North Dakota's Unofficial State Holiday -- Implications for The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

I know this cannot possibly be the reason.

Earlier I mentioned that there were absolutely no vehicles at the Cenex station at the second busiest intersection inside Williston city limits, until four pickups pulled in, but absolutely no big oil trucks. None. It's never that quiet at the Cenex. I mentioned that no one could explain it.

And then this.

Schools, offices and other workplaces will be conspicuously quiet today - almost as if it were a holiday.

For many it is - it's the opening day of deer gun season.

And for hunting in North Dakota, it's No. 1 as far as participation in season openers.

School districts around the state can set their own calenders, and many choose to pencil in the first Friday in November as a day off.

I did not know that. In Boston, they pencil in "snow days." In North Dakota, they ink in "opening day for deer gun season."

There's no way this explains the lull in traffic at the Cenex station, but one wonders.