moving to Washington State I hope ?

[woodworker]

There is a very good chance that I might be moving to Washington State, the Coulee Dam area and I hoped that I could get some insight from some Trad Gang members.  A little back ground, the family and I are moving from western upstate New York, so you could imagine I know little about the area.
    After many years of being self employed, I have finally come to realize that the 60 to 70 hour a week in the shop woodworking, or chasing the work, or doing all the paper work or preparing for another show is really benefiting my family much.  Time to move on and put my experience and skill to work else where and do the furniture on the side, hence my possible move to Washington.  Surrounded by parks, 40 hours a week, and most of all time with my wife and kids.  If Washington does not work out I will keep searching the western states but; from what I have read about the area it sure does appeal to me.  Any and all advice would be appreciated, all the best, Joe

[Spence]

Joe,
Lucky you.  I spent 4 years in Olympia, and Wa state is on my short list for retirement locations.  Although I've not been to grand Coulee per se, I've chased turkeys just north of it up near Republic, WA and Methow Valley area.  It's one of the prettiest areas I've ever been to.  Lots of Whitetails, Mulies,elk.  What I enjoy is the diversity of the habitat and species, although you may need to drive a bit to get there.
Spence

[chris weller]

That are is pretty thick with both whitetails, and mule deer. The upland bird hunting can be great, as well as the waterfowling. Your about an hour and a half away from decent elk hunting in the selkirks. The river has some great fishing as well. If you can make a living in that area, its paradise.

[L. E. Carroll]

You'll be right in the middle of some great Mule deer and trout fishing.  Turkeys close by, plenty of coyotes, not far to whitetails, elk and [to be so lucky big-horn and moose]. Beautiful lakes in the area, and the Columbia river and it's bounty of fishing and recreation is right there.

I grew up a few miles down the road in Ephrata.  Any Idea where you'll be living and working.. kind of a depressed work area unless you work for the govt. on the dam or in the Indian Casinos.

Do some scouting.. get out and meet some of the farmers and ranchers in the areas of interest.. basically make some friends. Then jump in and help out around their places on occasion.    Like during the busy harvest time, or when some fences need put up or repaired.  ... Lots of places not huntable by the "Hoard" may very well become accessable to you...

I have since [years ago] moved to the "wet side" of the state for my job with the railroad, but have continued my relationships over there,[ very near your area ], and have thousands of acres of great hunting available every year as a reasult.

When you get here, feel free to contact me thru the Gang if you like.  

[Hud]

I have hunted and fished in WA for most of my life, and think there are many areas you would like. Spokane is the closest large city, and much of the NE is pretty rural. It has high desert, agriculture, steep hills, pines, oaks and heavy timber. Good luck.

[BrianP]

This whole state has something great outdoorswise to offer.  Not mentioned above is the terrific bear hunting.  Running dogs and baiting has been banned some 10-15 years ago now.  The population has exploded due to the lack of pressure and with a little scouting, you should score quite easily.  Whitetails galore, and more turkeys to the NE than you could imagine.  Plenty of public lands to hunt.  All in all, if you can find a job that you like over there, then you're sure to love eastern Washington...by the way ...no state income tax!  As a side note...how's your Spanish:)?

[L. E. Carroll]

If your not looking at working at Mc Donalds,  

[DHR]

Hey woodworker,

I live in the methow valley a little to the west of the area you're looking at, and incidentally I also moved here from western ny.  Eastern WA is a wonderful place to live- if you can get used to shooting one deer a year.  PM if you want and I'll give you whatever info I can.

Dan

[portugeejn]

I lived in Washington for 44 years and hunted in eastern WA.  The state of WA is more heavily populated than Oregon where I live now, but where you are going around Grand Coulee there are fewer folks than on the west side.  Over the counter tags for Elk, Deer, Bear, Cougar.  Archery season.  Muzzle loaders have their own deer and elk season (unlike Oregon where you have to draw for muzzleloader tags), at least they did when I left.  It seems to me you had to pick your desired hunting method when you bought tags.  One regular deer tag per year, as mentioned before.  

Be aware that the folks in Seattle and the surrounding area get to tell the folks in Eastern WA what they can and can't do, by virtue of their population (that is why there is no dog hunting for cougar and bear any longer-the folks that are not affected get to say ya or nay).

There is no State Income Tax in WA, but they have a sales tax on pretty much everything but food (8.9% when I left, but it may be higher now-taxes usually don't go down).  So far they have been able to resist having both sales tax and state income tax, but some folks are always trying.

It is a nice place to live, but if you don't like traffic avoid the area from Olympia in the south to Marysville in the north.  It is one big long city now.

It is very very pretty there.  Probably accounts for the number of people.

[Bowwild]

When my son-in-law and daughter move from England they are hoping to be stationed in Spokane, WA.  If they do I'll be a bi-monthly visitor, especially during hunting season!

[BrianP]

Good info above.  Let me clarify the sales tax issue...it varies fom city to city-Olympia currently at 8.5%.  The beauty is with no income tax, you're only taxed on what you spend...not like Oregon and other states with an income tax, where you are tax on your potential to spend.  I like it that way and don't ever want to see it change.  At my age, I pretty much bought all the toys I'll ever need and I'm only 47.  Plenty to do outdoors wise.  You will enjoy it...now if you were from California, I'd have a different story to tell ya:)

[woodworker]

Thank you every one I appreciate all the responses and information, please keep it coming I need all the information I can get, all the best to you, Joe