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Claybird, I'm going to throw something at you out of left field.

Artesia, New Mexico. Why Artesia? In short, Cottonwood Gun Club. It's a put-and-take pheasant hunting club. Birds are released on our 4,000 acre club every Friday evening from the first weekend of October through the middle of January or until the birds run out, whicher is later.

You get tags for 15 birds for $175; if you use them up, you can always get more. I typically hunt Saturday mornings for 3-4 hours, take 1-3 birds, get them cleaned by lunch time, and still have the afternoon for whatever, but you can hunt as much or as little as you like. A guy got a membership as a Christmas present at the beginning of December, and he filled his tags by the end of the month! He bought another membership and another 15 tags.

Yes, you can hunt Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan for $175; it's a private club and no license is required.

And, you can hunt by yourself with your dog(s); I often do. You don't need 8-12 guys like you do for those big open fields in Kansas/OK/etc.

Plus, the first few days of dove season are killer! There is a great abundance of Eurasian Collared Dove here, and they don't count against your limit (15 Mourning/White Wing combined). I've seen guys kill 70 dove and not hit their limit. Eurasians are invaders, and we need to try to keep their numbers down, but they are still game birds and should be treated so (taken cleanly and consumed).

Housing in Artesia is a bit on the high side (for the area); Roswell and Carlsbad are both less expensive, and both less than an hour away from the Club, an Roswell has both skeet and trap clubs just out of town.

If this sounds appealing, please feel free to PM me for further discussion. I'm sure we can arrange for you to join me as my guest on opening weekend this year to see how you like it, if you're interested.

BP Guy FYI: We Abhore 8-12 guys in the field in NW Kansas. Most Farmers wont even let parties that big on their properties.. Put and take shooting is not hunting, whether its in New Mexico or New York city. We ran a B&B for hunters for almost 10 years, shooting wild birds over good dogs with small parties, at NO FEE for hunting.Within walking distance of my Ranch we hunt Pheasants, Doves, Prairie Chickens. Waterfowl requires aq 30 minute drive. Both Mule deer and whitetails are often on the place....This year at the end of the season, we were still lifting over 100 birds per day...

Hi Claybird,

I�m working on my escape right now. I was recently widowed and am now planning on purchasing a used motor home or travel trailer and moving into it. I figure I can spend late winter through late summer cruising the US and Canada. Fall and winter through January will be spent doing upland hunting in eastern Montana, the Dakota�s, Kansas, and Iowa (pheasant) Minnesota and Wisconsin (grouse). I don�t have a problem with cold weather but I do have a problem with seasonal affected disorder (SAD) do to the lack of sunlight during northern winters, so at beginning of February it�s back to Texas, sunshine and geological consulting. I don�t know about you but I don�t call any particular place home, for me the entire United States of America is my home.

If the plan I have is of interest PM me, I�m a research junky and have given in-depth thought to this entire plan and would be happy to share.

Steve

Claybirds,
I would highly recommend you apply for adoption by Last Dollar. Hang with him in the warm seasons in Kansas until the cold weather drives you away from the great hunting and down to the Baja penninsula with him. Then fish the winter away in the sunshine and warmth.

(LD, How'd I do?)

Seriously Claybird,
A friend retired about 7-8 yrs ago, sold his house here in the burbs of Los Angeles, bought a big truck and a fifth wheel trailer. He traveled the U.S. for a few years before deciding on settling in Grand Junction, Colorado. I've been to his house there a couple times. I can see the attraction. Big enough town, small enough and great hunting all around (big game was his thing). Nothing like looking at a place for yourself. If I were looking for a new hometown, I'd do the same.

This board, and all of you,is / are fantastic. Much to think about. Maybe the best idea is to travel around (Travel with Charley?) In my case, with Blitzen!) It so happens that the part of NJ where I live is unbelieveably rural, BUT, the State is so hostile towards people like us! (PRNJ)

I just want to go where people with guns are "good folks."

Claybird,
When my wifes cancer became untreatable in Illinois she and I moved to Texas so she could be treated at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Being a gun owner shooting enthusiast in Illinois was a problem. In Texas people with guns are definitly "good folks" and in general Texans are great friendly people. Unfortunately, I can't say too much for the upland hunting opportunities here, unless you have deep pockets.
Steve

Steve,

You have my thoughts and prayers. I know your wife was sick a long time.

Pete

I know the area you live in, Claybird, and it is about as pretty and rural as one is going to get in Jersey, at least north of Trenton. I lived in Hudson County more years than I'd like to admit. And I grew up in Northampton County.

If I were in your shoes, I might well consider just hopping over the Delaware into PA to live, and travelling to hunt as much or as little as you want. I say that for a couple reasons. At your age, you are not likely to hunt every day, and there are 6 or 9 months of the year when the only hunting you'll do will be clays. But hunting/shooting (or any avocation) done every day will get tired inside of a year. You, quite reasonably, want to be free from the PRNJ and it's silly laws, which makes eminent sense. But, moving to a whole new region will impose some level of "transplant shock" on anyone. It's very stressful - one does not recognize just how much local knowledge one develops until one moves to a wholly new area. Speaking from my experience, at the proper time of year I could come to your neighborhood and know where I could find wild raspberries, walnuts, or a good mechanic, or know which judge I should get a traffic ticket heard by or which sawbones to avoid, or even just where to find a decent cup of coffee, a lot more quickly than I could in Maine where I have lived for several years. And while I've made a lot of new friends in Maine, leaving all my old ones behind in Jersey was not easy, and I still stay in touch with them.

I'm a couple decades younger than you, and it was hard enough for me when I packed up and moved to Maine. One builds even more of that local knowledge and local connection as one ages and ripping it all out can have unintended adverse consequences.

If I were in your shoes, I would just jump the river, live simple, enjoy the more sensible laws of PA (and the SGLs), and travel to all those neat places the other folks on this thread have been pitching. Then again, you might do better with a totally fresh start. YMMV.

If your health is a concern then do your travel and hunting sooner rather than delay it to later when both you and your dog may not be up to it. Best idea posted is to buy a motor home, add a trailer and travel to fish and hunt. Even if you only get to do it for one year that will be more than many of us get to do in a decade or a lifetime. Do not delay, just do it.

I have lost two close friends in the last two weeks, one age 62 the other 57. Both were lost without much if any warning. One just dropped dead, the other in less than two month after diagnosis of cancer. Point is both had amassed a very comfortable retirement nest egg, paid the max. in Social Security and never got to enjoy any of it. I will not make the same mistake. The farms are for sale, the practice can be bought and the cash will be spent if I get a chance. I might shoot only new 28 AA's until I die.