Podcasts

Find out how water levels and boating access are shaping up for this year's open water season in this week's webcast.

Today is the fourth installment of this year's open water fishing reports. This webcast covers Lake Sakakawea and the northeast and northwest district lakes.

Today is the third installment of this year's open water fishing reports. This webcast covers Devils Lake and the southwest district lakes.

Today is the second installment of this year's open water fishing reports. This webcast covers the southeast and north central district lakes.

The spring light goose conservation order was established in 1999 in response to exploding populations of snow and Ross's geese as over-foraging by the birds is damaging parts of their fragile Arctic breeding habitat. The conservation order allows the harvest of light geese outside of normal migratory bird treaty days to help control population growth. This year, the order runs from Feb. 23 through May 12. Learn more in this week’s webcast.

Game wardens issued more than 2,400 citations last year, compared to 2,500 in 2017 and 2,300 citations in 2016 with failure to carry a license being the most common violation. Learn more in this week's webcast.

While it seems almost impossible to believe right now, winter will soon be loosening its grip, and the ice fishing season will give way to open water fishing. So how has the ice fishing season this year shaped up? Find out in this week's webcast. And remember, as spring moves in there are some late season considerations to keep in mind when ice fishing, including the requirement to remove permanent ice houses from lakes daily from March 15 on.

Find out how this year's mid-winter waterfowl survey went in this week's webcast.

Applications for the 2019 spring turkey season are now available online (application deadline - Feb. 13). Find out how this spring's season is shaping up in this week's webcast.

January through May is the peak time for hunter education classes which are offered across the state. If you are interested in taking a hunter education class, required to hunt in North Dakota for anyone born after 1961, find out how in this week's webcast

Take a look back at the 2018 hunting seasons in this week's webcast with Wildlife Division Chief Jeb Williams.

Take a look back at 2018 and ahead to 2019 in this week's webcast with Game and Fish director Terry Steinwand.

This week’s webcast is the second in our 2018 two-part ice fishing preview series. This week’s segment covers the south central, southwest and northwest fisheries districts and the Missouri River.

This week’s webcast is the first in a two-part ice fishing preview series. This week’s segment covers Devils Lake and the north central, northeast and southeast fishing districts. Find out where the best lakes for walleye, pike, yellow perch and more.

Find out how the North Dakota furbearer seasons are progressing in this week’s webcast with furbearer biologist Stephanie Tucker.

With winter comes ice fishing season. Did you know that ice fishing makes up about ¼ of the fishing effort in North Dakota? And, while most of the regulations are similar to those for open-water fishing, there are a few differences. Find out more in this week’s webcast.

Whether you're late-season hunting or early-season ice fishing, being cautious and aware of ice conditions is critical to safely enjoying your favorite winter outdoor activities in North Dakota. Learn more in this week's webcast.

The Report All Poachers program was started in 1983 as a cooperative effort between the North Dakota Wildlife Federation, North Dakota Game and Fish Department and North Dakota State Radio. It gives citizens a way to easily report game and fish violations. Learn more in this week's webcast.

Deer gun season is right around the corner. What can hunters expect in the field this year? Find out in this week's webcast.

It is the time of year again when salmon in Lake Sakakawea are trying to spawn, but the area does not have naturally flowing streams suitable for spawning. So, how is this popular fishery in Lake Sakakawea maintained? Find out in this week’s webcast.

Chronic wasting disease affects deer, moose and elk. It is 100 percent fatal and has no treatment or vaccine. This disease spreads when sick animals shed prions through urine, feces, and saliva. These prions stay on the landscape and are infectious indefinitely. CWD in known to exist in hunting unit 3F2, and last year, an animal in Canada near the northwest North Dakota border tested positive for CWD. Learn what is being done to help control the spread of CWD in the state and what you can do to help these efforts in this week’s webcast.

Many of North Dakota's fall hunting seasons are in full-swing. In this week's webcast, Chief Game Warden Bob Timian talks about some of the more common hunting violations wardens encounter in the field.

North Dakota Game and Fish Department's fisheries management section leader Scott Gangl talks about this year's fall fish reproduction surveys.

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department offers many different online services for hunters and anglers including maps, mobile apps, news and alert subscriptions, and more. Learn more in this week's webcast.

Bighorn sheep were extirpated from North Dakota by 1905 then reintroduced in 1956. Populations were doing well when, in 2014, a pneumonia causing pathogen got into the population. It has since spread to every herd in the state. Find out how this disease continues to impact bighorn in North Dakota, and what the Department is doing to manage the population in this week’s webcast.

After last year's drought and this year's more moderate conditions, how are pheasant populations in the state doing? Find out in this week's webcast.

Find out how this year's waterfowl seasons are shaping up in this week's webcast.

North Dakota’s popular hunting seasons for grouse and partridge will open Saturday, Sept. 8. Last year’s drought is still having an impact on bird numbers. Find out what hunters can expect this fall in this week’s webcast.

Chronic wasting disease is a prion disease affecting cervids (ex. deer, elk, moose) that is shed through saliva and urine. It is always fatal, and once present in the environment it is there to stay. In North Dakota CWD is present in our 3F2 deer rifle unit (south central ND). Watch this week's webcast to find out more about CWD and what we are doing to try and limit the spread of this disease.

The PLOTS (Private Lands Open to Sportsmen) program has been around for over 20 years. Private lands enrolled in PLOTS are open for public walk-in hunting access. There will be approximately 762,000 PLOTS acres available for hunting this fall.

The annual PLOTS guide locates lands open to hunting through the PLOTS program, as well as public lands such as wildlife management and waterfowl production areas. The 2018 guide is available online at https://gf.nd.gov/plots/guide. Printed guides will be available at vendors late August/early September.

With fall right around the corner it is time to start thinking about the furbearer hunting and trapping seasons. Listen to this week’s webcast for a preview of the coming seasons.

North Dakota’s early Canada goose dates are set with opening day Aug. 15. Bag limits and licensing requirements are the same as last year, however Canada goose hunting zones have been restructured with the intent of increasing harvest pressure in the eastern half of the state where the state’s worst Canada goose-landowner conflicts occur. Learn more on this week’s webcast.

The pronghorn season is set, with 1,075 licenses available in 10 open units. The bow-only season is from Aug 30 (noon) – Sep 23. The firearms/archery season is from Oct. 5 (noon) – Oct. 21. Only North Dakota residents are eligible to apply for a 2018 pronghorn license. Learn more in this week’s webcast.

Deep-water salmon fishing in Lake Sakakawea, where downriggers are generally used to allow anglers to fish down 50 to 100+ feet, picks up in late July then runs through August into September. Find out how the 2018 season is shaping up in this week’s webcast at https://gf.nd.gov/ndo-webcast.

Twenty-five years ago, 5 years of drought were broken by the wettest July in recent history. In this week's webcast Director Terry Steinwand takes a look back at those years and the impacts of the drought and the rains on North Dakota's fish and wildlife.

Join us for fishing, archery, educational booths and more at the Conservation and Outdoor Skills Park during the North Dakota State Fair. The park is located near the north central edge of the fairgrounds and will be open every day from 1:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. during the State Fair. All activities are free. Learn more in this week's webcast.

The State Fair runs July 20 through July 28.  

In this weeks's webcast Fisheries Division Chief Greg Power gives a midsummer fishing update for the state. Watch it now! https://gf.nd.gov/ndo-webcast

lcohol use is the leading contributing factor in recreational boater deaths. Operation Dry Water is a national campaign that seeks to heighten awareness of the dangers of boating while drinking. This year it will run from June 29 through July 1. Learn more in this week's webcast.

This year’s breeding duck surveys have been completed. 2018 is the second year in a row breeding duck counts have been below 3 million since the early 1990s. Learn more in this week’s webcast.

There are over 220 wildlife management areas in North Dakota.  WMAs are used for many recreational activities including fishing, hunting, trapping, wildlife watching and more, however their primary purpose is to support wildlife. Spring is a busy time for Department employees on the WMAs. Staff plant food plots, grass, trees and shrubs, start grazing rotations, spray noxious weeds and much more. Learn more in this week's webcast.

Boating season is in full swing. Watch this week's webcast for information on staying safe on the water this summer.

Lowhead dams, some from the late 1800s, can be found across North Dakota. These simple concrete or rock masonry dams were built for various reasons including town water supplies, irrigation, livestock use and recreation. The problem with these dams is that the water flowing over them can cause strong recirculating currents on the downstream side which can trap and drown people. Learn more about these dams and what can be done to mitigate their danger in this week’s webcast.

Applications for the 2018 deer gun season are now available. Apply online at https://gf.nd.gov/buy-apply. The application deadline is June 6. Learn more in this week's webcast.

A number of walleye and northern pike fisheries across the state lack the ability to sustain themselves through natural reproduction. They either lack suitable spawning habitat or have salinity levels that are too high for eggs to successfully hatch. To maintain populations in these important fisheries eggs are collected each spring to be raised in the Garrison Dam and Valley City National Fish Hatcheries then used to restock walleye and northern pike fisheries.

2018 Fishing Report - NE, Red River

Each spring Department fisheries biologists sit down with our webcast host Mike Anderson to discuss the coming open-water fishing season. Today biologists from the Northwest and Southeast Fisheries Districts tell us how the fishing prospects in their areas are shaping up. Next week we’ll hear from biologists in the Northeast Fisheries District and the Red River.

Each spring Department fisheries biologists sit down with our webcast host Mike Anderson to discuss the coming open-water fishing season. Today biologists from the North Central and Southwest Fisheries Districts tell us how the fishing prospects in their areas are shaping up. Next week we’ll hear from biologists in the Northwest and Southeast Fisheries Districts.

Each spring Department fisheries biologists sit down with our webcast host Mike Anderson to discuss the coming open-water fishing season. Today biologists from the South Central Fisheries District and Lake Sakakawea tell us how the fishing prospects in their areas are shaping up. Next week we’ll hear from biologists in the North Central and Southwest Fisheries Districts.

As spring begins to take hold and ice melts our fisheries development staff will start delivering and installing the courtesy docks and fishing piers they've been building over the winter. This year they are planning on also creating 3-4 new boat ramps and on upgrading some of the fish cleaning stations found across the state. Find out more in this week's webcast with fisheries development supervisor Bob Frohlich.