Planning to move, need some advice

[Angus]

I live in The People's Republik of New York, and am seriously planning on packing up the wife and kid and heading south next fall. The necessities of the new spread are: somewhere on the east side of the Appalachians, somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon, and there must be an unhealthy population of feral swine.

We need to stay in the eastern states for proximity to family between Florida and NY. We both want to live in the hills. We both work in healthcare, so a few good size hospitals inside of an hour drive is a must.

As for pigs, they are an absolute requirement. I've never hunted them, but have always wanted to. It seems like a blast to have a big game species you can hunt year round.

So let's have it boys, where is the best place on the east side of the country to live?

[TCLouis]

Sounds like North Carolina or SC or Eastern GA is in your future.

ALL beat the place you are coming from

[Angus]

North Korea is pretty close to beating where I'm coming from.

[Bad Water Bill]

Yeah and Mayor Bloomers has more money than the whole of N K.

Head down south and never look back.

[Blacksmith]

Mason Dixon divides Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Maryland is anti gun and no pigs to speak of.
Next is Virginia better on guns but I don't know about pigs.
Then comes North Carolina so it seems the further south you go the better it gets.

[Angus]

I just eyeballed a map of feral hog distribution, and it looks like I'm SOL on hogs. So with them out of the equation, is there anything especially better about VA, NC, or SC? The in-laws have a piece in north Georgia and I'd prefer to keep some distance between us.

[starmac]

Florida has plenty of hogs

[P.K.]

Western NC and VA are nice country, my brother is outside a large post in NC and has been hog hunting a few times.

[x101airborne]

North Korea is pretty close to beating where I'm coming from.

MMDang.... LOL! Thats funny!

[x101airborne]

Too bad you cant move to Texas. All prerequisits met except for proximity to the East Coast.
The wife works in health care and could get yall in poco quick.

[Wayne Smith]

North Carolina - anywhere within reach of the Raleigh/Durhum area will be easy for jobs and within reach for pigs. No pigs to speak of in Virginia, and not a lot of jobs along the mountains outside of the Shennandoah Valley except maybe Lynchburg.

Remember that the swine are moving north. Pig hunting in Eastern NC is largely feral swine that survived the recent hurricanes and have prospered in the wild. Pig hunting in Western NC is largely mixed feral and Russian genes and largely preserve type hunting.

Depending on what type of health care you do investigate various federal programs that are designed to get us into the Rural areas. There have been historically various financial incentives offered, I have no idea what is currently available. Lots of rural where you are talking of settling.

[garym1a2]

Easy to get a CCW also, no gun ban problems and also no state income tax! Plus home prices are still very low and lots of nice gun ranges.
If you get a place in the country you cn even shoot in the backyad.
Pigs are a prblem in central Florida so lots of hog hunting, its not as good as South Texas, but plenty of hogs.

Florida has plenty of hogs

[Sasquatch-1]

W. V. is a very firearms friendly state. Very easy to get a CCW and I beleive it is an open carry state though you don't often see it. I don't know about the animal type hog population. Plenty of deer and other medium size game.

As someone else said, STAY AWAY FROM MARYLAND!!!! I lived there for many years and still have a lot of family that lives there. They may not be as anti-gun as Ill., D. C., and Cal. but they are Very Very Close. It is also a very democrat state.

[MBTcustom]

Sorry buddy, you will have to move west. Come on down to Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama. We don't take no BS, we need healthcare professionals, and we have a little hog problem. Also, if TSHTF you will want to be in the deep south.
I am convinced that the beer here is 1.7 degrees colder than anywhere else in the country.
You could sell your place in NY and afford to buy a pretty decent spread out here.
Most importantly though: A once a year plane ticket is a small price to pay for southern pecan pie, and the smile that comes with it.

Of course, it may take a while to work that NY attitude out of your system LOL! My neighbor's wife is from NY, and at first, I thought she was just plain rude. Now I am thinking it was just a defense mechanism of some sort. It's been 6 years, and she has finally settled down. Now she'll wave at you when you drive past, and she's getting that kind southern way about her. I've never been to NY, but the folks I have seen from there convince me that it's no place I want to be.
I can't believe some folks where t-shirts that say "I love NYC"?!?! What could possibly be so great that it makes living with a bunch of folks you can't trust seem "lovely"?

[km101]

Too bad you cant move to Texas. All prerequisits met except for proximity to the East Coast.

And thats another reason to like Texas! But if you just gotta' get to the east coast, there are plenty of airports and good highways!

And dont worry about an area not having hogs. It is a fact that hogs and coyotes are increasing their range every year. They will both soon cover the entire US, except for the most extreme climate areas (well maybe not Chicago, even hogs cant stand Mayor Emmanuel) A game biologist told me a few years back that there ate two types of areas in the US, those that have hogs and those that are going to!

[John Guedry]

Just don't come south with "that's not how we do it in N.Y." attitude. Other than that come on down.

[sundog]

Add Oklahoma to your list of maybes. We actually have sheriffs here who support the populace. If someone is breaking in, shoot the perp, and then give us a call.

[beagle]

Add Kentucky too. Firearms friendly. Cost of living isn't bad and you have loads of med facilities around Lexington and Louisville. And, feral hogs are moving in too. Big deer population, elk, turkeys and abundant small game.........and good moonshine and people./beagle

[reg293]

I would suggest Asheville NC.

[Wayne Smith]

Ashville is a mountain town/city. You mentioned you wanted to be in the foothills. Raleigh/Durham is in the foothills (Piedmont).