Where would you go?

[SEwalleye]

I don't know if this is the best place to post this, but I have duck hunting on my mind.. Anyways, as I look forward to the day that my wife finishes college, I am wondering where we should live. We both grew up in small towns in MN, but are now in the cities for school. So here are the criteria (both mine and hers):

1)Good duck hunting within 30-45 minutes

2)Good fishing within 30-45 minutes

Those are mine

Now for hers:

1)Good shopping within 30 minutes, preferably as she puts it, a "decent" mall.

2)Entertainment (movie theatre, etc.) within 30 minutes

I prefer a smaller town 10,000 or fewer people, but am willing to go bigger (i.e. St. Cloud, Rochester, Fargo size) We are not necessarily set on MN.

So guys/gals lets hear your suggestions!! Thanks for helping me plan/daydream as I sit stuck in our apartment!!

[Eric Wettschreck]

Lake Wobegon

[Rost]

Madison South Dakota. Decent fishing, decent hunting and we got a Pamida My wife claims she can make it to the Mall (Sioux Falls)in 48 minutes flat.

[SEwalleye]

Boilerguy - Are you suggesting that no such town exists?

[strat-o-caster]

Fergus Falls or Alex-Glenwood area

[ortonville]

ortonville-shopping mall a hour away,movie 15 min,and it is just a great little town

[blacksheep]

little falls

[SD_waterfowler]

Brookings, Watertown, or Aberdeen South Dakota...Arguably the best walleye and perch fishing in the midwest, as well as the best waterfowl state in the union...

[wingnutken]

Sounds like we married the same woman. GO WEST! We moved to Orono 19 years ago and have never regretted it. We are 20 min. from Ridgedale and very close to good duck hunting and fishing. Maple Plain or Delano are just west on hwy 12 and once the construction thru Long Lake is done it will make commuting to Mpls. a breeze. Ken

[Sartell Angler]

bingo--if things go like I hope I will end up in one or the other in a couple years.

SA/wdw

[Kodiak]

sioux falls, sd

[gorrilla]

I made the move with my wife to just north of brainerd two years ago. Its great! It would be perfect if it weren't for all those CITY people (I love saying that) on the weekends. Baxter/Brainerd has tons to do and plenty of malls and my closest lake is Pelican(1mi.) and Gull, Whitefish, N. Long, Round, Edward, Mission, are all within ten miles. The deer and bear hunting is great within a short drive of anywhere here and the only thing that's on the negative side is deer ticks and no pheasants and few waterfowl. But the birds are a reasonable drive only and the positives include Mille Lacs(40mi), Leech(45mi), Cass(75mi), Winni(75mi), Red(138mi) ETC!!!! Best move of my life...

oh I almost forgot... NO TRAFFIC JAMS!!!!!!!

[FOOT]

If you are looking for a good place to duck hunt I would stay away from Rochester.

We do have Lake Pepin (Mississippi River) which offers great fishing for walleye, sauger, northern, bass and others plus world class stream fishing for smallies and trout but the duck hunting has declined over the past 10 years. The migration has shifted west so the duck hunting on the backwaters of the Mississippi is hit or miss with far more misses then hits. HOWEVER, Rochester has terrific Goose hunting for the greater Canada geese. There is also decent pheasant and grouse hunting and great deer and turkey hunting.

Rochester, my wife says, has great shopping and is only an hour away from Mall of America. Plenty of movie theatres and there are local stages theatres as well.