The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is celebrating its 75th anniversary this summer. It’s not the type of celebration that warrants a big recognition party, but rather, it’s one of those historic benchmarks that gives us an opportunity to reflect on how North Dakota’s outdoor world has changed since state citizens voted to create a Game and Fish Department in 1930.
I’m a nostalgic kind of guy, not to the point of living in the past, but always interested in where we’ve been, and how that shapes where we are today.
We’ve all heard stories of how gramps or great gramps and the family used to pretty much hunt or fish without much concern. In the early years of North Dakota’s statehood, hunters and anglers were not used to limits. They took what they wanted, however they wanted. It’s just the way it was.
It didn’t take long, however, for people to realize that big game populations had dwindled to almost nothing since the days before statehood. Slowly but surely, restrictions were put into place by the legislature, including the following:
1895 – The first daily bag limit of 25 fish was established.
1899 – A limit of eight big game animals per year was established.
1901 – The deer limit was reduced to five, and the season on bison, elk, moose, sheep and pronghorn was closed until further notice. The deer season length was shortened.
1909 – The deer limit was reduced to two. The upland bird bag limit was reduced from 25 to 10. Fishing restrictions included only one hook or lure was legal for taking fish; no dynamite, poison or lime could be used to take fish; sale of game fish was illegal; all game fish had to be eight inches long before they could be kept; a combination limit of 15 fish daily and 50 in possession was established.
1915 – The waterfowl bag limit was reduced from 25 to 15. Deer and ruffed grouse seasons were closed indefinitely.
1917 – The upland game bird limit was reduced to five.
1919 – The limit on geese was reduced to eight daily.
1921 – The deer season opened again, with a limit of one buck per license.
Despite all these new regulations, North Dakota’s game and fish populations weren’t improving substantially. Part of the reason was that the state didn’t have any full time game wardens to help enforce the laws. The state also didn’t have any trained wildlife life biologists to help conserve habitat and set seasons and bag limits that were appropriate for the species.
That all got turned around and started in the right direction 75 years ago. Progress didn’t occur overnight, but it did occur. A big boost came in the mid-1930s when Congress passed the Pittman-Robertson Act which created a manufacturers’ excise taxes on hunting guns and ammunition. This new tax money was distributed back to state wildlife agencies in the form of federal aid.
In a way, federal aid was a tax paid by people who hunted, in addition to license fees, to help support programs that benefited wildlife, and therefore hunters in the long run.
With additional funds, game and fish was able to hire more biologists who developed more habitat programs and surveys, and more game wardens to enforce laws.
In the 1950s, the federal Dingell-Johnson Act did for fisheries what Pittman-Robertson did for wildlife. In time, more fisheries biologists were hired, and fishing improved because people were there to manage dozens of new reservoirs that were being created around the state. More people started fishing, which generated more license income, which allowed for more fisheries related work.
Today, North Dakotans enjoy many more hunting and fishing opportunities than they did 75 years ago. It’s not all because of the Game and Fish Department. Much of the credit goes to the people of the state who have cared enough about our wildlife resources to push the department in the right direction.
In this day and age, adjustments in limits and seasons resulting from variable game and fish populations are generally accepted. Hunters, anglers, trappers and the public as a whole understand the need for rules and regulations, which ensure the health and future of our outdoors resources.
As game and fish begins its second 75 years, the situation is different. We now have abundant fish and wildlife resources. The challenge for the future is to maintain that.
To learn more about the history of North Dakota’s outdoors visit www.discovernd.com/gnf, logon to the North Dakota Outdoors magazine, and read the March 2005 issue dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Game and Fish Department.
Part 2
It’s hard to argue with the popularity of deer hunting in North Dakota. Modern day white-tailed deer numbers allow participation for any interested hunter. But that wasn’t always the case.
Seventy-five years ago, when the North Dakota Game and Fish Department was established, the state didn’t even have a deer season every year. Now, the state has more people who hunt deer than any other species. To start part two of our recognition of the Game and Fish Department’s 75th anniversary, let’s take a deeper look at deer, and some of the other species whose fortunes have changed dramatically since 1930.
The first deer season under the new Game and Fish Department was held in 1931, when 2,061 licenses were issued. From then until 1947, deer hunting was open only every other year. The season was closed in 1949, 1951 and 1953.
Starting in 1954, North Dakota has had a deer season every year. A major change occurred in 1975 when biologists established units for distributing deer licenses. In place now for 30 years, this scheme has allowed for more precise deer management in local areas.
Now, because of improved habitat conditions and several mild winters in a row, the good old days of deer hunting are today. In 2005, the Department offered more than 145,000 licenses to gun hunters – the fifth season in a row with more than 100,000 licenses available.
Upland Immigrants
When North Dakota was settled there were no ring-necked pheasants and Hungarian partridge, two of the state’s popular game birds.
The first Hungarian partridge was released in 1924 in North Dakota, though Huns were already present elsewhere in the state, most likely having expanded into from successful releases in Montana or Alberta. The first Hun season was held in 1934.
Ring-necked pheasants from China were introduced to North Dakota about the same time. They became established, and multiplied to a point where a season could be held. The first season was 1931, and the pheasant harvest has fluctuated greatly over the years.
Other Points of Interest
The deer harvest for 1941 was estimated at 2,890 animals. Hunters at the time claimed 1941 was one of the best big game seasons ever held.
It was estimated the state’s deer population was 7,000-8,000 animals in 1941.
The first year hunting was allowed on national grasslands in North Dakota was 1941. Hunters were required to have a free permit before hunting.
The state’s first elk transplant took place in late winter 1942. The animals came from Wyoming and were released in the Killdeer Mountains.
Pronghorn ranged over nearly all of North Dakota’s open prairies in the mid-1800s, but only about 225 remained by 1925. The first modern-day hunting season was held in 1951.
The first statewide bow season for deer was held in 1954. There were 1,119 licenses sold for that first season that ran from October 9-24.
Any discussion on the state’s top fishing waters today would have to include Devils Lake. But in the 1950s, North Dakota’s largest natural lake was hardly part of the picture. In the 1940s, the lake was nearly dry.
Chinook salmon were introduced into Lake Sakakawea in 1976.
Lake Tschida (Heart Butte Reservoir) was the “Walleye Capital of North Dakota” in 1961. Twenty-four of 25 fish of more than 10 pounds reported to the Whopper Club came from Tschida.
In 1968, creel limits for walleye and sauger were removed on Lake Sakakawea, Lake Oahe and the Missouri River. The next year limits were reinstated, but an angler could still take eight walleye and eight sauger daily.
With rising water levels, Devils Lake was stocked with fish in 1970-71. By 1972 people were catching fish for the first time in many years.
The Game and Fish Department held an experimental paddlefish snagging season in 1976 for the first time.
The state legislature in 1977 passed the hunter safety bill, requiring all hunters born after December 31, 1961 to have taken a hunter safety course before they could purchase a license. The law took effect in 1979.
The first North Dakota moose season was held in 1977. Twelve permits were issued.
Department fisheries crews in 1980 made their first attempt to take spawn from chinook salmon during the fall run on Lake Sakakawea.
Some state school lands in 1983 were opened to public access for the first time. Over the next four years most of the state’s 700,000 acres of state school land were opened to walking public access.
The state legislature in 1987 passed a law allowing a tax checkoff to fund a nongame wildlife program in North Dakota.
North Dakota outdoors recreation has a rich history to learn more logon to the www.discovernd.com/gnf and access the March issue of the North Dakota Outdoors magazine, dedicated to the 75th Anniversary of your North Dakota Game and Fish Department.
