Tag Archives: ND Drift Prairie

Destination, Photography, Wildlife

Abandoned Hunting: The In-Between | MN, SD & ND

This is the follow up post to Abandoned Hunting | MN, SD & ND.

We were afforded quite a variety of scenery and subjects in our travels.  The wildlife was plentiful and spectacular.  The sheer number of geese that will congregate in one area can be quite the spectacle.  We were reminded how nature can often be raw and brutal.  We witnessed a bald eagle ripping away at a deer carcass and another that dispatched Fluffy on the side of a road and then proceeded to carry it away.  The Whitetail deer were seemingly as numerous as grains of sands.  There were three different occasions that we spotted entire herds milling about in the middle of the day.  I very much enjoyed the small towns we passed through.  I could have spent a lot of time photographing their character, but per usual, we were on a mission.

Destination, Nature, Photography, Wildlife

North Dakota Safari | ND Drift Prairie

img_0286There wasn’t any extreme off-roading at all on our trip to North Dakota; there were roads everywhere.  We roamed about freely; pretty much uninhibited by obstacles with the exception of the “bridge out” signs in the middle of nowhere and the occasional pond/lake right in the middle of a road.  The GPS was rather amusing with its informative display of where we were driving.  Often it stated unpaved road or simply – Driving on Road.  You can truly find the middle of nowhere in ND.  I love it.

When traveling through the middle of nowhere don’t be surprised if you encounter a train of machinery blocking your way.  You can see the dust cloud miles away.  That is your hint to pull off and get out of their way.  Harvest time was in full gear when we were there.  The dust from the roads and the picking of corn and beans made for some interesting photos.

know I have used the term “dirt road” rather loosely; to include gravel roads, etc. – anything not paved.  We were actually on dirt roads in ND – black fertile dirt very compacted from grain trucks and other farming machinery.  These field roads were smooth.  In fact, they were often smoother-riding than some of the black top roads.  The weeds on these dirt roads were a bit tall in spots though.  There were several times that we stopped to shoot some wildlife and all you could smell was simmering grasshopper guts and burnt weeds.

There was plenty of wildlife between each town and abandoned place we happened upon.  I very much enjoyed my close encounter with a hawk and just the sheer numbers of them that we saw.  We chased around egrets for a while as well and stumbled upon some baby turkeys.  They are not cute at all – as most baby animals usually are.  Everyone of those puddles held an abundance of waterfowl with no shortage of goose poop.

This was two of the better days we have enjoyed out shooting in a while.  Great locations, weather and of course my company is always wonderful.

Abandoned, Destination, Photography

Binford Abandoned Farmstead | ND Drift Prairie

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After some much-needed rest in Jamestown, we set out on day two of our North Dakota abandoned hunt.  The Jamestown Reservoir provided for some lovely early a.m. scenery as we meandered away from the populated city and into the vast and open country of North Dakota.

north-dakota-reservoir

There were numerous wetlands as we made our way west of the reservoir.  Some of which were not so wet, but extremely or completely dry altogether.  There wasn’t a shortage of wildlife despite these dry conditions.  There were still plenty of areas that still held water along with your typical fowl for this time of year.  Although this is not consider prime pheasant country, I was a bit disappointing that I only saw one the whole time.

With this type of scenery between abandoned farmsteads the miles just fly by.  I have several photos of all the points between here and there of this trip that will soon become our North Dakota Safari post.

We stumbled on this farmstead out in the middle of nowhere near Binford.  This must have been a musical household as there were sheet music strewn about the place.  There was also remnants of a piano at the bottom of a heap of yesteryear.  There was also a skeleton of an acoustic guitar on the second level surround by more sheet music.

 

Abandoned, Destination, Photography

Ellendale Abandoned Farmstead | ND Drift Prairie

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The last farmstead of the day was near Ellendale and the Tatanka Wind Farm.  The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.  The light cast out by the setting sun was fantastic.  All the dust in the air for harvesting corn added a nice effect across the landscape.

This place had some real character; more so around the grounds than in the tiny house.  The tulip wall paper that covered the pink walls wasn’t much of an improvement 🙂  The little Allis Chalmers in between the house and a shed made for an interesting subject to photography as well.  This was a great spot to finish out our day.

Abandoned, Destination, Photography

Merricout Abandoned Farmstead | ND Drift Prairie

After we explored the Forbes area we headed North towards Merricourt.  This was another location that we found through the GhostsOfNorthDakota.com website.  Merricourt was completely uninhabited.  The only sign of life was the local farmer harvesting corn on the North side of town.  There were several buildings and homes in town – all of which we would have loved to shoot inside and out, if not for the NO TRESPASSING signs everywhere :-/  I can’t blame the owners though, I wouldn’t want my property vandalized.  Seeing very little opportunity here, we moved on.

It wasn’t long until we found another abandoned farmstead West of town.  This farmstead had some really amazing texture in the flaky, pealing paint of the two-story house.  The crown moldings and trim where in surprisingly great condition.  This little gem is in its prime.  A finite moment; a balance between what was and the inevitable decay to come.

Abandoned, Destination, Photography

Forbes Abandoned Farmstead | ND Drift Prairie

This abandoned farmstead was located just North of Forbes.  This property has several out building along with a house that was partially hidden by trees.  I did see this on the way to Forbes.  Cyndie was too busy surveying the gazetteer to notice this nugget of abandonment.  I wanted to stop, but figured we would on the way back through – our first goal was to get to the school.

It was already 1:00 p.m. when we got to the abandoned school in Forbes.  I wanted to burn some of the harsh mid-day light there and hope for a tamer glow later on at the farm and hopefully other sites.  We spent some time in Forbes shooting the sites.  There were several other locations of interest.  It was 3:45 p.m. by the time we returned to the farmstead and there was still plenty of bright light.  It was a gorgeous day; sadly we spent a fair chuck of the day in the car getting here.  It was all good though as we were in the middle of an abandoned haven of sorts.

Abandoned, Destination, Photography

Forbes Abandoned School | ND Drift Prairie

I’ve been following Ghosts of North Dakota for a while now and have been eyeing up various locations to photograph.  This site has no shortages, but only seeming endless supply of possible places to shoot.  Cyndie and I had an opportunity recently to go to North Dakota and search for abandoned structures to shoot.  We used this site to pick out a few areas of interest to begin.  We figured that we would wander around from town to town.  We found numerous abandoned homes and farmsteads outside of the various town listed on this site.

Our first stop was Forbes, ND.  This teeny tiny town is situated right on the border of North and South Dakota in Dickey County.  The abandoned school there looked very interesting.  A bright sunny afternoon provided for some great light to photograph this wonderful mess of an abandoned school.  At some point, someone must have played some paint ball in the school or just walked around shooting paint balls everywhere.  It added a titch of interesting color to an otherwise fairly drab interior.