Buffaloberry Patch

Bighorn Sheep Population Declines

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s 2017 bighorn sheep survey revealed a minimum of 265 bighorn sheep in western North Dakota, down 11 percent from 2016 and 9 percent below the five-year average.

Brett Wiedmann, Department big game biologist, said the survey count was the lowest since 2006. “The decline in the 2017 count reflects the spread of bacterial pneumonia to three previously unaffected herds and consequently the adult and lamb mortalities that followed,” he said.

The northern badlands population declined 10 percent from 2016, and the southern badlands population was down 21 percent.

“The total count of adult rams and ewes was much lower than the record high counts in 2016, but the lamb count and recruitment rate improved slightly in 2017, albeit still much below the long-term averages,” Wiedmann said.

Fortunately, Wiedmann said, adult mortality was low in previously affected herds, and lamb survival improved as well, which could indicate those herds initially exposed to the deadly pathogens in 2014 are beginning to recover.

A bighorn sheep hunting season is tentatively scheduled to open in 2018, and will be determined September 1, after the summer population survey is completed.

Pronghorn Hunting Season Statistics

Hunter success during last fall’s pronghorn hunting season was 75 percent.

Game and Fish issued 410 licenses (255 lottery and 155 gratis), and 366 hunters took 275 pronghorn, consisting of 264 bucks, 10 does and one fawn. Each hunter spent an average of 2.4 days afield. Three percent of the harvest occurred during the archery-only portion of the season.

The 2018 pronghorn hunting season will be determined in July.

Free Fishing Weekend

North Dakota’s free fishing weekend is June 2-3. Resident anglers may fish that weekend without a license, except for paddlefish. All other fishing regulations apply.

Agency Sponsors Earth Day Project

In recognition of Earth Day, the Game and Fish Department held a contest for students to design a North Dakota Earth Day Patch. The agency also sponsored clean-up days on publicly owned or managed lands.

Each member of a school, Girl Scout, Boy Scout, 4-H club or youth organization who participated in cleaning up public lands this spring will receive a specifically designed conservation patch.

Patch contest winners in the three age categories were Brooke Livingston of Kenmare (6-9), Abbey Peterson of Velva (10-13), and Deanna Rose of Grand Forks (14-18). Rose’s design was chosen as the contest winner, and is featured on this year’s Earth Day patch.

Boat North Dakota Course

Boat owners are reminded that children who want to operate a boat or personal watercraft alone must first take the state’s boating basics course. State law requires youngsters ages 12-15 to pass the course before they operate a boat or personal watercraft with at least a 10 horsepower motor. In addition, some insurance companies give adult boat owners who pass the course a discount on boat insurance.

The course is available for home-study from the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s Bismarck office. Two commercial providers also offer the course online, and links to those sites are found on the Department’s website at gf.nd.gov.

While the home-study course is free, there is a fee for the online course. The online provider charges for the course, not the Game and Fish Department. For more information call 701-328-6300.

NASP State Tournament Results

While a spring snowstorm kept some of the record 750 registrants from attending, 600 archers did compete in the North Dakota National Archery in the Schools Program state bull’s-eye tournament in Minot in March.

Oakes students claimed top honors in the elementary (grades 4-6) and middle school (grades 7-8) divisions, while Hankinson received the top prize in the high school (grades 9-12) division.

The overall male winner was Hankinson archer Cheyne Meyer, while Medina student Gracie Gunderson claimed the top spot in the female division.

Winning teams and the top 10 individuals qualify for the national tournament, scheduled for May in Louisville, Kentucky. The Game and Fish Department and North Dakota Youth Archery Advisory Council contribute a total of $3,000 in travel assistance to the first place team in each division, and $1,000 to the overall male and female individual winners. In addition, a total of $20,000 in college scholarships was awarded by the NDYAAC to the top five overall scorers in both boys and girls divisions.

Qualifying for nationals in each division are:

• High school boys – 1) Cheyne Meyer, Hankinson; 2) Ty Wixo, Wahpeton; 3) Conor Shall, Oakes; 4) Evan Mickelson, Mt. Pleasant; 5) Chase Bladow, Hankinson; 6) Michael McKenna, North Sargent; 7) Clayton Stone, Hankinson; 8) Koven Walford, New Rockford-Sheyenne; 9) Michael Heim, Oakes; 10) and Ben Frankki, Lidgerwood.
• High school girls – 1) Gracie Gunderson, Medina; 2) Alicia Biewer, Hankinson; 3) Kate Loewen, Hankinson; 4) Jaden Gilje, North Sargent; 5) Jaidyn Sander, Hankinson; 6) Josephine Nelson, North Sargent; 7) Sydni Berg, Edgeley; 8) Avery Trittin, Lidgerwood; 9) Ainsley Helgerson, Oakes; 10) and Mary Goroski, Wahpeton.
• Middle school boys – 1) Brady Sand, Mayville-Portland-Clifford-Galesburg; 2) Casey Everson, Barnes County North; 3) Joshua Wiebusch, Wahpeton; 4) Jack Thompson, Hope-Page; 5) Clancy Zimbelman, Oakes; 6) Dillon Deering, Oakes; 7) Justin Schlenker, Barnes County North; 8) Grady Henderson, Edgeley; 9) Avery McFarland, North Sargent; 10) and Marcus Garza, Oakes.
• Middle school girls – 1) Rylee Suhr, Griggs County; 2) Lily Wiek, Oakes; 3) Ariana Onchuck, Hankinson; 4) Mackenzie Motter, Hope-Page; 5) Jaycee Brown, Hankinson; 6) Tallin Schafer, Lidgerwood; 7) Paetyn Hamann, North Sargent; 8) Sadie Keller, Hankinson; 9) Trinity Brandenburg, Edgeley; 10) and Madison Sitzmann, Edgeley.
• Elementary boys – 1) Brady Haugen, Griggs County; 2) Braysen Sagert, Oakes; 3) Damian Carlson, Edgeley; 4) Colin Olson, North Sargent; 5) Tucker Schacher, Wilton; 6) Wayland Sabinash, Kensal; 7) Connor Boe, Oakes; 8) Bryson McKown, Wyndmere; 9) Zachary Quinn, Wilton; 10) and Andrew Jean, Hankinson.
• Elementary girls – 1) Madison Samuelson, Mt. Pleasant; 2) Shayle Zimbelman, Oakes; 3) Carrie Osier, North Sargent; 4) Taya Schelske, Medina; 5) Avery St. Germaine, Mt. Pleasant; 6) Merissa Sitzmann, Edgeley; 7) Danica Onchuck, Hankinson; 8) Kaiya O’Connor, New Rockford-Sheyenne; 9) Serenity Reynolds, Pingree-Buchanan; 10) and Kiara Frederick, Wilton.

In addition, archers had the option of competing in a NASP 3-D Challenge, run simultaneously with the bull’s-eye tournament.

Overall male and female winners were Brady Sand, Mayville-Portland-Clifford-Galesburg, and Gracie Gunderson, Medina.

Andrew Hill of Oakes was the winner of a pronghorn hunt in Wyoming, with the winning score decided by a one arrow shoot-off from the top five overall archers.

Top performers in the

• 3-D high school boys were 1) Andrew Hill, Oakes; 2) Chase Bladow, Hankinson; 3) Conor Shall, Oakes; 4) Tavon Stadler, Griggs County; 5) and Evan Mickelson, Mt. Pleasant.
• 3-D high school girls – 1) Gracie Gunderson, Medina; 2) Jaidyn Sander, Hankinson; 3) Josephine Nelson, North Sargent; 4) Kate Loewen, Hankinson; 5) and Avery Trittin, Lidgerwood.
• 3-D middle school boys – 1) Brady Sand, Mayville-Portland-Clifford-Galesburg; 2) Joshua Wiebusch, Wahpeton; 3) Clancy Zimbelman, Oakes; 4) Jack Thompson, Hope-Page; 5) and Maxin Walock, Oakes.
• 3-D middle school girls – 1) Piper Suhr, Griggs County; 2) Rylee Suhr, Griggs County; 3) Kyria Dockter, New Rockford-Sheyenne; 4) Paetyn Hamann, North Sargent; 5) and Aysia Frederick, Wilton.
• 3-D elementary boys – 1) Damian Carlson, Edgeley; 2) Braysen Sagert, Oakes; 3) Colin Olson, North Sargent; 4) Alex Weisenburger, New Rockford-Sheyenne; 5) and Brady Haugen, Griggs County.
• 3-D elementary girls – 1) Madison Samuelson, Mt. Pleasant; 2) Shayle Zimbelman, Oakes; 3) Merissa Sitzmann, Edgeley; 4) Carrie Osier, North Sargent; 5) and Skyler Foertsch, Hankinson.

North Dakota Junior Duck Stamp Winners

An acrylic painting of a pair of Canada geese was chosen the 2018 Best of Show in the North Dakota Junior Duck Stamp Contest.

Daniel Schumacher, 15, of Linton, titled his painting “Lakeside Pair.” His artwork was selected from more than 1,000 entries from across North Dakota.

Schumacher’s painting represented North Dakota at the National Junior Duck Stamp contest sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The winner of the national contest held in Bismarck in April will have their artwork made into a stamp.

Other first place winners in the four age categories were:

• Grades K-3 – Levi Bro, Bismarck; Abigail Bro, Bismarck; and Gabriel Coleman, Baldwin.
• Grades 4-6 – Angela Chen, Devils Lake; Grace Harkness, Devils Lake; and Natasha Anderson, Fairmont.
• Grades 7-9 – Daniel Schumacher, Linton; McKenzie Balzer, Bismarck (Runner-up Best of Show); and Bradyn Modine, Alexander.
• Grades 10-12 – Sydney Nelson, Valley City; Fischer Ackerson, Sherwood; and Kayla Triebold, Oriska.

Kading Receives Conservation Award

Kevin Kading, Game and Fish Department private land section leader, was recognized by Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever during the 83rd North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Norfolk, Virginia in March.

Kading was presented with a Conservation Service Award given to individuals “selected for their distinguishing contributions to wildlife habitat conservation efforts nationwide, including partnership programs, which have achieved landscape-level habitat improvements for a variety of wildlife species.”