Tag Archives: hunting

Doug Leier: 2023 NDGF Youth Deer Season

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Friday, Sept. 15 at noon Central time signals the start of a nine-and-a-half-day deer hunting season for licensed youth hunters.

Residents who are 11, 12 or 13 in 2023 can hunt statewide for antlerless white-tailed deer.

Resident deer gun hunters who are 14 or 15 in 2023 can hunt statewide with a youth season license for any deer, except for antlered mule deer in units 3B1, 3B2, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E and 4F where a special license is required.

The youth license is valid during the youth and regular deer gun seasons.

After opening day, hunting hours are a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset. Orange clothing is required for youth hunters and mentors.

Each young deer hunter must be under direct supervision of an adult. The adult is prohibited from carrying a firearm or bow while accompanying the youth hunter in the field during the youth season.

The youth deer season closes Sept. 24.

Doug Leier: Youth, Military Waterfowl Weekend

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Introduce a youngster to duck hunting during North Dakota’s two-day youth waterfowl weekend Sept. 16-17. In addition, the special veteran and active military personnel waterfowl season is set for the same weekend.

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has a Virtual Duck Hunting Mentor webpage with all the basics, including license requirements, regulations, gear recommendations and tips for finding a place to hunt.

Legally licensed resident and nonresident youth waterfowl hunters 15 and younger, and veterans and members of the Armed Forces on active duty, including members of the National Guard and Reserves on active duty (other than for training), may hunt ducks, geese, coots and mergansers statewide.

The daily bag limit and species restrictions are the same as for regular duck and goose seasons. However, the additional two blue-winged teal allowed during the first 16 days of the regular season are not allowed during this weekend.

Resident and qualifying nonresident youth waterfowl hunters must possess a general game and habitat license. 

Veterans and members of the Armed Forces must possess a resident hunting license, which includes a general game and habitat license and a small game license. 

Hunters 16 and older must also possess a federal waterfowl stamp, and youth 12 and older need to have passed a certified hunter education course.

In addition, all hunters must be Harvest Information Program certified. Hunters who do not HIP certify when they buy a North Dakota license can add it by visiting the state Game and Fish Department website at gf.nd.gov. 

2023 North Dakota Fall Turkey Deadline

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North Dakota’s fall turkey application deadline is Sept. 6.

Fall turkey hunters, including gratis applicants, can submit an online application through the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov.

Only North Dakota residents are eligible to apply. Nonresidents can apply for remaining fall turkey licenses following the first lottery.

Doug Leier: Submit Wing Envelopes

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Hunters can help in the effort to manage upland game birds in North Dakota by collecting feathers from harvested birds and sending in wing envelopes.

Birds included in the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s upland game wing survey, which has been in practice for decades, are ring-necked pheasants, sharp-tailed grouse, Hungarian partridge, turkeys and ruffed grouse.

Collecting enough pheasant samples is typically never a problem, but securing enough sharptail and partridge feathers can be.

Game and Fish biologists will take as many sharptail and partridge feathers as they can get because the more collected, the better the data. Biologists can determine if birds are male or female, age ratios, survival, nesting success, hatch dates and overall production.

What biologists learn from samples is vital to helping manage North Dakota’s upland game birds.

Instructions for submitting wing data are printed on the envelope.

Hunters interested in receiving wing envelopes should visit the Game and Fish website, gf.nd.gov.

Doug Leier: New Upland Bird Hunting Course Available

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The North Dakota Game and Fish Department was recently a partner on a Multistate Conservation Grant project to create a comprehensive online course on how to hunt upland birds.

In this free course, five stories of different upland hunters and landscapes are featured, including North Dakota. It also covers the basics of equipment, technique, safety and more with companion video modules.

The course is available on the Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever website.

Doug Leier: Hunters Be Mindful of Farmers, Ranchers

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Hunters should be respectful and cautious as farmers and ranchers are busy with field work this time of year.

North Dakota Game and Fish Department officials said hunters should pull to the side of the road or find an approach when meeting combines, grain trucks or tractors pulling equipment.

In addition, hunters should avoid parking along roadways or field approaches where vehicles could block travel by farm machinery, leave gates as you found them, collect trash and empty shells, and not clean game in the road ditch or approach.

2023 North Dakota #Deer Archery Season Opens

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North Dakota’s deer bow season opens Sept. 1 at noon and continues through Jan. 7, 2024.

Bowhunters can buy a license online at the North Dakota Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov, or at vendors linked to the department’s online licensing system. 

Hunters should plan accordingly and allow for time to receive their tag in the mail, as the tag will arrive by postal mail and not over the counter while the customer waits. This applies while purchasing a bow license at a license vendor, or at the Game and Fish Department’s main office in Bismarck. The bow tag will be mailed the next business day after the license is purchased.

All archery hunters must have a bow tag in possession before hunting.

Hunters should refer to the 2023 deer hunting guide for season information and regulations. 

Doug Leier: PLOTS Guide Online

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The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s Private Land Open To Sportsmen Guide for 2023 is now available online at the Game and Fish website, gf.nd.gov. In addition, the free printed PLOTS guides will be available in late August at most license vendors and other locations throughout the state.

The guide will feature about 800,000 PLOTS acres. Because the guide is printed in mid-August, some PLOTS tracts highlighted in the guide may have been removed from the program since the time of printing. There will also be some PLOTS tracts where the habitat and condition of the tract will have changed significantly. Conversely, Game and Fish may have added new tracts to the program after the guide went to press.

To minimize possible confusion, Game and Fish will update PLOTS map sheets weekly on its website.

The PLOTS guide features maps highlighting these walk-in areas, identified in the field by inverted triangular yellow signs, as well as other public lands.

The guides are not available by mail, so hunters will have to pick one up at a local vendor or Game and Fish offices, or print individual maps from the website.

Doug Leier: Swan Application Deadline

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The deadline to submit a swan application is Aug. 16.

Applicants must submit an online application through the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov. 

North Dakota residents and nonresidents are eligible to apply. The resident swan license is $10, while the nonresident fee is $30. 

Doug Leier: Concurrent Season Deer Licenses

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Hunters can purchase additional, concurrent season deer licenses Aug. 16 at 8 a.m. Central time on the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov. There is no limit on the number of concurrent season licenses a hunter can purchase.

Concurrent season licenses can be used during the archery season with a bow; deer gun season with a bow, rifle or muzzleloader; or during the muzzleloader season with a muzzleloader. However, youth under 14 (at the end of the calendar year) will be issued a concurrent season license for archery only.

Hunters with concurrent season licenses are restricted to the type of antlerless deer printed on the license and must stay in the unit in which the license is assigned.