I'm going to be honest with you: Oakdale is kind of a shit hole. Lots of meth, black on black crime, etc. Its pretty rough, no joke.
I live 30 minutes south in Kinder. I would seriously consider looking at places out of town but near Oakdale. I wouldn't suggest going West from there, Pitkin isn't much better. Kinder is a great town, though we just had a major hurricane so places to rent or buy are going to be hard to come by. I would suggest talking to a realtor, which I might be able to put you in touch with.
There's a range just south of Oakdale, but I've never been and I'm not sure what they offer. The hunting is pretty good in that part of the parish, but most of it is private leases. There is the West Bay WMA but I've never hunted there. You may have good luck finding a piece of land to buy out in the country, again I would suggest talking with a realtor.
There are a few good churches in the area. Not sure how old you are but I'm 35 and find dating to be pretty shitty. YMMV
Either you're getting a job at the prison or the Boise plant (or whatever its called now). I can't imagine too many places in Oakdale that would offer a good job.
Just my $.02. I've lived in Allen parish most of my life. Even dated a girl from Oakdale many years ago. She got out while the getting was good. Any questions let me know.