• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Where to retire

lawrence

lawrence

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2018
Messages
444
Planning my retirement a few years ahead of time. I will not be retiring in the gunshine state. There is to much development and it’s to hot at the beginning of hunting season( 90 +). Looking for small town, university town (I love college football), good deer hunting and gun friendly.(not interested in California’s tan or other left coast places). Not looking for lots of snow either. Snows fun to visit, not shovel. I want to own some property. so what’s you suggestion?
 
Maybe somewhere in upstate SC or NE GA. Close to Clemson, USC and UGA. All great football towns. SC and GA both have liberal seasons. Weather is decent and cost of living is not bad.

I live in the mountains of NC, near Asheville. I’m a graduate of UT, but it’s a two hour drive to get back to Knoxville. Hunting here is decent, but not as good as SC or GA. Cost of living is steep. Weather is awesome. I’m not planning on leaving when I retire.
 
I live in Southern Michigan and love it. However, we typically get snow, this year being an exception. Also, Michigan is among the most highly pressured hunting states in the country. That being said, I think southern Indiana is a real sleeper for good hunting. Lower population density, fewer hunters, some snow but not a lot, the area is beautiful and the deer grow big.
 
Anywhere around W TN ALSO gives you access to N MS, W KY, NE AR, SW MO and S IL. You wouldn't be a far drive from Oxford, Auburn, Starkville, Tuscaloosa, Nashville, Lexington or Louisville for sports.

Early season can be a bit on the warm side, but in that proximity there are several options to go for a velvet buck too.
 
Tennessee is up there for me too. I'm a Michigan boy and it would be hard to leave that cold behind but Tennessee is a beautiful state. Pretty mild winters and very reasonable weather the rest of the year. Tons of state parks and land, cool big cities (I'm sure there are some nice smaller ones too), gorgeous views and terrain...
 
I would suggest some road trips when things settle down. Also what kinda terrian would you like to hunt?
A few other things to consider might be hospitals near by? Family distance?
Taxes? Hunting just deer? How will you fill the other months of the year doing what you want? Can you do that there?
 
lawrence said:
Planning my retirement a few years ahead of time. I will not be retiring in the gunshine state. There is to much development and it’s to hot at the beginning of hunting season( 90 +). Looking for small town, university town (I love college football), good deer hunting and gun friendly.(not interested in California’s tan or other left coast places). Not looking for lots of snow either. Snows fun to visit, not shovel. I want to own some property. so what’s you suggestion?
Click to expand...
WV around or near Morgantown and UWV. Growing around that area. Good hunting and very near OH, KY, Indiana, and reasonably close to IL, Iowa and MO. LaGrange,KY for the same reasons. UK and Kentucky State rivalry too.
 
WV is not so bad if you’re retired law enforcement, no state retirement tax anymore.... mountains, rivers, big deer southern part of state and awesome fishing!!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'd stay away from NC. It's crazy hot here in the high 80s-90s and humid during early season until about mid to late October. I'm not in the mountains I am in the central part of the state.
 
Ontariofarmer said:
In Huron County Ontario retired at my place of work . Retired for two weeks now. You really don’t know how much mental pressure is involved in planting and planning a crop until you rent your land.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...
Congratulations on your retirement!
 
If I wasn't so dug in here, I would move to Southern Iowa.
Really nice small town atmosphere, truly rural, and central in the USA...can drive in any direction for great road trip vacations. Only a day away from the Rockies.
Winters are not too crazy.
And you can hunt world class bucks every year in Iowa, plus out of state hunts in Mo, Ks, Il, are all reasonably close.
 
Last edited:
This yankee is looking for a place with all four seasons where winter is shorter and snow would be a pleasant novelty. I looked a few years ago around the country and identified the NW corner of NC, Caldwell Co, Wilks Co. ( Brushy Mtns.) as a place I'd like to take a closer look at. I'm not going any where any time soon so I'll keep looking around. Climatic, vegetative, population, elevation, cost of living, deer, deer, deer, and some turkey hunting. My wife may have other thoughts but she's not unreasonable. I'm thinking rural, she may want to be in a small town.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top