Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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With the anchor-like weight of a deer tag becoming more and more tangible in the right leg pocket of my camouflage hunting pants and that heft spurring much of my recent outdoor activity, I catch myself thinking ahead, beyond the quiet morning sits and windy sneaks through the countryside as I wait for a buck – at this time, I'd take any buck – to magically appear in front of me. As I do, I listen to the winged world around me as chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers and other birds of the cre...
I grew up in an era when wild game cooking involved a can of cream of mushroom soup and a roaster. The wild game – grouse, duck, partridge or a rare pheasant – was simmering beneath the greyish gravy base. It was the way Mom did it, the way Grandma did it and maybe family before her? Cooking show addicts would scoff if TV stations aired a history of prairie fare. Quite honestly, it wouldn't take long. What has evolved is an expanded variety and appreciation for wild game cooking- with cre...
Outdoor notes: *Stay off any and all ice whether hunting or fishing because it’s generally unsafe yet. *Nov. 27: Muzzleloader deer season opens. *Nov. 29: Dove season closes. *Nov. 30 & Dec. 1: N.D. Game & Fish Dept. virtual livestream advisory board public meetings. Email advance questions to [email protected]. Go to the department website, (gf.nd.gov) for more information. Fishing: *Devils Lake elevation, Nov. 17: 1,448.51 feet above mean sea level (MSL). *Stump Lake elevation: 1,448.53 MSL. *...
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department encourages hunters, anglers and trappers to send questions for the fall advisory board livestream meeting prior to the scheduled start time. Questions should be submitted to [email protected]. Those sent during the live chat are not guaranteed to get answered during the meeting. Game and Fish announced on Oct. 27 that it will host its fall round of public meetings online this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The meeting for districts 1, 2, 7 and 8 is on Monday, Nov. 30, while districts 3, 4,...
Fall Mule Deer Survey Completed The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s fall mule deer survey indicated another year of good fawn production. Biologists counted 2,116 mule deer in the aerial survey in October. The ratio of 82 fawns per 100 does was similar to last year, while 36 bucks per 100 does was lower than in 2019. “Overall, fawn production was good which could lead to population growth depending on the severity of this winter,” said Bruce Stillings, big game management supervisor, Dickinson. Snowfall and poor ground conditions durin...
Hunters and anglers are the primary funders of wildlife conservation through license fees and excise taxes on equipment like fishing tackle, guns, and ammunition. These taxes, resulting from the Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson Acts, were advocated by hunters and anglers to restore game and fish properties across the country. Take a moment to think about that, where else have you seen a group raise their hand and ask to be taxed more for the things they love to do? Thanks to the funding fro...
In the fall of 2019, the southeast corner of North Dakota received significant rain which not only complicated the hunting efforts of many in the region, but also filled up sloughs, lakes and wetlands to the highest point seen in recent years. This occurrence resulted in the creation of unstable ice which caused local agencies to restrict access to certain bodies of water, including Jamestown Reservoir, and excessive snow limited access to a number of fisheries over the winter. However, the...
Those days when overcast conditions settle in well before dawn provide a unique time to be outdoors, particularly during deer season. The lack of the pinks and oranges streaking overhead from the eastern horizon and lighting up the sky early makes the anticipation of first legal light even more excruciating, despite the moment being governed by the time on my watch and not by what can be seen on the landscape. The dim grey of a foggy dawn, with clouds hanging so low you can’t tell where the s...
Outdoor notes: *Nov. 22: Deer gun season closes. *Nov. 27: Muzzleloader deer season opens. *Nov. 29: Dove season closes. *Nov. 30 and Dec. 1: N.D. Game & Fish Dept. virtual livestream advisory board public meetings. Email advance questions to [email protected]. Go to the department website, (gf.nd.gov) for more information. Fishing: *Devils Lake elevation, Nov. 10: 1,448.56 feet above mean sea level (MSL). *Stump Lake elevation: 1,448.59 MSL. *Lake Sakakawea elevation: 1,839.01 MSL; 13,400 cubic...
North Dakota had its first confirmed case of chronic wasting disease in deer detected in 2009. Since then, CWD has become a familiar term to most North Dakota deer hunters. Dr. Charlie Bahnson, North Dakota Game and Fish Department wildlife veterinarian explains, “We first started finding deer with CWD in Grant and Sioux counties, hunting unit 3F2, in 2009, and we’ve been finding positive deer down there ever since,” Bahnson said. “And in 2018 we found it for the first time in Divide County, uni...
The North Dakota Parks & Recreation Department had their highest number of campers recorded in the department's history during the 2020 season. The department saw a 35% increase in campsite nights this season compared to the 2019 season. The increase in camping was a trend in the 13 state parks across the state, all of which were open and operating under CDC guidelines as destinations for visitors to safely recreate in an outdoor environment. "North Dakota state parks provided a safe, social distance setting during an uncertain time this campin...
More than 45 years after gray wolves were first listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Trump Administration and its many conservation partners are announcing the successful recovery of the gray wolf and its delisting from the ESA. U.S. Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt was at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge to announce that state and tribal wildlife management agency professionals will resume responsibility for sustainable management and protection of delisted gray wolves in states with gray wolf...
In North Dakota, the unit in which a sportsman hunts deer is almost analogous to one's hometown in the grand sense of things, and particularly in November for the state's firearms deer season. The response of "4B" or "2F2" to the question of "where'd you draw your tag" conjures up rugged hillsides or rolling prairie farmland respectively, and is almost as easy to identify on a mental map as the blacktop roads that surround the hunting area and the small towns which serve as outposts within it....
When it comes to trophies following a successful hunt, most people's minds turn to the antlers on the buck they just shot, or the tenderloins in the doe they just tagged; but there's one part of a whitetail deer that stands out to those hunters who also create their own lures in the winter season that follows the hunt. The tail of a whitetail deer is one of the most ubiquitous sources of material for those looking to craft jigs for springtime smallmouth bass, in-line spinners for pike and...
Outdoor notes: *Nov. 9: Crow and woodcock seasons close. *Nov. 15: Sandhill crane season closes. *Nov. 22: Deer gun season closes. Fishing: *Devils Lake elevation, Nov. 3: 1,448.63 feet above mean sea level (MSL). *Stump Lake elevation: 1,448.58 MSL. *Lake Sakakawea elevation: 1,839.02 MSL; 13,300 cubic feet per second average (CFS) Garrison Dam daily releases. *Devils Lake, Ed’s Bait Shop, Devils Lake: Warmer weather brought anglers out before deer season opened with continued fair success. T...
Don your blaze orange, secure your tag, check your scope one more time and stuff a package of handwarmers in your vest pocket because the big day is just about here. Firearms deer season starts this weekend and you don’t want to miss out on the excitement that comes with “the grandaddy of them all” when it comes to hunting. No matter how you do it, in a group of family and friends, pushing hard through a cattail slough driving bucks and does to the end of a draw, or sitting silently alone in a...
While election night and its aftermath continue to underscore the deep divide that runs through the middle of this country’s populace, one tradition exists and is growing and improving in a manner that unites all hunters from the west coast to the great plains to the southeast. According to Kip Adams, Director of Conservation for the Quality Deer Management Association, deer hunting in the United States is at an apex, and more and more Americans are taking to the field. From those late-onset h...
I often wonder what it's like, to smell a million times more than what is humanly possible. When my lab lifts his nose to the northwest gusts and cocks his head ever so slightly before upping his pace into the breezes, I try to box the experience into something my limited senses can comprehend. Sometimes I think it's as if he picks up the scent of a covey of grouse or a running rooster many yards up as some strange undercurrent in the flow of the wind, the way I detect the smell of barbecue...
The 2020 North Dakota deer season opens Nov. 6 at 12-noon Central time and runs through Sunday Nov. 22. Legal shooting hours after opening day are a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset each day. Here's a few of the more common questions that seem to come up each year. I can't find my deer license. What should I do? You must obtain an application for a duplicate license from the Game and Fish Department by calling (701) 328-6300 or printing it off the website at gf.nd.gov. Fill o...
Outdoor notes: *Nov. 5: Elk Unit E5 closes. *Nov. 6: Deer gun season opens. *Nov. 7: Bobcat season opens. *Nov. 9: Crow and woodcock seasons close. Fishing: *Devils Lake elevation, Oct. 27: 1,448.64 feet above mean sea level (MSL). *Stump Lake elevation: 1,448.64 MSL. *Lake Sakakawea elevation: 1,839.09 MSL; 13,200 cubic feet per second average (CFS) Garrison Dam daily releases. *N.D. Game & Fish Dept. Dist. game wardens: Little to no activity on east-central N.D. area lakes. Weather...
Fisheries crews have completed their annual salmon spawning operation on the Missouri River System, after collecting more than 2.1 million eggs. North Dakota Game and Fish Department Missouri River System fisheries biologist Russ Kinzler said crews easily collected enough eggs to stock the 400,000 smolts planned for Lake Sakakawea in 2021, as well as provide approximately 400,000 surplus eggs to South Dakota. The majority of eggs were collected from Lake Sakakawea, with help from the Missouri River below Garrison Dam. Average size of female...
While recently waxing philosophical about the power of my dog's nose, I got to wondering, and then worrying, about another well-developed sense of smell in the outdoors. As I drew to the end on my column which detailed how victory often comes in the form of trusting the nose of my dog to lead me in the direction of birds in the uplands, despite not knowing exactly how it all works, I became concerned that being on the receiving end of such a sensational scent receptor could impact my other...
Most hunters, and nonhunters for that matter, are shocked, surprised and maybe a little bewildered, when they learn that just 35 game wardens safeguard North Dakota's vast hunting and fishing resources across the state. Certainly, no one has led me to believe those warden numbers are too high. Just think of the geographic expanse mixed in with topography from the badlands and Turtle Mountains, to the hills of the coteau and the flats of the drift prairie. There's plenty of nooks and crannies to...
Outdoor notes: *Nov. 6: Deer gun season opens. *Nov. 7: Bobcat season opens. Fishing: *Devils Lake elevation, Oct. 20: 1,448.62 feet above mean sea level (MSL). *Stump Lake elevation: 1,448.48 MSL. *Lake Sakakawea elevation: 1,839.03 MSL; 13,200 cubic feet per second average (CFS) Garrison Dam daily releases. *Devils Lake, Ed’s Bait Shop, Devils Lake: Weather limiting activity but when possible, try vertical jigging morning or evening for walleye. *Foster County area lakes, Dry Dock, C...
Some hunting seasons bring snow, cold, winds and inhospitable conditions which we as hunters prepare for in order to pursue an oft-anticipated portion of our year, and in the end find success in the field through our efforts. These efforts may start way back in spring or summer, getting into shape through a workout regimen, sighting in a new rifle, or logging countless rounds of trap, skeet or sporting clays to feel comfortable with our physical abilities and shooting skills. The purchase of gea...
