North Dakota Game and Fish Department
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department will lift the Tuesday-Wednesday camping restriction on state wildlife management areas for the Labor Day holiday week.
The removal of the restriction will allow overnight camping Sept. 3-4 on those WMAs that otherwise have the two-day restriction in place.
A complete list, including other WMA regulations, is available on the Game and Fish website, gf.nd.gov.
Big game hunters should note the 2024 chronic wasting disease proclamation for baiting and transportation requirements for deer, elk and moose as a precaution against the spread of chronic wasting disease.
Noteworthy items include:
State Game and Fish Department officials will conduct surveillance of the state by region on a four-year rotation. This year, the CWD surveillance effort will consist of deer gun units in northeastern North Dakota. Outside of this area, hunters can still have their animal tested by taking it to a Game and Fish district office, any deer head collection site (primarily located in the surveillance area) or using a mail-in self-sampling kit. A unit outside the annual surveillance zone is still eligible to have a baiting restriction removed if the sampling goal is met, or can be added as a restricted unit if a positive is found.
The deadline to submit a swan application is Aug. 21.
Applicants must submit an online application through the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov.
North Dakota residents and nonresidents are eligible to apply. The resident swan license is $10, while the nonresident fee is $30.
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department, local wildlife clubs and other sponsors will usher youngsters into fall during the annual Youth Outdoor Festival in Minot.
The event is Aug. 29 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Game and Fish Conservation and Outdoors Skills Park on the grounds of the North Dakota State Fair.
Young outdoor enthusiasts will experience outdoor activities that relate to archery, fishing, waterfowl and upland game. Prizes will be awarded.
For more information, contact Game and Fish outreach biologist Greg Gullickson at 701-720-1640.
Hunters, trappers and anglers are reminded that an equipment registration number, or the individual’s name, address and telephone number, must be displayed on all equipment requiring identification.
In addition, written permission is required from the owner of the property, or an individual authorized by the owner, for an individual to install camera/video equipment on private property, and the equipment must be identified.
While on state wildlife management areas, identification is required on items such as ground blinds, tree stands, cameras and traps.
Identification must be attached to cable devices set on either private or public land, and on fish houses left unattended on the ice.
Owners can generate an equipment registration number by visiting Buy and Apply at the North Dakota Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov. One registration number will be issued for equipment requiring identification.
The equipment registration number does not expire.
The fall turkey season is set with 4,545 licenses available to hunters, 110 more than last year.
Applicants can apply online by visiting the North Dakota Game and Fish website, gf.nd.gov. The deadline is Sept. 4.
Only North Dakota residents are eligible to apply in the first lottery.
The fall wild turkey season runs from Oct. 12 through Jan. 5, 2025.
North Dakota’s pronghorn lottery has been held and all 1,265 licenses were issued.
In total, 16,572 applications were received, including 813 gratis applications.
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s Private Land Open To Sportsmen Guide for 2024 is now available online at the Game and Fish website, gf.nd.gov.
The guide will feature about 836,000 PLOTS acres. Because PLOTS tracts can be added or removed from the program throughout the year, hunters are encouraged to use the Game and Fish mobile app or other mapping and browser-based applications to locate and identify these tracts. Map sheets are updated weekly on the department’s website.
The PLOTS guide features maps highlighting these walk-in areas, identified in the field by inverted triangular yellow signs, as well as other public lands.
To maximize the use of hunter dollars, fewer signs will be placed on PLOTS tracts in the future. The cost savings will be directed to the addition of more habitat and access.
The free printed PLOTS guides will be available in late August at most license vendors and other locations throughout the state.
The guides are not available by mail, so hunters will have to pick one up at a local vendor or Game and Fish offices, or print individual maps from the website.
Hunters can purchase additional, concurrent season deer licenses Aug. 14 at 8 a.m. Central time on the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov. There is no limit on the number of concurrent season licenses a hunter can purchase.
Concurrent season licenses can be used during the archery season with a bow; deer gun season with a bow, rifle or muzzleloader; or during the muzzleloader season with a muzzleloader. However, youth under 14 (at the end of the calendar year) will be issued a concurrent season license for archery only.
Hunters with concurrent season licenses are restricted to the type of antlerless deer printed on the license and must hunt in the unit in which the license is assigned.
Migratory bird hunters of all ages need to register with the Harvest Information Program prior to hunting ducks, geese, swans, mergansers, coots, cranes, snipe, doves and woodcock. Hunters must register in each state they are licensed to hunt.
Hunters can HIP certify when purchasing a license by visiting the North Dakota Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov.
Those who registered to hunt during the spring light goose conservation order in North Dakota do not have to register with HIP again, as it is required only once per year.
HIP registration is a cooperative program designed to determine a sample of hunters to measure harvest of migratory birds for management purposes.
A federal duck stamp is required for waterfowl hunters 16 and older beginning Sept. 1. Waterfowl includes ducks, geese, swans, mergansers and coots.
This year’s 2024-25 federal duck stamp is available for electronic purchase through the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov, or license vendors registered with the department’s licensing system.
As a result of the Duck Stamp Modernization Act, the electronic stamp is now valid for the entire waterfowl hunting season. A physical stamp will be mailed in March 2025 to individuals who purchased the e-stamp.
Those interested in buying physical stamps can be purchased at many U.S. Postal Service offices or the Amplex website, and Amplex should be used for hunters wanting to support conservation by purchasing extra duck stamps.
The federal duck stamp costs $25. An additional $4 processing fee is added.
North Dakota’s early Canada goose season dates are set, with bag limits and licensing requirements the same as last year.
Opening day is Aug. 15 in all three zones. Closing dates are Sept. 7 in the Missouri River zone; Sept. 15 in the western zone; and Sept. 20 in the eastern zone.
Early Canada goose limits are 15 daily and 45 in possession.
Limits and shooting hours are different from the regular season, while the zone boundaries remain the same. Shooting hours for early Canada goose are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset.
Residents need a $5 early Canada goose license and a general game and habitat license. Also, residents 16 and older need a small game license. Nonresidents need only a $50 early Canada goose license, and the license is valid statewide without counting against the 14-day regular season license. Licenses can be purchased online by visiting the North Dakota Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov.
Harvest Information Program certification is required. Those who HIP registered to hunt the spring light goose conservation order in North Dakota do not have to register with HIP again, as it is required in each state only once per year.
Beginning Sept. 1 a federal duck stamp for hunters 16 and older is needed. The federal e-stamp is valid through the entire waterfowl hunting season.
Waterfowl rest areas, closed to hunting during the regular season, are open during the early season. Most land in these rest areas is private, so hunters may need permission to access them.
Early Canada goose regulations can be found in the North Dakota 2024-25 Hunting and Trapping Guide on the Game and Fish website. Printed guides will be at vendors by late August.
Hunting of Canada geese in August and early September is intended to reduce local Canada goose numbers, which remain high. Game and Fish is attempting to provide additional hunting opportunities to increase pressure on locally breeding Canada geese.