The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
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The work of North Dakota game wardens is so much more than checking hunting and fishing licenses. The men and women wearing a badge and working the frontlines of game and fish law enforcement are the first called when a hunter has a question or a landowner is dealing with deer depredation. They're the individuals keeping personal watercraft operators safe while making sure poachers aren't taking more fish and wildlife than legally allowed. Each year Scott Winkelman, chief game warden, provides...
We live in a world of point, click, instant access and information. Patience is a rare commodity, but when it comes to hunting and fishing, it's not an option. Waiting for the right deer or the hot bite is as important as finding the right lure or spot. In the same way, maintaining, enhancing and growing wildlife populations like deer and pheasants is a long-term investment. It's not practical to think simply stocking fish or dumping food for wildlife is much more than a short-term feel good at...
The spring snow goose conservation season opened up back in February and the spring turkey season is just a couple of weeks away. If you are a hunter, you need to make sure land your hunting is not physically or electronically posted. Landowners who missed the deadline last year or did not electronically post their land last year can still physically post their land at any time. It's an important and sometimes overlooked aspect of the electronic posting of land in North Dakota. Electronic...
Growing up, living or even moving to North Dakota you understand the connection to the outdoors and how important fishing is to "quality of life." While each individual has their own unique factors which contribute to why we live here, the outdoors is part of it for some and more for others. When it comes to fishing there's nobody better than Greg Power, longtime fisheries division chief, to put it into context. What follows is his take on the topic: Recently, I read that even with all the...
Every hunter, angler and trapper can assess their own past seasons and look forward to the challenges and opportunities of 2024. The director of North Dakota Game and Fish and division chiefs are tasked with understanding and guiding the vested interests of all from Cavalier to Carson, from Crosby to Cayuga. It's a challenge to say the least, but here's a look at some of the issues from Jeb Williams, Department director. Looking back on the past year We had a full six months of winter (2022-23)...
January 7 was the official end date for archery deer, pheasant, grouse, partridge and turkey seasons in North Dakota. While squirrel season is open through Feb 29, most of the hunting seasons are over. With spring snow goose officially opening in February and the spring turkey season opening April 13, I need to remind you the next round of hunter education classes begins when the last hunting seasons wrap up. State law requires anyone born after December 31, 1961, to pass a certified hunter...
The first time I felt safe enough to check the ice thickness was Thanksgiving weekend. It wasn't safe yet at 1.5 inches. A week later and it still wasn't. In early December we had 50-plus degree temperatures, making late season pheasant hunters and archery deer hunters smile. The ice anglers pumped their brakes and were frustrated having to wait even longer. The open water fishing in North Dakota in 2023 was record breaking according to Greg Power, fisheries division chief, and hard water...
The Endangered Species Act turned 50 in 2023 I can easily recall in the late 1980s seeing an endangered bald eagle feeding on a deer carcass off the road west of Napoleon in Logan County. Back in those days, if you saw a bald eagle and you could take a picture, you did. At the least you mentally marked the date, time and place and you made sure to phone it in. It was a big deal. While I'm still partial to the site of a bald eagle, it's become rather routine thanks to the amazing recovery of the...
My guess is that most deer hunters don't tire of the "Turdy Point Buck" tune on the radio until the backside of deer season. For a change, though, I'd sure enjoy listening to a refrain about hunting antlerless deer in North Dakota. Then again, doe hunting doesn't quite get the credit it deserves. In fact, when stories of deer seasons past bounce around like an empty pop can in the box of a pickup, odds are you won't hear many recollections about "the time Todd got that doe down in the slough bot...
Since 1993 when the wet cycle began, the growing and maintaining aquatic habitat has been ... natural. If you are under the age of, say, 35 or 40, you've never known the impacts of lower water issues. Sure, we've had a few short-term drought interruptions during the wet cycle, but anyone who remembers the late 1980s and early 1990s will attest to the stark realities of a drought over years compared to months. This wet cycle helped maintain and grow the number of managed fisheries from under 200...
Where are the fishing biting? How are the deer numbers? Two of the most often asked questions I get. Along those same lines, the most popular licensing inquiry deals with the lottery and bonus points. Let’s establish from the start these are “bonus” points not any kind of “preference” point as some may think. The words and functionality are not the same. A preference would give more weight to each point. In the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s lottery system, no point is more important t...
I've always appreciated the complexities of nature, including the connection of individual fish and wildlife species to food, water, space and where they call home. If you hunt upland game, the importance of grassland habitat and pollinators is mutual to game and hunters. Much of the information the North Dakota Game and Fish Department provides on these wildlife/habitat connections relates to species that are hunted, fished and trapped, because hunters, anglers and trappers provide the bulk of...
While the appearance of an American robin, emergence of a crocus or the first pitch at spring training might signal to some that spring has arrive, the real spring season opens April 8 with the turkey season and continues through May 14. This year 7,142 spring turkey tags were available, just 235 fewer than last year with 22 units having more licenses available, eight with fewer and 11 remaining the same. Of note, unit 21 in Hettinger and Adams counties remains closed. While turkeys seem to get...
I saw my first Canada goose of the year on a sunny Tuesday afternoon on February 7 about 4:30 p.m. Yes, I know the exact date and time as I texted a friend who spends more time outdoors than I do talking and writing about it. He confirmed that he spotted a few earlier in the day. While we understood we had more cold and snow to get through before spring arrived, we also knew the spring conservation season for light geese (no Canada geese are allowed) official opening day was near. Before the...
If you don’t fish, what I’m about to say won’t sound logical: Catch-and-release isn’t always the best choice for fishing. What? The short answer is when you catch and release a fish and the fish doesn’t end up surviving, then releasing a fish back into the water can do more harm than good. Stay with me. For most situations, catch-and-release remains a tried-and-true approach to long term fisheries conservation. The practice of catching the fish, followed by a quick and healthy release, will keep...
Late January is sometimes considered a time when not much is going on in North Dakota’s outdoors. But this year with new boat registrations coming in and the state legislature in session, it’s a busy time at the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. Here’s a recap of a few news items from recent weeks or so that still warrant consideration. Legislative Session With the North Dakota Legislature convening the first week of January, the Game and Fish Department set up its website page to track...
We’ve seen it before. A few ice shelters can turn into a city literally overnight. Winter anglers travel from every corner of the state – some from a few states away – at the report of a hot walleye, perch or crappie bite. Anglers wonder if the fishery can withstand the pressure? I remind myself growing up, a hot perch bite wasn’t guarded by limits. That’s correct. There was a time as recently as the mid-1980s when North Dakota didn’t have a daily limit on perch. Fast forward with more waters...
I quit blaming Mother Nature years ago for nasty weather and started pointing the finger at Old Man Winter. Not that it mattered but it seemed fair, even though we have no control over the weather. For man and beast on the prairie, a winter that starts late and ends early with a few drifts of life-bearing moisture and short cold snaps mixed in is about as much as we can ask for. Anyone who's grown up around here knows we adjust to the cold and the snow. From warming up the truck a little, to mak...
As Thanksgiving fades into December many hunters have freezers stacked with mallards and grouse, Canada geese and venison. In college while sharing community freezers we use to have fun by labeling packages to keep others from "enjoying" our hard-earned game. If you lived in Milligan Hall back in the day and ever snuck a freezer-wrapped package labeled "unicorn backstraps" or "passenger pigeon," the meat inside fried in a combination of bacon grease, onion and green peppers was not as rare as...
The time to report a possible poaching violation is not the next time you see a game warden. Complaining about a situation you witnessed during deer or any other hunting season at the cafe, gas station, watering hole or at the high school game doesn't help. The best advice I can give is if you see a possible game and fish violation, report it via the Report All Poachers hotline or local law enforcement. There's no shortage of situations, scenarios and stories. The bottom line is if you see...
Going back to my beginning with the Game and Fish Department as a game warden, the common questions surrounding deer season haven't changed that much. Neither have the answers. Which say's a lot about North Dakota's deer hunting heritage. The 60,000-plus hunters are passionate about the time-honored tradition and want to know the rules and regulations. It's understood with a relatively short 16 ½-day season, a refresher is warranted each year. What has changed over the years? The...
There's never a shortage of experts and predictions for fall football. New coaches and players are analyzed, armchair quarterbacks provide expert analysis of who will advance to the playoffs and Super Bowl even before the season kicks off. Different than fall football forecasts are fall hunting season previews, where biologists and scientists relate the latest findings. But just because a population is up or down doesn't necessarily parallel "success" in the field. So, no matter what you may or...
Last fall saw the first year of electronic posting (eposting) in North Dakota. For most, it's like the first time you shoot a rifle or call in a goose, it gets easier with time. Even so, there's also a benefit to going back over the basics. It's difficult to address each question and scenario, so I suggest taking time to understand the regulations and reading up on the Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov, or consulting your local Game and Fish office. I prefer to use my existing signs...
Like most of you, I've long appreciated the grit of North Dakota's native species. We tend to think more about the toughness of sharp-tailed grouse, northern pike and pronghorn that, like our ancestors, have managed to survive on the prairies compared to the more beautiful, but fragile nonnative pheasant. In the same vein, let's not overlook some of the nongame species. Maybe we can appreciate those even more? Have you ever given a second thought to the long-billed curlew? Color me guilty as...
Understanding how the Game and Fish Department’s lottery and bonus point system works can help applicants make better decisions based on their expectations. First, it’s a matter of understanding the lottery system. Terminology is key when you think of a bonus point versus the misnomer of a preference point. There is no preference. Just a bonus. The license lottery consists of four separate drawings, one for each choice on the application. First, we hold a drawing for the first unit/first deer ch...
