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Article in Fargo Forum
BISMARCK : Nonresidents could be nearing their last season to hunt pheasants in North Dakota without restrictions. And that could create an uproar. "It will be really unpopular with folks in the western part of the state, but we need to come to a compromise there somehow;" says Sen. Tom Fischer, R-Fargo. He is chairman of the Senate's Natural Resources Committee.
He expects debate on hunting pheasants to occur in the North Dakota Legislature, which convenes Jan. 7. Debate could potentially be on restricting somehow the number of days they can hunt as opposed to how many people can come. That could include limiting nonresident pheasant hunters to two five-day periods a month, one week in October and one in November. People wanting to take two weeks in a row, for example, could take the last week in October and the first week in November.
Pat Candrian, manager of Cannonball Co. in Regent is understandably opposed. Cannonball makes its money by charging people to hunt on its land and stay in its three licensed bed-and-breakfast facilities, its four private homes, or a bunkhouse. It has a total of 52 beds.
"The biggest thing with North Dakota residents is access and limiting nonresident pheasant hunters is not going to improve their access. All it's going to mean is more pheasants for the nonresidents;" says Candrian.
Candrian says he has no problem, per se, with limiting nonresident pheasant hunters to two five-day periods.
"From where we sit, we have people come out here for four days and then they leave and we don't see them again until next year.
Small-town businesses, however, could suffer from any restrictions. You have guys from Minnesota, for example, who drive out here on weekends during the season and stay in the motels and eat at restaurants. It is going to keep them from doing that."
Nonresident pheasant hunters are also the likely target of the states most vocal outdoors organization.
Outspoken Sandy Barnes of the North Dakota Sportsmen's Alliance and the group's executive director Larry Knoblich say the alliance will eventually turn its attention to limiting nonresidents who pheasant hunt and fish in the state. "I can't believe that your average North Dakotan thinks unrestricted hunting and fishing is the panacea everybody is saying it is;" Knoblich said. "I think the resident should have some reward for living here."
Barnes and Knoblich say their group is standing up for the blue-collar hunters, both resident and nonresident, who cannot afford to lease or purchase good hunting land. Barnes tells the story of a North Dakota farmer who received two brand-new all-terrain vehicles from an out-of-state hunter. In exchange, the hunter wanted exclusive hunting rights to the farmer's land. "I used to buy smoked turkeys and give them to the landowners who let me hunt"; Barnes says. "I'd be embarrassed to do that now."
Knoblich says he knows many people in rural communities disagree with the Sportsmen's Alliance platform, but Barnes remains unapologetic.
"We've done some things that are somewhat radical and we've become something of a lightning rod on these issues, but along with the United Sportsmen of North Dakota and the North Dakota Wildlife Federation I know we are speaking for a hell of a lot of hunters," Barnes said. "We are speaking with one tongue." Barnes knows he is demonized by some in North Dakota because of what he calls its radical stance on the nonresident waterfowl hunting issue. He makes no apologies. "We're the bad (guys) because we knew somebody had to do it," Barnes says.
The Sportsmen's Alliance, the most vocal of the state's three major sportsmen's groups, supports the so-called hunter pressure concept, which uses climate conditions and the number of resident hunters to cap nonresident licenses. Under that formula, nonresidents would have been limited to 22,000 licenses this year instead of the 30,000 cap set by Gov. John Hoeven.
Barnes and Knoblich say:
- North Dakota guides and outfitters are as much to blame for the proliferation of posted and leased land as nonresidents are.
- Many North Dakota landowners agree with the alliance's stance because they are tired of dealing with nonresident hunters bothering them during harvest.
- The economic impact of nonresident hunters on rural communities is overstated and some small-town businessmen agree.
- North Dakota needs to limit the purchasing and leasing of prime hunting land by nonresidents by dividing the state into zones, thereby limiting hunters to specific areas of the state that would not necessarily be where they own or lease land.
Barnes has hunted waterfowl in North Dakota for three decades. He says, "This fall was the worst, most pathetic year of hunting I've ever experienced." He keeps detailed yearly records of his hunting success. Last year, he and the group of friends shot 150 ducks! This year, that number tumbled to 16. "Sixteen ducks," Barnes exclaims passionately in the office of his Jamestown business. "I defy you to find anyone in Stutsman or Kidder counties who had a good year." After a pause, Barnes says, "Although, I'll admit it couldn't have come at a better time."
That's because Barnes says this fall's poor hunting can be used as ammunition when the Legislature tackles the issue in January.
Barnes says he believes there is a direct correlation between the 30,000 nonresidents who hunted ducks and geese in the state each of the past two years and the poor hunting he and his friends experienced. Barnes says too many breeding ducks have been shot and the constant pressure brought about by nonresidents drove ducks out of the state. "These guys come out here and they hunt for seven straight days, all day," Barnes says. The ducks don't get a break.
North Dakota Game and Fish Department deputy director Roger Rostvet says heavy hunting pressure can accelerate duck movement, but poor hunting in some areas could also be attributed to a late flight of northern ducks into the state and by the fall's unseasonably cold weather, which froze smaller potholes ahead of schedule.
BISMARCK : Nonresidents could be nearing their last season to hunt pheasants in North Dakota without restrictions. And that could create an uproar. "It will be really unpopular with folks in the western part of the state, but we need to come to a compromise there somehow;" says Sen. Tom Fischer, R-Fargo. He is chairman of the Senate's Natural Resources Committee.
He expects debate on hunting pheasants to occur in the North Dakota Legislature, which convenes Jan. 7. Debate could potentially be on restricting somehow the number of days they can hunt as opposed to how many people can come. That could include limiting nonresident pheasant hunters to two five-day periods a month, one week in October and one in November. People wanting to take two weeks in a row, for example, could take the last week in October and the first week in November.
Pat Candrian, manager of Cannonball Co. in Regent is understandably opposed. Cannonball makes its money by charging people to hunt on its land and stay in its three licensed bed-and-breakfast facilities, its four private homes, or a bunkhouse. It has a total of 52 beds.
"The biggest thing with North Dakota residents is access and limiting nonresident pheasant hunters is not going to improve their access. All it's going to mean is more pheasants for the nonresidents;" says Candrian.
Candrian says he has no problem, per se, with limiting nonresident pheasant hunters to two five-day periods.
"From where we sit, we have people come out here for four days and then they leave and we don't see them again until next year.
Small-town businesses, however, could suffer from any restrictions. You have guys from Minnesota, for example, who drive out here on weekends during the season and stay in the motels and eat at restaurants. It is going to keep them from doing that."
Nonresident pheasant hunters are also the likely target of the states most vocal outdoors organization.
Outspoken Sandy Barnes of the North Dakota Sportsmen's Alliance and the group's executive director Larry Knoblich say the alliance will eventually turn its attention to limiting nonresidents who pheasant hunt and fish in the state. "I can't believe that your average North Dakotan thinks unrestricted hunting and fishing is the panacea everybody is saying it is;" Knoblich said. "I think the resident should have some reward for living here."
Barnes and Knoblich say their group is standing up for the blue-collar hunters, both resident and nonresident, who cannot afford to lease or purchase good hunting land. Barnes tells the story of a North Dakota farmer who received two brand-new all-terrain vehicles from an out-of-state hunter. In exchange, the hunter wanted exclusive hunting rights to the farmer's land. "I used to buy smoked turkeys and give them to the landowners who let me hunt"; Barnes says. "I'd be embarrassed to do that now."
Knoblich says he knows many people in rural communities disagree with the Sportsmen's Alliance platform, but Barnes remains unapologetic.
"We've done some things that are somewhat radical and we've become something of a lightning rod on these issues, but along with the United Sportsmen of North Dakota and the North Dakota Wildlife Federation I know we are speaking for a hell of a lot of hunters," Barnes said. "We are speaking with one tongue." Barnes knows he is demonized by some in North Dakota because of what he calls its radical stance on the nonresident waterfowl hunting issue. He makes no apologies. "We're the bad (guys) because we knew somebody had to do it," Barnes says.
The Sportsmen's Alliance, the most vocal of the state's three major sportsmen's groups, supports the so-called hunter pressure concept, which uses climate conditions and the number of resident hunters to cap nonresident licenses. Under that formula, nonresidents would have been limited to 22,000 licenses this year instead of the 30,000 cap set by Gov. John Hoeven.
Barnes and Knoblich say:
- North Dakota guides and outfitters are as much to blame for the proliferation of posted and leased land as nonresidents are.
- Many North Dakota landowners agree with the alliance's stance because they are tired of dealing with nonresident hunters bothering them during harvest.
- The economic impact of nonresident hunters on rural communities is overstated and some small-town businessmen agree.
- North Dakota needs to limit the purchasing and leasing of prime hunting land by nonresidents by dividing the state into zones, thereby limiting hunters to specific areas of the state that would not necessarily be where they own or lease land.
Barnes has hunted waterfowl in North Dakota for three decades. He says, "This fall was the worst, most pathetic year of hunting I've ever experienced." He keeps detailed yearly records of his hunting success. Last year, he and the group of friends shot 150 ducks! This year, that number tumbled to 16. "Sixteen ducks," Barnes exclaims passionately in the office of his Jamestown business. "I defy you to find anyone in Stutsman or Kidder counties who had a good year." After a pause, Barnes says, "Although, I'll admit it couldn't have come at a better time."
That's because Barnes says this fall's poor hunting can be used as ammunition when the Legislature tackles the issue in January.
Barnes says he believes there is a direct correlation between the 30,000 nonresidents who hunted ducks and geese in the state each of the past two years and the poor hunting he and his friends experienced. Barnes says too many breeding ducks have been shot and the constant pressure brought about by nonresidents drove ducks out of the state. "These guys come out here and they hunt for seven straight days, all day," Barnes says. The ducks don't get a break.
North Dakota Game and Fish Department deputy director Roger Rostvet says heavy hunting pressure can accelerate duck movement, but poor hunting in some areas could also be attributed to a late flight of northern ducks into the state and by the fall's unseasonably cold weather, which froze smaller potholes ahead of schedule.
