Habitat Hunting Access Summit

[zoops]

Some of these Podunk little dying towns should be pretty thankful come hunting season.
Out west here I have a pretty good buddy that owns and his friend runs a rather large pheasant operation, they make as much doing that as the farm income darn near.
The out of state sportsman are supporting the local gas stations, bars, restaurants, etc.
They hire guides, a couple of house keepers for the lodges, cooks, etc. Its not all negative.

Therein lies the reason I think this is a long shot of going anywhere.

It's not all negative, but it's not good that almost everyone I know has more or less quit waterfowl hunting due to competition and lack access among other things.

 

[Trip McNeely]

The little town of Regent has places that are only open during the pheasant season, without it they would be closed forever.
Yes it stinks that the locals cannot support it on their own.
Even here in Dickinson, we have lost a lot of local business, because the locals go to Bismarck to shop, Bismarck people go to Fargo, Fagro goes to the Cities, Those queers go to Chicago, Chicago goes to New York....

Its like selling your car, but only letting the neighbors look at it and offer you half what you can get for it, because fuck them fellas from down the street.

I understand what you are saying, most of us do but the little towns drying up won’t be saved by out of state hunters. It’s a drop in the ocean on the larger scale of things. Pimping out our resources at the cost of quality of life for those that live here as well as the farmers and landowners. I’d rather see incentives for business and growth for small communities than a free for all money grab during hunting season. We can support these communities internally and have better control over the shit show from sept-dec. when I travel instate to hunt I avoid anywhere I know is crawling with OOS hunters. I don’t want to be around a bunch of drunk vacationers. How do we know a cap on the madness won’t intice NDans from travelling and spending in state? How do we know those dollars these businesses are not wanting to give up won’t be replaced with a dad and his kids from say Bismarck or fargo or minot….. i used to travel a lot in state to hunt snow geese. Oakes, ellendale, Ashley, westhope, garrrison, Harvey, linton, strasburg, carrington…..These are a small Percentage of the places I’d stay in the past. Ive quit doing it the last 5-10 years because it’s a joke anymore. the only ones who would not support a cap of any kind are a small percentage of our population. We can’t govern for the benefit of a few.

 

[johnr]

I always top off my pickup, and buy some seeds, or a snack when I am rolling through one of the many little towns I go to weekly. Not that that will keep them open, but I like to be seen spending in the same little areas I work and play.

 

[Trip McNeely]

something else I’d like to point out that gets overlooked or not discussed is a cap or reduction in NR numbers would decrease pressure on plots and other state lands. These are state Tax payer funded acres. Right now they get absolutely beaten to a pulp. A reduction in NRs beating the shit out of it all week would make some of these acres and plots a little better for the duration of the season. NDans would be less inclined to bitch about the plots or some public acres of there was actually a chance for game to use it instead of being beaten to shit week after week. I have no idea why or how the words got itilisized