Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire North Dakota Advice?

I just took a four month assignment job in Watford City, North Dakota as a Welding Inspector (I know colder than hell and the worst time of the year), but being a money $lut and having to pay child support to the wicked witch, its an oppportunity I cant turn down.

What should I expect up there this time of year? Place to live is taken care of, they have us set up in temp housing close to the job site. I guess weather, closest airport, etc,,,things to do on a Saturday night are my concerns.

It can get to -30 real easy and the wind will blow most days. The closest airport is Williston (40some miles). Things are nuts and this is a boom town. Folks are nice but pretty fed up with the whole scene. Good luck.

My son is there enjoying the hateful wind as he puts it, He loves the money though.

My folks are from the Devil's Lake/ Lakota part of the State. The snow can pile up in big drifts. Be very careful about driving and stock all the emergency supplies such as blankets, shovel, bag or pail of sand, cell phone, etc. Also keep the tank full of gas. Back in the 1940s, my uncle ran a small gas station on Route 2. He said that people would stop for gas, then head out in a storm and he was the last to see them alive.

Cold, wind, snow and more cold, -30 sound about right and it may warm up to 0 for the daytime high if your lucky.
Your about to see what Heii froze over is like.

I still believe the last winter my son worked there had a lot to do with his suicide.

I can get ya a contact number to a guy thats still is working up there. Send me a pm if ya want it.

What the others have said is true...but for fun, there's ice fishing, and ice fishing, and don't forget ice fishing during the next four months to keep you busy! LOL

You will get -30 as a windchill, but I can assure you that a true -30 on a thermometer is rare out there. Might happen once or twice a year for a day or two, but that is uncommon. Having said that, the wind will suck and make it feel like -30 on a fair number of days.

As someone stated, it is a boom town. The rough element is there for sure. I have some hot blooded, early 20s, cousins out there and they are pretty careful about what bar they end up in.

-30 isn't every day but it ain't rare. -100 wind chill is possible.

I live here.

Everything oldtrapper said. He's old. He's a trapper. He lives there. Last winter was unusually mild but the three previous winters were tough.

Lake Sakakawea is about 40 miles north of Watford. It is pronounced kaka there not ja or jew. Ice fishing is big as is snowmobiling. I would stock up on cold winter gear before you get there. Make sure your vehicle is fully prepared with a good winter kit.
The locals around Watford are mostly Norwegians so have a few Olie or Sven jokes. If ya go south ya get into Germans and then Ukrainians. If ya stop into the longX have a beer for me.
I can give you lots o details but much is from the last boom.

Ice Fishing and predator hunting. You'll be close enough to MT that you'll want to give them their $5 so you can predator hunt over there too. Air travel in/out of Williston or Dickinson are pretty captive markets, expect to be astounded when you see what a round trip ticket to DVR will run you.

Expect lines and waiting for everything, meals, fuel, groceries, etc. Also, you'll need to drive exceptionally defensively. On my last two trips to Williston I saw 1 suburban that'd been squished between 2 semi's and it was roughly Prius sized after that as well as watched 1 semi pull out in front of another, semi with the very clear right of way on a 4-lane Hwy had all 18 wheels smokin' to get slowed enough not to bonk the idjut that pulled out in front of him.

North Dakota ain't cold....remember that the socalled windchill.....ONLY counts on bare skin..if it is not alive and breathing-like your skin is then the temp is what it is!!!....... If u take a chair outside at zero degs with a 30mph wind and your naked carcass, the chair will still be 0, and u will feel is as neg-26.........want a real 30+below 2 weeks in a row...fly on up! its here again!!

Learn how to dress for the cold, and invest in good quality winter clothing. Remember, although it may be cold, it will also almost certainly be sunny most of the time. That is far better than cloudy all winter long, very depressing.

Oh, and be prepared to see a lot of very good-looking blonde women in GF and Fargo.

You are a substantial distance from Fargo and Grandforks though I hear the Asian strippers are a special attraction in Watford.
We looked forward to the cold in ND because the Texans tended to migrate back south.

im a lil ways over the border in northeast Montana, ill be the 4th or 5th guy to say dont underestimate the the weather, keep a sleeping bag or similar in your vehicle along with similar items....if you get stuck in bad weather DO NOT EVER leave your vehicle unless you can see a house pretty close and only then if its not blizzarding.....they will find your vehicle, if you leave it they might not find you til snow melt....

there is a gal that left her vehicle one storm a number of years ago just south of here they still havent found, they think she curled up in an old coal mine and froze to death....the smart thing is just hunker down in your vehicle and bundle up, your protected from the wind and snow which means your out of the worst of it.....

as for things to do, there is a multi screen movie theater in Williston, bars in prolly every town....predator hunting and ice fishing should be damn good....

I have a feeling that after our easy winter last year, a lot of the southern folks are going to have their eyes opened wide this year. Never seen so many 5th wheel campers with OSB skirting and uninsulated/heat taped water lines (some just running on top of the ground) as you see these poor folks living in throughout the oil field. You can spot the southern people anywhere because they're bundled up like a kindergarten kid. Not at all uncommon to have several weeks of well below zero weather here. As far as things to do - most of them will involve drinking and strippers if you want to go out. If you want to hunt/fish, you can ice fish on Sakakawea or call coyotes. Neither one is much fun when the wind is blowing 25-30 mph and it's -10F.

Nah, that Alaska guy says the wind doesn't count unless you're nekkid.

The key to ice fishing is a wind break. I have a one man fish trap rigged so the top goes half way up so you get a wind break plus the sunshine. Or I can put the top all the way up and heat with a burner on a 1 pound propane bottle.

Started with a 2 person Clam a couple decades ago. Learned the hard way about ice anchors, would've ice boated clear across the lake if I hadn't grabbed the brush guard on the truck as I went by.

Expect alot of this 24/7. My nephew is out in Watford City right now.

My neighbor and my renters both work in the baakan. Buy some good cold weather gear you can layer on before you go, stuff like that is supposed to be really expensive in the area.

I would bring two of everything, gloves, -40 or -60 boots, long johns, coveralls, baklava, hats, goggles, etc. Make sure your truck has a emergency kit, tarp, and cold weather sleeping bag. Blowing snow can shut things down in heartbeat. Keep at least 1/3 tank of fuel or more in reserve and use synthetic oil in everything.

And a keep a good tug strap handy when driving around