Pierre Ice Fishing

PIERRE, South Dakota – Recreational variety and creative planning are shaping a unique event to be held next February in central South Dakota. The first-ever Winter Fishing Weekend (WFW) is scheduled for the weekend of February 4-5, 2011, presented by the Sports Committee of the Pierre Area Chamber of Commerce
The main event of WFW is [...]

August Muskies

By Nick Simonson
I stood at the edge of the dock and sighed as Sunday’s gusty south wind whipped through the pages in my mental calendar. Next weekend is Labor Day with family up north; the next, dove hunting; the one after that, grouse opener, and then bow hunting. Every weekend was filled with [...]

Fall Fishing Bonanza

By Doug Leier
It comes as no surprise that when August begins losing to September, for many North Dakota residents hunting starts to win out over fishing in the competition for free-time activities.
But I’d also suggest, if you’ve bagged plenty of days pounding the North Dakota prairie, without experiencing the thrill of fall fishing, you might [...]

Treestand Safety

By Nick Simonson
While in the throes of a hotly contested battle with the seat section of a new 15-foot ladder stand, I took a break from what is now becoming a late summer ritual to get a drink of water and my bearings while looking over the assembly manual. It wasn’t the antler fever-inducing [...]

CRP Signup Time

By Doug Leier
Whether we like it or not, it’s part of human nature to take for granted things that become part of our lives or benefit us over the long term. The only way we can truly appreciate the value of what we have, is to have less of it.
In the outdoor world, the U.S. [...]

Hunting Doves

By Nick Simonson
I’ll take the sure thing before I’ll take the risk. Give me a savings account with two percent over anything on Wall Street these days. I play poker like that too, which might be why I’m not very good at it, and I rarely bet on sports, even when I know the Gators [...]

Freshwater Shrimp

By Doug Leier
As a child growing up in northwestern North Dakota, seafood was a special treat, to the point that even fish sticks were considered a pretty rare dinner at home..
Thirty-five years ago “fresh” North Dakota seafood came frozen in a box and was usually deep fried. One of my fondest memories of dining out [...]

Looking to Fall in ND

By Doug Leier
With the Vikings into training camp, regardless of who plays quarterback for the Purple this fall, most experts agree it should be a good season. The same goes for North Dakota’s primary gamebird species this fall.
That said, there’s no guarantee and we really won’t know until hunters or football players take the field. [...]

Following Smallies

By Nick Simonson
It’s a jungle out there. Every man for himself. Greed is good. These mantras aptly describe the competitive drive in the world around us; natural laws that even mankind hasn’t rid from our collective psyche after millennia of becoming civilized. Whether it is in big business or the food [...]

Hunting Sage Grouse

By Doug Leier

While it won’t become official until the annual small game hunting proclamation is finalized later this month, it’s a certainty that North Dakota will not have a sage grouse season again this fall. This will mark the third year in a row that the state has not had an open season [...]

Livewell Maintenance

By Doug Leier

For the better part of 10 years I’ve written a weekly column, none of which have explored the topic of livewells. The recent discovery of a zebra mussel veliger in the Red River, however, is changing that.
Livewells and veligers link together because veligers are the tiny larvae of zebra mussels. They float suspended [...]

Fishing Northern Pike

Our Outdoors: A Pike in the Hand
By Nick Simonson
Not once but twice, the devil’s fork tail turned short just feet in front of the dock at the family cabin. The fish, a muskie of nearly four feet in length had given chase, even bumping the lure halfway through my first retrieve, and exerted a [...]

Tying Foam Flies

In my memory banks, I hold a combined blur of countless lazy, sunny afternoons standing in the shallows of the lake, long after more serious quarries have been abandoned in favor of hearing the plop of a fat foam fly and the delayed smack of a never-satiated bluegill rising to pull it from the surface. [...]

20 Years Outdoors

By Doug Leier
One of the consequences of having four distinct seasons is that we slot various activities during certain times of year. Spring is big for graduations and a few weddings, while in summer we cram and squeeze in vacations, long weekends and more weddings, along with family and class reunions.
This year it’s my turn [...]

Topwater Bass Fishing

Top Water Fishing Lures
By Nick Simonson
I still remember the first time I watched a surface lure get inhaled and taken into the depths by a largemouth bass. It was a calm, sunny Saturday morning in late May and my buddy flung his Zara Spook about twenty yards off shore over a shallow flat. [...]

Buck Knives Father’s Day Sale

BUCK KNIVES 40% OFF Father’s Day Sale!
40% OFF Any Knife!*
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Get dad a new knife this Father’s Day at an unbeatable price. Buck has a knife for every occasion. Be sure to check out our Father’s Day Special! It’s a limited edition 110 Folding Hunter with Nickel Silver Bolsters, instead of the standard brass [...]

Fishing Memories

By Doug Leier
Every so often as the kids and I set off on an unknown excursion, I’ll quip, “let’s go make some memories.”
I understand full well that setting off intentionally to make a memory is part tongue-in-cheek, and the purpose of most outdoor outings for me is spending quality time with the family. As a [...]

Drayton Catfish Tourney 2010

Drayton’s 10th annual Rod & Reel Rally Catfishing Tournament is coming up Saturday July 17, 2010 from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Hastings Landing Recreation Area in Drayton, North Dakota.
The Red River of the North’s only WHOPPER catfishing tournament promises to be the best yet with cash prizes to be paid for the six [...]

Bluegills for Kids

By Doug Leier
Late in the 1980s my family moved from LaMoure to Valley City. I’d fished the Jim River and Lake LaMoure prior to the move, and enjoyed an array of fish, from pike to perch and even the lowly carp.
In Barnes County around Valley City, I spent a good chunk of time fishing Lake [...]

Soft Plastics for Bass

By Nick Simonson
Fishing fast is a fun way of covering water and targeting active largemouth bass. Ripping crankbaits and burning spinnerbaits back to the boat triggers reaction strikes and puts a solid bend in the rod when largemouth are in a feeding mood. This fun-n-gun presentation also helps anglers key in on areas [...]

Have a Product Idea?

Have a Product Idea for Fishing or Hunting? Then PATENT and PROFIT.
Or maybe you have an idea for a pet product or for a child…a boat or a kitchen gadget? Do you have a game or toy invention, something for camping, barbecuing or gardening? If you have an idea for a new product [...]

Walleye Confidence

By Jason Mitchell
We all have something we are very confident in. That confidence lure or tactic may vary from lake to lake or change over the years but we all have our go to weapon. One of the most difficult things I encounter as an angler is fishing when I have no or [...]

Slot Limits

By Doug Leier
I’ve got one lunker fish to my credit and I won’t lie, it was more about luck than skill, and that’s how it usually works for me.
Save for the hardcore anglers who spend more time fishing than sleeping, the majority of us are not on the water fishing three hours a day for [...]

Youth in the Outdoors

By Doug Leier
The 2009 North Dakota Legislature continued a recent nationwide trend by creating a few new opportunities designed to recruit and retain hunters.
A year ago, elected representatives of North Dakota endorsed an apprentice license for hunters who haven’t taken and passed a certified hunter education course. The legislature also reduced the minimum age for [...]

Homemade Gypsy Jig

By Nick Simonson
When I was just getting the hang of what worked and what didn’t on the water, I stumbled on what was, at the time to me, a miracle lure. It was a banana head jig with a fan-shaped skirt made from krystal flash called the Gypsi Jig. For that summer, it [...]

Fish Disease

Throughout the year, North Dakota Game and Fish Department staff field an array of calls and questions on oddities in the fish and wildlife world. Just the deer season alone results in many calls about rank meat, abnormal growths or sick looking deer.
As spring and summer fishing gets into full gear, inquiries turn to the [...]

New Musky Lures

Early evidence that three new muskie baits from Northland are living up to all the hype.
Bemidji, MN – Their names are unforgettable. Their performances are undeniable. Not too many moons ago Northland Fishing Tackle broke the news about three seriously savage introductions into the muskie marketplace. Finally, the entire collection is now available at major [...]

Frabill HiberNet

Now You See It, Now You Don’t
Most stowable – not to mention most anticipated – landing net soon to disappear from store shelves.
Jackson, Wis. – Retailers and writers first cast eyes on it at ICAST (International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades) last summer in Orlando, Fla. Since then, expectancy has brewed like beer to the [...]

Fishing North Shore Steelhead

By Nick Simonson
If you’ve ever laid eyes on a steelhead, you know the color they bring to a spring fishing trip. The hens are a glistening chrome with a faded pink stripe down their sides and a light green top. The bucks turn a deep pink – almost purple – throughout their sides [...]

Fishing Gear to Remember

By Bob Jensen
When we go fishing, so often we spend a lot of time making sure we have the right lures, fresh line, charged boat batteries, and all those other things that are part of the actual fishing process. And, no doubt, those are important considerations. But there are some other things we [...]

Stocked Trout Fly

Stocked trout are known as the eat-anything additions to their foster flows, and they probably aren’t as sharp as their more naturally occurring cousins. However, they can still be a challenge and are definitely a lot of fun as the angling season gets going. While many trout anglers prefer using spinners to cover [...]

Small Baits Big Fish

By Jason Mitchell
On many walleye fisheries across the Midwest, young of the year fish hatches play a huge role in where to fish and what to fish with. Really strong reproductive efforts of just about any fish species are taken advantage of. Heavy predation has been documented on just about every species of [...]

Understanding Walleyes

Things to Think about while Wishing for Walleyes
Surefire walleye techniques that’ll be served hot in my boat this spring and summer.
By Brian “Bro” Brosdahl
It’s early in the season. The labor of spawning is a fling of the past – the breeders are well rested. Water temps are in that magical range – above 50 [...]

Missouri Rivers on the Rise

For the first time in years, both of North Dakota’s Missouri River reservoirs are starting off the spring at normal pool elevation, which should mean good things for fishing in the future. In the case of Lake Sakakawea, that doesn’t necessarily mean better angling this year, though, as it takes a few years for fish [...]

Brown Trout Fishing

It’s What We Make of It
By Nick Simonson
A year ago this very morning I was sitting across from my old boss in a conference room as he explained the layoff benefits the company would be providing me until they’d run out or until economic conditions improved. As I had been the one handling the [...]

Horizontal Jigging

By Nick Simonson
Have you ever watched the way minnows move? When I was in Grand Forks, N.D. attending “The School that Shall Not Be Named” I had multiple chances to jump the Red River into East Grand Forks, Minn., and watch as trout, bass and pike preyed upon minnows that the staff had dumped [...]

Hair Jigs

The hair transplant was a success: Bucktail Jigs make a big comeback with the walleye bigwigs
By Tom Neustrom
I was a twelve-year-old dock boy living the dream at a resort in Northern Wisconsin. By day, I’d hang out with minnows and men who tell fish stories, while earning a little walking around money for my efforts. [...]

Wildlife Photo Periods

By Doug Leier
In the name of positive thinking, I’ve always operated under the assumption that spring arrives with March and winter isn’t officially on the table until January. That makes for a short eight weeks of winter in my mind.
However, when the first snow flies in October and shelterbelts are still packed with white when [...]

Ultralight Fishing Tackle

The UltraLight Brigade
By Nick Simonson
There’s something special about taming a charging bull bluegill on line as thin as a spider web. Few fishing sensations are wilder than a white bass tearing up the sunset reflecting off of the evening water. Even a ten-inch trout brings a wondrous battle as it twists and turns [...]

Bobber Fishing Tips for the Spring

The Ultimate Live Bait Rigging Solution?
By Tony Roach with Doc Samson
In the “Roach world” pretty much everything revolves around convincing walleyes and other fish to bite. Even when I’m not in the boat doing what I need to do to make that happen, I just can’t stop my mind from swimming around different possibilities. It [...]

Protecting Your Garden from Deer

By Doug Leier
I’ll never be mistaken for a master gardener, and it really doesn’t bother me. Beyond borrowing the neighbor’s tiller and breaking up the ground each spring, I lose interest in the garden even before the first spuds are planted.
So it comes as no surprise that when a stray rabbit is clipping the greens, [...]

Shallow Walleye Fishing Tips

By Jason Mitchell
If the weather is stable, walleyes can often be found in shallow water during spring and early summer… shallow being less than ten feet. Obviously, every fishery is different, not to mention a multitude of factors like forage or weather can relocate fish. During May and June however on many bodies [...]

Walleyes and Water Temps

By Jason Mitchell
Factors like water temperature and wind seem increasingly important during spring. Often, the most important piece of equipment is a temperature gauge as activity often revolves around water temperature. A temperature gauge also enables an angler to gauge the influence of wind. Water temperature is relative in the sense that [...]

ND Fishing Reg Changes

By Doug Leier
Rather than wholesale changes on a yearly basis, the bulk of North Dakota’s fishing rules and regulations are implemented every two years, and 2010 is one of the years when we get a new fishing proclamation. The new regulations begin April 1 and are in place until March 31, 2012.
By no means does [...]

Fishing Diary

By Nick Simonson
There have been a lot of changes in my life over the past five years. I’ve lived in two states and three towns and have had six different jobs, with this one being the most consistent. In that time I’ve fished over 60 lakes and rivers, gaining some level of familiarity [...]

ND Spring Snow Geese

By Doug Leier
The 2010 spring snow goose conservation season opened Feb 20. No we didn’t make a mistake, the probability of snow geese migrating back into North Dakota before March is slim, but the remote chance of a mild winter, limited snow cover and early spring are possible. Yes, I said possible, but improbable.
It seems [...]

Nodak Outdoors LLP Merges with Total Outdoor Network

Bismarck, ND – The Total Outdoor Network Inc. (TON), today announces a merger with Nodak Outdoors LLP and the Nodak Network. This merger will integrate both networks’ umbrella sites, including Fishingbuddy.com, NodakOutdoors,com, DuckHuntingChat.com, SDOInsider.com, as well as over 20 other outdoor related websites. This merger will make the Total Outdoor Network Inc. [...]

President Obama Attacking Fishing Industry

Sport Anglers Alarmed by Proposed Obama Policy
A controversy has erupted in the sport fishing community over a new federal management plan for oceans and Great Lakes waters. Recent opinion pieces circulating on the internet and reported on numerous radio stations have stoked the flames through revelations that the policy, if implemented, would prohibit recreational fishing [...]

Time to Get Moving

By Nick Simonson
It was hard to hear the beep of the cash register as I stood in line with the few items that my wife requested I pick up from the grocery store. Behind me, a four-year old girl screamed bloody murder each time her mother pried the candy bar from her hands and [...]

All in the Stats

By Doug Leier
I’ve always been intrigued by numbers and the dynamics of statistics. While the numbers themselves, if they are accurate, are more or less facts, the factors contributing to those final statistics are where the real fun comes in.
Consider, for instance, last fall’s deer and pheasant harvest numbers. When the North Dakota Game and [...]

Fishing Buddies

By Nick Simonson
Of angling’s many positive elements, near the top of the list is that it is a great way to spend time with friends that are so close they might as well be family. My buddies and I try to make it a regular thing to meet up at the cabin, at someone’s [...]

Outdoors Online Licensing

By Doug Leier
With the possible exception of a first driver’s license, few people spin a nostalgic tale about buying a license “back in the day.”
In fact, I struggle trying to come up with any story associated renewal of my North Dakota driver’s license. Same goes for my fishing license, except perhaps buying a trout stamp [...]

Slip Bobbers for Crappies

The Deadly Drag
Dumbing-down to a crawl dupes springtime crappies for panfish pros
By Brian “Bro” Brosdahl with Tom Neustrom
“Slow and steady wins the race.” I’m a disciple of the philosophy. In real life, the examples are countless. Consider the marathoner. The guy who paces himself for 26.2 miles is sure to pass the jackrabbit before reaching [...]

Catch and Release Fishing

‘Swimming Pools’ for Fish
A Little Advice on Caring for Your Catch
By Tony Roach
Have you ever caught the same fish twice in a single day? How about the same fish two or three times inside a week? I’ll bet many of you have. Even on a massive fish factory like Mille Lacs in Central Minnesota, [...]

Homemade Musky Baits

By Nick Simonson
Muskie anglers love to throw the biggest, flashiest baits. But in these days of dwindling discretionary income, spinners with oversized blades, magnum flashabou skirts and price tags to match are becoming cost-prohibitive. However, you can produce a bait at home for half as much as you’d pay for popular store models [...]

Sculpins

For the Presidents’ Day weekend, I had planned out a solid day of fishing on a lake near my mother-in-law’s house where I knew the fish would bite all day. A couple hours at sunrise put me on some good-sized, fast-biting bluegills with the occasional crappie mixed in. The agenda was to meet [...]

Low Impact Ice Fishing

By Doug Leier
The “Dog Days” of winter for some begin in December and aren’t officially over until the last drift of snow disappears from the shelterbelt.
I know, Dog Days is generally a summer term referring to a lingering hot and humid period in August, but it also seems appropriate for a long stretch of midwinter [...]

Fish House Spotters

By Nick Simonson
Shantytowns are generally a bad sign. Economic downturns, natural disasters and tribal wars all come to mind when such a place is shown on the evening news. However, in the ice belt and points north, it is the sign of something good – a hot bite on frozen waters. While [...]

Walleyes on Soft Plastics

Walleyes Come as No Fluke
By Brian “Bro” Brosdahl with Mark Courts
Admittedly, I’m a meat and potatoes sort of guy. I’m eyeing the porterhouse steak on the menu long before the canary food, organic “meals under 500 calories”. In fact, I’ll take the whole right side of the menu, please. This instinctive weakness for hearty meat [...]

The Glo Bug Fly

By Nick Simonson
Last week, as I braced myself against the wind and made my way up the walk in the glow of the front porch light, I saw through the blowing snow that first sign of spring. It wasn’t a robin, hiding its head under its wing in the late January cold. It [...]

ND Predator Hunting & Trapping

By Doug Leier
In the early 1980s trapping fox, coyotes, badgers, muskrat and a bonus mink did more than just pay for gas. Fur prices were strong and fox outnumbered coyotes to the point where a coyote pelt brought a nice reward, and the intense hunting and trapping effort helped keep numbers in check as well.
My [...]

Building Fish Habitat

By Doug Leier
More than 40 years ago the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, in an effort to create structure for fish and create artificial habitat within Heart Butte Dam (Lake Tschida) in Grant County, sunk some old car bodies into the reservoir.
As you might expect, the practice of using car bodies for building fish [...]

Life List Lunkers

By Nick Simonson
There are hundreds of days booked in my fishing logs and countless others banked in my memories. From watching a field of tip-up flags pop for northern pike on a chilly winter morning to a steamy July evening spent fishing an inexhaustible school of white bass, it is tough to keep track [...]

Wetlands Key to Spring Flood

By Nick Simonson
Reports this month have many people across the region looking out their front windows with worry. In the wake of back-to-back blizzards, the National Weather Service (NWS) released its early-season forecast for this spring’s flood potential for the upper Midwest. Some form of flooding is expected when the snow pack melts, [...]

Give New Memories a Chance

By Doug Leier
Most hunters and anglers remember their first deer, goose or big fish, but it’s the little things that happen in pursuit of game and fish that also help keep people interested in the long term.
Think about it. I’d bet most readers would have a favorite story to share about getting stuck on the [...]

Make Custom Crappie Jigs

Our Outdoors – By Nick Simonson
As winter blankets, and blankets, and blankets the region with snow, it is becoming more apparent that it will be a long season indeed. That’s not a bad thing if you need some time to get your tacklebox ready for one of open water’s early quarries – prespawn slab [...]

Keep the Ice Clean

By Doug Leier
One of my biggest outdoors pet peeves is trash. Empty cans along the river bank or discarded chip bags floating near the dock, even if it’s just one, seem to steal away the peaceful serenity that draws most of us outdoors.
Maybe to a fault, I carry extra trash bags along to make sure I [...]

Trickle Down Techonomics

Our Outdoors – By Nick Simonson
A post on the ice fishing forum of a website that I help moderate asked: “I paid $300 for an old sled shack and a Vexilar, did I get a good deal?”
My response was as it usually is for these kinds of questions, “You’ll wonder how you ever fished without [...]

Open Water Tactics in a Hardwater World

By Jason Mitchell
I have often felt that it is much easier to learn a lake during the open water period. Structure and bottom contours can be broke down quickly when using a boat equipped with good sonar and GPS. Often during the winter (just like during the open water period) the sweet spots that attract [...]

Here’s to 2010

By Doug Leier
The driving theme for the past year outdoors is weather. In fact, any time we’re discussing fishing, hunting and outdoor recreation it’s a safe bet that weather is like flour in a recipe – one of the main ingredients.
I’m sure few would argue if I said that weather is a dominating variable every [...]

Fly Tying for the WinterTime

Our Outdoors – By Nick Simonson
From Bismarck to Brainerd to Balaton, the region has been blasted with the most epic blizzard since those doubled-barreled every-other-weekend storms from the winter of 1996-97. My wife and I crawled along I-94 to visit my family just before the Gulf-fueled, moisture-laden monster dumped 16 inches of snow. [...]

How Cold Will This Winter Be?

By Doug Leier
I’ll precede my annual glance over the shoulder – one last look at the past year’s outdoor topics and issues – with a short holiday guide to the outdoors. What I offer are mid-winter outdoors opportunities, for the hunter, angler or even a parent looking for a vacation diversion or snowy excuse to [...]

Hottest Ice Fishing Gear of 2010

By Nick Simonson
The ice on most northern lakes is now thick enough for anglers to safely haul out their toys thanks to a cold stretch at the beginning of the month. Though nighttime temperatures have been below zero, new innovations and advancements in tackle, gear and shelters are helping anglers heat up the early-ice [...]

Challenges of Stocking Fish

By Doug Leier
Since the late 1990s a number of North Dakota lakes have lost their fisheries because of declining water levels. Now, after near-record snows last winter and abundant rain this summer and fall, many of them are “topped off” again and have the potential to support fish.
This is part of the natural cycle of [...]

Cold Weather Pheasants

By Nick Simonson
It’s a cold day with clear blue skies following the winter’s first blizzard, which left six inches of snow as an early Christmas present. A group of buntings flits from the shoulder to the field edge as I turn my hard-starting pickup off of the highway. We rumble down the gravel [...]

Trolling on the Ice

“New Wave” Fish Finding Tactics on Ice
By Tony Roach
When you spend your winters guiding on a huge lake like Central Minnesota’s Mille Lacs, doing all the things it takes to find biting fish can test your resolve. There’s only one way to the fish – drilling lots and lots of holes. My guides and I [...]

Piggybacking Ice Spoons for Bull Bluegills

By Jason Durham
Bluegill fishing is about balance. Each trip is a constant trial and error to figure out if the fish want a tiny speck of an ice jig – the flash, vibration and, meaty profile of a jigging spoon, or any presentation that falls in between. Each presentation has its strengths and weaknesses so [...]

Late Season Pheasant Hunting

By Doug Leier
Growing up as a kid in the 1980s, across the prairie from Williston to LaMoure and Valley City, December was a time of transition in our house. After the close of regular deer rifle season, the collection of my Dad’s gear in the “ready” position shifted from primarily hunting, to a mix of [...]

Small Ice Fishing Jigs

By Nick Simonson
It’s the evening of the first day when the temperature has stayed well below freezing and I’m sitting in the not-quite-bright-enough light of the living room, squinting as hard as I can in an effort to thread a wisp of one-pound test through the eye of a 1/64 ounce Genz worm in preparation [...]

Ice Safety Tips

Mild Weather Hampers Ice Formation – Ice Safety Tips
While November was kind to North Dakota’s hunters, unseasonably mild temperatures did little to help usher in the ice fishing season. Knowing this, winter anglers are encouraged to use caution and allow ice to harden significantly before venturing on state waters.
North Dakota Game and Fish Department water [...]

Tracking Martens, Fishers, and Otters

By Doug Leier
The list of creatures and critters I’ve never witnessed in North Dakota is much longer than I’d prefer. While I’ve watched North Dakota prairie chickens, bighorn sheep and peregrine falcons, I’ve yet to see a whooping crane or a live sage grouse, among others.
But just because I’ve haven’t seen one doesn’t mean they [...]

The Fifty Pointer

As I joined the mad rush at 5 a.m. on Black Friday with my wife in the aisles of the Virginia, Minn. Target store, I caught the stare of one half-awake fellow in a camouflage hunting coat, pinned down between a cart full of pink baby clothes and a display of 42-inch plasma TVs. [...]

Thanksgiving Time

Over the years I’ve tried to make this column somewhat seasonal, writing about fishing in the spring and hunting in the fall, and following the latest conservation issues and outdoor topics.
Since this column will come out around Thanksgiving, that’s the theme for the week. I’m thankful and feel blessed with the opportunity to interact with [...]

I’m Thankful For the Outdoors

Our Outdoors: I’m Thankful
By Nick Simonson
I’m thankful for Gunnar,
And his powerful nose.
As he sniffs out the pheasants,
From harvested rows.
I’m thankful for trap shoots,
In June and July.
That cut down on fall misses,
So I don’t wonder why.
I’m thankful for crappies,
Dressed in black and green.
And bluegill and white bass,
And yellow perch in between.
I’m thankful for harvests,
That turn [...]

Deer Hunting Points

By Doug Leier
More than 30 years ago, when the North Dakota Game and Fish Department began managing deer in smaller units and issuing a specific number of buck or doe licenses – for example, 38,000 total licenses in 1980 – some “want to be” potential deer hunters actually had to stay home.
Fortunately, that is not [...]

The Bye Week

By Nick Simonson
My guess is whomever was in charge of setting up the 2009 NFL schedule was a deer hunter and a Minnesota Vikings fan. What other alignment of the stars could explain last week’s bye for the Favre n’ Harvin show falling precisely on the opening weekend of deer firearms season in the [...]

Artificial Ice Fishing Baits – Coming Alive

Clever ice anglers are successfully combining traditional live bait tactics with artificial approaches
By Jeff Gustafson
Times are a changin’. Used to be when we went ice fishing, our presentation always included a jig tipped with some type of minnow or hunk of meat, no matter what species of fish we were targeting. As the fishing tackle [...]

Spring Steelhead Fishing

By Nick Simonson
As my offering drifted around in the pool eddy, I hoped that my brother would see a fish caught – if not by me, then by another angler, or maybe himself – and he would experience the finned allure of the north shore of Lake Superior beyond the lichen-covered bluffs and pine-shaded streams [...]

Live Bait Rig Fishing

Walleye fishing icons Gary Roach and Doc Samson won’t be giving up live bait anytime soon
By Ted Pilgrim
Livebait is back, baby. You better believe it. Despite the buzz about plastics, the reality is, walleyes eat live bait. Period. In the end, all artificial lures lack two potent, inimitable ingredients: organic random movement and instinctive flight [...]

Deer Management

My guess is that most deer hunters don’t tire of the “Turdy Point Buck” tune on the radio until the backside of deer season. For a change, though, I’d sure enjoy listening to a refrain about hunting doe in North Dakota.
Then again, doe hunting doesn’t quite get the credit it deserves. In fact, when stories [...]

Taxidermy Tips

By Nick Simonson
At a near run, you step over the crest of the small hill to the other side that leads down to the oak bottom and wonder where the deer bounded after it left your sight. With the scent of gunpowder fading, you follow the sign in the brown leaves and dry grass [...]

Sportsmen Against Hunger

By Doug Leier
Good news for North Dakota deer hunters this year is that the Sportsmen Against Hunger venison donation program is back in full operation
Last year, the program only accepted deer donated by bowhunters, because of concerns over the possibility of lead particles from bullets remaining in processed venison.
In North Dakota, the program works like [...]

THE HUNT FOR AMERICA’S BEST TRUCK IS OVER

Silverado is America’s best truck for many reasons. To start, Silverado XFE offers an EPA estimated 21 MPG highway. No competitor has better fuel economy. Not Ford, not Toyota.1 And if you’re looking for the best 4X4 fuel economy, look no further- no competitor offers better available 4X4 fuel economy.2 Silverado comes with another powerful [...]

Not the Same Old Safety

By Nick Simonson
Year after year, the approach of the deer firearms opener causes something to stir in the souls of outdoorsmen. Tags are placed in secure spot, the final preparation of shooting lanes occurs in the woods and walking hunters map out their favorite draws, ravines and creekbottoms for opening day. With all [...]

Lightning Bugs – Pheasant Tail Nymphs

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
Of all the game birds sportsmen pursue, none is more colorful than the ringneck pheasant. Which makes it a pretty odd fact that the most popular fly used by outdoorsmen is the generally drab looking pheasant tail nymph – or simply, the PTN. Of course, trout, bluegill and other fish don’t seem [...]

Thin To Win in the Blind

By Chris Hustad
It’s around 15 degrees, and my watch says 8 am on a late October morning in 1993. I have my head tucked under a staked-up snow goose shell, as I watch a flock of 8 snows coming at us 200 yards away. Luckily, there’s just enough wind this morning to keep [...]

Raising Nightcrawlers off the Bottom

‘Nightcrawler Secrets’ Revisited
By Ted Pilgrim with Tom Neustrom
“Never before have I asked you, or anyone, to keep an angling secret. I’m going to break this rule now and ask you point-blank NOT to pass on this information. It is much too deadly, it took many years to accumulate, and it’s worth too much to just [...]

Fall Trout Fishing Time

By Nick Simonson
With all the hunting opportunities around us, it’s tough to set the shotgun or the bow down for an evening and pick up the fishing rod. However, fall provides an excellent chance at some fast trout fishing, particularly in those deeper pits and ponds where agencies have stocked trout for put-and-take fishing.
If [...]

Learning Crawler Rigs and Roach Rigs on Walleyes

Please Pass the Meat…the Fresh Stuff
Walleye fishing icons Gary Roach and Doc Samson won’t be giving up live bait anytime soon
By Ted Pilgrim
Livebait is back, baby. You better believe it. Despite the buzz about plastics, the reality is, walleyes eat live bait. Period. In the end, all artificial lures lack two potent, inimitable ingredients: [...]

Go Green with Mallards

By Doug Leier
The next time you find yourself kicking cans in the shop, killing time at the gas station or coffee shop with the crew, I ask you to raise a question about favorite ducks.
No doubt the wood duck would garner a share of votes, and the pintail has subtle grace and definition–that pointed tail [...]