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Flap over duck licenses may be taking wing again
By RICHARD HINTON, Bismarck Tribune
A guide and outfitter group is worried that the North Dakota Game and Fish Department will implement caps on the number of nonresident duck hunters in specific zones this fall, but such caps aren't the choice of Game and Fish, an official said Wednesday.
Kyle Blanchfield, the president of the North Dakota Professional Guide and Outfitters Association, has circulated an e-mail warning members that "NDGF ... is hinting at instituting the HPC in these zones ...."
Not true, Roger Rostvet, deputy director for the Game and Fish Department, said on Wednesday. "We have no plans to input something like that," he said.
HPC is short for "hunter pressure concept," a formula devised by Game and Fish that crunches the number of resident duck hunters, the number of nonresident duck hunters and an index of available wetlands to come up with an annual cap on nonresident duck licenses. The hunter pressure concept was part of SB2048, which drew crowds for and against during the 2003 legislative session. The bill didn't survive a close House vote. That bill was one of several in the session that pitted supporters of more liberal nonresident hunting regulations against residents seeking sharper nonresident restrictions.
What Game and Fish is looking at, Rostvet said, is establishing three new zones for nonresident hunters. One, identified as zone 3, would cover most of the state, while two smaller areas would address "areas of concern in the south-central and mid-central parts of the state." They would be zones 1 and 2, but the boundary lines still are to be established.
While nonresident duck hunters this fall will be limited to a 14-day license, the plan, which is still preliminary, would cut hunting time to seven days in one of the two small zones, Rostvet said. The plan would allow nonresidents to hunt throughout zone 3 for 14 days. A nonresident's other option would be to hunt in zones 1 or 2 for seven days and hunt in zone 3 for the other seven days, or they could start in zone 3 and finish in one of the smaller zones. Either way, the idea is to use the zones and the number of days hunted as the nonresident hunter management tool, Rostvet said.
The small zones would be in areas where there is concern over nonresident versus resident hunters. "We want to see if this management scheme is workable," he said.
Blanchfield said he and other guides in the NDPGOA could work with the nonresident hunter zones and the time frames. "But a cap put the fear of God in us," he said, comparing a such a possibility to a "triple whammy."
Rostvet wouldn't rule out limits on nonresident hunter numbers in the two small zones, however. "It's possible there would be limits in zones 1 and 2, but it would be an upper limit," he said.
A limit or cap by any name is what worries Blanchfield and the state's other guides and outfitters. Blanchfield owns a resort and runs a guide service in the Devils Lake area.
Blanchfield said he spoke by telephone with Rostvet on Wednesday. "He (Rostvet) expressed they are considering limits in both zones (1 and 2), 7,500 total in both zones," Blanchfield said.
Rostvet said that figure was off the top of his head when Blanchfield asked for a hard number.
"I looked, and it's a little closer to 8,500," he said. "That's the number of nonresidents who hunted in that area last year. If we were to go with what was there last year, that's what was there last year."
Blanchfield, however, sounds like a man waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"I'd bet you anything on the dollar that a limit is a huge part of the thing," he said. "If they want to put limits on hunters, they have to lay their cards on the table and be responsible for the backlash that comes with it."
Rostvet said a nonresident hunter cap may be necessary because of the hunter influx into the two small zones after Game and Fish draws attention to those zones by identifying them as prime duck-hunting country.
Blanchfield has the same concern. "These zones are the hot spots, the place to go," he said. "It exacerbates the problem. Psychologically, people get panicky (and have to hunt there). It's like a run on the market."
Still, Rostvet said the ideal scenario would allow the zones and the seven-day time limit be the management tool for nonresident hunters. "Not caps," he said.
Blanchfield's e-mail asked NDPGOA members to contact Gov. John Hoeven's office and express their concerns. Ron Rauschenberger, a policy adviser in the governor's office, said they had received some e-mails. Hoeven has the last word on what final shape the 2003 proclamation takes.
Don't expect any definitive word soon on caps or the 2003 regulations, however. The waterfowl proclamation typically is among the last ones published. Since waterfowl are species included in the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service first has to lay out a framework for the states to work within when setting season dates and bag limits. "That usually happens in July or August," Rostvet said.
The 2003 duck season will be a new ball game for all parties concerned. This will be the first year nonresident hunters will have to buy separate upland and waterfowl licenses. Each will cost $85. Last year, an out-of-state hunter could buy an upland license and add a waterfowl license for another $10. Nonresident licenses last year also were capped at 30,000.
But Blanchfield still worries. "Behind closed doors, a cap is a huge part of this thing," he said, "but maybe I'm paranoid after the session and everything."
By RICHARD HINTON, Bismarck Tribune
A guide and outfitter group is worried that the North Dakota Game and Fish Department will implement caps on the number of nonresident duck hunters in specific zones this fall, but such caps aren't the choice of Game and Fish, an official said Wednesday.
Kyle Blanchfield, the president of the North Dakota Professional Guide and Outfitters Association, has circulated an e-mail warning members that "NDGF ... is hinting at instituting the HPC in these zones ...."
Not true, Roger Rostvet, deputy director for the Game and Fish Department, said on Wednesday. "We have no plans to input something like that," he said.
HPC is short for "hunter pressure concept," a formula devised by Game and Fish that crunches the number of resident duck hunters, the number of nonresident duck hunters and an index of available wetlands to come up with an annual cap on nonresident duck licenses. The hunter pressure concept was part of SB2048, which drew crowds for and against during the 2003 legislative session. The bill didn't survive a close House vote. That bill was one of several in the session that pitted supporters of more liberal nonresident hunting regulations against residents seeking sharper nonresident restrictions.
What Game and Fish is looking at, Rostvet said, is establishing three new zones for nonresident hunters. One, identified as zone 3, would cover most of the state, while two smaller areas would address "areas of concern in the south-central and mid-central parts of the state." They would be zones 1 and 2, but the boundary lines still are to be established.
While nonresident duck hunters this fall will be limited to a 14-day license, the plan, which is still preliminary, would cut hunting time to seven days in one of the two small zones, Rostvet said. The plan would allow nonresidents to hunt throughout zone 3 for 14 days. A nonresident's other option would be to hunt in zones 1 or 2 for seven days and hunt in zone 3 for the other seven days, or they could start in zone 3 and finish in one of the smaller zones. Either way, the idea is to use the zones and the number of days hunted as the nonresident hunter management tool, Rostvet said.
The small zones would be in areas where there is concern over nonresident versus resident hunters. "We want to see if this management scheme is workable," he said.
Blanchfield said he and other guides in the NDPGOA could work with the nonresident hunter zones and the time frames. "But a cap put the fear of God in us," he said, comparing a such a possibility to a "triple whammy."
Rostvet wouldn't rule out limits on nonresident hunter numbers in the two small zones, however. "It's possible there would be limits in zones 1 and 2, but it would be an upper limit," he said.
A limit or cap by any name is what worries Blanchfield and the state's other guides and outfitters. Blanchfield owns a resort and runs a guide service in the Devils Lake area.
Blanchfield said he spoke by telephone with Rostvet on Wednesday. "He (Rostvet) expressed they are considering limits in both zones (1 and 2), 7,500 total in both zones," Blanchfield said.
Rostvet said that figure was off the top of his head when Blanchfield asked for a hard number.
"I looked, and it's a little closer to 8,500," he said. "That's the number of nonresidents who hunted in that area last year. If we were to go with what was there last year, that's what was there last year."
Blanchfield, however, sounds like a man waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"I'd bet you anything on the dollar that a limit is a huge part of the thing," he said. "If they want to put limits on hunters, they have to lay their cards on the table and be responsible for the backlash that comes with it."
Rostvet said a nonresident hunter cap may be necessary because of the hunter influx into the two small zones after Game and Fish draws attention to those zones by identifying them as prime duck-hunting country.
Blanchfield has the same concern. "These zones are the hot spots, the place to go," he said. "It exacerbates the problem. Psychologically, people get panicky (and have to hunt there). It's like a run on the market."
Still, Rostvet said the ideal scenario would allow the zones and the seven-day time limit be the management tool for nonresident hunters. "Not caps," he said.
Blanchfield's e-mail asked NDPGOA members to contact Gov. John Hoeven's office and express their concerns. Ron Rauschenberger, a policy adviser in the governor's office, said they had received some e-mails. Hoeven has the last word on what final shape the 2003 proclamation takes.
Don't expect any definitive word soon on caps or the 2003 regulations, however. The waterfowl proclamation typically is among the last ones published. Since waterfowl are species included in the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service first has to lay out a framework for the states to work within when setting season dates and bag limits. "That usually happens in July or August," Rostvet said.
The 2003 duck season will be a new ball game for all parties concerned. This will be the first year nonresident hunters will have to buy separate upland and waterfowl licenses. Each will cost $85. Last year, an out-of-state hunter could buy an upland license and add a waterfowl license for another $10. Nonresident licenses last year also were capped at 30,000.
But Blanchfield still worries. "Behind closed doors, a cap is a huge part of this thing," he said, "but maybe I'm paranoid after the session and everything."
