrific at times.
I took my nephew out to a spot on the river (Gila) last week and flock after flock of mallards came into the decoys...he shot up 2 boxes of shells.....the 15 year old missed most of them but still got several.
On Mt Graham right outside of town there is deer, squirrel, bear, and several other species....I like to hunt Bandtail pigion up there.
The dove and quail hunting can be fantastic.
Although any big lakes are 30 miles away or so, (San Carlos), there are plenty of small waters, holding bass, crappie, trout, and the Gila holds some big catfish.
Go a little north and there is fantastic elk hunting....you can buy a turkey tag over the counter for NM.
Also although deer is by draw, you can still buy archery tags over the counter.

All in all not bad.

[lone sailor]

Thank you sir, much obliged.


Is there much work in the area? Or somewhere close enough to commute for work?

[saffordpastor]

Originally Posted by lone sailor

Thank you sir, much obliged.


Is there much work in the area? Or somewhere close enough to commute for work?

Depends...as anywhere the economy has taken a hit....the mines were booming, but with the drop in copper they have had some layoffs. There are always jobs in the correctional officer fields, and there are 3 prisons in the area.

Other than that it just depends on your area of expertise.

I really am expecting....maybe hoping, that the economy will take an upswing....and when it does there will be plenty of jobs here again.

Just keep checking...a year ago there were more jobs than people to fill them around here....it has changed now, but that is pretty much the story everywhere.

As far as commuting, Tucson is 120 miles and Sierra Vista 110.
Takes about 1 1/2 hours to SV and 2 to Tucson.