Considering a near future move there. Spend a couple weeks there every year hunting. Where do y'all live; and is it difficult to find wood???
Where I hunt in NoDak; it's not high quality wood, but there's a lot of standing dead and fallen dead to harvest. A lot..............a lot!!!
Pine? Takes more to keep the house warm because it burns fast, but it also seasons a lot faster than the hardwoods I hear about here. And douglass fir I hear is better than lodgepole. One of the best hunts WWW and our previous Brittany (she was a pampered house pet AND hunting Super Star! )ever had was up there. He wanted a hotel room the last night on is way home because of a cold snap (heater in 78' camper could not keep up), was busted for sneaking her in through the window She would pee on command and knew how to drink out of spigot water bottle, all it took was seeing his shotgun or smelling his vest.
I live in Carrington which is roughly in the center of the Great State of North Dakota. To notgo totally off on a rant, the farmers of today mostly have forgotten the ways of their grandparents. There were programs for planting wind breaks around fields and there still are those programs but they are very underutilized. In much of the eastern 2/3 of the state many shelterbelts are getting older and are being taken out or because of the large equipment trees are "in the way" and being removed. However if you are willing to develop a relationship with a farmer, most of them in my experience are willing to let you get dead stuff so long as you practice good manners- close gates if you go through them, don't make a mess, don't drive over crops, don't leave garbage, ect. As for trees, most of the man planted trees will be cottonwood and green ash (thankfully we do not have EAB yet). DED took most of our elm 20-30 years ago. If you are fortunate and get into some of the eastern river valleys there is some oak. I really disagree with the policy in tree planting philosophy the state has. They really push monoculture and it has bit them 2x in my life and am afraid they are setting up for round 3. They pushed elm, and then ash, now maple is the push. I really wish thry would diversify plantings, yes it would be a little more work but would help avoid the total wipe outs that come when a tree issue rolls through. So long winded opinion done. Short version, if you put a little leg work in you can have all the wood you want to heat with because so few in the state use wood there isn't much competition. If you do make the move let me know and I have another source but it is sporadic when available but if you have transportation means it is free and they load you. We will wait on that though til you are here. Keep in touch.
Thanks Greenstick. I've been home from NoDak for 6 days now. Wasn't the best hunting, but I just love it up there. I have about an inch of NoDak in my drive as I washed my truck yesterday!!!!!! I was in Medina about 40 miles SW from you for 6 days, and then I went down to Berlin, ND which is 35 miles South of Jamestown. I'll be PMing you in the near future. Thanks.
I have had an off year all around. A massive house problem got bigger and is worthy of a novel. Almost no wood cut this year, thank goodness for being ahead. As I have been going out to garage in evenings the last 3 nights the birds are just starting to move through in numbers so you just missed things picking up.
