The main question here is: what are your long-term plans or needs? If you don't splurge and get a cooling-only unit, will you be spending any of the money on extra insulation? Would you rather chop wood or spend money to heat your house?
Regarding the heat pump option vs. gas vs. wood, it would be fairly simple to integrate the heat pump with the gas as a backup. If your buddy installs units in the area, he should know whether or not to install a low ambient switch and at what temperature it is cheaper to run gas for his units. Sure, a heat pump will put out heat down to zero, but efficiency drops below freezing pretty fast. During cold spells, you could load up the buck stove and run it to level out your utility bill(s). The heat pump shouldn't be sized large enough to keep up on the coldest days anyway.
Another thing to consider is the desuperheater/hot water option. IMHO, this is something that will save you money for the life of the unit. Depending on your hot water usage, the savings could be substantial.
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