SIMPLY SEPTEMBER. These are the days that define fall. Sorry this one ended up on a Monday! Cool nights, warm days and great conditions for both hunting and fishing adventures are on tap for today, so sneak out there if you can. If you can’t, we talk about what you can be doing on upcoming…
Author: dakotaedgeoutdoors
Antlerless Deer Firearm Tags Remain
NDG&F Press Release More than 970 antlerless whitetail deer gun licenses are still available in three units after the North Dakota Game and Fish Department recently completed its second lottery drawing. Individual results are available online at the Game and Fish website, gf.nd.gov. Whitetail doe licenses remaining in units 3F1 (314 licenses), 3F2 (477 licenses) and 4F…
Daily Edge for Sun. Sep. 17
READY, SET, PULL! The fall ND CTL trap league season gets underway today as over 200 student-athletes will participate in the fast-paced six-week session of autumn clay shooting competition. We talk about some of the best online destinations for trap and shooting sports in today’s Three Things. (Featured Photo: Bust ‘Em! More than 200 kids…
Fall CTL Season Starts Sep. 17
By Nick Simonson As the USA Clay Target League (USA CTL) expands across the country, new opportunities open for participants to represent their schools and compete against other kids, and while it is best known for its spring season, which last year had over 17,000 participants in 24 states, including 900 in North Dakota, growing…
Daily Edge for Sat. Sep. 16
PATTERNING. These quick swipes of cool air will break those bucks’ summer patterns right up! Today and yesterday certainly signal a shift toward fall, and deer will notice as well. Watch for movement tonight around sunset, and throughout the early morning tomorrow as deer come out of their bunkers to forage in the relative calm,…
Hunters & Anglers Contributions to Conservation
By Doug Leier, NDG&F Dept. For more than four decades, Americans have recognized the fourth Saturday in September as National Hunting and Fishing Day. This year that falls on Sept. 23, and Governor Doug Burgum has signed a proclamation officially recognizing that event in North Dakota as well. The national focus this year is on…
Waterfowlers Warned of ANS
NDG&F Dept. Press Release Waterfowl hunters are reminded to do their part in preventing the spread of aquatic nuisance species into or within North Dakota. Waterfowl hunters must remove plants and plant fragments from decoys, strings and anchors; remove plants seeds and plant fragments from waders and other equipment before leaving hunting areas; remove all…
Daily Edge for Fri. Sep. 15
SWAMPY START! It’ll be a wet first day of the ND Youth Deer Season by noon when it kicks off today, but this shift in conditions might get things moving for the ND Youth Waterfowl Weekend on Saturday and Sunday. No matter the weather, make sure to take a kid into the outdoors this fall…
Our Outdoors: How We Help Habitat Now
By Nick Simonson Numbers are down across the board for pheasants, sharp-tailed grouse and Hungarian partridge in the upper Midwest. In states like North Dakota and Montana, it was the persistent drought this summer which hurt hatching chicks straight out of the egg. In Minnesota, a rainy spring in the state’s pheasant belt prevented a…
Daily Edge for Thu. Sep. 14
SMOKE ON THE WATER. Anyone who spent any time outdoors yesterday could smell, taste and at times see the smoke from fires burning north and west of North Dakota. A shift in the wind over the next couple of days – and higher velocity – should move some of that smoke out of the area. …
Daily Edge for Wed. Sep. 13
LAST CALL. Today will be the last taste of summer, at least for a while, as temperatures return to more seasonal highs in the low 70s and upper 60s tomorrow. Things cool off behind a cold front tonight, and a slight chance of rain rolls in for the end of the work week and Saturday….
National Hunting & Fishing Day is Sep. 23
NDG&F Press Release North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum has proclaimed Saturday, Sept. 23 as National Hunting and Fishing Day in North Dakota. The North Dakota designation coincides with the annual National Hunting and Fishing Day, celebrated on the fourth Saturday of every September, as an effort to spotlight the conservation accomplishments of hunters and anglers nationwide. Gov….
Daily Edge for Tue. Sep. 12
THINK POSITIVE. We know, we know, the headlines aren’t pretty: hurricanes, earthquakes, and pheasant numbers down over 60 percent. But think positively, there’s more deer tags than in recent memory, fishing this summer has been fantastic, and we’re getting closer to fall! We cover that topic and more in today’s Three Things. (Featured Photo: A…
Dakota Uplander: Behind the Pheasant Brood Count Numbers
By Nick Simonson Is now the time to panic? If you were privy to the numbers behind the recent pheasant brood count survey press release and took a Statistics 101 course in high school or college, you might say yes, as tallies dipped to 10-year lows and approached recent records. This year, total roadside count…
Pheasant Numbers Hit 10-Year Low
NDG&F Press Release North Dakota’s roadside pheasant survey conducted in late July and August indicates total birds and number of broods are down statewide from 2016. R.J. Gross, upland game management biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said the survey shows total pheasants observed per 100 miles are down 61 percent from…
Daily Edge for Mon. Sep. 11
FLUTTER BACK. A taste of mid-summer is brewing after today’s shift in the wind, and we put it all on paper for you in today’s Three Things. (Featured Photo: A painted lady butterfly rests on a dogwood leaf. The butterflies are frequently seen this time of year in North Dakota, and even more so this…
Daily Edge for Sun. Sep. 10
FALL HIGHLIGHTS. Red sunsets, pink horizons, yellow and orange leaves. It’s tough to miss the colors of fall which are cropping up all around us. We talk more about fall hunting seasons, forecasts for the rest of the year and where to find fish in today’s Three Things. DAILY CONDITIONS: WEATHER (Bismarck Forecast): Today: Sun…
Youth Deer Season Starts Sep. 15
NDG&F Dept. Release Friday, Sept. 15 at noon signals the start of a nine-and-a-half-day deer hunting season for youth ages 12-15. Licensed residents ages 11, 12 and 13, and 10-year-olds who turn age 11 in 2017, are allowed to hunt statewide, but only for antlerless white-tailed deer. Resident deer gun hunters age 14 or 15,…
Daily Edge for Sat. Sep. 9
AREN’T YOU GLAD YOU LIVE UP HERE? Sure, it’s a little dry – but massive wildfires and storms the size of Texas don’t disrupt your fishing or hunting adventures. We track the conditions that remind us – “hey, six months of winter isn’t that bad” – in today’s Three Things. (Featured Photo: An angler works…
ND Waterfowl Preview
By Doug Leier, NDG&F Dept. The good news for North Dakota hunters is that the 2017 waterfowl season is similar to last year as far as regulations and bag limits. Continental duck numbers are about the same as last year as well, and goose populations that frequent North Dakota remain high. There is, however, a…
Daily Edge for Fri. Sep. 8
PUP IS UP. It’s an extended summer for us this weekend as temps soar into the mid-80s and a warm stretch settles in. It may be a bit hot for your grouse and partridge opener, so spend some time on the water, or take your pup out for a few more training exercises before the…
Our Outdoors: Sense of the Hunt
By Nick Simonson Amid on-again-off-again training for an upcoming half marathon (which will be run at a leisurely pace this year, I can assure you) I found myself headed to the stand in the white glow of my LED headlamp for the opening of North Dakota’s deer archery season. Stiffness in my legs and left…
Daily Edge for Thu. Sep. 7
NORTHERN COMFORT. Our fall-like feelings will fade as temperatures for the weekend build into the 90s through Tuesday. So take it easy on those grouse dogs this weekend for the big opener! We look north in today’s Three Things and celebrate yet another great early September day which will facilitate good hunting and fishing. (Featured…
Daily Edge for Wed. Sep. 6
HEN’S TEETH. No seriously, you can trust us as we dole out some fun pheasant hen facts that aren’t hogwash in today’s Three Things. You know that saying, that today’s a gift, that’s why they call it the “present?” Well it is – especially today – so get out there and enjoy a perfect sampling…
Dakota Uplander: Grouse & Partridge Preview
By Nick Simonson While the drought experienced this summer by much of North Dakota has had an obvious impact on upland bird recruitment, hunters will still find opportunities this weekend and throughout the autumn to pursue sharp-tailed grouse and Hungarian partridge as the seasons open on Saturday, and for these predictable birds, identifying those places…
Daily Edge for Tue. Sep. 5
THE UNOFFICIAL START OF FALL! If summer’s end is unofficially Labor Day, then it’s also the start of fall. So much hunting to do, and so little time. We lay out the map for success and talk about other random fun stuff, while getting a tad nerdy and science-fictiony in today’s Three Things. (Featured Photo:…
Daily Edge for Mon. Sep. 4
I FEEL A CHANGE. Back to a better day? Cool temperatures settle in on Sunday’s shift in the wind which came a bit later in the day than expected, and it will start to feel like fall over the next couple of days. Winds die off early in the week, making time on stand a…
Hunters Asked to Submit Wing Envelopes
NDG&F Press Release The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is once again asking grouse hunters for help with future bird management by simply collecting some feathers from harvested birds and sending in wing envelopes this fall. Wing data allows biologists to monitor production, reconcile bird counts and get a better understanding of the harvest…
Daily Edge for Sun. Sep. 3
SUMMER FALLING. One more warm day today, before a cooler trend sweeps over the region. Winds will shift and rise around midday, so get your fishing or hunting in this morning and save the beach time for the afternoon with highs one more (last?) time in the 90s. We dip back into the old bag…
Landowners Seek Doe Hunters
NDG&F Press Release The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is currently working with landowners in eight hunting units across the state who would like to host hunters with antlerless deer licenses in 2017. Participating landowners are located in hunting units 2I, 2J2, 2K2, 3A4, 3B3, 3D2, 3F2 and 4E. The program is not intended…
