Here we go....

[MarbleEyez]

Of course not, there will always be something else.

NDGF couldn’t just decided to do this. This would take ND legislators, mostly retired farmers or farmer adjacent, to enact the fee increase. The plots program already has CRP incentives, as well as native and tame grass plantings and wetland reserve incentives. What habitat really needs is willing landowners. Tough task when that’s how they make their living but that’s where we’re at. Marginal land has become profitable.

As I stated, it would involve some major things. But if done in the right way, it would have a lot of support. The ND Game & Fish Plots program is a bit of a joke in itself. You can put a stubble field into the plots program and get paid $2/ac and you can have the most desired land along the heart river and it pays $5/ac.

It wouldn't be easy, but it would be worth doing to preserve the traditions of hunting and the outdoors in the State of ND. Everyone daydreams about the "glory days" 20+ years ago, and the reasons for it was the amount of CRP and habitat in the state.

 

[bravo]

As I stated, it would involve some major things. But if done in the right way, it would have a lot of support. The ND Game & Fish Plots program is a bit of a joke in itself. You can put a stubble field into the plots program and get paid $2/ac and you can have the most desired land along the heart river and it pays $5/ac.

It wouldn't be easy, but it would be worth doing to preserve the traditions of hunting and the outdoors in the State of ND. Everyone daydreams about the "glory days" 20+ years ago, and the reasons for it was the amount of CRP and habitat in the state.

Right on. My point was mainly you have to convince a lot of ag-centric minds to take land out of production, support more wildlife, and provide more funding to the game & fish. Tall order indeed.

 

[1lessdog]

Exactly. The state could increase the non-resident license costs and they could fund their own "CRP" type of funding program and piggy back off of the USDA CRP program and it would make things much more enticing to get land back enrolled. But that would take a couple major things. First one being a government employee going above and beyond, and also trying to create something that is going to have a few "obstacles" to jump.

The CRP program needs to come back in order to rebound the wildlife numbers. Plain and simple. In order to do that the price per acre for the program needs to be realistic to todays prices. No one is going to put acres into a CRP contract that pays $24/ac if they can rent it out and get $60/ac.

I knew a landowner that was get 54.00 a acre for CRP. The Huderittes came in and offered him 120.00 cash rent and all 5 quarters went back into production. That is a no brainer there.

 

[Jiffy]

Nah! They don’t have any money.

 

[ndlongshot]

Pay appropriately and the acres will go back to grass. Coming up with the $$$ is the issue. Double the NR prices, even if half the people come (which IS A WIN) they break even. Its likely they see very little decrease in the amount of people willing to pay. Also use an escalator for more hunting time. If you want to hunt more than the two weeks allowed for waterfowl, re-up your license but it doubles or triples again.

 

[MarbleEyez]

Nah! They don’t have any money.

Well duh!! They're all "non-profits".............

Pay appropriately and the acres will go back to grass. Coming up with the $$$ is the issue. Double the NR prices, even if half the people come (which IS A WIN) they break even. Its likely they see very little decrease in the amount of people willing to pay. Also use an escalator for more hunting time. If you want to hunt more than the two weeks allowed for waterfowl, re-up your license but it doubles or triples again.

Bingo. The price of the license is a non-issue for the non-residents flooding to the state to enjoy in our states "resources". And I don't want to see them all go away either. A lot of small towns are highly supported by the non-residents that come in and enjoy what they have to offer! Restaurants, bars, motels, etc.

 

[1lessdog]

The one thing I don't understand is why nonresident come to N.D. and waterfowl hunt. Why not go to Saskatchewan and have some of the best waterfowl hunting in the world. If I'm going to take a week off work. I would drive N.W. in to Saskatchewan till I found birds. Last year the Battlefords area had more Geese then I have ever seen. And that was the first week of October. There were birds everywhere and everyone let's you hunt. And Motel rooms are like 60.00 a night American money. It's a little bit of a hassle getting thru the border with guns. But for the most part it takes about 30 mins.


If I was to go up there this fall. I would leave about the 10th of October and spend 7 days hunting. I would drive N.W. from Portal N.D. till I found birds. And you would find huntable number within 250 miles.