REGENT - A land rush in southwestern North Dakota had folks bidding by cell phone and others tracking bids on a laptop spreadsheet.

The technology was beyond imagining when the first land rush for homesteaders with plow shares went down in the early 1900s.

This modern Western North Dakota Land Rush at the Regent Legion hall Saturday was the second ever held, following one in June.

As a pulse on land values in southwestern counties, the sale found a strong beat for some acres, good for some, and weaker for others acres.

Cars and pickup trucks surrounded the hall on a chilly afternoon perfect for flushing pheasants.

About 150 orange-vested hunters, poker-faced investors, ranchers and just plain curious packed inside the hall to watch the action and munch salty potato chips and bison sandwiches.

Seven landowners consigned 17 parcels totaling 3,762 acres in the sale. Fourteen parcels were sold.

When the dust settled and the auctioneer quit calling, some $1.5 million would change hands.

Kevin Pifer, of Fargo, whose auction company conducted the unique consignment sale, called it a good day.

This second land rush wasn't as strong in dollars as the first, when sales averaged $500 an acre.

Saturday's average was around $375, Pifer said. He said this sale included a heavier mix of pasture than the last sale, dropping the bid floor down some.

The sellers' reactions ranged from happy, to satisfied, to disappointed.

On the high end was Alan Honeyman, of rural Regent. His 320 acres were first on the auction block and first in dollars at $780 an acre, causing quite a stir of excitement.

The acres have pheasants thick as grasshoppers and are mostly enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program. The buyer was Eugene Nichols, a Republican representative from Cando, whose competition from Indiana, was also patched in by cell phone.

Before the sale, Honeyman figured he'd get about $800 an acre.

"If all these people here don't know what it's worth, no one does," he said.

On the low end was Steven Weigum, of rural Bowman. Some of his 360 acres fetched around $260; some didn't get a bid.

Weigum said he'd hoped for $500 an acre and an opportunity to quit seeing his banker.

"I think I'm just too far away from here," he said, referring to the heart of pheasant country.

On the satisfied scale was Michael Larson, who sold 200 acres in Adams County for from $10 to $35 more an acre than the $500 he'd hoped to get.

The auction got him four times what he originally paid for the land a decade ago and gets him debt-free on his remaining land.

Larson said he uses good conservation methods and invites people to hike and enjoy his property.

William Steidl, of Fargo, paid $530 an acre for a Grant County parcel to go with three quarters he already owns there.

He sharecrops and likes to get on the machinery and work cattle.

"I love nature. My wife and I go out and sit on the land and just enjoy it," Steidl said. "I'd like to live out here."

Gene Kempf, of Alaska, was at the sale to see how it compared to the first land rush, when he paid $550 an acre for 231 acres in deep southern Adams County.

"It's the cheapest land in the country right now," Kempf said. "It's going to appreciate, I'm sure."

He came down from Alaska in September and will eventually head to the Baja Peninsula.

A pilot and retired Alaskan schoolteacher, he's got the money for land. "What do I do with it? I don't blow it in the bars."

He's planting wheat grass, a living snow fence and food plots and figures in three years, it'll be prime for producing pheasants.

"It's nice to walk on your own ground. It's a nice feeling," he said.

Arnold Lesmeister of Wisconsin was at both sales. He bought 160 acres south of Mott for his brother at the June land rush.

"He just saw it for the first time and he loved it," Lesmeister said. "It's all about those goofy little red birds in the wild."

Pifer said topnotch farmland is in demand across the state and interest in pheasant land remains strong.

"It's a myth that they will pay any amount for land," Pifer said. "These are practical investors."

The company plans to hold Western North Dakota Land Rush III in June.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 1-888-303-5511, or lauren@;westriv.com.)