anyone know about the Great Falls area?

E

EEK

New member
going up next week to look at a job, i was just wondering how the bird hunting is in the Great Falls, Haver area? I have never been up there and was wondering if theres public land to hunt. Any other info would be apreciated, I realise its closed now but i will probably get a good job offer and might relocate.
 
thanks, i hate to go looking but the economy here is toast, my busibness relied alot on the new housing market wich has just plain dissapeared, now my venders have closed as well so it looks like it might be time, i can also go to Williston ND, cant let 100K in equipment just sit.
 
I had a buddy that was working on a wind farm about two years ago near Shelby (just north of Great Falls) and he said there were roosters, huns, and sharptails all over the place.
 
Great Falls is a good destination as far as hunting goes. Mountains and NF nearby. Bird populations are down most places. This Winter is another tough one.
As far as the economy, work is pretty slow out there.
Williston ND however is booming.
 
well, i leave sunday to see the sights up there, for what i do there seems to still be some demand, going on up to Haver as well
 
mnmthunting hit the nail about right, great falls is a steady , but slow economy directed by agriculture, and the air force. The pheasant population in that area boomed with the advent of crp 12-15 years ago, but since the run of drought we had during the last 10 years, pheasant populations dropped dramatically. We seemed to have 2-3 years of dramatic increase in moisture, but that also has come at the heavy dose of winter !The exception is close to rivers and riprairain corridors.

Williston is a run away train economy wise! might be a good short run place to make some cash, and there are pheasants throught out N. Dak. Good luck, in this economy!
 
One other note, there is not too much public hunting in the great falls area. Pheasants hunting is more restricted than hun hunting or sharptail by land owners in my opinion .
 
You mentioned Williston, ND . . . that place is crazy right now with a major oil boom going on. Very difficult to secure housing at the moment though there will be a lot of new houses and apartments built this coming year. We're doing quite a bit of development work up there. There have been suggestions that my company would like me to move to Williston, but I told them I'm not willing. My parents just moved down from the Medicine Lake-Froid area to be closer to me and my wife. The tough thing about Williston (other than not being able to find housing) is that there is a real shortage in restaurant and retail support. The City is growing fast and people are hesitant to stick their neck on a 20-year investment for a restaurant, because the last oil boom up there (in the late 70s and 80s) crashed and destroyed the local economy for a good 10-15 years. The result is that if you go to Applebees on a Tuesday night, you'll have an hour to 2 hour wait for a table. It's crazy. However, this oil boom is expected to last for quite a while and in the next year or two, I believe you'll start to see a reflexive boom in the retail and restaurant construction market.

As for bird hunting, northeast Montana and a good portion of western ND have very good populations, though the current winter up there has me a bit worried. I've never hunted in ND, but my parents farm is only 10 miles from the border. Good luck with your decision!
 
Just got back last night, went to Cutbank, Harve and great falls, the job i can have and the money was great but the guy i was looking at working for has no interest in letting me do a quality job, hes just hacking people houses up and they are paying top dollar for it, so i came home, and turned down a 500.00 dollar a day job, the people i met there were really nice and i could live there but i will have to look for another company to work for.
 
I own a siding company, we do seamless steel siding, windows, metal roofs, 21 years now, 100K in tools and around 800 jobs so far. Just looking for someplace to work, its gotten imposable to sell a quality job here.
 
My father-in-law owns a siding and windows business in Eau Claire, WI. Market's been tough for him the past couple years. If you decide to look into Williston in more depth, let me know. I can probably get you some contact information, not so much directly for builders, but definitely with some of the big subdivision developers who are connecting with builders. We are currently working with one developer in particular that will be bringing 500-1000 residential lots and/or multi-family tracts online over the next 12-18 months. There is going to be a ridiculous amount of construction in Williston starting this spring . . . if you can find a place to live and base your work from, you'd likely have all the work you could handle at least for a few years if not longer. Everyone we work with and talk to expects this boom to last 10-15 years at a minimum and possibly for 50 years, assuming our dependence on oil doesn't disappear for whatever reason. Waaaaaaay more construction going on/planned in northwest North Dakota than anywhere in Montana right now.
 
My wife works for a comercial construction company, they are doing alot of work in the Williston area, and they have offered a job in a new office there, they have several houses rented there as well, i guess i could look there, i am reall thinking about just goint to work for someone useing all my exsperiance and tools, feeling old at 43 with over 20 years solid on the wall. the trouble has been that we are too good at what we do and companies with lots of crews dont want a high quality person as it makes the rest of them look like ths scabs they are.
 
The boom in williston is also having an effect on NE Montana , housing prices in that region look to have jumped dramatically. I was hoping to buy a get away place up there, and now out of range due to the lack of housing. it sounds like workers are driving from plentywood, culbertson, and medicine lake now, that werent even a year ago. It sound like the building boom will go for a few years, then when the construction industry matures, the area will have a large population of old field workers, drivers, welders for mait., and support services.
 
You might look into the Baker Montana area.
That area is booming, lots of new construction.
The Bakken formation is in that area. Elm Coulee has become the largest on shore oil producer in the lower 48.
Look for lots of home construction for a long time.
 
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