doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com slightly O/T Bakken oil field area hunting?

Hi, first off , sorry Steve for calling you Mark, don't know what I was thinking. For the most part, Bob has nailed it about here in ND. The areas he stated for fee hunting is in large part due to folks from out of state. The farmers here are not the dumb rubes some folks think they are, they're smart business people. If they can make an easy buck, they will. The status of PLOTS has also changed, at one time we had a million acres in PLOTS, but no more. Raising crop prices took care of that and CRP acres as well. The only thing about PLOTS is for the most part, they were never that good. A lot were hayed and grazed down to nothing or cattle were in them and the cover was not that good. There still is some good PLOTS, but they get hit hard early to mid season. Late in the season, when most fair weather guys are done, they can pay off. WPA's can also be great, but all are non-tox shot.

What gets my goat is, this year the Game and Fish raised all the fees for fishing and hunting. A resident combo license went from $32 to $50. Why? To better habitat or so they say. The state has $$ coming out their a$$ from the oil companies, yet they won't give anything to improve the public hunting this state prides itself. Just don't understand some of the thinking.

Bird number have been down the last couple of years due to bad winters and poor nesting conditions. This winter was damn cold, but not a lot of snow and they did well. We just had a major storm come thru two days ago, high winds and a lot of snow, I hope they made it thru ok. One good thing is, it was not a mid or late spring storm, so they were not on the nest yet. Hoping for a good spring, but time will tell on that.

As Bob said, if you want to pay to hunt, go to the Mott area, if not, I'd look to places north of I-94, but not to far east of Bismarck.

Best!

Greg

Speaking as a land owner in West Dakota, all of the two legged bad apples have stretched my kindness and generosity to the max. I look at ALL out of state license plates with suspicion. I'm sure most West Dakota land owners feel like me.

I spend lots of time in the fall most years hunting west river in SD. We have been going to the same areas for a dozen or so years. Last year was the worst I have ever seen for both Deer and Pheasants. I'm not looking to kill my limit in 2 hours nor am I looking to pay big bucks for access. I just want a place to run the dog without being over run by other hunters and with a decent chance of putting a few wild birds in the bag. The search continues.....

Steve,

Larry Brown and I have been telling people since about 2000 that we were in the last of the great haydays for wild pheasant hunting and if we all didn't get into as much as our time and resources would allow, we would see it disappear without enjoying it.

I am afraid that those days are here. The high price for corn because of Ethanol, CRP disappearing with the termination of the farm bill that supported so much CRP, the Bakken Oil Boom and three killer winters in a row starting in October of 2008 has pretty much sounded the death toll for wild pheasants on the High Plains.

What happened to the superb pheasant hunting around Sterling and Holyoke CO in the mid to late 70's is now wide spread from Kansas to the Canadian line.

If it was me and all I wanted was a place to run the dog without being over run by other hunters, I would hunt the Highline in MT somewhere west of Shelby, perhaps. You would have to put in some miles per rooster, but you could shoot some birds and the MT birds of opportunity, the Hun and the Sharpie are always a maybe for the bag too. You might want to do it this fall, though. The oil play is sprawling it's way to Cut Bank.

You mention west river and for years I hunted a 12,000 acre farm that straddle both sides of the ND/SD line. The landowner invited friends in for the SD opener and 20 or more hunters would harvest 60 birds on each side of the line and we would not even dent the bird numbers.

That land has been sold and is now farmed from bar pit to bar pit and I know that three hunters are now hard pressed with good dogs to get a limit in either state. I still have access to adjacent lands over there and that is just what it was this past season.

I had a good hunt on the Musselshell North of Billings a few years back. Decent numbers of Roosters and some sharpies and Huns. I might look into that too.

The area I hunt West River has not changed due to Ethanol or a change in farming techniques. Many places are unmolseted grasslands for large stretches but last winter was brutal on the birds. I'll keep looking and make a decision closer to fall.

Interesting topic as I am from Plentywood have lived in Az for 28 years. Family Farm is 7 mi West of Plentywood (sorry small farm not much to offer hunting opportunities to anyone)
I can ask some friends back home about the situation.
Hope to be driving a Hummer with bull horns on the hood if we get an oil well or 2.

Wannago,

Things have changed with bird numbers way down, maybe the lowest in over a decade and increased numbers driving the roads and knocking on doors.

The tribal council closed the Upland season on the Rez in its entirety for the 2012 season. I don't know for sure that they did this last season, but I think someone told me they had.

Their management decision speaks volumes about the status of the pros and cons of Upland hunting on either side of the hwy from Culbertson to Plentywood.

This whole situation just makes me ill... I started bird hunting as a teenager, living in Williston, back in the mid-60's. It was so great, both upland and waterfowl. Have not been back since 1994, and probably won't go back again.

I'm a geologist who's been researching unconventional oil plays, such as the Bakken, for the last two years. Unfortunately, the Bakken is one play I haven't thoroughly researched yet. However, a simple google search using Bakken Formation quickly found this image.



I'm certain there are images that can define the area better.

BTW the Bakken Formation is found in the Williston Basin, also outlined on this map. As the price of oil goes up there's a chance the area marked Extent of Bakken Formation will expand outwards.

Steve

Steve, Russ Atkins the senior Geophysicist for Continental in the play, told me that extensive drilling would be as far west as Cutbank MT, south to Hardin MT, south by Southeast to Buffalo SD, East to Lemmon SD and north from there through ND, back into Canada by 2018.

He also told me that if the political climate of our Country changes in the next 20 years, the estimated longevity of this play, the oil companies will drill more aggressively below the Bakken for there is more oil there than in the Bakken, perhaps as much or more than whats under the Saudis. That would make a hundred year play in the Williston Basin.