Hi Mark, I'm just going to address your question as my feelings on the oil boom here will turn into a rant and how it's been a curse for my beloved state.
So.....
1) Place to stay: Good luck finding any decent place to stay, there just isn't any. The places you may find are flea traps and they will charge you an arm and a leg. Better to bring camper or stay in Bismarck and drive a hour or two to hunt.
2) Food: The prices do reflect a "gold rush" attitude. A 20oz bottle of pop here in central ND is about a $1.29 or so, out in the patch it's close to $4.00 Cost of food in a store is also high as is cafes or other eating establishments. Much higher than normal.
3) Place to hunt: Still some areas, but a lot are getting harder to get on to due to oil leases, roads tore up by trucks, man camps. It's a different world there now.
4) Personal Safety: Be damn careful. The crime rate has gone thru the roof. There are a lot of dead beats, crooks and slimy people who came out here to work thinking it was easy. Couldn't hack it...so they do what they did best before they came here....prey on other people.
The best thing you can do is to start to plan now or hunt in the central part of the state, untouched...... so far!
It's not a pretty picture, those are the facts. I do wish you the best of luck and if you need any help, let me know.
Best!
Greg
