Where would you live in LA?
 

Hi guys, if you could live anywhere in southern LA where would it be? I'm looking to move, but I'm not sure where. I'm an outdoorsman I love to fish, hunt, anything outside. I grew up in FL and been in NC almost as long. I love the South but am tired of the Yankee invasion. I would like to find somewhere laid back with plenty of opportunities to get outside. I just ordered my first mud boat and surface drive motor and would like to be somewhere to put it to good use, catching crawfish, shooting ducks, fishing etc. Any ideas?


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I live outside of Kaplan.... We love it out there. Don't really have any close neighbors and we have a nice little place. Plenty of acess to fishing all around. I don't do much waterfowl hunting but we are only 3hrs from our deer lease in the northern part of the state.


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Houma. Freshwater, saltwater fishing, hunting, good amenities in the city, but can be in the country also if desired.

Lake Charles has quickest access to fresh, salt, duck, whatever. I am 10-30 minutes from any outdoor activity.

I mainly fish salt water so I would target areas at about 50 miles inshore from the coast. that's the sweet spot to keep you better protected from storm surges and winds in hurricanes and at the same time your within an hour or less of great saltwater fishing and hunting areas and yet (in most cases) you are still within an hours drive to great freshwater fishing and hunting areas.

this also tends to get you out into the more outlying areas and out of the big cities with high crime and crowded roads everywhere.

one of the best things you can do is go to local fairs and find local people to talk to about the better areas in that area to live and be able to get a feeling for the area. if you want quiet country style living where people still show respect for each other (as much as this still exists), just avoid the big cities and cities with large populations.

This is exactly what I'm looking for, I get being inshore a ways too to avoid storms and flooding are there any other particular places I should check out? I'm planning on making several trips down to scope it out, the first being later this summer. I'd like to be an hour maybe two at the most from the salt as long as there was plenty of other stuff nearby to do (hunt fish etc.) rivers lake swamps. A reasonable cost of living would be nice too.

each persons own interests and needs makes this hard to answer.

for me im ok with higher risk, so I live 5 minutes from the boat launch in golden, meadow, la 70357

its behind a levee protection but its not well protected from storms. the kids there still say yes sir and no sir when they speak to adults (most of them anyway) and the crime reports are 90% filled with contempt of court instead of murder, theft, and violent crime.

best advice I can give is to think about your main areas you want to spend the most time to hunt and fish and then look at the areas near that.

South of I-10

Have you ever been to Louisiana?

No not yet. Coming down later this summer.


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Where would you live in LA?
 

Around Lafeyette is probably the best bang for your buck with regards to hunting and fishing (duck, deer, fresh, salt) access, people, prices and amenities.

In the Lafayette area the food is better than anywhere else in the state, which means it's better than anywhere else in the country.

Move to Lake Charles if you like the smell of 3 week old Easter eggs and the site of refineries. Otherwise just drive to big lake from the Lafayette area when vermillion bay or the basin aren't on.

The drive to cocodrie and to big lake is nearly identical from the Lafayette area, plus the basin has plenty of food and fun on the weekends, not to mention bass, pan fish and public hunting (30-45) mins from Lafayette.


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Lafayette or mandeville/madisonville


Be forewarned that we Louisiana folk are pretty trashy. You will not believe the trash along the roads. That's the biggest Hong I hear from out of staters.

Mandeville/Madisonville are solid too, forgot about that little nook of paradise.

Yeah it's nice over there. Blowing up too like youngsville. Good schools too

Sorry to hear about the trash but you guys don't have a monopoly, plenty of that here too. I'm looking forward to the food I'm a big fan.


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Any Where other than
New Orleans
Baton Rouge
Lafayette ( mini Baton Rouge )

Lol, obviously you havent been to lake charles in the past 20 years.

You guys get rid of those eggs? Lol. I'm assuming sulphur?


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Holly Beach!

x2

So you guys dig Lake Charles? I have a brother in Dallas that would be closer to him... What's the deal?


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I live in Scott which is next to Lafayette. We're near I-10 so we jump on there to go to Big Lake or Henderson and take Hwy 90 to get to Grand Isle and the bay. Everyone is so friendly and helpful here and Lafayette is right there if you want to head there. Our deer lease is 2 hours north on I-49. All of these major roads are very close to us and easy to access. I totally agree on the food! Like everyone said, figure out what your priorities are as far as what type of fishing you like, hunting and if you prefer living in a large city, suburbs or a field. Lol Good luck on your search. You're picking a great place to live.

Abbeville, LA is the place ot be.. I'm 10-15 min south of Laffy.. 73 min from Big Lake.
70 min. from Tiger Stadium. and 2 1/2 hr from NO...

Lake Charles is in Texas. Lafayette is where it's at

:grinpimp:

Priorities... I'm a wing shooter I have an 8yo German Shorthair, I just bought a flat bottom surface drive boat, I would love to run crawfish traps, frog gig, maybe kill some pigs, and a gator? I spent the last 5 years pounding reds snook and trout in southwest FL, although I'm ready to shift gears I don't want that to be too far out of range. Id prefer some space, swing set land is not for me and I'm definitely not into the rush hour.


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Walker/Denham area.. not too far from decent outdoor adventures, far enough inland for protection from the storms... 25 minutes from downtown Baton Rouge.. 45 minutes from New Orleans. Lake Maurepas and Ponchatrain aren't far, neither is the Atchafalaya Basin...Close enough to tow the boat to Grand Isle for the weekend... far enough from the hustle and bustle of the cities.

I'm in Evangeline Parish. In the country north of Mamou. I can be in Baton Rouge in 1 1/2 hours. Lafayette in an hour. Big Lake in 1 1/2 hours. Toledo Bend in 1 1/2-2 hours.

Can be at Chicot State Park, Millers Lake, crooked creek all within 20 minutes.

Can leave my house and be in a deer stand in 15 minutes. Lots of duck and dove hunting opportunities.


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I agree 100%. I've been living in Lafayette for almost 12 years and love it. Best food in the entire state by far. Very close to some of the best hunting and fishing in the sate. Tons of big grocerie stores, restaurants, and sporting good stores. Very friendly people and thousands of beautiful women if your single!

lafa is definitely loaded with beautiful women! I haven't been often but it seems like houma would be a pretty sweet place to live too. Cocodrie and dularge always seems to be on fire, and then you have excellent freshwater in all the basin around it.

I live in Maurice it's a small village on the outskirts of Laff. It's the best of all the worlds you are wanting IMO. It's close enough to Laff if you need to run to the store or if you and the wife want to have a night out on the town, but still live in a country setting. Where I live it's about 45 min to my duck lease and the V-bay to get into some salt water fishing. The basin isn't that far down I-10 East for your freshwater fishing fix.

I admit I've only lived in the SW area of LA my whole life, yet I have spent a decent amount of time in all corners of the state. I think that the Baton Rouge, New Orleans areas should be avoided if you're looking to live the quiet lifestyle without the bustle. Lafayette used to be a nice hometown feel, but the greater Lafayette area is growing up quickly it seems. Lake Charles is expanding as well, but on a somewhat slower pace. I think that between Lake Charles and Lafayette are just about as close as you can get to having everything available in a country living atmosphere. I personally am about to move to a small town called Kinder. Just East of Lake Charles really does have the best access to a wider variety of fishing and hunting types than most places.


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I really like the mermentau, lake auther area. Just moved to egan and the water is awesome here. Love cypress.

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And the frogs are insane and everywhere. Tough not to gig last night.

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Lake charles is best area IMO for waterfowl hunting. Within an hour of 2 good public refuges, and closer to the prime rice fields than lafayette. Look into somewhere south of lake charles, maybe Grand Lake. Small little town, plenty of space. Also you would be 5 minutes from big lake and close to good bass fishing as well.

Lafayette is crowded and you'll be an hour away from most good wingshooting.

You're going to miss clear water and snook terribly.

You're right about that, I already do. Following the winter of 2010 FWC placed a moratorium on snook that lasted three years that has morphed into two short seasons annually. You can still CR but putting one in the cooler is tough. Just as they lifted the moratorium they began releasing water from lake Okeechobee basically killing the fishing by lowering the inshore salinity we had freshwater vegetation in my gulf access canal. The water quality was terrible gone were the clear green waters replaced with the dingy brown from Boca Grande to south of Marco Island... So I guess I'm used to it! Lol


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I currently live in Lafayette (born and raised here), but I've also lived in Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Shreveport and Lake Charles, and spend a lot of time in and fishing out of Houma as well as the Golden Meadow area.

I do love Lafayette, I think it's the best city in Louisiana on it's own merits, but it is a little bit of a hike to get to the salt. I like to sight fish and there isn't much of that around Vermillion Bay so I'm constantly driving West to Calcasieu or East for at least 2 hours. If youre number one priority is being close to coastal fishing and hunting I wouldn't make Lafayette the first choice, however if you want a fantastic place to live that isn't too far from the outdoors Lafayette is awesome. Food, Culture, Festivals, beautiful women, good music scene etc. Lafayette is pretty safe from storm surges, although we'll get some wind damage. Traffic can suck in some areas but if you're a retirement age male I don't recon an easy trip to the mall is high on your priority list.

Lake Charles was a nice place to live, good people, the culture is a bit different because of Texas influences, not bad, just different. Lake Charles has the Calcasieu Estuary right freaking there and is a short hop to Toledo Bend, Sabine Lake, excellent freshwater fishing at Laccasine and some good duck hunting around too. The economy there is doing well right now too. Even though Lake Charles right on the Calcasieu Estuary, there's plenty of places to live where you wouldn't have to be fearful of storm surges etc (and plenty where you would), just watch your elevations and fins a house that isn't in a flood zone, that insurance has gotten $$. For a Jumping Off point to the outdoors Lake Charles is hard to beat without putting yourself at considerably more risk of storm surges/flooding.

Baton Rouge - The only redeeming thing about it is LSU sports. Way too much traffic and not much cultural vibe, I found it to be very white bread. Not someplace I'd get excited about moving to

Alexandria - Not even if you held a gun to my head. The place they stick it when the earth gets an enema.

Shreveport - Only slightly better than Alexandria, way too far from the coast.

Houma, I could live there if fishing was my number one priority, more prone to flooding and surges than most of Lake Charles and all of Lafayette. Not as much to do other than fishing as in Lafayette or Lake Charles, but Cocodrie, Dulac and Dularge can sure be attractive.

Golden Meadow area, fantastic for the outdoors but way to susceptible to storms for me.

The Northshore area is very nice and puts you within an easy drive to a LOT of fantastic fishing. Everything from Myrtle Grove to Venice and Shell Beach, Hopedale and Delecroix. Also close to NOLA if you want a taste of the City.

All of the above have plenty of small satellite towns that usually cost less to live in and still keep you close to the amenities of the various cities.

Moss Bluff is a small community north of Lake Charles that's is worth checking out if you decide to relocate in the Lake Charles area, 45 min. To Calcasieu Lake, 1 1/2 hrs. to Toledo Bend, your homeowners insurance rates are much less vs. South Lake Charles area. 90 pct. of the employees within the company I worked for that relocated here chose Moss Bluff.

Moss bluff is not a city either. Can still burn in ur yard and shoot fireworks.

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Are you saying that ..... like that is positive factor? I guess burning is ok [if the wind is blowing the other direction]n. Fireworks at 1 AM I can do without.

We like the "Bluff".

Atchafalaya basin offers good public deer and hog hunting, and you can put that pointer to work on woodcock out there.


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Might as well move to East TX and live in a state with some governmental balls if you're considering Lake Charles area

[emoji16]


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Where would you live in LA?
 

Ttt

That's what I was thinking.

None of those places they are mentioning sound like places you really want to be. Might as well live in Texas.

I want to thank y'all for all of your helpful comments, there's a lot of good information here. I'll be referring to this thread often while planning my first trips down. It looks like I may be able to get down earlier than planned, maybe in the first couple weeks of June. Are there any events coming up in that time frame that are worth planning around? I really do appreciate your input, if other folks down there are half as helpful, and friendly I know I'm making a good decision.


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More info is needed.

How old are you?
Do you have kids, are the involved in sports?
Are you married?
What do you do for a living, will you continue to work when you move here?
Do you enjoy nightlife?

49yo, no kids, girlfriend, I own an alarm company here in NC, I will still be involved in a limited capacity, would like to find local employment to transition to.


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Oh and yes on the nightlife... night on the lake chasing jugs, campfire, and a good bourbon.


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Lafayette or on Big Lake. Two coolest places I know.

Dularge, local employment is crap right now with the oilfield market.