Man Made Walleye Heaven

By Chris Hustad

 
 I caught up with an old high school friend from Fargo earlier this spring. Evidentially he found his way to the Nodak Outdoors forum during the spring snow goose season and we stayed in touch. We spent some time catching up on a couple short fishing trips across the region and he had [...]

Backwards Walleye Movements

By Jason Mitchell
For years, anglers have had this preconceived notion pounded into their heads. This notion is that walleye will lounge or rest in deeper water and feed in shallow water. Many anglers imagine fish resting in deeper water relating to the break, moving up the break and feeding in the shallow water. This movement [...]

Walleyes and the Wind

By Jason Mitchell
The affect of wind on walleye is almost cliché.  Follow the wind or fish the windy shore.  Wind stacks up baitfish and then the walleye follow.  The reality is however that this cliché is only right half the time so this theory is just another half truth.  There are so many scenarios where [...]

Trolling the Night Bite for Walleyes

By PJ Maguire

 
There are a lot of theories in walleye circles about when the peak feeding time is for walleyes throughout the year. It’s well documented that walleyes with their cloudy, marble eyes were designed to prey on baitfish in low-light conditions. So with that being said you’d expect the peak to often be early [...]

Walleye Trolling Concepts

By Jason Mitchell
Regardless of whether you look for walleye in a river, lake or reservoir, trolling crank baits are incredibly effective come mid to late summer.  The reasons that trolling can be so effective stem from the fact that fish will generally pull out into areas that are easy to troll.  When fish suspend over [...]

Bottom Bouncers

By Jason Mitchell
The bottom bouncer is an incredibly effective and versatile piece of equipment for walleye anglers. Over the past few years, there seems to have been an emphasis on using the bottom bouncer as more of a rigging tool. The bottom bouncer can become a tool for efficiently presenting a live bait snell or [...]

Fish Tags

By Doug Leier
Most hunters are aware of bird bands. Those most familiar are the metallic leg bands on ducks and geese.
The band will typically include instructions for reporting identifying numbers or letters related to the organization doing the research. Hunters have always embraced and understood their roll in these scientific studies, and banded birds are [...]

Trolling for Walleyes

By Chris Hustad
This is a 2-part series on a beginners guide to trolling for walleyes.
Also see the 2nd part of the series – Walleye Trolling Boards and Trolling Deep
My newest passion in walleye fishing the past couple years has been trolling. I will admit it, I flat out love trolling for walleyes. Don’t get me [...]

Walleye Trolling Boards & Trolling Deep for Walleyes

By Chris Hustad
This is a second part of a 2-part series on a beginners guide to trolling for walleyes.
Also see the 1st part of the series – Trolling for Walleyes
I  am a big fan of planer boards for walleyes, but it wasn’t always this way. My first time using planer boards was on Lake Superior [...]

Fishing Leadcore

By Jason Mitchell
Over the past ten years, trolling with lead core line has gained in popularity amongst the walleye crowd. Lead core enables anglers to put any crankbait in the tackle box in front of fish regardless of how deep. This in itself is a huge advantage but you can also accomplish the same task [...]

A Reason for Walleye Restrictions

By Doug Leier
Over the years, North Dakota Game and Fish has developed a body of fishing regulations based on sound fisheries biology and management practices. A general rule of thumb is that if a regulation isn’t going to help the resource, then don’t put it in place, and conversely, if a regulation is no longer [...]

Suspended Walleyes & Slip Bobbers

By Jason Mitchell
Walleye suspend an awful lot, much more I bet than most anglers want to imagine. I say, “want to imagine,” because many anglers do in fact hate the idea of fishing in “no man’s land.” That is off the bottom. The bottom is such a nice constant, something so definite. When we fish [...]

Walleye River Fishing Tips

By Bill Ortiz
With all of the tools available now to the modern walleye angler, one of the oldest and most effective tools for catching walleye on rivers early in the year continues to be a good anchor. What surprises me is how many fishing rigs don’t even have anchors or at least anchors that can [...]

Fine Tuning Your Boat Control

By Sheldon Meidinger
Easily keeping the boat on a small spot for most of the day can help anglers catch just about any kind of fish from bass and sunfish to musky and walleye. The greatest evolution on boat control however, has been in walleye fishing applications. From reservoirs and natural lakes to rivers and flowages, [...]

Follow the Leader

By Jason Mitchell
The idea that walleye may indeed follow a lure for a significant distance before striking surprises many anglers. Many anglers have this mental picture that fish just lash out and strike a lure as the lure appears, like an ambush. While there is no doubt that plenty of ambushing is going on under [...]

Spring Open Water Fishing is Here

By Jason Mitchell
Spring fishing is always good for people. The signs of spring put people in better state of mind. For many lake anglers in the upper Midwest, this month is the time to get the boat out. The first time to use a long rod in over six months. We wait for spring all [...]

River Walleyes on Plastics

By Troy Morris
Plastics have really made an impact on river walleye fishing. Plastics allow anglers to change shapes, colors and size with an ease that cannot be accomplished with the traditional minnow or shiner. Jigs tipped with a plastic body often shine in river fishing conditions for a variety of reasons.
First off, the current present [...]

Fishing Opener

By Doug Leier
I  might miss the North Dakota fishing opener this year, but I will have my own first day of open water fishing. It may come earlier than last year or a few days later, depending on how spring arrives, but it will be here soon and I can’t wait.
If you’re a bit confused, [...]

Redifining Rock Structure in the Winter

By Jason Mitchell
Look for hard bottom areas to catch more fish this winter. Bars, points and saddles that are covered with rock are a good bet if you are looking for perch or walleyes. At least that is what I have been told. Walleye anglers in particular are infatuated with this structural element. Watch an [...]

It’s About the Little Things

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

 
It’s the little things in life that matter; a couple bluegills on the flyrod to pass a sunny afternoon at the lake or a few golden walleye fillets sizzling in the frying pan for an evening meal. And it is these little things that make angling so much fun. Getting to that point [...]

Devils Lake Walleyes

By PJ Maguire

 
Minnesota is the land in which nothing is legal. Every year it seems as though they tighten restrictions on outdoor activities. Especially when it comes to the most popular fish in the land of 10,000 lakes, the walleye. It should come as no surprise that people look to North Dakota, for the simple [...]

Walleyes – You Gotta Love ‘Em

By Chris Hustad
Versatility – that’s what makes walleye fishing so unique. Over the course of the open water season in the upper Midwest, I will typically fish for walleyes, pike, musky, smallmouth & largemouth bass, catfish, crappies, and a whole assortment of other species by accident. When I think about fishing for panfish, smallies or [...]

Spring River Walleye Fishing

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
Spring in the upper Midwest is unpredictable; seventy-two and sunny one weekend, twenty-seven and snowing the next. However, there is one thing about spring that is a given; fish will go through the same process in preparation to beget more fish. It is during this time of year – the prespawn period – [...]

Fishing in May

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” This line, an eye-to-eye plea by Matthew Broderick as the title character in the 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, sums up our very existence.
For anglers, month of May moves even faster. Between graduations, [...]

The Reason for Year Around Fishing

By Doug Leier
Every year about this time, a few anglers question North Dakota’s year-round fishing season. It’s not so much an opposition as it is a curiosity, because many North Dakotans are aware that Minnesota closes its season for game fish from late February to mid-May.
South Dakota’s regulations are much like North Dakota’s. Most waters [...]

Spinner Rigs

By Ted Takasaki and Scott Richardson

 
You can’t beat live bait…or can you? There is a presentation that combines both the natural scent, look and feel of live bait and the flash and attraction of a lure. Spinner rigs offer the best of both worlds and they work especially well on many different lakes across the [...]

Walleyes in the Weeds

By PJ Maguire

 
The lake that I fish the most is not what you would classify as a “traditional” walleye lake. The lake does not contain any mud flats or rocky points. It is a weedy lake, and the walleyes are weed walleyes. I have found that cabbage flats that are ten to fourteen feet can [...]

Weight Forward Spinners

By Lindy Fishing Tackle
The dramatic comeback of Lake Erie walleye fishing has brought widespread attention to a lure that’s been around for a long time, the weight forward spinner. The weight forward spinner is basically a chunk of lead with a shafted spinner and a trailing hook. It is generally fished with a live crawler [...]

Walleye Fever – Trophy Walleye Fishing

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

 
Call it the result of a lucky catch, call it an unwanted side effect of Minnesota fishing opener (I guess now I see why ND really got rid of opening dates for fishing) but I’ve been stricken with walleye fever.
Chance Encounter
The symptoms started last Tuesday when fishing with a couple of buddies on [...]

Devils Lake Walleye Fishing

By PJ Maguire
It’s canny how some of my most memorable outdoor experiences have been last minute operations.
Once again, a last minute trip was planned for Devil’s Lake while I was at work. When I got done at 9 pm, I packed up my fishing gear and forgot about everything else going on in my life. [...]

Jig Fishing Tips

By Lindy Fishing Tackle

 
The leadhead jig is probably the most universal of artificial lures. Originally used for saltwater species, the jigging method became a freshwater angling “revolution” in the 1950’s and early 1960’s. Anglers soon discovered that jigs take all inland sport fish, especially walleyes, crappies, and bass. Even with today’s assortment of baits and [...]

Lindy Rigs – Everything You Need to Know

Lindy Fishing Tackle
Lindy Rigging revolutionized live bait fishing in the 1960’s and is still one of the most popular and productive methods for taking walleyes throughout the country.
Lindy Rigs can take panfish, walleyes, bass, northern pike, trout and any bottom feeding fish wherever they are–in natural lakes, man-made reservoirs, rivers and streams. With Lindy Rigs [...]

Midsize Baits and Sundry Traits of the Midday Walleye

By Noel Vick

 
Dave Genz, admittedly, dislikes morning bites. Well…in reality, that’s not completely fair. He digs a buttocks-over-teakettle morning feed as much as the next guy. What he despises, however, is a bombastic daybreak that evolves into an afternoon of nothingness. Genz, in fact, has devoted a lifetime to finding fish at high noon. No [...]

Shallow Water Walleyes…in 100-Degree Heat

By Chris Hustad
Scenario: It’s the end of June, almost 100 degrees and high humidity…what do you do? Well, I would say it all depends on the lake and the ecosystem in place. I would assume most walleye anglers would’ve been seeking out the deeper breaks looking for baitfish off deep ledges and humps. In the [...]

Suspended Walleyes

By Chris Hustad
Scenario: You wake up and spend all morning working deep or shallow water walleyes off structure, humps, points and breaks. The results…nothing. While the graph is showing a few spotty fish here and there off the bottom, you move on trying to work another piece of structure in search of fish. The whole [...]

Walleye Fishing Rods, Reels and Line

By Eric Hustad
The story goes like this: I was fishing with my dad last spring for walleyes. I was talking up the new rods I had picked up for feeling those light walleye bites while dad was using his “old faithful.” I kept giving him a hard time because “old faithful” doesn’t have as much [...]

Walleye and Crappie Fishing Rods, Reels, and Line Reviews

By Eric Hustad
This spring I put some new walleye gear to the test and I promised opinions on where a person should throw some hard earned money. I put G. Loomis’s IMX rod up against St.Croix’s Legend Elite, and I have to say that I was really impressed with the St. Croix rod. It has [...]

Walleye Recipes

Here’s some favorite walleye recipes of ours.
Broiled Walleye Recipe :

2 lbs of Walleye fillets
Cut fillets into about 1/2″ strips
4-5 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice
3-4 Garlic cloves, minced
3 Tablespoons of Soy Oil
3 1/2 Tablespoons White Wine
3 pinches of fresh chopped sweet Basil
Salt & Pepper to Taste

Blend all ingredients together. It should be a paste-like texture.
Place walleye fillet [...]

Tips for Spring Walleyes in Minnesota

By Eric Hustad
I can always tell when winter is coming to an end because I put another new tackle box together. I spend hours figuring out inventory, and deciding what I need for the upcoming spring. Don’t forget the time spent checking out the latest in new fishing lures at the sporting goods stores. I get [...]

North Dakota Water Levels

Baldhill Dam
Cannonball River – Breien

Devils Lake – Devils Lake
Fort Peck-

Garrison Dam
Heart River – Mandan

Jamestown Dam
Knife River – Hazen

Lake Darling – Foxholm
Lake Oahe

Lake Oahe –
Lake Sakakawea

Missouri River – Bismarck
Missouri River – Washburn

Missouri River – Schmidt
Missouri River – Stanton

North Dakota Statewide
Pipestem Dam

Red River – Fargo
Red River – Grand Forks

Red River – Wahpeton

Missouri River & Lake Oahe Boat Ramp Access Update

Updated 5-18-04
Elevation 1581.2

Site
Type
Bottom
Status
Contact

Langeliers Bay (main)
32′
wide concrete
Unusable
Alex Jahner 254-5491

Langeliers Bay (low-water)
14′
wide slide-in metal
Unusable
Alex Jahner 254-5491

State Line Area (low-water)
14′
wide slide-in metal
Unusable
State Line Resort 336-7765

Cattail Bay
15′
wide concrete/plank
Unusable
Ralph Gabrysh 255-0015

Fort Yates
30′
wide concrete
Unusable
Ralph Gabrysh 255-0015

Rivery (Jennerville)
16′
wide concrete plank
Usable
Ralph Gabrysh 255-0015

Beavery Bay (main)
60′
wide concrete
Unusable
Ralph Gabrysh 255-0015

Beaver Bay (COE-LW)
12′
wide concrete plank
Unusable
Ralph Gabrysh 255-0015

Beaver Bay (Spawning Shed)
12′
wide concrete plank
Unusable
ND Game & Fish 328-6300

Beaver Bay [...]

10 Steps to Better Jigging

By Ted Takasaki

 
Most anglers believe that they know all about jigs just because jigs have been around ever since man first pinched lead shot on a hook. But, that’s just not so. Jigging basics may seem simple enough and mastering the fundamental of jigging technique can mean the difference between catching fish and not. Try [...]

Devils Lake – Lake Sakakawea Water Conditions

By Doug Leier
Like night and day. Comparing apples to oranges. Pick your cliché that refers to contrasting situations, and apply it to North Dakota’s two largest bodies of water, Lake Sakakawea and Devils Lake.
Sakakawea, a reservoir on the Missouri River, is at its lowest water level since it first filled nearly 40 years ago. If [...]

Matching Floats for Slip Bobber Fishing

From Lindy Fishing Tackle
There are a lot of opportunities at slip bobber fishing, and this method can be used for a lot of fish species. Thill® has done a lot with their bobbers, or they call, “floats” to increase your fishing success. These aren’t the bobbers of yesterday, and we’ve come a long ways from [...]

Missouri River Fishing

By Jed Fluhrer
The stretch of the Missouri River in North Dakota from the tailrace to the North Dakota South Dakota State line offers anglers a variety of challenges. This portion of the river is know for its exceptional walleye fishing but also offers anglers the chance at northern pike, rainbow trout, brown trout, cutthroat trout, [...]

Fishing Deepwater Crankbaits

Lindy Tackle Team
The Lindy Tackle team has put together some tips to help you target and effectively use crankbaits in deepwater situations.

On Deep Mud Flats:

 
Many of the country’s reservoirs contain large mud flats. Walleyes will inhabit these flats, especially when insect hatches are coming off the mud. When it’s calm, the bigger like to hang [...]

Fishing Rod Building Tips

By Taylor Fitterer

Making your own custom fishing rods can be a fun experience. Each rod normally takes about 2-3 hours to manufacture, and the finish drying time can take from a few hours to a few days depending on the type of finish, temperature and humidity. We have learned through trial and error and I [...]

No Snag Secrets to Lindy Rigging

By Ron Lindner
- Use a lighter line from the swivel to the hook, preferably 2-4lb less than the main line on your reel.
- Because of the unique cam action, you may feel some resistance, much like an increasing pressure. Usually a sharp tight-line yank will pull it free–or set the hook on a fish.
- Shorter [...]

The Red River of the North

July 2005 – Fishery of the Month
The Red River of the North is quietly one of the state’s best fisheries. It’s one of the country’s best location to target big catfish; and some would argue hold’s the next state record walleye. One thing if for sure though, there’s a lot of big fish in this [...]

Feeding Wildlife During Winter

By Doug Leier
Nobody wants to see wildlife starve. It happens sometimes, but even in a winter such as this, not as much as most people think.
Even in mild winters, Game and Fish is asked about feeding animals, and over time the response to such questions has changed.
Historically, winter feeding of wildlife – big game animals, [...]

Deer Baiting – The Never Ending Saga

By Chris Hustad

 
One of the most controversial topics to ever come up in the Nodak Outdoors forums is whether or not deer baiting is ethical. Keep in mind, anytime you want to argue ethics you’re arguing a very large gray area. Who decides what is ethical? That is in the eye of the beholder, and [...]

Flinch-Free Firing – Rifle Shooting Technique

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
An old neighbor of mine who was just as good at busting sporting clays on the skeet range as he was at busting my chops regarding my tales of fishing and hunting misadventure, asked me what my problem was when he read I didn’t get a deer on opening weekend a few years [...]

Taking Care of Your Deer After Harvest

By Doug Leier
North Dakota’s recent bounty of white-tailed deer means that more hunters in more places have had a chance to put a deer or two or three in the freezer.
That’s quite a change from a few short decades ago when deer weren’t nearly as plentiful and many hunters made doe licenses their first choice [...]

Deer Behavior and Auto Accidents

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
While driving back from a trip back home this week, I encountered a situation that many outdoorsmen run into when heading out to or coming back from the lake, the deer blind or any other activity which requires an early start or a late return.
Despite seeing the mature doe some 100 feet ahead [...]

Making Your Own Deer Hunting Rattlers

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

Do you hear that tick-tick-ticking? It’s either the second hand of the hall clock marking off the moments until deer seasons open up around the region or it’s the beginning of field combat between this year’s herd of whitetail bucks in an attempt to establish dominance.
From Sunday morning hunting shows to a seat [...]

Concerns Over Big Game Hunting with Bait

By Doug Leier
Over the course of the past year we’ve heard a lot about hunting big game over bait in North Dakota. Some hunters engage in this practice, some have never tried it but support it, and still others would like to see the practice prohibited statewide.
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department, while recognizing [...]

Elk Management

By Doug Leier
Science and wildlife management are not stationary. Continuous research and fact gathering result in adjustments to management strategies and through this evolving process hunters directly see changes in hunting seasons.
This year’s North Dakota elk season is a good example. Just since 2006, the State Game and Fish Department has nearly doubled the number [...]

Concerns for Big Game Disease

By Doug Leier
A few weeks ago, top officials from North Dakota’s game and fish and agriculture departments attended a public meeting in Grygla, Minn., to get an up-close look at the fall-out from the increasing presence of bovine tuberculosis only 50 miles from North Dakota’s border.
Area meetings took place because bovine TB has been identified [...]

Land Mangement for Hunting

Jeremy Elbert
While the recent weather has not given any indication of spring actually becoming a reality, we all know it’s just around the corner. As snow gives way to wonderful green growth and spring gives way to summer, it’s time to start thinking about how to improve our hunting properties. If your list is as [...]

The Big 3 – Elk, Moose, and Bighorn Sheep Hunting

By Doug Leier
March 19 is the deadline for the “big three,” or moose, elk and bighorn sheep license applications in North Dakota. I’d wager a guess that even some non-hunters have heard discussion on the odds of winning the big three lottery, and we’re not talking a financial lottery either.
Hunters nod with understanding when the [...]

Managing Food Plots

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
I  can tell you the exact moment I became addicted to fishing; it happened while standing on the rocks my dad on the shore of the Sheyenne River just below the Baldhill Dam as we landed white bass hand over fist on a warm June Saturday nearly 10 years ago. Clearly, I can [...]

My First Buck

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

Part 1 of a 2-Part Story
This year’s deer season was make-or-break for me. In past years, I had been unwilling or unable to put in the time to become proficient with a rifle. There was always something else to do like fishing for bass or hunting upland game throughout late summer and early [...]

My November Buck Pursuit

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

Part 2 of a 2-Part Story
With a blink of my eyes, I was asleep after dinner and awake long before the rest of the house. I jumped into my hunting clothes and donned blaze orange for day two of the November chase. My host, free from the burdens of work, picked me up [...]

Common Questions on Deer Hunting Regulations

By Doug Leier
Forget the remaining ducks and geese, step aside roosters and turkeys. It’s deer season. Officially the regular gun season runs Nov. 9 through Nov. 25, but make no mistake, deer season takes center stage until the tags are filled and garages are transformed into makeshift processing plants.
Between the hash marks of the season, there’ll [...]

The Big Game Tradition

By Doug Leier
I  beg any reader to honestly say they don’t know a deer hunter in North Dakota. While not every adult North Dakota citizen will hunt deer, it has more participants than any other form of hunting. Not a sports rivalry in our state claims nearly a hundred thousand participants.
In fact, to put every [...]

Choosing a Scope

By Richard Burt
The most important piece of equipment you will buy for big game hunting in the open plains of North Dakota is a scope for your rifle. I believe that the scope makes the gun, and if you have a budget and have to choose between an inexpensive Weatherby Vanguard with a nice Swarovski [...]

FIVE STEP PROGRAM FOR QUALITY WHITETAILS

By Curt Wells
Nothing strikes fear in the heart of a bowhunter like the sound of hoof steps behind him. It can paralyze you with terror – unless you’re ready for it.
I heard that petrifying sound one November morning in North Dakota, just as the day filtered into the trees. It stunned me because I fully [...]

Bucks of the Vortex

By Curt Wells
If you’ve scouted and hunted whitetails long enough you’ve heard the sirens. They’re loud, but you’re the only one who can hear them. They go off just as you look around and find yourself standing in a place that has your hunting instincts in full alarm.
This place you’ve discovered, either by design or [...]

Deer Disease

By Doug Leier
In northwestern Minnesota near the town of Skime, sharpshooters recently completed a culling effort to reduce white-tailed deer numbers. Nearly 500 deer were killed over a two-month period.
The campaign was a response to concerns over the potential spread of bovine tuberculosis, a chronic bacterial disease that primarily infects cattle, but an spread to [...]

Leave Wildlife Alone

By Doug Leier
The local game warden’s phone rings a lot this time of year.
Game wardens are essentially tasked with enforcing outdoor recreation laws across the state. This includes everything from boat and water safety patrol during high traffic times on lakes and rivers, monitoring mid-winter predator hunters.
What you don’t see or hear about nearly as [...]

A decade ago: the winter of 1996-1997

By Doug Leier
The winter of 1996-1997 was a winter for the ages. It started in early November with blizzard after blizzard, snowfall after snowfall, and spread its impact across the Midwest. While it was 10 years ago, the memories remain fresh in our minds, and not many people who experienced it would want to go [...]

Deer Proof Landscaping

By Doug Leier
One of the more frequent concerns I hear about, from nonhunters and hunters alike, is wildlife-human conflicts.
Whether it’s Canada geese in crops, raccoons in gardens or deer in hay stacks, the list is endless. More often than not, those seeking a means of limiting the disturbance of wildlife on their priority issue usually [...]

Small-Bore Centerfire Performance on Big Game

By Burl Johnson
I am, and have been for a very long time, an avid reader of hunting books and magazines. You know those things you wish you had the money from? Mine is to have invested that magazine money in energy stocks in the last three years. But many of the sporting magazines offer truly good [...]

A View From Above

By PJ Maguire
The Old Man would say that I have never deer hunted, simply because I have never harvested a deer. It didn’t matter how many hours I had walked slowly through the woods, or sat in a tree above the forest. Which to this point in of time in my life hasn’t been that [...]

Trophy Buck – Nelson Buck

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
The traffic has been steady coming into Quality Alignment and Brake Center, but many visitors aren’t stopping in for tune ups. Brian Nelson, part owner of the Valley City business is the main draw these days after taking what many are calling the largest buck shot in Barnes County in several decades.
“The first [...]

Late Season Bow Hunting

By Curt Wells
If you’re from North Dakota you take a lot of grief about how cold the winters are. It’s just a fact of life.
It’s also a fact that many of us like the cold weather, or more accurately, the change of seasons. But the cold weather does a couple of other things too. It [...]

Questions on Deer Hunting Regulations

By Doug Leier
When the 2006 deer gun season opens at noon Nov. 10, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department will have issued a near-record number of licenses. That means a lot of hunters in the field, and many questions from people who want to clarify rules prior to or during hunting season.
Some common questions [...]

Deer Management

By Doug Leier
This time of year, I don’t need to look at the North Dakota Outdoors calendar on my wall to know that deer season is here. Any time during November, when I walk in the door at the local coffee shop, I quickly realize that while pheasant and waterfowl seasons draw thousands of hunters, [...]

Hi-Vis Decoying – Deer Decoy Strategies

By Curt Wells
I  hate it when a buck doesn’t pay attention.
My soft grunts turned into pig-like snarffles as the big eight-pointer just kept striding away, into the stiff breeze. He crossed a small open meadow, then dropped into a creekbottom and up the other side. When he reached level ground again he finally heard my [...]

Deer Hunting Season is Upon Us

By Doug Leier
Take a look at the calendar and you’ll realize that this year’s season begins on the latest possible date under the State Game and Fish Department’s roster of standardized opening dates.
As Cliff Clavin, the know-it-all postal worker from the television series “Cheers” might have said: “It’s a little known fact that opening day [...]

The Value of a Safe Hunt

By Doug Leier
Pheasants are plentiful this fall across the prairie. Deer numbers, too, provide plenty of incentive to get out and enjoy what we may someday refer to as “the good old days.”
I’m not going to apologize for appreciating the hunting opportunities that should be available this fall of 2006.
While game populations largely depend on [...]

Managing Deer Through Archery Hunting

By Doug Leier
About 20 years ago the city of Bismarck, working with the State Game and Fish Department, developed an urban archery hunt to help control a growing deer population within the city limits. Two decades later, the deer population is much lower, reports of human-deer conflicts are reduced, and very few problems have been [...]

Offseason Deer Hunting Tips

By the Nodak Outdoors Community
During the past month, I asked the Deer Hunting forum here at Nodak Outdoors to share some of their offseason deer hunting tips. While many you may already practice or be aware of, our community had some deer hunting tips to share.
Deer Hunting Tips
“Scout, Shed hunting, Scout, Repair or build new stands, [...]

Spring Advisory Board Meetings Recap

By Doug Leier
The spring tour of advisory board meetings brought Game and Fish decision-makers to eight towns across North Dakota over the past several weeks. These public meetings, held in spring and fall each year, facilitate interaction between hunters, anglers, trappers and staff tasked with managing the state’s varied natural resources.
Discussion at advisory board meetings [...]

Venison Recipes Come in All Forms

By Doug Leier
When it comes to fish and wild game cooking, Uncle Lynn is the beginning and the end, though you may have to take this with a grain … err, dash of salt and pinch of pepper. His wild game cooking philosophy permeates from the mantra of “don’t hide the flavor, work with it [...]

North Dakota Elk Hunting

By Jason DuBord
When a person thinks about elk, the states that often first come to mind are Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, or Arizona. What a lot of people do not know is that North Dakota has “world class” elk right out its back door in the beautiful badlands. The 2nd biggest elk killed in the “world” [...]

Why Party Hunting is Illegal for Deer Hunting

By Doug Leier
Party hunting is not legal in North Dakota. And I’m glad.
Legally, each individual hunter must take only his or her own daily limit, or fill his or her own deer tag.
The same concept also applies to fishing. There is no legal distinction between shooting someone else’s deer, and catching an extra fish to [...]

What Defines Success in the Field?

By Doug Leier
Quality and success are two of the more difficult terms with which big game wildlife managers struggle. In fact, most every fish and wildlife manager would probably nod in agreement that defining quality and success is a fleeting task at best.
That’s because hunters and anglers each have their own version of what makes [...]

Pronghorn Antelope Migrations

By Doug Leier
When the topic is migration, most of us think about birds. Seldom do we associate migration with big game animals, such as moose or elk.
In western North Dakota, however, an ongoing study is shedding some interesting light on a big game species that does migrate. Pronghorns, also commonly called antelope, even though they [...]

Time to Move Your Tree Stand

By Bill Lytle
 Well as we all know some parts of the state have had their first frost and with this first frost comes many things. We start to lose some of those mosquitoes that have been a pain in our butts the first few weeks of the season but also we need to try and [...]

The Problem with Buck Fever

By Doug Leier
As October fades into November, for many people thoughts of ducks are replaced by visions of bucks. As we head into another season my mind is full of thoughts of buck fever.
In essence, the fever is an adrenaline rush, triggered by a deer, that sometimes causes hunters to do something that may be [...]

Memories From Opening Day

By Doug Leier
Opening day of deer season 2004 is in the books. Traditions have been kept alive, memories added to the family tree, and possibly the birth of a local legend or two.
I’ve never been much of an opening day deer hunter, but from 1996 to 2000 I was a state game warden, first in [...]

Early Season Deer Hunting Tips

By Andrew Gegelman
With the bow hunting season quickly approaching, there’s a few tips to early season preparation that I feel are crucial to success. Most importantly is to not overlook the importance of scouting late in the summer, and preparing your stands well in advance to drawing your bow.
As the month of August rolls around, [...]

Spot And Stalk Hunting – The Lost Art

By Andrew Gegelman
In recent days, the art of spot and stalk hunting has been overshadowed by the use of tree stands and ground blinds. With everyone’s busy schedules it is hard to find the time to spend either learning how to spot and stalk, or refining your already learned techniques. The techniques of the spot [...]

Still Hunting Strategies

By Andrew Gegelman
 The most successful hunters have learned to still hunt when stand hunting is not producing, or when the weather makes sneaking through the woods the best strategy to bag a deer. The best days for still hunting are rainy and windy days; both types of weather are normally below average for game movement. [...]

Pre-Rut Calling Strategies

By Andrew Gegelman
Finally…the air gets cooler, the leaves change colors, and that wonderful smell of fall is in the air. You watch as geese effortlessly soar through the air on their yearly trip southward. It is an awesome time of year to be in the outdoors. It also means that “prime time” is approaching. The [...]

Bow Tuning 101

By Andrew Gegelman
For most bow hunters, tuning their bow means being able to hit what they are aiming at. And for others they just hope their bow will become tuned by itself. But they are wrong. Tuning your bow now might mean the difference between trophy and tragedy.
First things first, you should not attempt to [...]

Venison Sausage Recipe

By Ken Weinzierl
Venison makes great sausage. Many kinds can be made. The obvious question is “What do you need to get started.” First of all, no one can take care of your venison better than you can. When you get your deer home, skin it immediately. This will cool off the carcass. I usually do [...]

Dominating the Rut

By Andrew Gegelman
Finally it is here, the Rut!! It is a time of craziness, bucks moving all hours of the day in pursuit of hot does, seeing deer that you have only imagined. One minute the woods can be silent the next there can be deer all around you. The trophy you have always dreamed [...]

Love & Hate Relationships with the Whitetail Deer

By Doug Leier
“I don’t mind a couple deer hanging around the farmstead, but when you get a whole herd, that’s just too much.”
Stop by any local coffee shop or gas station and when the topic turns to deer in the winter, it can be as contentious as rolling dice to see who pays for the [...]