The guide and outfitter exam scheduled for May 9 at the North Dakota Game and Fish Department's main office in Bismarck has been canceled.
The next exam will be rescheduled at a later date.
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The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is offering an online hunter education course for students who will turn at least age 12 on or before Dec. 31, 2020.
Education supervisor Marty Egeland said with most in-person hunter education classes canceled this spring due to the coronavirus pandemic, Game and Fish needed to find a way to get students certified…
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is initiating a study this week to get hunter and landowner opinions on the agency’s Private Land Open to Sportsmen program.
A company called Responsive Management is conducting the study on behalf of Game and Fish.
Licensed hunters, and landowners enrolled in the PLOTS program, may…
Even though the 2020 North Dakota National Archery in the Schools Program state tournament live in-person event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, organizers had a plan in place to recognize archers based on earlier results from the school year.
State NASP coordinator Jeff Long said he always had a backup plan in place in case the live tournament…
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has received $12.8 million in 2020 as its share of excise taxes paid by America's recreational shooters, hunters, anglers and boaters. Altogether, 56 state and territorial fish and wildlife agencies shared more than $971 million.
The funding is used by Game and Fish to support conservation programs such as fish and…
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has announced the winners of this year's Earth Day patch contest.
Winners in the three age categories were Kenzley Hausauer of Halliday (6-9), Allison Gudmundson of Mountain (10-13), and Rowan Bushnell of Cartwright (14-18). Gudmundson’s design was chosen as the contest winner.
Each…
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department Advisory Board will host its spring round of public meetings online this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Districts 1, 2, 7 and 8, which are roughly the western half of the state, will have their combined meeting on Monday, April 27. Districts 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the eastern part of the state will follow on Tuesday, April 28. Both…
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is asking for help in locating active bald eagle nests.
Conservation biologist Sandra Johnson said the department is looking for locations of nests with eagles present, not individual eagle sightings.
Eagles lay eggs in early-to-mid March, which hatch about a month later. Johnson…
If you see a black bear in North Dakota, the state Game and Fish Department wants to know about it.
“Black bears are quite conspicuous and rarely mistaken for other species,” said Game and Fish furbearer biologist Stephanie Tucker. “Reports from the public are our primary means to keep track of black bears, so the information is valuable.”
…The North Dakota Game and Fish Department recently paid more than $700,000 in taxes to counties in which the department owns or leases land. The 2019 in-lieu-of-tax payments are the same as property taxes paid by private landowners.
The Game and Fish Department manages more than 200,000 acres for wildlife habitat and public hunting in 51 counties. The…
North Dakota’s moose and elk lotteries have been held, and individual results are available by visiting My Account at the state Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov.
A total of 16,935 applications were received for bighorn sheep, 21,069 for elk and 24,027 for moose.
While in My Account, successful applicants must…
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has scheduled an examination to select candidates for the position of district game warden. The test is at 10 a.m., May 29, at the department's main office in Bismarck.
Applicants must register to take the exam no later than May 27 by submitting an online application through the North Dakota State Job Openings website…
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has revoked all fishing tournaments for April and May due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Tournament sponsors were notified of possible rescheduling options if conditions, including public safety and open calendar days, present itself.
In addition, organizers of other permitted…
Wildlife, shooting, fraternal and nonprofit civic organizations are urged to submit an application for the Encouraging Tomorrow’s Hunters program, a North Dakota Game and Fish Department grant program developed to assist in the recruitment, retention and reactivation of hunters and shooters.
The maximum grant allowed is $3,000. The program currently helps…
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s 2019 bighorn sheep survey, completed by recounting lambs in March, revealed a minimum of 290 bighorn sheep in western North Dakota, up 2 percent from 2018 and 3 percent above the five-year average.
Altogether, biologists counted 77 rams, 162 ewes and 51 lambs. Not included are approximately 30 bighorn sheep in the…
The North Dakota 2020-22 fishing proclamation has been amended and the state Game and Fish Department is canceling the upcoming paddlefish snagging harvest season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the amendment does allow for the possibility of a one-week snag-and-release season May 15-21, which is two weeks later than the normal opening day.
Fisheries chief Greg Power…
While the upcoming weekend weather doesn't necessarily remind us of spring, warmer weather is just around the corner. As the days get longer and temperatures rise, people naturally want to head outdoors. But this year it's not business as usual.
North Dakota's outdoors and its health benefits, including stress reduction, lower blood pressure, better sleep,…
Landowners who are interested in a 2020 deer gratis license can start the online-only application process now by visiting the North Dakota Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov. The deadline for applying is June 3.
The general deer and muzzleloader lottery applications will be available online in early May, also with a deadline of June 3.
Since 2018 the Game and Fish…
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is prohibiting open burning this spring on public property it manages south of Bismarck and Mandan, as a means to reduce potential for wildfires on a heavily wooded recreation area along the Missouri River.
Bill Haase, wildlife resource management supervisor, said all open burning, including campfires, is banned until further notice on the Oahe…
The State Game and Fish Department’s annual spring aerial mule deer survey is set to begin April 1 in western North Dakota. Weather permitting, the survey takes about two weeks to complete.
During the survey period, people could notice low-flying small airplanes over some parts of the badlands.
Game and Fish biologists have completed aerial surveys of the same 24 badlands study…