Gene Davis, of rural Amidon, has sighted elk on his ranch for years.

This year, he finally got to harvest one.

Davis is among ranchers in the Amidon area who lobbied the State Game and Fish Department for an elk hunting unit in Slope County.

A unit was approved on a trial basis and the department issued additional licenses for the new unit along with a small percentage set aside for landowners who made an application.

Davis scored his six-by-six elk in early November, one of several local ranchers who were successful in the extended season.

Louie Haefele, a neighbor of Davis, said he's sighted elk roaming through that neck of the Badlands since the '80s.

Haefele says elk in the area now have been part of a stable population since the '90s, displaying a pattern of vanishing in September and October, and probably traveling back to breed the elk cow herd in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

The bulls return to the Badlands north of Amidon in November and December.

Ranchers see damage to feed supplies and fences not only from elk, but from mule and white tail deer as well and believe there is a strong need for game management.

Still, the experience of harvesting an elk on their own land is an unforgettable experience for ranchers in Slope County, who've secured their first elk landowner permit in the state.

- The Herald

Denver likes N.D.

About 400 people turned out in Denver last month to Experience North Dakota.

A state-sponsored event, the one-day showcase gave about 75 community, college, business and economic development groups an opportunity to show off what the state and region has to offer.

Representatives from Underwood and Washburn were there, along with representatives of Great River Energy, which has power utilities in Underwood and Stanton.

Amanda Cottingham, with the Underwood Area Economic Development Corporation and the McLean County Coalition, said the first question people ask is, "Are there jobs?"

Cottingham said people left when there weren't jobs and now want to know if that's changed.

She said many people who attended the showcase were engineers or people with specialized trades; their seriousness in job seeking was illustrated by the kinds of questions that they asked. Cottingham said she also was surprised by the number of people who weren't from North Dakota, but who had heard about the quality of life and the number of available jobs.

Diane Despres, who handles human resources for GRE, said she, too, was impressed with the Denver Experience North Dakota, a repeat of one held last year in Minneapolis.

"I was very pleased with the amount of traffic and the quality of the potential applicants that we talked with at the Denver show," Despres said. "I believe this event was very successful."

- The Underwood News

Over and out

Marvin Meidinger's natural skill allowed him to weld a good life together.

Now he's ready to end a long career in farm machinery repair and turn the business completely over to a new owner.

Meidinger founded Mar-Del's Manufacturing in 1993 and continued to work there even after selling the welding business to James Fandrich in 2004.

He's been tinkering with machinery and fabrication ever since his stint in the U.S. Army during the Korean conflict.

"If something broke down, the other soldiers would say, 'Let Meidinger take a look. If anyone can fix it, he can.' After a while, I maybe even started believing that a little bit myself," he said.

When he got back, he put those skills to work for neighboring farmers and eventually went into his own business.

When he was about to retire in 2003, Fandrich approached him for a job and it turned out, Fandrich was a natural.

"I gave James a piece of scrap metal and a welder's helmet. About 20 minutes into our first lesson, he was manufacturing a product and he hasn't stopped since," Meidinger said. "You couldn't find anybody better to take over for me if I paid you."

Fandrich quickly bought the business and Meidinger stayed on the payroll.

"Marvin was a fantastic boss and then he became the best employee I could ask for," Fandrich said.

Fandrich said buying the business lets him and his wife, Jessica, remain in Wishek and raise their three young children.

He's renamed it Central Iron Repair and Manufacturing and plans to add cylinder repair to the businesses' offerings.

- The Wishek Star