Had an interesting conversation last night with a ND landowner who has been following the NR issue. They said if there are drastic limits they would post their land to keep out Residents. They understand what NR's mean to the local economy, and blamed a small number of people from the larger cities for causing an unjustified uproar. They claimed and I would agree that majority of the Residents that hunt, Hunt occasionally.
My take is this is they are right, Majority of residents that duck hunt do so opening weekend and maybe a couple of times after. They were only roughly 1500 people attend the meetings you held around the state. How many resident small game license are sold a year I think I saw like 60,000. Come on that is a tiny percentage of people who even care. I would guess statewide there are about 500 resident hunters that feel there is an access/NR problem.
Ducks and Geese are Migratory; they are not your resource exclusively. I and millions of people pay for habitat, research and the enforcement of laws in your state and their flight corridors.
Access problem, please, you have the ONLY state I know of that you can walk/hunt land that's not posted. Out of the 7 years of hunting ND I have never been turned down permission to hunt, and have met some great people who are extremely friendly and down to earth. The people that complain on these sites don't do the majority of ND resident's justice. The people who complain sound like a separatist movement, pretty soon you will be planting car bombs on trucks with MN lic plates. Take a look at the posts from "outside the box" and tell me what it sounds like. How many thousands of acres are in WPA? (Which I and millions of hunters and non-hunters paid for) How many thousands of acres are available to hunters if you ask? With the exception of those 500 hardcore duck hunters (Duck hunt 10 days or more) most resident's road hunt, or hunting sloughs just off the road.
ND already has limits. NR can hunt ducks for only two weeks, at a cost of $100 bucks. Show me a state besides SD that limits NR even more. Yeah its great hunting but I know of other states like Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and a country to the north that have comparable hunting. Yes, ND residents fishing in MN, owning lake cabins in MN, hunting elk in MT, trophy whitetails in Sask or WI, Salmon fishing in Alaska buying a time share in FL or taking a vacation to the Bahamans, are all good analogies to the problem you think you have. They all have residents that feel privileged on where they live and their lifestyle. Remember that next time you hunt, fish or take a vacation out of the state
Limiting absentee landowners? Would never hold up in court.
Now with that being said what are the issues that I see and solutions. First the resources if ducks are losing in the battle, then take some action. Not just hearsay either, there needs some type of study to determine the problem. Second Guides, plain and simply if your are seeing a "crowding" problem in your area (which I use lightly) is it possible there are 1000's of acres leased up by a guide? Well focus on the problem; limit the number of acres a guide can tie up. The only way freelance hunters would contribute to the "Access/Crowding" problem would be created by the loss of open land to hunters, forcing everybody in few areas. Which may exist in a few areas, I have never seen it and with the water levels, public land, access to private land and abundance of waterfowl it would be hard to imagine. Solutions have the State or Feds buy more land that is managed for waterfowl production and open to hunting. Improve habitat on private lands, restore drained wetlands and ask permission on posted lands.
So to end this rant, be reasonable.
My take is this is they are right, Majority of residents that duck hunt do so opening weekend and maybe a couple of times after. They were only roughly 1500 people attend the meetings you held around the state. How many resident small game license are sold a year I think I saw like 60,000. Come on that is a tiny percentage of people who even care. I would guess statewide there are about 500 resident hunters that feel there is an access/NR problem.
Ducks and Geese are Migratory; they are not your resource exclusively. I and millions of people pay for habitat, research and the enforcement of laws in your state and their flight corridors.
Access problem, please, you have the ONLY state I know of that you can walk/hunt land that's not posted. Out of the 7 years of hunting ND I have never been turned down permission to hunt, and have met some great people who are extremely friendly and down to earth. The people that complain on these sites don't do the majority of ND resident's justice. The people who complain sound like a separatist movement, pretty soon you will be planting car bombs on trucks with MN lic plates. Take a look at the posts from "outside the box" and tell me what it sounds like. How many thousands of acres are in WPA? (Which I and millions of hunters and non-hunters paid for) How many thousands of acres are available to hunters if you ask? With the exception of those 500 hardcore duck hunters (Duck hunt 10 days or more) most resident's road hunt, or hunting sloughs just off the road.
ND already has limits. NR can hunt ducks for only two weeks, at a cost of $100 bucks. Show me a state besides SD that limits NR even more. Yeah its great hunting but I know of other states like Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and a country to the north that have comparable hunting. Yes, ND residents fishing in MN, owning lake cabins in MN, hunting elk in MT, trophy whitetails in Sask or WI, Salmon fishing in Alaska buying a time share in FL or taking a vacation to the Bahamans, are all good analogies to the problem you think you have. They all have residents that feel privileged on where they live and their lifestyle. Remember that next time you hunt, fish or take a vacation out of the state
Limiting absentee landowners? Would never hold up in court.
Now with that being said what are the issues that I see and solutions. First the resources if ducks are losing in the battle, then take some action. Not just hearsay either, there needs some type of study to determine the problem. Second Guides, plain and simply if your are seeing a "crowding" problem in your area (which I use lightly) is it possible there are 1000's of acres leased up by a guide? Well focus on the problem; limit the number of acres a guide can tie up. The only way freelance hunters would contribute to the "Access/Crowding" problem would be created by the loss of open land to hunters, forcing everybody in few areas. Which may exist in a few areas, I have never seen it and with the water levels, public land, access to private land and abundance of waterfowl it would be hard to imagine. Solutions have the State or Feds buy more land that is managed for waterfowl production and open to hunting. Improve habitat on private lands, restore drained wetlands and ask permission on posted lands.
So to end this rant, be reasonable.
