By Nick Simonson Another cast, another strike, another hookset met with the sensation of nothing on the other end. The line wound haphazardly on the spool of my reel without the weight of the lure to keep some tension on the retrieve. It wasn’t the first time I had been bitten off in the swirling…
Author: dakotaedgeoutdoors
Dakota Edge Outdoors celebrates the joy of hunting and fishing while promoting conservation and stewardship of natural resources, open spaces and wildlife populations through the creation of seasonal and resonant media which shares the excitement of the outdoors in the upper Midwest.
Our Outdoors: Unnatural
By Nick Simonson The first few spotted seatrout I picked off of the grassy break were respectable for the Don Pedro Island area along the Intracoastal Waterway of Southwest Florida. At an inch or two under the minimum limit for keeper-sized speckles, these fish provided fast action as the tide rose onto the large flat…
ND Sportsmen Find Busy Spring
By Doug Leier, NDG&F Dept. Over the past six weeks or so, North Dakota has had a lot going on that relates to hunting, fishing, trapping and conservation that isn’t always tied in directly with fishing on frozen water or hunting the first flocks spring snow geese in frozen fields. Since it’s a legislative year,…
Report Bald Eagle Nests
NDG&F Press Release The State Game and Fish Department is asking for help in locating bald eagle nests in North Dakota. Game and Fish conservation biologist Sandra Johnson said the department is looking for locations of nests with eagles present, not individual eagle sightings. Eagles are actively incubating eggs in March and April, and it’s…
Our Outdoors: Gopher It
By Nick Simonson While my own speed has never been hare-like, or cat-like or really like any fast animal in the natural world, I felt speedy as I made the turn on my first morning run of vacation with a pace of 7:40, a full 20 seconds faster than my usual average. I’d give some…
NDG&F is Encouraging Tomorrow’s Hunters with Grant Program
By Doug Leier, NDG&F Dept. I grew up in an era in North Dakota when special seasons for young hunters did not yet exist. Looking back, I surely would have enjoyed the extra days afield the special youth deer, waterfowl and pheasant seasons now offer. But I was fortunate to have spent a lot of…
New ND Law Bumps Pheasant Opener Up
NDG&F Press Release A new law passed by the North Dakota Legislature will result in the State Game and Fish Department to propose Oct. 7 as opening day of the 2017 pheasant hunting season, one week earlier than what the department earlier announced. Senate Bill 2318, signed into law March 14, requires North Dakota’s pheasant…
Our Outdoors: Fish Formula
By Nick Simonson Catch and release angling isn’t anything new, in fact the conservation tool has been around long enough to have its own acronym of C&R, which is universally known in fishing circles. At the outset, providing the length or maybe the length and girth of that monster fish of the day wasn’t…
New Licenses Required Apr. 1
NDG&F Dept. Press Release North Dakota anglers, spring light goose hunters and trappers are reminded that new licenses for the 2017-18 season are required starting April 1. Anglers and hunters can purchase new licenses beginning March 15 at the North Dakota Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov, and at more than 140 vendor locations throughout…
Our Outdoors: Set the Hook
By Nick Simonson A snap of the wrist, a drop and a sweep, an upward lift with a downward pull; however you set the hook, the energy and excitement that comes from connecting with a fish is half of the fun of angling. Whether the fish rockets up to the surface or thunders in…
A Moose for Dad
By Doug Leier, NDG&F Dept. My dad is proof of a couple different truths held when it comes to big game hunting in North Dakota. You don’t get drawn for a license if you don’t apply, and if you do apply, make sure you are prepared for the hunt in all aspects. Pretty fundamental. In…
Our Outdoors: Banquet Season
By Nick Simonson This year, my chapter of Pheasants Forever eclipsed the $7 Million mark in habitat acquisitions and restoration projects. Through funds leveraged through a state grant program, partnerships with the state and national PF organizations along with the much-appreciated assistance of nearby PF chapters and local conservation clubs, our alliances have opened nearly…
Our Outdoors: The Shift is On
By Nick Simonson The flock rose and fell like a slow pulse, banking and turning against the southerly gusts. They made the sky look like static on an old black and white TV screen long after the daily programming had stopped and the national anthem signaled the end of the broadcast day. The growing crowd…
Our Outdoors: Electronic Edges at Midseason
By Nick Simonson The rush of first ice is in the rear view mirror, and that stretch of more challenging mid-winter fishing is underway. While February marks the traditional seasonal slowdown in on-ice action in the upper Midwest, the midseason doldrums rarely prevent anglers from making their way out after fish. Heightened technology…
Our Outdoors: The League
By Nick Simonson Case upon case of 12 gauge shells piled up in the safe room at the trap club as a line of volunteers – some of them fellow coaches, some parents and some shooters – daisy-chained the 100 brown boxes of ammo through the snow to their resting place along the wall. While…
Our Outdoors: Put a Bead On It
By Nick Simonson When it comes to fast moving water, or big fish lurking below the school, nothing gets an angler down to business like the addition of a heavy, flashy bead at the front of a fly. Whether it is a rapidly-flowing stream harboring trout in deeper pockets or tucked into the…
Our Outdoors: A Perfect Reminder
By Nick Simonson We were five-for-seven heading into the homeward turn of a slough on a year end pheasant hunt. Seemingly every rooster that got up in shooting range went down in shooting range. The couple that escaped did so by the very fibers of their long tailfeathers which waggled in the breeze after some…
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