Deer Hunting – North Dakota Winter Gathering

by Doug Leier As a biologist I deal with aspects of fish and wildlife behavior on a routine basis. Hardly a week goes by that I don’t get at least one phone call or email from someone who witnessed an odd, strange, or erratic animal behavior, or saw something in an unusual location. Especially when [...]

Sage Grouse Hunting – Management

by Doug Leier Sage Grouse Hunting Because of a long-term population decline throughout their native range, in 2010 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considered listing sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act. Since sage grouse inhabit the extreme southwestern part of North Dakota, this development was of particular interest within the State Game and [...]

Outdoor Activities Sharing Memories

by Doug Leier Over the holidays I bumped into an old high school friend, and true to form for a couple of guys who love the outdoors and also have young families, we began sharing memories of outdoor activities. Living in Montana, Jon has had the opportunity to hunt elk in the same manner we [...]

Hunting seasons – Banquets & Board Meetings

by Doug Leier While many hunters and anglers associate spring and summer with fishing season and fall with hunting season, truth be told, in North Dakota fishing is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days each year. And while hunting season is generally considered a fall season, with small game [...]

Fall Turkey Hunting – Small Game – Deer Questionnaires

by Doug Leier After a couple of cups of coffee and the usual bantering about weather at my favorite corner convenience store, a recent discussion turned to Game and Fish Department surveys. Not the kind for which biologists annually count deer or ducks, but the kind that just about every hunter or angler receives from [...]

Ice Fishing – Abundant Opportunities in ND

by Doug Leier The older I get the faster time seems to pass. My neighbor and friend Mick explained a few years ago it’s a function of the percentage of life. Case in point is remembering the vivid details of my first trip to the old outdoor movie theatre in Valley City more than three [...]

Awaiting a new Deer Hunting Season in ND

by Doug Leier For a lot of North Dakotans, the end of 2011 can’t come fast enough. While none of us can predict exactly how the coming year will unfold, for the state as a whole, and most wildlife in particular, 2012 just has to bring improvement, doesn’t it? As a biologist, I’m always interested [...]

Ice Fishing for Northern Pike – Darkhouse Spearing

by Doug Leier When it comes to trying something new, I’ll admit I usually need a good reason to change or replace anything in my routine. From breakfast to fishing, after nearly four decades on earth I still gravitate toward my preferred options – sausage and eggs for breakfast and worms and bluegills for fishing. [...]

Recreational Fishing – Fish Transportation

by Doug Leier In the early 1990s I was attending junior college in Bottineau, and enjoyed many trips to other parts of the state to visit friends and relatives. It was a great time to explore different corners of the state around Bismarck, Fargo and Napoleon, but a couple of observations during that time are [...]

Mild Fall Hunting

by Doug Leier Each year without even having to review, I can count on a few standard column topics finding their way onto my screen, like spring fishing, deer season questions and answers, and the pheasant outlook. At the end of the year I take a look back at the previous seasons and often look [...]

Deer Hunting – CWD Q & A

by Doug Leier Chronic Wasting Disease Questions and Answers In the last two years, two North Dakota deer have tested positive for chronic wasting disease. These are the first two positive cases discovered in the state among thousands of deer tested over the last decade or so. Here’s a closer look at CWD with some [...]

Deer Hunting Tips – Meat Preparation

by Doug Leier Each year it seems I somehow wind up as part of a large number of hunters who receive a recycled email joke about making beef taste like venison. Most who read it find themselves nodding their head and chuckling, as the masses who’ve hunted deer can relate to the uneasy truthfulness 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 [...]

Fall in ND

By Doug Leier Most kids grow up looking forward to the Christmas season. Even before Thanksgiving turkey is served they are counting the days before they can open their share of the wrapped boxes beneath the tree. Many hunters feel that way about October. While September offers its archery and dove and grouse and crane [...]

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 [...]

ND Fishing Questions

By Doug Leier Questions tend to flow with the seasons and while hunting is starting to gain ground, fishing continues to lead my list of phone, email and random inquiries. Here’s a sample of some the North Dakota Game and Fish Department typically receives, with answers from the Game and Fish website at gf.nd.gov. Why [...]

Littering Problems

By Doug Leier Most of us who spend time outdoors occasionally wind up in a spot that makes us think we are the only human to have ever stood or floated in that exact location. Realistically, at least in this part of the world, that’s probably not true. If the natural setting is not altered, [...]

Boating Safety

By Doug Leier Many anglers and recreational boaters enjoy reading through information and testimonials on the latest electronics and power options for a boat or personal watercraft. It’s a good thing to invest time into finding out ways to more efficiently use every last second of fun outdoors. While honestly no one would expect the [...]

Fishing Paddlefish

By Doug Leier Given North Dakota’s geographic location, sort of on the fault line between east and west, and north and south, it’s easy to understand the state’s diversity of fish and wildlife species. Few states can claim such a variety of critters in terms of roosters, bucks, ducks and pike. In fact after a [...]

Aquatic Nuisance Species

By Doug Leier It feels like just yesterday, when in fact it’s been over a year and a half, since the first official discovery of zebra mussels in the Red River watershed. First, these aquatic nuisance species were found established in a Minnesota lake upstream of the Red River. Then, to no one’s surprise, they [...]

Good North Dakota Fishing

By Doug Leier The late Dean Hildebrand was North Dakota Game and Fish Department director from 1996 through 2005 and he had a well-developed vocabulary of catch phrases and sayings. One description I heard repeatedly for years was his exclamation that, “We’re living in the good old days when it comes to hunting and fishing.” [...]

Fishing Trivia

By Doug Leier If you asked my wife about my ability to recall seemingly useless fishing trivia data, she would likely say that it is times annoying. I’m not bragging about it, not a chance, but I’ve never understood how I can easily forget the whereabouts of my keys, cell phone, the remote control and [...]

Wildlife Biology Career

By Doug Leier Sooner or later – most likely later – what feels like spring will arrive. Just looking at the calendar makes that a pretty safe prediction, but I also know that spring is getting closer because of a bump in the volume of calls I get from students and parents looking for guidance [...]

March in ND

By Doug Leier We’re each afforded our own perspective on the beginning of spring. Sports fans point toward baseball’s spring training, turkey hunters anxiously await the April 9 gobbler season opener, and you could fill up pages with other events or notable milestones that people consider as an unofficial arrival of spring The calendar, of [...]

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 [...]

The Plight of the Partridge

By Doug Leier When it comes to winter and wildlife, we give much time and attention to pheasants and deer. While I won’t begrudge the attention for arguably the two most popular hunted species in North Dakota, there’s a host of other critters working their way through winter with us as well. Some, like the [...]

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 [...]

Feeding Wildlife in the Winter

By Doug Leier I haven’t checked my archives, but even if I wrote last year about the human desire to feed wildlife during a difficult winter, it’s a topic that bears another look. Years ago in specific scenarios, feeding of wildlife didn’t send up red flags to biologists. Nowadays, however, the best information available tells [...]

Snowmobiles Deer Hunting

By Doug Leier Every about this time, at least in those years when North Dakota’s landscape is covered with snow, the State Game and Fish Department and other agencies work to remind outdoor recreationists to keep an eye out for wildlife. We could almost get by without even mentioning it. Most people who cross-country ski [...]

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 – [...]

Crossbow Hunting

Doug Leier For most of us, crossbows are not a real common topic in hunting discussions. You’ve probably seen them on an outdoors television program or maybe in person at a trade show or other event, but overall use of a crossbow is not that common around the country, most likely because they are not [...]

Late Season Pheasant Hunting

By Doug Leier For those of us who like to spend as much time as possible on the outside of the window, October is a sort of early Christmas present. Hunting seasons for just about everything are open, and fall fishing can be just as hot as summer, but without humidity and mosquitoes. While crunching [...]

Greenheads

By Doug Leier North Dakota has such an array of duck species nesting in the state there’s a good chance most hunters will remember a teal, gadwall, pintail or shoveler as their first duck and instead of a mallard. And there’s nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with bragging about the first duck regardless of [...]

2010 Duck Season

By Doug Leier The NFL season opened a few weeks back with many teams having high expectations for a banner year. Such is the case for the North Dakota waterfowl season, which opens Sept. 25 for residents and Oct. 2 for nonresidents. High expectations, however, are not always realized due to factors that no one [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 on [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Staying HIP

By Doug Leier For almost a decade, migratory bird hunters have had to get HIP. No, not the “hip,” that loosely means “aware” or “fashionable” according the Webster’s Dictionary, but HIP, as in registered with the Harvest Information Program. What is HIP? HIP is a survey method developed by states and the U.S. Fish and [...]

The Duck Stamp

By Doug Leier Even if you’re not a duck hunter, I think you’ll appreciate what thousands of duck hunters across the prairie are doing this fall. It’s about as simple a task as you can make it, and much of the time they don’t get enough credit for how they’ve contributed to the good of [...]

The Value of Temporary Wetlands

By Doug Leier A recent rainy spell has rekindled somewhat the time-worn debate over the value of wetlands, small ones in particular. North Dakota has hunreds of thousands of these small, shallow wetlands. They’re often called temporary wetlands because they typically only hold water for a few weeks after spring snow melt, or after heavy [...]

The Mysterious Coot

By Doug Leier Have you ever thought about hunting coots? To be honest, most hunters never even consider bagging one and bringing it home, even though they are readily available on many North Dakota waters and regulations allow a daily limit of 15 and a possession limit of 30. But this season, I might think [...]

Survey Says

By Doug Leier With the final shots of North Dakota’s bird hunting seasons behind us as of the close of turkey hunting on Jan. 11, we’re actually only weeks away from the opening of the 2009 spring snow goose conservation season on Feb. 21. Beyond that, the spring turkey season is only a couple of [...]

August Goose Hunting

By Doug Leier Non hunters and hunters who don’t target Canada geese may be a bit take off guard when learning those hunters they’ve seen and heard are out taking part in the early Canada goose season in North Dakota–for good reason. In 1988 the US Fish and Wildlife Service annual spring waterfowl survey indicated [...]

The Canada Goose

By Doug Leier I  don’t think of myself as a veteran hunter. But when I put pen to paper and add up the years, I realize it’s been nearly 25 of them since I took hunter education in LaMoure in 1984. During that time, I’ve already experienced some significant changes in our hunting landscape. In [...]

Hunter’s Choice Waterfowl Regulations

By Doug Leier About 15 years ago I attended my first Game and Fish Department advisory board meeting. I was a fisheries and wildlife management student at North Dakota State University, and had a goal of one day working in the natural resource field. I decided it might be a positive learning experience to attend [...]

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 [...]

Why Party Hunting is Illegal for Deer Hunting

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