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Outdoors

Youth pheasant season scheduled

North Dakota’s two-day youth pheasant season Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 5-6, is an opportunity to introduce a new hunter to the outdoors with limited competition. That’s when legally licensed residents and nonresidents 15 and younger can hunt rooster pheasants statewide. An adult at least 18 must accompany the youth hunter in the field. The adult may not carry a firearm. Hunters 12 and older need to have passed a certified hunter education course or obtain an apprentice hunter validation, which allows an individual to hunt small game for one license year without completing hunter ...

Report sightings of whooping cranes in ND

Whooping cranes are migrating and sightings will increase as they make their way through North Dakota over the next several weeks. Anyone seeing these endangered birds as they move through the state should report sightings so the birds can be tracked. The whooping cranes that do travel through North Dakota are part of a population of about 500 birds on their way from nesting grounds at Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada to wintering grounds in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas, a distance of about 2,500 miles. Whoopers stand about 5 feet tall and have a wingspan of about 7 ...

Game Wardens Association offers scholarships

The North Dakota Game Wardens Association is sponsoring scholarships for enrolled higher education students interested in majoring in wildlife law enforcement or a related field. For more information contact the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

Hunters on boats should wear life jackets

Waterfowlers hunting from boats are encouraged to wear properly fitted life jackets while on the water. Hunting coats with life jackets built in are light and comfortable to wear. In addition, wearing a life jacket will not only keep the overboard hunter afloat, but also slow the loss of critical body heat caused by exposure to cold water. Capsizing and falling overboard from small boats are the most common types of fatal boating accidents for hunters.

Waterfowl hunters need to observe ANS regs

Waterfowl hunters should do their part in preventing the spread of aquatic nuisance species (ANS) into or within North Dakota. Hunters must remove aquatic plants and plant fragments from decoys, strings and anchors; remove aquatic plant seeds and plant fragments from waders and other equipment before leaving hunting areas; remove all water from decoys, boats, motors, trailers and other watercraft; and remove all aquatic plants from boats and trailers before leaving a marsh or lake. In addition, hunters are encouraged to brush their hunting dogs free of mud and seeds. Cattails and ...

Waterfowl season opens for residents, non-residents

North Dakota’s waterfowl season opened for residents on Saturday, while nonresidents may begin hunting waterfowl Saturday, Sept. 28. The season for swans opens Sept. 28 for both residents and nonresidents who have purchased a swan license. Shooting hours for all geese are one-half hour before sunrise to 2 p.m. each day. Extended shooting hours for all geese are permitted from one-half hour before sunrise to sunset on Saturdays and Wednesdays through the end of each season. Starting Sunday, Dec. 1, all day hunting is also allowed on Sundays through the end of each season. A ...