Job Offer in Grand Forks (Fargo, Devils Lake: appointed, 2013, house)
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Got a job offer last week in Grand Forks. We haven't accepted it yet, but is a very good offer. If we accept I will be coming in mid Jan or Feb. I have been there in Jan before as I am a UND alum so I know what to expect as far as cold weather. I will need to find a small place to live for a few months until we sell our house in western KY and my family comes. We have six dogs and will be looking out of town for a house. I just don't think six dogs would enjoy being in town or that my neighbors would appreciate having six dogs next door.
How far away from GFK is it reasonable to look and drive to work? Especially in the winter. We do have FWD vehicles but aren't living there every day driving to work yet. We hope to find a home with at least some small acreage 2-10 acres possibly more if reasonable. Have looked at a couple of places online in Larimore, Thompson, Northwood, and others but just aren't sure how far away we can be to get the acreage we want and still drive in the winter.
Also want to investigate the hunting and fishing. We are avid duck/goose and deer hunters and I know ND is the duck capital of the world. We hope to experience first hand the game that ND has to offer. Any info on how closeGFK is to good hunting. How accessible is this? Also might try to venture up by the border for elk/moose if this is an option as well. Plan to learn to ice fish and walleye fish as well. It will be a good excuse to buy a boat.
Got a job offer last week in Grand Forks. We haven't accepted it yet, but is a very good offer. If we accept I will be coming in mid Jan or Feb. I have been there in Jan before as I am a UND alum so I know what to expect as far as cold weather. I will need to find a small place to live for a few months until we sell our house in western KY and my family comes. We have six dogs and will be looking out of town for a house. I just don't think six dogs would enjoy being in town or that my neighbors would appreciate having six dogs next door.
How far away from GFK is it reasonable to look and drive to work? Especially in the winter. We do have FWD vehicles but aren't living there every day driving to work yet. We hope to find a home with at least some small acreage 2-10 acres possibly more if reasonable. Have looked at a couple of places online in Larimore, Thompson, Northwood, and others but just aren't sure how far away we can be to get the acreage we want and still drive in the winter.
Also want to investigate the hunting and fishing. We are avid duck/goose and deer hunters and I know ND is the duck capital of the world. We hope to experience first hand the game that ND has to offer. Any info on how closeGFK is to good hunting. How accessible is this? Also might try to venture up by the border for elk/moose if this is an option as well. Plan to learn to ice fish and walleye fish as well. It will be a good excuse to buy a boat.
Hi I chatted before. I grew up in western Kentucky and have lived in Grand Forks since 1998.
I dont hunt myself...but do know a good place is Kelly's Slough just northwest of west of town about 10 miles or so. On the western edge of the red river valley roughly in between Larimore and Grand Forks Air Force Base is a range of low hills with trees along the Turtle River which offers good hunting. Kelly's Slough NWR is in that area.
As for driving in the winter....Larimore area offers a straight shot on Highway 2 into town and it is 4 way. But in open areas visibilities can be greatly reduced and that highway closed west of town....but usually not too often....1-2 times a year at most. Small towns up I-29 toward Manvel or out toward Gilby area west of town are a close drive in. I know someone who lives in a hobby farm with horses just east of Gilby and he drives into town for work in all times of weather. Only rarely would he have to stay over. If you do work in town but live in the country I would advise having a safe house in town you could go to in case of blizzards (a co-worker etc) or check to see if you could stay overnight at your work. South of town down I-29 like Thompson or Reynolds area is nice. Northwood is west of Thompson on Hwy 15 (I think) but that would be pushing your limit as far as daily commute in winter. I would stick to something Larimore to Gilby to Manvel south and east of this..down to Thompson area to Reynolds and rural areas in between.
Devils Lake is famous for great ice fishing as well as Lake of the Woods about 3 hours northeast of us. DVL is 1 1/2 hours west.
Your right about the dogs....that many you will have to be outside of town. Grand Forks has an ordinance on the number of dogs permitted....I think 2 or 3 at anyone house.
Yes,I remember, we chatted before. We are still in western ky and it is a big decision to leave where we grew up and go 19 hrs away from home. My wife is not going to give up her babies (dogs) and I'm not giving up my hunting dog. We currently live on a small farm (36) acres and enjoy being in a rural area. We enjoy shooting skeet in our back yard (which is about 15 acres), gardening, fishing in our pond, and we have about 150 acres that we can hunt right out our back door. I have plenty of room to train with my lab. If we do decide to make this move we still want to have a few acres so we can continue to do some of the things we are doing now. I have fished devils lake before and being so close to MN would also offer great fishing as well.
I have 2 boys 17 and 18 who were raised in the country and love to hunt and fish. They would really enjoy being able to get up in the morning and go duck or goose hunting and see a lot more birds than we usually see in KY. We have been up to MN for walleye fishing and they really enjoy doing that also. They would also have access to good schools as UND is right there in GFK, NDSU is in Fargo, and Northland is in East GFK. They wouldn't have to leave home to get a degree or learn a trade.
It sounds like its not unreasonable to find a house with small acreage and safely drive 20-40 min in to GFK even in the winter. I'm sure that once I start work and we get settled, we will make new friends. Arranging a place to stay when weather is bad is a good idea. The hospital where I will be working most likely has had these situations arise before. Thank you for the info. Any other suggestions are appreciated. Perhaps there will be some on here that have info about hunting/fishing in ND.
Hunting & fishing in/around GFK, hmmmm. Far better than Fargo as I would be only 70 miles from Devils Lake or LOTW. You got great catfishing on the Red. The waterfowl is phenomonal. Spring season goose, early season goose and the Northern Curltails are still here now.. if you deer hunt in KY, well our deer are typically another 50% larger and 10 x better eating. Why do they taste better? Corn and soybeans. Your boys will be able to hunt bear 50 miles to the east, mt lion, mulies, antelope 200 miles west.
The moose are way way down in the northern valley. Used to be a nuscince around TRF, but diesese has all but wiped em out. So that's a candian trip. Elk, ur best off going to CO or WY. But now the RRV has turkeys and u don't have to drive that for pheasant.
Hunting and Fishing in GFK in short..... Awesome..
Hunting & fishing in/around GFK, hmmmm. Far better than Fargo as I would be only 70 miles from Devils Lake or LOTW. You got great catfishing on the Red. The waterfowl is phenomonal. Spring season goose, early season goose and the Northern Curltails are still here now.. if you deer hunt in KY, well our deer are typically another 50% larger and 10 x better eating. Why do they taste better? Corn and soybeans. Your boys will be able to hunt bear 50 miles to the east, mt lion, mulies, antelope 200 miles west.
The moose are way way down in the northern valley. Used to be a nuscince around TRF, but diesese has all but wiped em out. So that's a candian trip. Elk, ur best off going to CO or WY. But now the RRV has turkeys and u don't have to drive that for pheasant.
Hunting and Fishing in GFK in short..... Awesome..
Rod
Hey Rod,
The deer hunting in KY is pretty good. You are right ND deer are bigger. The biggest one I've taken in KY was 200 pds. He scored 156. This yr I got a 9pt that weighed about 160 and scored about 140. Not a monster, but decent. Would love to get one over 200 and score at least 160. Really enjoy waterfowl so sounds like we will be in luck if we can get permission form the landowners. We do a lot of crappie fishing in KY and that's fun. Also do a lot of cat fishing, but I bet it's different than how we do it here. We have a small pond (2 1/2 acre)on our place and its full of cats, bass, and hybrid bluegill. The cats average abou 4 pds. I stocked it 4 yr ago. Look forward to catching yellow perch and walleye. I'm guessing a few smallies up there also. Going to Canada for moose would be good. Going west for antelope, mulies etc sounds like a fun trip also.
East Grand Forks Fire Fighters put on the annual Cat's Incredible Tourney every year right next to Cabela's store in EGF and uses the boat ramp on the EGF side of the Red. There are two other boat ramps on the GF side, at Lincoln Park and northside at Riverside Park.
There are several rural developments outside Grand Forks that have 2-5 acre lots. That would be a better option than Larimore, Emerado etc. Many of those developments are more convenient to GF stores that most GF locations, South of the airport, there are a lot of homes.
Stay away from the river if you are looking to buy some property. It will save you a headache each spring. Just my .02
the city has great flood protection and most rural areas north and south of the city are far enough from the Red to not have much worry. But yes there are still a few properties mainly north of town where I do know in some recent years neighbors have had to help sandbag (my eye doctor is one of them).....
And yes there are some newer developments and other homes with rural property all in that area south of the airport along Highway 5 down past Demers to 32nd Ave..... all that rural area from there west and southwest to Thompson and west to south of Emerado is fine....mostly ag land....but rural properties that could be fine. also north and northwest of the air base Gilby area west of Manvel. Do avoid right along the Turtle River in that area due to possible flood issues.
Well unfortunately the job offer I received did not offer as much as we wanted to sell our home and move 19 hrs away. We almost took the offer even though its not as much as we currently make. I was really looking forward to living in Grand Forks and am disappointed it hasn't worked out. My wife has never lived outside of the county she was born in Western KY and I think it would have been really good for her. My boys and I were looking forward to some local duck and goose hunting next fall and fishing in spring and summer. I know this is selfish, but am hopeful they have difficulty filling the position and call again. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will still work out. Thanks for all the help and info. We have not given up on moving to ND yet.
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