Watchable Wildlife Photo Contest

Mon, 09/11/2017

The deadline for submitting entries in the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s annual Watchable Wildlife Photo Contest is Oct. 2.

The contest has categories for nongame and game species, as well as plants/insects. An overall winning photograph will be chosen, with the number of place winners in each category determined by the number of qualified entries.

Contest entries are limited to digital files submitted on disk or via email. Contestants are limited to no more than five entries. Photos must have been taken in North Dakota.

By submitting an entry, photographers grant permission to Game and Fish to publish winning photographs in North Dakota OUTDOORS magazine, on the Department’s website, gf.nd.gov, and on agency social media accounts.

Photo disks should be sent to Watchable Wildlife Photo Contest, C/O Patrick T. Isakson, North Dakota Game and Fish Department, 100 N. Bismarck Expressway, Bismarck, ND 58501-5095.

Send emailed digital photos to photocontest@nd.gov. Photographers will need to supply the original image if needed for publication.

Photo disks will not be returned. All entries must be accompanied by the photographer’s name, address, phone number and email address if available. Other information such as photo site location and month taken are also useful.

Sharp-tailed Grouse, Hungarian Partridge Counts Down

Fri, 09/08/2017

North Dakota hunters will find fewer sharp-tailed grouse and Hungarian partridge in the field this fall than last year.

R.J. Gross, upland game management biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said late July and August roadside counts show sharptails observed per 100 miles are down 29 percent from 2016, while partridge are down 62 percent.

“Hunting will be slower than last season in most of the state, and all indications are that hunters will see significantly lower numbers statewide,” Gross said. “There will be localized areas of good hunting opportunities, but in general hunting will be fair at best.”

Statistics show observers recorded 1.4 sharptail broods and 13.3 birds per 100 miles. Average brood size was 4.9.

For partridge, observers recorded 0.3 broods and 4.1 birds per 100 miles. Average brood size was 9.3.

The 2017 grouse and partridge seasons open Sept. 9 and continue through Jan. 7, 2018.

Sandhill Crane Season Opens Sept. 16

Fri, 09/01/2017

North Dakota’s sandhill crane season opens Sept. 16 and runs through Nov. 12.

Limits are three daily and nine in possession in unit 1 (west of U.S. Highway 281), and two daily and six in possession in unit 2 (east of U.S. Highway 281). Shooting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to 1 p.m. each day through Nov. 4. Beginning Nov. 5, shooting hours are extended until 2 p.m. each day.

Hunters are urged to use caution and identify birds to prevent shooting at whooping cranes as they begin their fall migration.

In addition to other licenses required, resident hunters need a $10 crane permit, while nonresidents need a $30 permit. Hunters can buy a license online at the North Dakota Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov. Harvest Information Program certification is required. To get HIP certified, access the Department’s website, or call 888-634-4798.

Hunters Asked to Submit Wing Envelopes

Fri, 09/01/2017

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is once again asking grouse hunters for help with future bird management by simply collecting some feathers from harvested birds and sending in wing envelopes this fall.

Wing data allows biologists to monitor production, reconcile bird counts and get a better understanding of the harvest ratio of males to females, and juveniles to adults.

Instructions for submitting wing data are printed on the envelope.

Hunters interested in receiving wing envelopes should visit the Game and Fish website (gf.nd.gov) to order a supply of wing envelopes, or contact the department’s main office in Bismarck by phone (701-328-6300) or email (ndgf@nd.gov).

In addition, Game and Fish district offices have a supply of wing envelopes for distribution. District offices are located at Devils Lake, Jamestown, Riverdale, Dickinson, Williston and Lonetree Wildlife Management Area near Harvey.

Youth Waterfowl Weekend is Sept. 16-17

Fri, 09/01/2017

North Dakota’s two-day youth waterfowl season is Sept. 16-17. Legally licensed resident and nonresident youth waterfowl hunters age 15 and younger may hunt ducks, geese, coots and mergansers statewide.

The daily bag limit and species restrictions for the youth season are the same as for regular duck and goose seasons. Exception: the additional two blue-winged teal allowed during the first 16 days of the regular season are not allowed during the youth season.

Resident and qualifying nonresident youth waterfowl hunters must possess a general game and habitat license and a fishing, hunting and furbearer certificate. Nonresidents from states that do not provide a reciprocal licensing agreement for North Dakota residents must purchase the entire nonresident waterfowl license package.

In addition, all youth hunters must be Harvest Information Program certified, and youth ages 12 and older need to have passed a certified hunter education course. Hunters age 15 and younger do not need a federal duck stamp.

Hunters who do not HIP certify when they buy a North Dakota license, can add it by visiting the Game and Fish website at gf.nd.gov, or by calling 888-634-4798 and recording the HIP number on their printed license.

Shooting hours for the youth waterfowl season are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset. An adult of at least 18 years of age must accompany the resident youth hunter into the field, and a licensed adult is required to accompany a nonresident youth hunter. The two-day weekend hunt does not count against a nonresident adult hunter’s 14-day regular season waterfowl dates.

Landowners Seek Doe Hunters

Fri, 09/01/2017

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is currently working with landowners in eight hunting units across the state who would like to host hunters with antlerless deer licenses in 2017.

Participating landowners are located in hunting units 2I, 2J2, 2K2, 3A4, 3B3, 3D2, 3F2 and 4E.

The program is not intended for buck hunters, but designed to direct hunters with antlerless licenses to specific areas to reduce deer populations.

Interested hunters can get their name on a list of possible participants by accessing the Game and Fish Department’s website at gf.nd.gov. Hunters who do not have internet access can call the department’s main office in Bismarck at 701-328-6300.

Hunters will provide their address, hunting unit(s) where they hold valid antlerless licenses, and if using rifle, muzzleloader or bow. From this list the department will select the number of hunters landowners have agreed to host. These hunters will be sent the landowner’s name, phone number and any information relating to the landowner’s specific situation.

Hunters must have a valid 2017 deer gun license – the Game and Fish Department does not provide a hunting license with this program.

Not everyone who signs up will end up with a new place to hunt, because not everyone’s schedule will match up with a landowner’s, and more people will likely put their name on the list than there are openings. Participating landowners currently have openings for about 100 doe hunters.

North Dakota’s 2017 regular deer gun season runs from Nov. 10-26. In addition, the archery season opens Sept. 1 and extends through Jan. 7, 2018; the youth season is Sept. 15-24; and muzzleloader runs from Dec. 1-17.

Deer Season for Young Hunters Opens Sept. 15

Fri, 09/01/2017

Friday, Sept. 15 at noon signals the start of a nine-and-a-half-day deer hunting season for youth ages 12-15.

Licensed residents ages 11, 12 and 13, and 10-year-olds who turn age 11 in 2017, are allowed to hunt statewide, but only for antlerless white-tailed deer.

Resident deer gun hunters age 14 or 15, and 13-year-olds who turn age 14 in 2017, with a “youth season” license, can hunt statewide for any deer, except antlerless mule deer in unit 4A. In addition, a special license is required to hunt antlered mule deer in units 3B1, 3B2, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E and 4F.

After opening day, hunting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset. Solid daylight fluorescent orange vests or coats, and hats, are required for all young hunters and their adult mentors.

Each youth deer hunter must be under direct supervision of an adult while in the field.

In addition to the deer license, hunters must possess a general game and habitat license and hunting certificate.

The youth deer season closes Sunday, Sept. 24.

Hunters Exempt from Firearms Restrictions on Little Missouri National Grasslands

Thu, 08/31/2017

With elk season opening Sept. 1 and grouse and partridge seasons to follow starting Sept. 9, the State Game and Fish Department and U.S. Forest Service remind hunters that use of firearms is allowed on the Little Missouri National Grasslands by legally licensed hunters.

Earlier this summer the USFS, which manages the Little Missouri, Cedar River and Sheyenne national grasslands in North Dakota, established a number of restrictions, on the Little Missouri only, designed to minimize the likelihood of starting or spreading of wildfires because of extreme dry conditions. Discharging a firearm is one of those restrictions, but the USFS provided an exemption to that rule for people who are legally hunting.

“We have received some questions from elk and bird hunters who weren’t aware of the exemption,” Craig Bihrle, Game and Fish Department communication supervisor said. “While hunting is allowed, people still need to be extremely careful to not start inadvertent fires.”

While legal hunting is allowed, the fire restriction order does still prohibit campfires, smoking and driving vehicles off trail on the Little Missouri Grasslands. A complete copy of the Little Missouri National Grasslands fire restrictions is available at the USFS Dakota Prairie Grasslands website.

Throughout the state, hunters should keep track of the daily fire danger index, which restricts off-trail vehicle use and recreational fires when the index is in the Very High, Extreme and Red Flag Warning categories. Some counties may also still have localized restrictions in place.

Game and Fish Allocates Five Bighorn Sheep Licenses

Tue, 08/29/2017

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is allocating five bighorn sheep licenses for the 2017 hunting season, three fewer than 2016.

Two licenses are available in Unit B3 and two in B4. Also, one license, as authorized under North Dakota Century Code, was auctioned in spring by the Midwest Chapter of the Wild Sheep Foundation, from which all proceeds are used to enhance bighorn sheep management in North Dakota.

The number of once-in-a-lifetime licenses allotted to hunters is based on data collected from the Department’s recently completed summer population survey. Results of the survey showed a total of 83 rams, or 21 fewer than 2016.

Brett Wiedmann, Department big game management biologist in Dickinson, said the 20 percent decline in ram numbers is the result of an ongoing bacterial pneumonia outbreak that was first detected in 2014.

“In addition, 2016 had the lowest lamb recruitment on record so very few yearling rams were observed,” Wiedmann said. “Encouragingly, no adult animals within the herds that were exposed to disease in 2014 showed clinical signs of pneumonia, and the summer lamb count in those herds improved.”

Similar to last year, Game and Fish announced in February that the status of the bighorn sheep hunting season would be determined after completion of the summer population survey. Now that the survey is complete, the bighorn lottery was held and successful applicants were notified.

Prospective hunters were required to apply for a bighorn license earlier this year on the bighorn sheep, moose and elk application.

PLOTS Guide Available

Mon, 08/28/2017

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s Private Land Open To Sportsmen Guide for 2017 is now available online at the Game and Fish website, gf.nd.gov. In addition, PLOTS guides are available at most vendors throughout the state.

The guide will feature about 737,000 PLOTS acres. Because the guide is printed in mid-August, some PLOTS tracts highlighted in the guide may have been removed from the program since the time of printing. There will also be some PLOTS tracts where the habitat and condition of the tract will have changed significantly. Conversely, Game and Fish may have added new tracts to the program after the guide went to press.

To minimize possible confusion, Game and Fish will update PLOTS map sheets weekly on its 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.

The guides are free, and are available at license vendors in the state; by walk-in at the Game and Fish Department’s Bismarck office; and at district offices in Riverdale, Harvey (Lonetree), Williston, Dickinson, Jamestown and Devils Lake.

The guides are not available to mail, so hunters will have to pick one up at a local vendor, or print individual maps from the website.

Grouse and Partridge Seasons Open Sept. 9

Mon, 08/28/2017

North Dakota’s popular hunting seasons for grouse and partridge will open Saturday, Sept. 9.

State Game and Fish Department upland game biologist R.J. Gross says hunters will likely see fewer sharptails and Huns compared to last year, while ruffed grouse numbers are up from 2016.

Gross said that hot, dry early summer weather likely reduced grouse production in many areas due to poor habitat conditions and low insect production.

“Numbers in the northeast show up a little better than other areas,” Gross said. “But yet, there will be localized areas with good chick survival in most parts of the state.”

Huns respond better to drought conditions, Gross said, and do better in dry years compared to sharptails. “Huns have generally been a bonus bird the past handful of years,” he added. “Hunters will still find pockets of decent hunting, but it may require more time in the field.”

Ruffed grouse spring drumming counts were up in the Turtle Mountains, and good numbers of broods were reported in the Pembina Hills.

Shooting hours for the upcoming season are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset. Sharptails, ruffed grouse and Huns each have a daily limit of three and a possession limit of 12.

Hunters, regardless of age, must have a fishing, hunting and furbearer certificate and general game and habitat license. In addition, hunters age 16 and older need a small game license.

For further season information and regulations, hunters should consult the North Dakota 2017-18 Small Game Hunting Guide.

Agencies Prohibit Hunting over Bait

Mon, 08/28/2017

Hunters are reminded that hunting big game over bait is prohibited on all state owned or managed wildlife management areas, all U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service national wildlife refuges and waterfowl production areas, U.S. Forest Service national grasslands, and all North Dakota state school, state park and state forest service lands.

The governor’s proclamation relating to chronic wasting disease also includes a provision that prohibits hunting big game over bait on both public and private land in deer unit 3C west of the Missouri River, and all of units 3E1, 3E2, 3F1 and 3F2.

Hunting over bait is defined as the placement and/or use of baits for attracting big game and other wildlife to a specific location for the purpose of hunting. Bait, in this case, includes grain, seed, mineral, salt, fruit, vegetable nut, hay, any naturally derived scent or lure, or any other natural or manufactured food placed by an individual.

Bait does not include agricultural practices, gardens, wildlife food plots, agricultural crops, livestock feeds, fruit or vegetables in their natural location such as apples on or under an apple tree, or unharvested food or vegetables in a garden.

In addition, any firearms, equipment or accessories used by hunters on Private Land Open To Sportsmen acreage may not be left unattended without written permission of the property owner. This includes, but is not limited to, guns, blinds, stands, baits, scents and decoys. This means a hunter cannot place bait on PLOTS prior to or during the season and leave it there, unless permission has been granted by the landowner.