Game and Fish History
The creation in 1930 of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department was a continuation of efforts to preserve fish and game species in the state. At its inception the enforcement of game and fish laws was the department’s primary conservation tool. Over the years the legislature has increased enforcement authority and assigned regulatory powers to the agency aiding its efforts to preserve fish and wildlife and their habitats.
Advancements in fish and wildlife conservation science have added many other tools essential to the ongoing conservation efforts of the agency and have helped make possible the successful reintroduction of several game and fish species and the preservation of many others in the state.
Timeline of Significant Events in the History of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.
| Type |
|---|
| Fisheries and Boating |
| Wildlife and Conservation |
| Enforcement |
| Administration |
| Communications |
| Year | *Type | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1875 | E | The first laws were enacted for the taking of game animals. |
| 1877 | E | Restrictions on the commercial sale of wildlife were enacted. |
| 1881 | E | A wanton waste law was enacted. |
| 1897 | E | George E. Bowers became the first North Dakota game warden. |
| 1903 | E | The state was divided into two game management districts with a chief game warden for each. |
| 1909 | A | A five-member Game and Fish Board of Control was created. |
| 1924 | F | Authorized in 1923, the first North Dakota fishing license (274 sold) was required ($1.50 resident; $25 for non-resident) for select species. First hunting license sold in 1897. |
| 1929 | A | State legislators passed a law for a game and fish commissioner to take over the duties of the board. Voters approved the measure in 1930, marking the beginning of the Game and Fish Department as we know it today. |
| 1930 | A | July 26, 1930, Burnie W.Maurek was appointed by Governor George F. Schafer as head of the Game and Fish Commission. |
| 1930 | E | The enforcement division was established with the creation of the Department and consisted of a chief game warden and 12 deputy game wardens. |
| 1931 | C | The first North Dakota Outdoors magazine was published. |
| 1933-39 | F | Many new small dams were built, especially in the western portion of North Dakota, with federal funds originating from the New Deal - Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress/Projects Administration. |
| 1939 | F | The first Pittman-Robertson project was submitted in 1939. A 480-acre land acquisition purchased for $5 an acre was added to the existing Dawson Refuge in Kidder County. |
| 1940 | F | The first salmon, 30,000 coho salmon, were stocked in the state at Strawberry Lake (McLean). |
| 1941 | W | The deer harvest was estimated at 2,890 animals. Hunters at the time claimed 1941 was one of the best big game seasons ever. |
| 1941 | W | It was estimated the state’s deer population was 7,000-8,000 animals. |
| 1941 | W | This was the first year hunting was allowed on national grasslands in North Dakota. Hunters were required to have a free permit before hunting. |
| 1942 | W | The state’s first elk transplant took place in late winter. The animals came from Wyoming and were released in the Killdeer Mountains. |
| 1944 | F | Federal Flood Control Act passed, giving the authority (Pick-Sloan Plan) for the construction of Missouri River dams (e.g. Garrison and Oahe). |
| 1949-56 | F | North Dakota's mid-size reservoirs, including Lake Ashtabula, Audubon, Dickinson Reservoir (Patterson), Heart Butte and Jamestown were constructed, and fisheries began to develop during this period. These reservoirs became the backbone of North Dakotas fisheries for the next few decades. Only three other mid-size reservoirs, Lake Darling (1936), Bowman-Haley (1967) and Pipestem Dam (1971), were constructed outside of this period. |
| 1950s | F | Any discussion on the state’s top fishing waters today would have to include Devils Lake. But in the 1950s, North Dakota’s largest natural lake was hardly part of the picture. In the 1940s, the lake was nearly dry. |
| 1951 | W | Following the near disappearance of pronghorn in the state – animals ranged over nearly all the open prairies in the mid-1800s, but only about 225 pronghorn remained by 1925 – the first hunting season since 1899 was held in 1951. |
| 1953 | F | 22 fishing waters listed. Others existed, however, but were not listed or closed. |
| 1953 | F | Garrison Dam on the Missouri River completed forming Lake Sakakawea (originally called Lake Garrison). |
| 1954 | F | First boating regulations established. |
| 1954 | W | The first statewide bow season for deer was held in 1954. There were 1,119 licenses sold for that first season that ran from October 9-24. |
| 1956 | F | A photo in North Dakota OUTDOORS of a 106-pound lake sturgeon from the Pembina River in 1898 is suggested to be the largest fish ever taken in North Dakota. |
| 1961 | F | Lake Tschida in Grant County was the “Walleye Capital of North Dakota” in 1961, as 24 of 25 fish over 10 pounds reported to the Whopper Club came from Tschida. |
| 1963 | F | This year was the first time that the state had 100 fishing water bodies. |
| 1968 | F | Creel limits for walleye and sauger were removed on Lake Sakakawea, Lake Oahe and the Missouri River. The next year, limits were reinstated, but an angler could still take eight walleye and eight sauger daily. |
| 1972 | F | With rising water levels, Devils Lake was stocked with fish in 1970-71. By 1972, people were catching fish for the first time in many years. |
| 1975 | W | The Department implemented unitized deer management for deer gun season. |
| 1975 | W | The first bighorn sheep season was held with 12 licenses issued. |
| 1976 | F | Chinook salmon were introduced into Lake Sakakawea. |
| 1976 | F | The Department held an experimental paddlefish snagging season for the first time. |
| 1977 | W | The first moose season was held with 10 licenses issued. |
| 1977 | W | 50 elk released on Fort Berthold. |
| 1977 | A | The state legislature passed the hunter safety bill requiring all hunters born after December 31, 1961 to have taken a hunter safety course before purchasing a license. The law took effect in 1979. |
| 1977-78 | W | The severe winter of 1977-78 resulted in a “Save the Deer” campaign. This ultimately resulted in the start of the legislature ear-marking funds for the Private Lands Initiative program. |
| 1978 | W | The pronghorn season was closed and remained so until 1982 |
| 1980 | F | Department fisheries crews made their first attempt to spawn chinook salmon during the fall run on Lake Sakakawea. |
| 1982 | W | The first elk season was held (hunter’s choice of harvesting an elk or moose). The first elk was harvested in 1983 in the Pembina Hills. |
| 1983 | W | Some state school lands were opened to public access for the first time. Over the next four years, almost all state school land was opened to walking public access. |
| 1984 | C | The first North Dakota Outdoors calendar was published. The price per calendar was $2. |
| 1985 | W | The USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program was established in the new national Farm Bill, known as Food Security Act of 1985. At its peak in 2007, 3.4M acres of key grassland habitat acres had been planted and enrolled in the program in North Dakota, fostering a boon in deer, upland bird, and waterfowl populations during that period. |
| 1986 | F | The Sport Fish Restoration Act amendments allow the Department to begin the modern development (boat ramp, etc.) program. Also in 1986, Department cost-shared with the first poured cement ramp. North Dakota’s legislature mandated that the Department regulate fishing tournaments. |
| 1987 | W | The state legislature passed a law allowing a tax checkoff to fund a nongame wildlife program in North Dakota. |
| 1987 | W | The first muzzleloader season was held. |
| 1987 | W | 47 elk were released in the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. |
| 1987 | F | The first fish cleaning station was built. |
| 1991 | F | The "clam season" was closed and the first ever fish consumption advisory for North Dakota was included in the fishing guide. |
| 1990 | F | The Department managed 186 fishing water bodies. |
| 1993 | W | The weighted lottery was implemented for the deer gun season. |
| 1993 | F | A year-round fishing season statewide, beginning April 1 of each year, was implemented. |
| 1994 | C | The first two-minute broadcast program of North Dakota Outdoors TV was November 11, “Young Deer Hunter”. |
| 1994 | W | The first youth deer season was held. |
| 1997 | W | The Private Land Open To Sportsmen program was developed and initiated. The first landowner access agreements signed and PLOTS tracts available to hunters – fall 1998. |
| 1999 | C | While the Department has provided some kind of map for the PLOTS program since it’s infancy, the Department didn’t publish its first PLOTS Guide until 1999. |
| 2002-02 | F | The Department managed 208 fishing water bodies. |
| 2005 | W | The first State Wildlife Action Plan for managing the state’s rare, declining, and “At-Risk” wildlife species was developed and approved. |
| 2006-08 | F | The first aquatic nuisance species rules became effective in 2008. |
| 2007 | C | The first North Dakota Outdoors Webcast was posted January 11 with director Terry Steinwand, “Legislative Outlook”. |
| 2008 | W | The National Archery in the School program started in North Dakota. |
| 2008 | W | Deer gun license numbers peaked at 149,400. |
| 2009 | W | Chronic wasting disease was first found in North Dakota in a mule deer buck in unit 3F2. |
| 2010 | W | The pronghorn season was closed and remained so until 2014. |
| 2011 | C | The first HD broadcasts of the NDO webcast and 2-minute news show were done in February. |
| 2015 | F | The first adult zebra mussel was documented in North Dakota in the Red River. |
| 2020 | W | Bighorn sheep were transplanted from Montana to the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation |
| 2021-22 | F | The winter saw record late ice formation and relatively poor winter ice thickness and, as a result, record early ice out. Most North Dakota waters were clear of ice in late-March/early April, likely making it the shortest icepack season on record. |