Retrieving Upland Game

By Nick Simonson While finishing up a walk for ruffed grouse along the Saint Louis River in northeastern Minnesota this weekend, I decided to skirt the edge of a stand of young aspen trees which came right up to a stretch of sixty-year-old red pines. I weaved in and out of the last row of [...]

Where I Hunt

By Doug Leier I live in a great neighborhood. While most people think their neighborhood is the best, I know mine is. I’m not trying to pick a fight, but it’s the best I could ask for, with a mixture of ages and backgrounds probably not much different than many neighborhoods in the state. When [...]

PLOTS Guide

Doug Leier Over the past two decades the North Dakota Game and Fish Department has emphasized wildlife habitat enhancement and hunting access on private land through its Private Land Initiative. Most North Dakota hunters are familiar with the Private Land Open to Sportsmen program, which provides walking hunting access to more than a million acres [...]

ND Flooding

By Doug Leier You don’t have to live in Minot, Bismarck, Jamestown, Valley City or Devils Lake to have battled through drifts of snow and waves of floods through the past several months. Like many North Dakotans I’ve spent my share of time working in and through these floods since last spring, everything from sandbagging [...]

Minnesota Youth Hunting

Our Outdoors - By Nick Simonson Odds are your introduction to hunting wasn’t like mine.  Sure, I collected the tail feathers and wings from the pheasants and ducks my dad brought home from his hunts when I was too young to go into the field with him.  But with the death of the family dog on [...]

Right Under My Nose

By Nick Simonson When you stand the world on its head, or do your best to stand on yours, the perspective of how and what things are gets turned upside down and undoubtedly provides a new view of what were once familiar surroundings.  Last week, as I made the move from the house my wife [...]

Super Sport License

Our Outdoors By Nick Simonson Many times I think back fondly to reading class in sixth grade at Jefferson Elementary School. My teacher, Mr. Horner, read us a number of exciting books, many with a coming-of-age story behind them, preparing us for our adventure into Junior High the following year. Among the titles was the [...]

ND Non-Game Species

By Doug Leier Biologists categorize more than 80 percent of North Dakota’s wildlife species as nongame, or those that don’t answer to the name of rooster, buck or sprig. And yet, the few species for which hunting or fishing is allowed attract the lion’s share of concerns from people who enjoy the outdoors. This winter [...]

North Dakota Bald Eagles

The recovery of the bald eagle is one of the most visible conservation recovery success stories for our nation. While the plight of whooping cranes and California condors is well documented and well known, these birds have struggled to gain ground and are still rooted on the endangered species list. The bald eagle, on the [...]

Some Things Don’t Change

By Nick Simonson I lifted my right foot as the slight humming noise approached from behind me. A few moments later, I lifted my left foot and hopped a step over to keep my balance. The whir, beep and buzz of the floor-cleaning robot my wife received as a Christmas present continued on as I [...]

Looking Ahead

By Doug Leier Looking ahead to 2011 in the outdoors world is kind of like assessing the preseason prospects of your favorite sports team. We kind of have an idea of what to expect, but unpredictable variables like major storms, timely rains or extended dry periods – or injuries in the case of sports – [...]

Hunter Safety

By Doug Leier For many of us, the transition from summer recreation to fall isn’t as gradual as we’d like. Many of my hunting friends are involved in other activities like softball and golf, and the only valid comparison between those and hunting is about the same as the comparison between fishing and hunting: they [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Buck Knives Father’s Day Sale

BUCK KNIVES 40% OFF Father’s Day Sale! 40% OFF Any Knife!* www.buckknives.com 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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 the [...]

Hunting Starts with Google Maps

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson   One winter night, as a young boy, I sat on the couch with my dad watching college hockey. I must have been about seven- or eight-years-old at the time. During the highlights of the first intermission, my dad turned and said to me “would you like to draw a map [...]

Making Your Own Luck

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson   Revolutionary baseball businessman W. Branch Rickey once stated that luck is the residue of opportunity and design. Considering his resume, the adage must be true. By looking beyond the status quo, Rickey capitalized on opportunities that others missed due to narrow-mindedness; most notably, signing Jackie Robinson and later drafting Roberto [...]

Dream Job

By PJ Maguire     If you were like me, you would like to have a job that allowed you to spend the workday in the outdoors. Most of us have been told that the most successful people in this world have jobs that they love. It would be pretty sweet to find a career [...]

Chasing Wildlife

By Doug Leier Survival during a typical Midwest winter is more like rolling with the punches than simply fighting the elements. Give yourself credit for acclimating and changing with the weather. Generally speaking, in North Dakota we always have – like it or not – a time to fish through the ice. In some years [...]

Mountain Lions in North Dakota

By Doug Leier I can honestly say, with a straight face a decade ago I’d have never guessed mountain lions would generate as much interest and discussion in North Dakota as they currently generate. And most would agree. Which proves the foundation of science is pretty accurate in the generalization we’re always learning. We’ve never [...]

How Do You Get a Job as Game Warden?

By Doug Leier One of the more common questions asked of any Game and Fish employee, whether it’s over the phone, through friends, via e-mail, or at the grocery store, is: “How do you get a job as a game warden.” I get variations of this comment frequently when the topic of my occupation comes [...]

ND Fall Hunting Outlook

By Doug Leier From ducks to deer, the 2007 fall seasons should put a smile on the faces of hunters young and old. Across the board, healthy wild game populations are the byproduct of good habitat combined with a series of mild winters. Here’s some comments by North Dakota Game and Fish biologists as they [...]

Hunting Podcasts – Fishing Podcasts

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson     Every so often, technology revolutionizes the way we communicate, and one such innovation of recent note is growing not only a large subscriber base but also encouraging people to put themselves out there: providing tips, stories and news in all arenas. From ESPN to CBS, all of the major [...]

Attitudes on Hunting

Jon Mitzel A short trip through a sporting goods store or catalog will reveal an awful lot of products for sportsmen… stuff we couldn’t have dreamed about even a decade ago. It’s designed, I guess, to make our hunting adventure easier and more successful. Manufacturers of outdoors products, since the beginning of time, have been [...]

High Anticipation

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson There’s one thing I’m really good at: enjoying the outdoors. While my columns might come off as offering sage advice based on decades of experience, they are usually little more than personal observations about the natural world and what I do right (most of the time), and what I do incorrectly [...]

Hunting & Fishing Trends

By Doug Leier I  grew up without cable television and was never really into video games. We had about three television channels and seldom watched much for that matter. In the mid-1980s video games were just taking off, and thankfully the quarter required pay to play was not really easy to pry out of my dad’s [...]

Time to Apply for a Spring Turkey Hunting License

By Doug Leier The late winter winds blow anticipation across the desk of many hunters. It still looks like winter, but snow in February doesn’t last nearly as long as a half-foot of the white stuff that falls in mid-November. Spring is inevitable. The start of the spring snow goose conservation season, coupled with late [...]

Doing Nothing Is Not An Option

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” This quote by Edmund Burke sums up why oftentimes the world is in such chaos. The tides of many matters, whether it be the rise of Nazi power in Europe in the mid-1900s or the civil [...]

Looking Forward in 2007

By Doug Leier  I’ve always hesitated when it comes to making predictions, especially regarding hunting, fishing or trapping issues and seasons. However, I am not averse to letting others share their thoughts on what we might expect in 2007. This week, we take a look ahead at what will likely be significant issues within the [...]

Look Into Your Life’s List

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson     The past year has been filled with exciting fishing experiences and great memories. There was a stellar opening day for big bass near Detroit Lakes, Minn., my first white crappie ever caught on Jamestown Reservoir, and my largest walleye to date – just a hair over 29 inches – [...]

Giving Thanks

By Doug Leier I’m a thankful and appreciative kind of guy. I’ve always tried to see Lake Sakakawea, for instance, as the glass that’s still half full. As we advance past Thanksgiving into the holiday season, there’s reason to give thanks for hunters, anglers, trappers and all who enjoy spending more time outside than in. [...]

Time for the Game Warden Exam

By Doug Leier “The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has scheduled an examination to select candidates for the position of district game warden.” I read the lead sentence to this news release recently and couldn’t help but recall a decade-plus ago when I read the same announcement. The exam was scheduled for mid-December 1994, [...]

A Game Wardens Life

By Doug Leier Game wardens should get more credit for the work they do. There’s no two ways about it. For a short time I was a district game warden for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, so I say this with first-hand knowledge. Even as an outreach biologist I’m still peppered with stories [...]

A Visit with a Local Game Warden

By Doug Leier Mark Pollert has served the hunters and citizens as a game warden for over fifteen years. Not the longest by any stretch but enough that he can easily relate what some of the most overlooked problems are– which field violations have decreased, those on the rise and some of the most misunderstood [...]

Remember to Get Kids Involved

By Doug Leier It’s the backside of August and two of my favorite pastimes – hunting and football – are about to mix like peanut butter and jelly, or better yet, sausage and sauerkraut for this full-blooded German. While hunting, fishing, trapping and other outdoor activities are my profession, football, among other sports, is a [...]

To Hunt or Not to Hunt?

By Doug Leier I’m secure enough to proclaim I’m not much of an expert at most things. Regardless of the topic or subject at hand, there’s always going to be someone who knows more or has done it better. That doesn’t bother me. Save for having a pretty good idea on how to get kids [...]

Do Not Disturb

By Doug Leier I  wasn’t the only kid to happen upon a killdeer, unknowingly near her nest, eggs, or recently hatched chicks, and witnessed the “wounded” or “lame” appearing mother hopelessly limping, drawing me away. I even recall trying to catch that bird, or at least following the lead, not realizing I was reacting in [...]

The Journey Towards an Outdoors Career

By Doug Leier Between the phone and my email inbox, I get a lot of questions. This time of year, the most popular are: “Where are the fish biting?” and “How are the pheasants doing?” The answers are: “Beneath the ice;” and, “Pretty good, but a few weeks of winter still remain.” Another frequent question [...]

Talkin’ Turkey – ND Spring Turkey Hunting

By Doug Leier Deer hunting likely generates more questions than any other hunting season and its popularity in terms of hunter numbers is unparalleled for North Dakota. Pheasant hunting, with expanding prairie opportunities made possible by warm winters and suitable habitat, has brought new hunters into the field and put a smile on the face [...]

Surviving Winter

By Doug Leier Ice fishing, spearing, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling – there’s an array of activities that help humans bridge the gap from winter into spring. With modern amenities and a little preparation, we can pretty much handle any cold or snowy weather thrown our way. That’s not necessarily the case for North Dakota’s wildlife. Our [...]

Outdoor Diversity

By Doug Leier I’ve written extensively on the rich diversity of natural resources that make North Dakota a great place to live if you like the outdoors, or even if you don’t. And who would argue. Within our borders we have opportunities to snag paddlefish, and hunt prairie chickens, sage grouse, sandhill cranes, elk, moose [...]

Kicking Off Dove Hunting Season

By Doug Leier As a young hunter in North Dakota 20 years ago, mourning doves were synonymous with the kick off to autumn. At that time, dove hunting opened earlier than any other major bird season, so doves were top priority for a week or two until we could hunt sharp-tailed grouse and partridge. I [...]

Fall Hunting Preview

By Doug Leier My phone has been ringing off the hook of late with calls from people inquiring about our upcoming hunting seasons. Evidently, I’m not the only one looking forward to the crisp autumn mornings ahead. Email, phone calls and casual coffee conversations are all bearing the same theme: “How’s hunting going to be [...]

Crane Hunting Season Is Upon Us

By Doug Leier By this time every fall, most hunters can recite opening dates for deer, pheasant and waterfowl seasons. People need to know these things to schedule vacations and coordinate plans with the crew. Some will forget their significant other’s birthday before they forget the date pheasant season opens. But I’d venture to guess [...]

Outdoors and Technology

By Doug Leier Think back to your last trip outdoors with friends. Chances are, somebody brought along a cell phone. Another buddy maybe packed hand-held radios, and it wouldn’t be surprising if someone had a GPS unit mounted on the pickup dash or stored in a tackle box or backpack. As recently as 10 years [...]

Turkey Recipe List

Here’s some favorite turkey recipes of ours. Turkey Recipe Ingredients: 9 to 13-lb Turkey* ½ cup butter, melted Old-Fashioned Dressing, ½ cup butter 3 cups finely chopped celery ¾ cup finely chopped parsley 1 cup finely chopped onion 1 tbls. salt 1 tbls. poultry seasoning 1 ts. paprika ½ ts. pepper 1 egg, slightly beaten [...]

Why Do I Hunt?

By Doug Leier I  never try to convince anyone the great hunter or even the lesser hunter for that matter. Fortunately, in this day and age, what fills the deep freeze is not the sole measure of hunting prowess. There really are no good or bad hunters, except for those who purposely break the law. [...]

California Hiking Vacation

By Chris Hustad I  took my first step out of our rented Jeep Cherokee, onto a small, gravel parking area off of a back road in the mountains. The redwoods surrounding us gave off an unfamiliar but refreshing scent. In the distance we could hear the rushing sounds of a mountain creek, flowing heavily from [...]

Spring Turkey Hunting

By Jason Phillips The still silence of the morning was interrupted by the distant sounds of a turkey making his presence known. Weeks of scouting and preparation had lead to this moment and everything seemed to be falling into place. I answered his call with a few scrapes on my slate. As the distinct call [...]

Competition and the Outdoors

By Doug Leier One look at my 2-year-old son and year-old daughter grappling for a toy is proof positive that competition is instinctive among humans. Many times I’ve sat idly by, observing the escalation in use of force between my children. I intervene when the imaginary line between healthy competition and unwarranted actions is crossed. [...]

Solunar Tables

By Doug Leier When your hunting and fishing skills are comparable to those of Captain Kangaroo, you need all the help you can get. One tool that doesn’t come via mail order or credit card swipe is the solunar tables listed in many magazines and newspaper outdoors sections. Like most people who spend a lot [...]

Hollywood’s Influence on the Outdoors

By Doug Leier Humans are humans, and animals are … not human. And yet, in so many movies, television programs and books, animals are given characteristics such as human speech, movement and emotion, that it’s hard for some people to separate the entertainment world from the real world. For many centuries, North Dakota’s native peoples [...]

The 5 Stages of a Hunter

Hunters change through the years. Factors used to determine “successful hunting” change as well for each hunter. A hunter’s age, role models, and his years of hunting experience affect his ideas of “success.” Many hunters may fit into one of the following five groups. In 1975-1980, groups of over 1,000 hunters in Wisconsin were studied, [...]

Enjoying the Fall

By Doug Leier I’ve realized there will only be one 2008 pheasant season, deer opener, one 16 1/2- day deer season and so on. I’m looking at my time outdoors with bit broader focus, not dwelling on a missed shot at a buck or doe in years, or coming up empty after trudging through a [...]

Focusing on Young Hunters

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson   Thirty, The Big 3-0, three decades of (in)experience under my belt. September 18 marked my thirtieth birthday. I remember when that seemed like “a long time from now” but it is, all of a sudden, the here-and-now. To tell you the truth, I don’t feel much different than I did [...]

Undue Burden – Interesting Facts About Wolves

A review by Chris Hustad about a new DVD  I have to admit on the surface, I knew very little about the wild wolf situations taking place across many states in the United States. I knew there was a conflict, but I was completely unaware of what was the real issue. I can say after [...]

Get Involved in the Outdoors

By Doug Leier I’m not sure how old I was when I accompanied my dad to my first wildlife club meeting of many. To be honest, I’m not sure if it was his suggestion, my request or mom’s way of getting me out of her hair for a few hours. Whatever the case, something stuck [...]

2008 Goals for the Outdoors

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson     The changing of the calendar on the wall brings with it a flood of memories and prepares me for opportunities that lay ahead in the coming seasons. Unlike the perennial goals of losing weight or eating better, my resolutions focus on raising the bar and undertaking new challenges on [...]

Recent Sightings of a Large Cat

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson “From ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night, dear Lord, deliver us.” This Celtic folk prayer calls down God’s protection from all things unseen and unknown that lurk in the back of our minds and in the shadows of our backyards. This time of [...]

RAP Hotline – Report All Poachers

By Doug Leier As a young deer hunter on opener morning one year in the late 1980s, I was out scouting the landscape as day broke in south central North Dakota. It wasn’t so much to watch for deer moving around as it was to just scan the field and let my imagination paint scenarios [...]

The Hunting Heritage

By Doug Leier Hunting and outdoors circles the past few years have been abuzz with rather subjective terminology. At the coffee shop or gas station, topics such as hunting pressure, fair chase, ethics, hunting heritage and the essence of the hunt often lead to lively conversation and the need to make another pot of coffee. [...]

Game & Fish Summer Staff Meeting

By Doug Leier Twice a year, in August and December, North Dakota Game and Fish Department staff from Bowman to Cavalier and Williston to Wyndmere gather to learn, teach and simply converse about opportunities and problems relevant to managing the state’s natural resources. The topics are a matrix of issues, studies and current work assignments [...]

FFA – More Than Cows and Plows

By Doug Leier I  didn’t grow up on a farm, but anyone who is raised in a small town across North Dakota is likely influenced by those who have toiled in the soil for a few years or even generations. While I was not technically a farm kid, that didn’t deter me from taking an [...]

The Legislative Process

By Doug Leier The legislative process in North Dakota only takes place every two years. With that in mind, all hunters, anglers, trappers, and anyone who spends time outdoors, needs to engage in the process now, rather than later this year after those bills become law and changes in how you spend time outdoors have [...]

Wishing for Snow

By Doug Leier The middle of winter generally finds me wondering more than wandering. Oh, I still get out, if even for a Sunday afternoon drive just to make sure it’s all still there. If you haven’t tried it, take a drive past some of the haunts you hunkered down in last fall. There’s nothing [...]

Hunter Education Course – Time to Go

By Doug Leier January is the time to think about fall hunting. No, I’m not falling ill with cabin fever and haven’t spent too much time in the ice shack without ventilation. I’m anxious about the beginning of spring snow goose hunting, but that’s not exactly what I’m getting at. My point in thinking about [...]

Looking Forward in 2007

By Doug Leier I’ve always hesitated when it comes to making predictions, especially regarding hunting, fishing or trapping issues and seasons. However, I am not averse to letting others share their thoughts on what we might expect in 2007. This week, we take a look ahead at what will likely be significant issues within the [...]

What is Hunting?

By Doug Leier State Century Code has defined hunting in North Dakota. Albeit for legal purposes, the definition is rather cumbersome, but NDCC20.1-01 and section 21 defines hunting as: “shooting, shooting at, pursuing, taking, attempting to take, or killing any game animals and game birds; searching for or attempting to locate or flush any game [...]

Late Season Hunting Is Upon Us

By Doug Leier For many hunters November is a peak and valley, the best of times and the worst of times. As North Dakota’s popular deer gun hunting season opens and closes, thousands of hunters begin and end their hunting activities within the 16 ½ days the regular season takes place. While most of the [...]

PLOTS Map – Opening Access

By Doug Leier The State Game and Fish Department has had programs that cooperatively involve private landowners since the 1950s. But it’s been less than 10 years since the first inverted yellow triangular sign went up on tracts called Private Land Open to Sportsmen. The PLOTS has its roots in legislation passed in 1997. The [...]

A Tough Call in the Fall

Did you ever have to make up your mind? Those words from the Lovin’ Spoonful seemed to run through my head most every afternoon during this season. Of course they are sung quietly in my off-key karaoke voice as I face the dwindling hours of the work day. Decision time: what to do…what to do? [...]

Hunting Mourning Doves

From where I sit right now, cleaning out the three tiny flecks of residue left in the barrel of my twelve-gauge, I wish the tail end of this summer would wrap itself up. For dove season is fast approaching. Punch Drunk Doves Sure, that peaceful “coo-hoo” and the bobble-head walk make the dove seem like [...]

Poison Ivy Prevention

It’s mosquito season again, and vector control is already out in search of the breeding grounds of these annoying little pests. However, during summer there is one itch that is even less fun to scratch than a mosquito bite. For the second time in four years, I have managed to pick up a case of [...]

Mosquitoes in September

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson The nice thing about mosquito season is that there is no limit. Unfortunately there isn’t much meat on the little buggers. Furthermore, in January here in the upper Midwest, I almost find myself longing to hear the buzzing of these pests in my ear during the humid dusk hours of summer. [...]

Feeling Like Fall

Our Outdoors Nick Simonson As the boat came up out of the water and I tightened the stern strap to secure the trusty Grumman for the ride back into town, I felt it. Maybe it was the odor of freshly cut grain mixed with the smell of dying algae. Perhaps it was the wispy cirrus [...]

Spring Cleaning

By Doug Leier I’m a big fan of spring cleaning, as it helps pass the time between a late winter cold snap and those never-long-enough flirtations with 50-degree days. Even before the last snow melts, I’ll be busy preparing for spring. But before you think I’m ruining the reputation of hunters and anglers every where, [...]

The Bighorn Sheep of North Dakota

By Doug Leier North Dakota doesn’t have many bighorn sheep, but vast appreciation and genuine curiosity from hunters and non-hunters alike more than compensate for lack of population. While this could be said for many North Dakota fish and wildlife inhabitants, the bighorn sheep fills a niche as the only kind of wild sheep in [...]

Exposing Hunting & Fishing Myths and Urban Legends

By Doug Leier I’m not sure who’s credited with saying, “The right tools in the wrong hands can’t fix anything,” but when it comes to the Worldwide Web, I find myself frequently nodding my head in agreement with that statement. Here’s my rub: The Web has made communication and ease of connecting with people and [...]

Winter Jottings

By Doug Leier As winter wears on, a few recent news items give reason to pause and ponder. Rather than keep opinions to myself, here’s a snippet of frozen tundra topics that have crossed my desk, entered my email, been brought up in meetings, on the phone or at the coffee shop. ALUS (alternative land [...]

Public Hunting Land in North Dakota

By Doug Leier For most of us, the road traveled matters little once we’ve arrived at our destination. Seldom do we realize – or appreciate – while beginning a pheasant hunt across the prairie, the time and energy it took to provide access to a public hunting spot. When you get to spend a few [...]

Fall Seasons Coming Together

By Doug Leier In coming weeks we’ll be flooded with news about upcoming hunting season projections. Fall flight forecasts for waterfowl and results from upland game brood surveys will pique the interest of hunters and wildlife managers alike. Along the way, from crow season which began in mid-August to the close of turkey season in [...]

You Alone Make it a Successful Season

By Doug Leier I’ve spent every autumn in the field since I was old enough to walk. Even before I was ready to handle a firearm, I had my BB gun at my side as dad and his crew walked the prairies chasing sharp-tailed grouse in September. As a three-foot tall grade school kid I [...]

Getting Acquainted with Dove Hunting

By Chris Hustad Well, the countdown has begun and at the beginning of September, dove seasons all across the country will be opening up. Most recently, 2 new states are being added to the list; Minnesota and Michigan. They’ve been waiting for a long time for this possibility, but this also means there’ll be plenty [...]

Whooping Cranes in North Dakota

By Doug Leier If you’ve read this column with any frequency you know I’m a huge fan of North Dakota, specifically the outdoors. This time of year so many of the state’s wildlife species take center stage that it’s hard to pick a favorite. While a lot of people will think of pronghorn, bighorn sheep [...]

A Little Outdoors Sale & Pepper

By Doug Leier Variety is the spice of life … outdoors. And we have a lot of it in North Dakota. Often lost among the ducks, bucks, roosters and honkers that get most of the attention are many autumn opportunities that are largely overlooked by the masses, but are appreciated and pursued by smaller groups [...]

Looking in on the Golden Eagles of North Dakota

By Doug Leier When you think of eagles, what image does your mind generate? For most people, I bet it’s an image of a powerful soaring bald eagle, probably with a water and blue-sky backdrop. Anybody envision a golden eagle, perched on a North Dakota badlands’ cliff? Probably not. That’s the stereotype when it comes [...]

The Importance of the Watchable Wildlife Program

By Doug Leier Pheasants, ducks, geese, deer and other game animals get much of the wildlife press in North Dakota, but if publicity was based on numbers alone, the state’s “other” wildlife would capture the headlines more frequently. Biologists categorize more than 80 percent of North Dakota’s wildlife species as nongame, or those that are [...]

Crane Hunting Season Is Upon Us

By Doug Leier By this time every fall, most hunters can recite opening dates for deer, pheasant and waterfowl seasons. People need to know these things to schedule vacations and coordinate plans with the crew. Some will forget their significant other’s birthday before they forget the date pheasant season opens. But I’d venture to guess [...]

The Importance of PLOTS

By Doug Leier Next to sunflowers, Private Lands Open to Sportsmen signs are probably the most visible yellow found across the prairies of North Dakota this autumn. Over the past decade, PLOTS signs have become synonymous with quality habitat open for hunting access. The signs mark the boundaries of parcels of private land that landowners [...]

“A Career Outdoors? Keep your options open”

By Doug Leier As spring gradually thaws the frozen tundra and ice on area lakes becomes mush, I can count on a couple of things. First, I’ll be itching to hear the first song of a western meadowlark. No matter in which part of North Dakota I live, the meadowlark is my quintessential sign that [...]

Take it Easy on Wildlife this Winter

By Doug Leier Have you ever been starving? Not the “I missed lunch and I’m hungry,” kind of starving, but the kind that would force you to withstand sub-zero temperatures and scratching through drifts of snow and into the frozen tundra for a meal. Sometimes, that’s what it takes for North Dakota’s wild critters to [...]

The Lewis & Clark Expedition in North Dakota

There is a great piece of history located right here in North Dakota that until recently, I really knew nothing about. A year ago, outdoor writer Curt Wells called to ask me some questions about goose hunting along the Missouri River. He was tasked to write a segment on ND and the Lewis & Clark [...]