This September marks my 7th year as a North Dakota resident. I first started hunting here in 2004 and quickly fell in love with the beauty of the wide open spaces. It didn't take long then to figure out this was also a great place for a bird hunter to retire at age 55. Plenty of time left to enjoy my lifelong passion for hunting with pointing dogs.
Living where the birds live has had it's benefits no doubt about that. Having lived in and around rural areas most of my life it was an easy adjustment but every local culture is different. With such a sparse population it doesn't give people much of a perspective at times as to what should be acceptable social behavior. People are more likely to just ignore the oddball or occasional (and sometimes regular) disturbances the local idiots cause. However if they're within your eyesight or hearing it's you're bad luck! You see with everyone likely related in some way complaining or expecting a ticket be given is sometimes not worth the price of being shunned by your extended family sums up the problem.
Such are the burrs under my saddle as I shake my head at what would never be accepted in the other world I used to live in. So these days I find myself increasingly having to count my blessings and reminding myself of the benefits of this world. Access to some beautiful bird country and wild birds for my dog's to work just minutes away. Affordable housing and lower taxes. I didn't move here for the social life certainly but over all these people of German descent are a friendly enough bunch. They also have their reasons for continuing to live here among extended families. Previously I would define a good neighbor as someone seldom seen or heard having lived in a secluded rural setting but living now within a small town I have no choice as to seeing or hearing people. There it is the real root of my dilemma. The real source of my 7 year itch.
It's a balancing act really or a compromise whatever way you want to describe it. But in order to have it all as a bird hunter I've had to pick and choose. It's not necessary to own any amount of land to hunt. There's plenty of accessible acres even with the loss of much of the CRP across the country. Besides I cover a lot of ground in a day so I'm traveling miles from home to keep rotating the birds I hunt. Having neighbors who don't always exhibit good common sense is nothing specific to North Dakota I have to remind myself. So learning what battles to fight and those you choose to leave alone are part of the compromise. At times I admit it's been a hard lesson.
The question then is, will my love of the open spaces and the opportunity to live with my bird dogs in such a place overcome my itch? More diversions will be required I think. I have to dilute the exposure to idiots and small town life in general. Always remembering people really are pretty much the same wherever you go it's how you look at that reality that makes the difference!
