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

 

[Fritz the Cat]

Post 3 in the video from the GNF advisory board meeting someone made the claim resident duck hunters are quitting because of pressure and non-residents. GNF responded South Dakota has a cap and their resident hunters are declining as fast as ours. So, the numbers do not bear that out.

It's in the video.

 

[Kurtr]

Post 3 in the video from the GNF advisory board meeting someone made the claim resident duck hunters are quitting because of pressure and non-residents. GNF responded South Dakota has a cap and their resident hunters are declining as fast as ours. So, the numbers do not bear that out.

It's in the video.

My weekend spent over east here I would beg to differ . When I was growing up in Watertown I never seen that many locals out scouting. I would say that the drop is in the center of the state Pierre used to have a lot of geese but with the west shift of the lessers not much action down there . That area is the reason the cap got put in place to start. Some non residents came in and leased land from out of under locals ( my grandfather) and they got it put in place to keep that from happening.

 

[Trip McNeely]

Post 3 in the video from the GNF advisory board meeting someone made the claim resident duck hunters are quitting because of pressure and non-residents. GNF responded South Dakota has a cap and their resident hunters are declining as fast as ours. So, the numbers do not bear that out.

It's in the video.

Stats dont always tell the real story……and it is entirely possible that competition even with a cap in sd still plays a part. The migration through sd and even ND is later and more intense through a shorter window of time than years past. If there’s a cap and all the hunters hit sd during the same week maybe it feels crowded during the biggest migration weeks in sd. Im not sure if sd has time limits on their cap. ND probably has an edge in waterfowl hunting as we generally have a larger breeding population of local birds plus being further north get migration activity earlier than sd and seem to be holding birds later every year. Our season is longer so to speak and the pressure may be spread out over time more than sd….so what the gnf is suggesting isnt a fair comparison. There may be fewer hunter’s competing for less or more concentrated birds in sd which would feel a lot more like the pressure we get up here. IMO ypu cant really compare ND to SD in regards to waterfowling. It’s a different dynamic.

 

[Kurtr]

Stats dont always tell the real story……and it is entirely possible that competition even with a cap in sd still plays a part. The migration through sd and even ND is later and more intense through a shorter window of time than years past. If there’s a cap and all the hunters hit sd during the same week maybe it feels crowded during the biggest migration weeks in sd. Im not sure if sd has time limits on their cap. ND probably has an edge in waterfowl hunting as we generally have a larger breeding population of local birds plus being further north get migration activity earlier than sd and seem to be holding birds later every year. Our season is longer so to speak and the pressure may be spread out over time more than sd….so what the gnf is suggesting isnt a fair comparison. There may be fewer hunter’s competing for less or more concentrated birds in sd which would feel a lot more like the pressure we get up here. IMO ypu cant really compare ND to SD in regards to waterfowling. It’s a different dynamic.

10 days for the state wide tag which there are 3950 Then 3 days and there are 2100. There are a few other for a total of 6405. Compared to 70000 pheasant license. It’s a fair trade I think they can have the chickens I get to hunt waterfowl. You guys need a cap it’s crazy up there. Just the amount of people that come for early goose is wild.

 

[BrockW]

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

State trust lands are funded through their own revenue, not tax payer dollars. Just like the Game and Fish, they don’t take any money from the general fund.

 

[Trip McNeely]

State trust lands are funded through their own revenue, not tax payer dollars. Just like the Game and Fish, they don’t take any money from the general fund.

Plots and other state lands….. nowhere did I say state trust lands. You don’t have any friends do you?