Kalispell, MT/Moving West

I've mostly been a lurker on the forum. I really enjoy the community and information that is shared and can be found here. I believe that the majority of members are honest hunters that love wild places and respect the resource. I come to you all asking for some help and knowledge.

Little background:

My long-time significant other are finally getting serious about moving to the west. We both have lived our lives to present in West Virginia, and while it is an amazing place, it's time for something else.

I fell in love with the western U.S. after my first trip to hunt mule deer in Wyoming in 2016. Last summer two friends and I flew out to fish and explore Yellowstone, the Tetons, and the Bighorns. This past fall we hunted elk and mule deer in Colorado. I think about moving multiple times a day. Me talking about the west constantly has gotten her extremely interested in moving as well.

The biggest hurdle as been finding decent employment. She's a nurse so it's been relatively easy for her to find a job.

Which leads me to Kalispell.

She was recently offered an extremely good position at the hospital there. Great pay and exactly what she wants to do. I, on the other hand, haven't had much luck My education and background is in forestry. I've worked in consulting and land management and now work on the timber buying/logging/sawmill side of things. I see a lots of seasonal or part-time jobs, hardly any full-time positions in the Kalispell area. I did interview with a state agency, but wasn't chosen for the position.

We planned to take a trip to Glacier and the surrounding area near the end of August, before she had the offer. Now the trip will be focusing on trying to find somewhere to live.
So my questions are what employment opportunities are there in the Kalispell area? I really enjoy forestry and would like to use my degree, but I'm open to anything.

How's the hunting? From what I've read it's a lot of dark timber and good whitetails. What about elk? Any mule deer?

What about fishing?

And what's it like really like to live in the area? We know to expect tons of snow and a long winter, with a big influx of people in the summer, but is there anything else we should know before taking the dive and moving everything across the country?

Of course this all depends on if I can find a job with decent pay. She's not too fond of the idea of being my sugar momma while I hunt and fish all the time.

Thanks in advance to anyone taking the time to read this and to anyone with any answers or suggestions.

Have visited Kalispell a few times in the summer. Can get chilly in the depths of winter.

Not sure if you have skills that can be used remote though some jobs now are done from home. You might have to travel a few times a year to a HQ or regional office but the majority of a skill set is remote. That may help in the job search as opens up jobs beyond those intentionally based in Kalispell.

You could consult if your existing skills are in demand by smaller companies that can not justify a full-time headcount. If you have health insurance through your wife's employer then that flattens a huge hurdle for an entrepreneur.

Also, some people have skills with woodworking or stained glass etc and can build a virtual store on Etsy to sell items. Your customers are not going to be around the corner but rather around North America and beyond. If you look around Etsy, a lot of the stores with 100s of sales are not particularly gifted artists but these store owners know the market they are targeting and then can put together things to sell. A lot of the stores are not doing a lot of revenues but some are doing very well.

Good luck on the search and I am sure some of the regulars will chime in. I would suggest making a similar post over at a couple of other similar sites as the overlap is definitely not 100% between the larger forums.

Smart lam. http://www.smartlam.com/ Stoltze. https://www.fhstoltze.com/ would be places I would contact. If you have to, work construction or building supply while looking for the right job. Finding good jobs in Montana has always been difficult. Best of luck to you.

As mentioned earlier, the online world and working remote are certainly options now with the tech we have.

Another option is what my wife is currently doing, works in Alaska 4 weeks, then home for 2 weeks. Pays extremely well, and its a perfect fit job for education and back ground. This is easier for us, as we don't have kids at home, thats a factor to consider.

Good luck, i left PA for the west in 1991 and have never looked back, its the place fo rme, sounds like it is for you as well!

Look at some the government jobs, including city, state, county and federal. None of your government jobs are going to blow your bank account wide open but I've worked for the government for the last decade and the paid time off makes up for the salary. Energy companies usually have great pay and benefits as well. If you guys are not set on Kalispell just yet, there's lots of RN and government jobs that pay decent around Helena and Great Falls. Good luck to you on the move!

Added: I'm in the market for a new rifle and was checking out Montana Rifle Company and saw they had openings in Kalispell, might be something to check out.

I have lived in Kalispell area for five years, and I travel/work about 5-6 months a year on energy jobs in MT/WY and some in other states. The remaining months I build rentals/single family homes in Kalispell to bring in extra money. I know the hospital pays great and has good benefits, likewise what others have said about Great Falls, Helena, and Billings have good medical career jobs. So you may find more options in those areas. The Flathead valley is mostly geared towards tourism and building, and the pay is not always that good. I think with your wife’s income you can do find, even if you pickup a couple part-time or seasonal positions, such as fire-crew, construction, park service, etc.
There are better hunting and fishing within a few hours drive. And there is good predator hunting and turkey hunting. The winters can get tough due to inversions, so we don’t get much sun for 4-5 months a year. But you can grow great gardens up here and water is plentiful. I think overall you and your wife will really like the area. Good luck in your move. Preston

After High School the first thing I thought when I moved from the Kalispell area to Bozeman was "Holy sh*t, the sun shines in the winter down here!" The clouds in the Flathead area, however, moderate the temperature so you don't get -20F nights very often. I don't know about jobs, but if you want to live on a grass airstrip with a house and hangar space for 6 airplanes let me know .

Treedog,
I also live in the Flathead, I live 20 miles west of Kalispell in Marion. I work at KRMC also, great place to work. You will love the area, we have a lot work in the flathead, https://www.fhstoltze.com/ and https://www.weyerhaeuser.com/ may be what your looking for or look at he state jobs. If your in the area feel free to look us up, Terry L. Zink. If your in town the week of the fair we will have a booth there, Zink's Big sky Archery Targets, August 14th---19th, say hello. If look out west of town Smith Valley/Kila/Marion, real estate tends to be a little less expensive.

We hunt pretty much hunt all but 2 months out of the year, after elk/deer, we hunt lions & bobcats with hounds all winter long, a lot fun.

The whitetail hunting is good, you can find Mule Deer if you know where to look. The elk hunting is what you want to make of it, hunt hard, we do good, special tags for elk are a plus to go to different parts of the state, a lot of opportunities. the fishing up here is good.

Any help we can be let us know.

Terry

Currently working on letters of interest to send out to the timber companies, and have applied for one county and two state jobs. The big thing is insurance. We're not married, at least not yet. Been holding off and looking for a place to "settle down" so we don't get stuck where we are. I don't have a problem working seasonal or multiple part-time jobs to make ends meet. Benefits would be nice though.

She seems dead set on moving by the end of the year, which is fine with me. Going through the process of finding housing now. I was planning on taking a trip, before we knew about this, to eastern Montana in November so I have my deer combo license. At least I can do a little hunting this year. Definitely looking forward to this whole thing and starting the next chapter.

I just moved up here from Pittsburgh, Pa this year. Just bought some land in Bigfork, just south of Kalispell. Working on getting our house started, so I probably won't get to hunt nearly as much as I would like.

Life is a little more expensive up here, groceries cost more, I drive more miles, which means more gas, more oil changes, more tire wear, etc. Construction is booming, but the wages aren't great, especially given the high end nature of the work. Most companies seem to hire 1099 contract workers instead of actual employees.

But, I'm so glad to be here. It doesn't take much work at all to get yourself into a truly stunning place to take a hike or catch a fish, or go for a mountain bike ride. I can be in the Bob Marshall in 2 hours, I can drive 15 minutes and be waist deep in a river catching native cut throats on dry flies. Endless lakes to explore, piles of morels in the spring, huckleberries in the summer.

Oh, and the donuts from the super 1.

Www.Usajobs.gov
View Kalispell, MT and keep it open for agencies.

FS often has various positions. If you get into one whether it's your fit or not, looking at other jobs within the same agency or others holds much greater opportunity to move in the direction of your eventual goal.