Bozeman has seen significant growth in the past twenty years, with a lot of folks moving to the area from out-of-state because of the location, outdoor recreation, general quality of life, etc. It’s a nice town. I lived there in the late seventies, again for a few years in the mid-to-late eighties, and another brief stint in the late nineties. Always enjoyed it but, again, there has been some significant growth and it’s undergone some changes.
A little history. Bozeman has MSU, which was originally the state land-grant agricultural and technical college. MSU has a large plant and animal science department, a very well-regard college of engineering, the college of nursing, etc. Missoula had the U of M, with forestry, journalism, the law school, etc. The ropers went to MSU and the dopers went to U of M. Bozeman was a little college town in the largely agricultural Gallatin Vally and Missoula was timber town with a lot of logging and sawmills.
Sometime in eighties, all the hippies that had been living in Missoula (where you can go for weeks in the winter without seeing the sun) realized that Bozeman had a vastly superior climate with lots of bright sunshine all winter long. So Bozeman’s main street started seeing little coffee houses like the Leaf and Bean popping up next to the Rockin’ R Bar and the Eagles Club. Additionally, there were more than a few folks who traveled for their work (airline pilots, people in sales, etc.) who discovered Bozeman, could commute with commercial airlines flying into Gallatin Field, and decided to plant their families in Bozeman. Word started to spread and more out-of-staters followed.
That’s not to say Bozeman went west coast. It just became much more cosmopolitan, if you can even use a word like that for a town in Montana. There’s a little something for everybody in Bozeman and it has now developed a large enough economic base that it’s continued growth and vitality are pretty well assured. A fair number of tech and biotech companies have located in Bozeman, bringing a lot of high-paying jobs. RightNow Technologies, founded in Bozeman in 1997, just announced it was being purchased by Oracle this week for $1.5 billion.
And, from what I hear, Bozeman has had some growing pains. There are plenty of folks that were content with Bozeman remaining the sleepy little college town it had been for years, others who embraced the growth, and transplants who wanted to get involved in local affairs and shake things up a bit.
Hunting and fishing are HUGE in Montana and recreational/target shooting is a popular pastime. Guns are part of the Montana landscape regardless of what area of the state you are in. “Black rifles” sell like hotcakes around here and are a pretty common site at ranges and public shooting areas. Most towns of any size will have a private range or two, with pistol, rifle, skeet and trap facilities, and there is generally a chunk or two of BLM land nearby which is frequented by locals for target shooting. Just ask somebody at one of the local sporting goods stores and they’ll get you squared away.
As for just hiking down the trail in one of the local national forests and blazing away, that might prove slightly more problematic. The areas around Bozeman see a lot of hiking, mountain biking, backpacking, x-country and backcountry skiing, etc. You’d do well to stop at the local ranger’s station and gauge their reaction.
I don’t know where you’re from, but if you and your wife move to Bozeman, I’ll bet you’ll like it.
