They did that at the start of the year. I will be shooting roosters as we have a bunch around
Too many pheasants in SD or what?
They picked the right year, weather-wise. G/O operations are surely loving it.
Kurt,did they increase the daily bag limit to 4 birds? thought I read that?
roosters don’t really affect population so killing some more is better for the hens for less competition in the winter
the couple I help and a few other are done for the year most have switched to ice fishing or just taking some time off.
they proposed that but it didn’t pass.
another side note wolf season is now open here so if you see one blast it just have to report it in 48 hours of shooting
wolves ? must be in the hills eh? I rarely get past chamberlain,lots of yotes along the river but wolves? interesting.
The whoring out of pheasant hunting in SD was a notable downside of 2020 in the outdoors.
The GFP dropped the summer brood survey - a mere $80,000 endeavor - because the bird numbers have been off the last several years due to declining habitat. They felt that the publication of the lower numbers versus previous seasons was discouraging hunters from going to SD. Instead, they hired a $300,000-plus marketing firm to promote pheasant hunting in the state, to talk up how great it is, while denying hunters the information they like and sometimes need for an outing, and really, what an agency that is supposed to be managing wild game should be providing for the residents it serves.
Then, against sound science, they extended the season into January, often the coldest and most brutal month in the upper plains. And while, yes, the taking of late-season roosters has no impact on next fall's recruitment and hunting, the stress on hens forced to flee cover over and over again in the colder conditions can impact their health in winter, which can impact next spring's hatch and next fall's recruitment. They got lucky with this banana belt winter we're having, but it won't always be that way.
It's been disappointing to see the resource managed more as an aspect of tourism and pay-to-play, and less as an aspect of conservation and the North American hunting model. It sets a dangerous precedent for surrounding states, and in my conversations with NDG&F agents, there isn't any plans to follow suit, which is the right thing. I am glad the G&F still manages predominantly on science and not on tourism dollars.
The whoring out of pheasant hunting in SD was a notable downside of 2020 in the outdoors.
The GFP dropped the summer brood survey - a mere $80,000 endeavor - because the bird numbers have been off the last several years due to declining habitat. They felt that the publication of the lower numbers versus previous seasons was discouraging hunters from going to SD. Instead, they hired a $300,000-plus marketing firm to promote pheasant hunting in the state, to talk up how great it is, while denying hunters the information they like and sometimes need for an outing, and really, what an agency that is supposed to be managing wild game should be providing for the residents it serves.
Then, against sound science, they extended the season into January, often the coldest and most brutal month in the upper plains. And while, yes, the taking of late-season roosters has no impact on next fall's recruitment and hunting, the stress on hens forced to flee cover over and over again in the colder conditions can impact their health in winter, which can impact next spring's hatch and next fall's recruitment. They got lucky with this banana belt winter we're having, but it won't always be that way.
It's been disappointing to see the resource managed more as an aspect of tourism and pay-to-play, and less as an aspect of conservation and the North American hunting model. It sets a dangerous precedent for surrounding states, and in my conversations with NDG&F agents, there isn't any plans to follow suit, which is the right thing. I am glad the G&F still manages predominantly on science and not on tourism dollars.
If all private land becomes default posted in ND, NDGF will absolutely transition from a North American Conservation model to a revenue/tourism model. There’d be no stopping it.
What’s more disappointing is sci is the only group fighting the ban of bear baiting in wy and idaho. Don’t need any more presidents set like Colorado taking away spring bear.
Calling the people leading the bait ban charge in WY and ID "scientists" is erroneous. Center for Biological Diversity. Alliance for the Wild Rockies. Western Watersheds Project. I can say, as a wildlife biologist in the private sector that often has to respond to the outlandish claims of these environmentalist groups, they are not scientists. They are not wildlife managers. They are activists that make their money by suing the federal government every GD time someone wants to do a fuel reduction, commercial thinning, delist a recovered species, improve a hiking trail in a wilderness area, the list goes on and on. So please. Don't lump real scientists in with these litigious a-holes.
The whoring out of pheasant hunting in SD was a notable downside of 2020 in the outdoors.
The GFP dropped the summer brood survey - a mere $80,000 endeavor - because the bird numbers have been off the last several years due to declining habitat. They felt that the publication of the lower numbers versus previous seasons was discouraging hunters from going to SD. Instead, they hired a $300,000-plus marketing firm to promote pheasant hunting in the state, to talk up how great it is, while denying hunters the information they like and sometimes need for an outing, and really, what an agency that is supposed to be managing wild game should be providing for the residents it serves.
Then, against sound science, they extended the season into January, often the coldest and most brutal month in the upper plains. And while, yes, the taking of late-season roosters has no impact on next fall's recruitment and hunting, the stress on hens forced to flee cover over and over again in the colder conditions can impact their health in winter, which can impact next spring's hatch and next fall's recruitment. They got lucky with this banana belt winter we're having, but it won't always be that way.
It's been disappointing to see the resource managed more as an aspect of tourism and pay-to-play, and less as an aspect of conservation and the North American hunting model. It sets a dangerous precedent for surrounding states, and in my conversations with NDG&F agents, there isn't any plans to follow suit, which is the right thing. I am glad the G&F still manages predominantly on science and not on tourism dollars.