Thinking of moving to Oregon... Advice?

[Ranger1]

Hello from Ohio,

Well, a possible job opportunity is on the horizon and I am looking into the possibility of moving to the Oregon City/Clackamas County area. Any general advice for this area? I would probably rent an apartment for at least the first year, unknown what I would do after that, depending on home prices. It is just me, quite happily I have no wife, and no kids.

So, where are the best places to live in this area? Is this a gun friendly area? Any local shooting ranges?

I appreciate any advice you may have...

 

[gazz98]

I'm with you. I've been looking at Eugene and Portland myself. Oregon and Washington state are my top 2 choices. Quite frankly, anything would be better then MI.

 

[cordovan]

I lived in a small town called Mount Angel for two years (between portland and corvalis). There is a lot of farm country in western oregon and it has a very rural feel. Where I was located was nice because within 45 minutes I could be in the big city of Portland if I wanted. There is no sales tax so your money can go farther (what the sticker says is what you pay). If you need a lot of sunshine, you may consider another state. From October through may it is overcast with a constant 24 hour drizzle.

People can be nice, although there isn't a whole lot of diversity out there. Opportunities for hunting are availlable via getting to know private land owners or hunting public lands. My favorite part of Oregon was the eastern half. Alot more public land out there with high desert which affords opportunities for coyote hunting. Darrell Holland lives there (big time gun smith). He would be an interesting person to try and look up.

Let me know if you have other ?'s I can try and answer.

 

[OldCowHand]

There's a nice indoor shooting range just south of Clackamas Town Center, and two outdoor ranges on the road to Estacada. The Clackamas County sheriff's department is relatively gun-friendly, but there are pieces and parts of Portland that extend further than you'd think. The reason that is important is that, while Oregon is an open-carry state (both knives and guns), Portland is not an open-carry city. You basically have to get a concealed weapons permit in order to carry openly in Portland; you will still get hassled by the police, but your CCW is your get-out-of-jail-free card. I literally had to sit down with a map to figure out how much of my bicycle commute passed through open-carry territory, and it turned out not to be enough to make it worthwhile.

Oh, and Oregon City, of all places, is another jurisdiction that has passed a city ordinance against open carry. The good news is that most of Clackamas County is unincorporated, so you don't have to deal with a city government.

We have an absolute embarrassment of riches when it comes to knife manufacturers in Oregon. Just off the top of my head, I can think of Kershaw, William Henry, Benchmade, Al-Mar, CRKT ... there are probably more. You can buy, own and carry pretty much whatever you want (full-auto, dirks, daggers, etc.), as long as it's not concealed and you're not waving it about.