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 [...]

Respecting Diversity in Hunting

By Mike Taddy
As the hot summer days begin to fade away, the increased anxiousness and irritableness of the waterfowler is the one certainty that exists in the North Dakota hunting world. Now, before you go on the defensive because you

’re a waterfowler, please take time to read this with an open mind.
North Dakota and the [...]

Pay Me to Be Outdoors

By PJ Maguire
Ever since I can remember it has been a dream of mine to have my own hunting and fishing show. The dream has always been to find a way for me to hunt and fish for a living. After many discussions with other outdoorsman I know I am not the only one that [...]

New Life on the Prairie (2002)

By Jason Phillips
 Just when it seemed like it’s over, the action on the prairie potholes continues….on perch and northern pike that is. Well it looks like old man winter decided to get the last laugh this year and brought us some of the coldest weather of the season…in March. While it is tough to lose [...]

Hook and Bobber Hunting

By Doug Leier
I’ve come up with a new phrase describing how I hunt. Maybe it’s not mine originally, but it effectively describes what I’ve been doing for most of my life. Itxs called hook-and-bobber hunting.
My intent is not to degrade how I hunt, or offend anglers who have no desire to use the latest fishing [...]

Getting Stuck

By Perry Thorvig
The little town of Middle River, Minnesota has an annual goose hunting opening day celebration. They sell beer in plastic mugs that say, “If you ain’t a goose hunter, you ain’t sh*t.” That phrase reminds me of the one that my hunting partner Ken Ziegler says about being stuck. He say’s, “I ain’t [...]

Fish / Hunt Swap Stories & New Friends

By Chris Hustad
 
It’s 2:30 a.m. on a cold, April Saturday morning. I’m sucking down coffee to make up for the lack of sleep as I pull out of Fargo. We wandered almost 2 hours from home the night before scouting, only to turn around and do it again 6 hours later. But we were excited. [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Take Your Time with Nature

By Doug Leier
This time of year my phone just about rings off the hook. People call with all kinds of questions, but the most common is not the most obvious.
Where to buy a fishing license? Nope, that’s your local license vendor or online at www.discovernd.com/gnf.
How to get a boat licensed? Close, but that’s best handled [...]

Gardening Tips – Keep Deer Off Your Buffet

By Doug Leier
With the warmer spring sun greening the earth, that little bit of farmer residing in almost all of us starts to come out.
The real farmers are already preparing fields or putting seeds in the ground. Those of us who delight in budding cherry tomatoes at summer’s end are planning arrangements for our few [...]

Think Before Harassing Wildlife

By Doug Leier
Chasing wildlife with a motorized vehicle is unacceptable.
In the outdoor world, sometimes a gray area forms the boundary between what is and isn’t ethical. But in the case of people using motorized vehicles to chase wildlife, the boundary is a thick, black, double-wide line because it’s not just unethical, it’s illegal.
The face of [...]

A Look Back at ND in 2006

By Doug Leier
 This week we’ll take a look back at the outdoor issues and topics that shaped North Dakota in 2006, through interviews with fisheries and wildlife division leaders for the State Game and Fish Department.
It’s been an interesting year, with many positive stories to report. At the same time there are concerns heading into [...]

Surviving the Winter

By Doug Leier
Humans cope with winter in a number of ways, and looking out at the wildlife world it’s interesting to compare our mechanisms with those of other creatures and critters.
Take for instance what we commonly call snow birds, or those folks who spend spring, summer and fall in our midst, but choose to winter [...]

The Next Generation

By Doug Leier
A few weeks back a reader sent the following comment to me.
Youth hunting is one of my best memories growing up … certainly not the hunting part of it, just being out there with my dad, learning how to hunt.

I remember the first deer I “shot” at. I was walking up a tree [...]

Fall Hunting Predictions

By Doug Leier
Football previews with prognostications and predictions for the upcoming season are starting in earnest. Based on drafts and off-season transactions, “experts” are predicting which teams will flourish or fail.
While most hunting seasons are at least six weeks away, biologists and wildlife managers can also make calculated estimations as to how well a fall [...]

Hunting Accidents are No Joke

By PJ Maguire

 
Honestly I have wanted to write this column since the Cheney quail-hunting incident. Several things have made me delay it. One, I needed to collect my thoughts about exactly what I wanted to say. Two, I wanted the media coverage of the event to blow over.
Accidents happen. I do not care who you [...]

The Future of Hunting & Fishing in North Dakota

By Doug Leier
We will guarantee you a more successful pheasant hunt, and at the same time, help improve your fishing. All you have to do is read this column.
I’d venture to say that introduction would generate more interest than if I simply described how to maintain healthy grasslands and protect clean water.
However, one leads to [...]

Wildlife and Winterkill

By Doug Leier
For many people this seems like clash of two different worlds, of poor little critters struggling to find food and stay warm during long stretches of frigid temperatures and blanket on top of blanket of snow.
It just so happens that those blankets of snow might actually help some native prairie wildlife withstand freezing [...]

Steel Shot Review – Shotgun Pattern Information

Just as each waterfowler has their favorite techniques to pursue waterfowl they also have their preference of shotgun shells. The selection is generally made based of several different factors that include: manufacturer reputation, availability, cost, past experiences, etc. Although each of these may hold some validity the best way to determine which is best for [...]

Cooperative North American Shotgunning Education Program (CONCEP)

By Kevin Hayer
Last spring I was invited to a CONCEP nontoxic shot seminar presented by Tom Roster and hosted by the N.D Game & Fish Department. CONCEP is short for Cooperative North American Shotgunning Education Program which is an international education and research program. CONCEP is supported by multiple Game & Fish agencies including North [...]

The Realities of a Hunting Bounty

By Doug Leier
The shear principle of wildlife management makes it a work in progress, much like any other modern process of continued evaluation and testing and trying. What was considered acceptable yesterday may fall into the realm of objectionable in short order.
Such is the case with bounties. Bounties, whether for gophers, skunks, rabbits or coyotes, [...]

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Recapping 2007 in North Dakota

By Doug Leier
Over the last five years or so, I’ve written many times that we are living in an era that most anyone else with an outdoors interest will remember as the good old days, at least as far as hunting goes.
As I look back at the last 12 months, it seems that 2007 will [...]

Sunrise, Sunset

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson

Most anglers are told from an early age that the best times for fishing are dawn and dusk. While these hours of varying daylight provide another transition that fish key in on, the this adage might simply be to get anglers to appreciate moments in the outdoors that many are not privy to.
Daybreak
An [...]

My Favorite Things

Our Outdoors
Nick Simonson
Smallies on orange jigs and crappies on minnows,
Waking up to the lake sitting calm out the windows,
Shore lunch fillets as the hot oil sings,
These are a few of my favorite things.
Black striped largemouth and polka-dot gators,
Fishing spring walleye in holey green waders,
Being outdoors, where the phone never rings,
These are a few of my [...]

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 with me?”
A sample [...]

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 Clemente in a [...]

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 that allowed me [...]

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 good ice [...]

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 discovered, [...]

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 up in [...]

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 look at [...]

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 network and cable broadcasting [...]

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 pushing [...]

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 (some of [...]

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 pocket. Because [...]

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 rights movement throughout [...]

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 fisheries and [...]

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 – caught on the Sheyenne [...]

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.
After enjoying [...]

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, I was [...]

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 of game [...]

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 rules [...]

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 nonwork outlet [...]

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 interested in [...]

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 [...]

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 throughout the year, [...]

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 birds and [...]

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 and bighorn [...]

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 this [...]

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 that not [...]

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 ago the [...]

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. Everyone else [...]

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 the [...]

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 relied on animals [...]

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 cattail-choked slough [...]

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 at 29, or [...]

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 watching an [...]

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 with [...]

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 the water and in [...]

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 year conjures up [...]

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 of [...]

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.
I bring up [...]

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 active roll [...]

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 been [...]

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 like a [...]

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 plans for [...]

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 fisheries and [...]

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 animals [...]

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 good duck, [...]

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?
It [...]

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 contact [...]

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.
All kidding aside, [...]

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 clouds streaking the [...]

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 places extremely [...]

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 use services) [...]

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 hours hunting [...]

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 mid-January, there’ll [...]

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 struggled through dense [...]

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 or sage [...]

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 of enthusiasts. [...]

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 to eagles. It’s [...]

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 not hunted, [...]

“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 spring [...]

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 survive winter. Just [...]

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 [...]

Why I Hunt & Fish

By PJ Maguire
Last semester I had a talk with one of my professors, Dr. Patton at the University of North Dakota, about class and applying what I learn to real life situations. Anyone that has ever received an education at UND and taken a class with Patton knows that he teaches through examples. He is [...]

Looking Ahead to Hunting in 2006

By Doug Leier
Last week I spent some time looking at fisheries issues and possible changes for 2006 and beyond. Now it’s time to look at recent hunting seasons and what might lie ahead in the next year.
Mountain Lions
North Dakota’s first ever mountain lion season runs through March 12 or until five mountain lions are taken. [...]