Salmon anglers asked to look for tag
Anglers who catch a tagged salmon are reminded to turn in the heads and report information to the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. There is no external tag. Anglers can identify a tagged salmon by looking at the adipose fin a small fleshy lobe found on the back toward the tail. If the fin is missing it was likely removed by Game and Fish biologists and the salmon probably has a micro-tag embedded in its head.
Micro-tags are inserted into a sample of young salmon before being stocked into Lake Sakakawea and the Missouri River. This microscopic tag is implanted near the snout, and contains a code that identifies stocking information. Heads can be turned into Game and Fish, or local bait shops in Riverdale and Pick City. Anglers will be provided information about the fish when tags are extracted and read by biologists.
PLOTS Guide available online
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department's Private Land Open To Sportsmen Guide for 2012 is now available online at the Department's website, (gf.nd.gov). In addition, PLOTS Guides will be available at most license vendors throughout the state in late August.
The guide will feature about 840,000 PLOTS acres. Because the guide is printed in mid-August, some PLOTS tracts highlighted in the guide may have been removed from the program since the time of printing. There will also be some PLOTS tracts where the habitat and condition of the tract will have changed significantly. Conversely, Game and Fish may have added new tracts to the program after the guide went to press.
To minimize possible confusion, Game and Fish will update PLOTS map sheets weekly on its website. Hunters can also view the guide and find a list of vendors where guides are available on the website.
The guides are free, and available at county auditor offices and license vendors in the state; by walk-in at the Game and Fish Department's Bismarck office; and at district offices in Riverdale, Harvey (Lonetree), Williston, Dickinson, Jamestown and Devils Lake. The guides are not available to mail.
State requirement for transporting adjusted
North Dakota goose hunters should take note of an exception made to state identification requirements for transporting geese when processed by commercial processors who comply with state and federal requirements.
Robert Timian, State Game and Fish Department chief of enforcement, said hunters taking geese to commercial processors must follow the same procedure as before. The only change is commercial processors can now remove the identification component of the goose prior to reaching the hunter's legal residence.
"All federal requirements of tagging and record keeping for both the hunter and the processor remain the same," Timian said. "In addition, nothing changes for the person who takes geese home to clean."
This applies to both the early Canada goose and regular goose seasons. It does not apply for ducks. "The processors were in agreement with us to treat this as a pilot program on only geese and gauge how it works this year," Timian said. "We might expand it to other species in the future."
Processed geese are still subject to daily and possession limit regulations, and may be transported when accompanied by a copy of the record provided by the processor. Prior to this year, one fully feathered wing or the fully feathered head of all waterfowl had to remain attached during transportation or shipment until it reached the hunter's legal residence or was processed for immediate consumption.
State Parks seeks recreation plan input
The North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department seeks public comment on the 2013-2017 North Dakota State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan. Developed every five years, the SCORP is a guide for managing and developing North Dakota's non-consumptive outdoor recreation base. The public is invited to review the SCORP and provide comments by 5 p.m. CDT on Aug. 27, 2012.
Research for the SCORP took place earlier this year. North Dakota households and outdoor recreation providers were surveyed to determine the demand for and supply of outdoor recreation in the state. Based on the research results, funding priorities for outdoor recreation parks and facilities at the state and regional level were established as part of the SCORP implementation plan.
North Dakotans interested in reviewing and commenting on the SCORP should go online at (www.parkrec.nd.gov).