North Dakota Game & Fish Department News: March 21, 2022

Elk, moose, bighorn sheep applications online

Elk, moose and bighorn sheep applications are available online at the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov. The deadline for applying is March 23.

A total of 563 elk licenses are available to hunters this fall, an increase of 40 from last year.

A total of 404 moose licenses are available, a decrease of 70 from last year. Moose units M4 and M1C will remain closed due to a continued downward population trend in the northeastern part of the state.

As stated in the chronic wasting disease proclamation, hunters harvesting an elk in unit E2 and E6, or a moose in units M10 and M11, cannot transport the whole carcass, including the head and spinal column, outside of the unit. More information on CWD is available by visiting the Game and Fish website.

A bighorn sheep hunting season is tentatively scheduled for 2022, depending on the sheep population. The status of the bighorn sheep season will be determined Sept. 1, after summer population surveys are completed. The season was closed in 2015 due to a bacterial pneumonia outbreak.

Of note, a new bighorn sheep hunting unit, B5, was created by splitting unit B4 to distribute the harvest of rams more efficiently.

Bighorn sheep applicants must apply for a license at the same time as moose and elk, but not for a specific unit. Once total licenses are determined for each unit in late summer, the bighorn lottery will be held and successful applicants contacted to select a hunting unit.

Because the bighorn sheep application fee is not refundable as per state law, if a bighorn season is not held, applicants would not receive a refund.

Elk, moose and bighorn sheep lottery licenses are issued as once-in-a-lifetime licenses in North Dakota. Hunters who have received a license through the lottery in the past are not eligible to apply for that species again.

Game and Fish offers wildlife food plot seed

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is offering free seed for the 2022 growing season to landowners interested in planting wildlife food plots for pheasants.

Department private land section leader Kevin Kading said rather than a traditional corn or sunflower food plot, Game and Fish is offering a seed mix that provides increased plant diversity, including flowering plants from spring through fall, which will attract insects, the major diet component of pheasant chicks. Additionally, he said the mix will provide needed cover during spring and summer, as well as a winter food source. Other wildlife species will also benefit from this mix.

“Most Game and Fish food plots are part of the department’s Private Land Open To Sportsmen program,” Kading said. “This food plot campaign does not require a PLOTS contract, but we are asking participating landowners to allow reasonable public access, which could mean simply providing access permission to hunters from time to time, putting up ‘Ask Before You Enter’ signs around the area, or not posting the surrounding land.”

Kading added that landowners participating in this promotion cannot charge a fee for hunting.

The department will provide enough seed to cover up to a maximum 5-acre planting at no cost to the landowner.

Landowners interested in receiving the food plot seed must sign up online by April 1. Seed will be available in April at Game and Fish offices in Bismarck, Jamestown, Devils Lake, Harvey, Dickinson, Williston and Riverdale.

Game and Fish private land biologists can provide technical assistance on food plot location and site preparation.

Landowners interested in additional financial incentives may be considered for the PLOTS program as well. More information is available by contacting a private land biologist at any Game and Fish office in the state, or email [email protected].

Grant supports high school trap league

Local clubs or communities interested in receiving a grant to support a high school trap shooting team must have the application in before April 1. Existing teams that have received a grant in the past are not eligible.

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department offers a grant of up to $1,000, with funds designed to purchase gear such as eye and hearing protection, vests, shell bags and magnetic barrel rests.

Interested applicants can print out the high school trap league grant application online at the Game and Fish website, gf.nd.gov.

For more information, contact Game and Fish education section leader Marty Egeland at 328-6612, or email [email protected].

Nonresident any-deer bow licenses

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department will have 810 any-deer bow licenses available to nonresidents in 2022.

Applicants can apply online beginning March 15 on the Game and Fish website, gf.nd.gov. The deadline for applying is April 15.

Up to five hunters can apply together as a party. A lottery will be held if more applications are received than licenses available. A total of 1,767 people applied in 2021.

The number of nonresident any-deer bow licenses available is 15% of the previous year’s mule deer gun license allocation.

2022-23 licenses needed April 1

North Dakota anglers, trappers and hunters are reminded that new licenses are required beginning April 1.

Licenses can be purchased online by visiting the North Dakota Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov. Once the license is processed, hunters and anglers will have the option to print a hard copy and/or download the license to a smart phone or mobile device, which is helpful when asked to show proof while hunting or fishing in rural areas that lack cellular service.

Licenses can also be purchased at more than 140 vendor locations throughout the state. The 2022-23 small game, fishing and furbearer licenses are effective April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.

Electronic posting system for private land available

Landowners interested in posting private land electronically for the 2022-23 hunting season can log into My Account on the North Dakota Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov. The deadline for landowners to digitally post land is July 1, which is necessary to produce print material and digital content prior to hunting seasons that begin in August.

The 2021 state legislature passed a bill to allow electronic posting of private land, giving landowners another option for posting private property.

Landowners who enrolled land electronically last year can renew, add or modify posting designations during the enrollment period. Others posting for the first time might need to create a profile. To post land, proceed to the “Land Parcels/Electronic Posting” section at the bottom of the page and click “Search/Renew Land parcels.” The electronic posting system is linked to land descriptions based on county tax parcel information.

The Game and Fish website has complete instructions for landowners, along with frequently asked questions for both landowners and hunters.