Where to be in Tennessee? (Chattanooga, Cookeville: lease, how much, houses)

[Simmers]

Hello everyone, my husband and I are looking to relocate, one of the states we are looking into is Tennessee. Could you please give me information on some of the cities? What we are looking for is a small town feel (100K population or less), a home that has land (we could live in a small home as long as it has land/open spaces) with a $ range around $250K, employment in IT and logistics or gunsmithing, OUTDOOR activities !!! We love the outdoors, camping, fishing, hiking, hunting, shooting, etc. We're wondering if TN is the place to be? Thanks a bunch for any input; it's greatly appreciated!!!

[shadowwalker]

I can help with the hunting and shooting and maybe more. Forget both. If you plant to hunt, You do it either on three ways. Public, you get to fight with many other hunters, fourwheelers, hikers and people in general. And on the limited public hunting spots that can get very bad. Private, you can buy land and do what you want, maybe. If too many houses around you will get the law called on you for shooting. If you justify you are safe you can go ahead and shoot.If not, no shooting. Lease land, you can pay to join a hunting lease, and hope the rest of the hunters aren't too terrible to try to hunt with, and that it actually has game on it.
On shooting. If you don't shoot on your land, you will have to go to a public range and pay to do it. And on some you can shoot only so long. And if no one is waiting to shoot in line behind you, well you can shoot sone more. If you pay again. On the camping, better be in a approved spot. Fishing, sure go for it. Just be sure on how much fish you can safely eat. All this can be found to be true.

[mbmouse]

Well, I can't speak about the hunting as I don't do it, but I know a lot that do they seem to not have issues, but the poster above seems to have some personal experience. As for the rest of what you are looking for, most any small town in TN you can find a house in that price range or less. IT jobs are needed in every state, good field to be in right now.
Read through these TN forum pages, there have been lots of great info posted about many towns and cities.
If you have specific questions, feel free to ask away, lots of nice helpful folks here.

[Simmers]

Originally Posted by shadowwalker

I can help with the hunting and shooting and maybe more. Forget both. If you plant to hunt, You do it either on three ways. Public, you get to fight with many other hunters, fourwheelers, hikers and people in general. And on the limited public hunting spots that can get very bad. Private, you can buy land and do what you want, maybe. If too many houses around you will get the law called on you for shooting. If you justify you are safe you can go ahead and shoot.If not, no shooting. Lease land, you can pay to join a hunting lease, and hope the rest of the hunters aren't too terrible to try to hunt with, and that it actually has game on it.
On shooting. If you don't shoot on your land, you will have to go to a public range and pay to do it. And on some you can shoot only so long. And if no one is waiting to shoot in line behind you, well you can shoot sone more. If you pay again. On the camping, better be in a approved spot. Fishing, sure go for it. Just be sure on how much fish you can safely eat. All this can be found to be true.

Hello Shadowwalker,
Thank you for your response...
Regarding your response though, I was wondering if you are speaking state wide or in the area that you are familiar with? I was just wondering because I heard differently from other people that live there and the response seemed very extreme, so I was curious if you are speaking from experience or if you are against hunting?

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Simmers

Hello everyone, my husband and I are looking to relocate, one of the states we are looking into is Tennessee. Could you please give me information on some of the cities? What we are looking for is a small town feel (100K population or less), a home that has land (we could live in a small home as long as it has land/open spaces) with a $ range around $250K, employment in IT and logistics or gunsmithing, OUTDOOR activities !!! We love the outdoors, camping, fishing, hiking, hunting, shooting, etc. We're wondering if TN is the place to be? Thanks a bunch for any input; it's greatly appreciated!!!

It sounds like you do need a somewhat rural area. The Upper Cumberland area is rugged, beautiful, and has some relatively inexpensive land. You can easily buy acreage for less than $250k. The largest town in the Upper Cumberland region is Cookeville which has a medium-sized state university (Tennessee Tech) and is headquarters of one of the largest trucking companies in the South, Averitt Express. So I would imagine that a job in logistics at the trucking company is feasible as well as a job with IT at the university or at some of the other tech companies around there. The Upper Cumberland has a couple of beautiful lakes, Center Hill and Dale Hollow. The Cumberland Trail goes right through the Upper Cumberland, and there are several state parks and forests with miles and miles of beautiful, rugged hiking trails, waterfalls, etc.

Good luck!

[jkmewright]

What we do around here (Chattanooga) for hunting is lease land from Bowater ($600 a year) and put in for "draws" in other areas. Seems every family has a hunter in it. There are a TON of hiking and fishing spots. One of my favorite areas is Big Frog wilderness with the Conasauga river. Great trails and yummy fish! There are a couple of shooting ranges (that I know) locally. One on Montlake mtn, one in Hixson and one in Prentiss Cooper State Park. I am sure there are more. This is the place for 4x4 and camouflage lol!

[hiknapster]

I don't see people getting overexcited about hunting around here. There may be regulations but I haven't actually seen anyone doing any regulating! Guys go hunting behind our house and up the mountain all the time. We have this transplant neighbor that complains all the time, but the cops laugh at him.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Simmers

Hello everyone, my husband and I are looking to relocate, one of the states we are looking into is Tennessee. Could you please give me information on some of the cities? What we are looking for is a small town feel (100K population or less), a home that has land (we could live in a small home as long as it has land/open spaces) with a $ range around $250K, employment in IT and logistics or gunsmithing, OUTDOOR activities !!! We love the outdoors, camping, fishing, hiking, hunting, shooting, etc. We're wondering if TN is the place to be? Thanks a bunch for any input; it's greatly appreciated!!!

I also think the Cookeville area fits your criteria. Cookeville has just under 30,000 in the city but has a "metro" area of about 100,000. It's rural but urban, if that makes sense. It's got the shopping and restaurants of a big city but it's a small town. As others on here have posted, there seem to be a lot of IT jobs in Cookeville as well as logistics jobs with Averitt Express. The whole area around there is great for fishing, hiking, shooting, camping, hunting, mountain biking. And if you go about 10 minutes outside of Cookeville you can get some beautiful land for less than $250k.