By Nick Simonson I’ve often wondered if I could give up hunting and just fish or give up fishing and just hunt.  I’m most often stuck with that thought as I sit peacefully in my deer stand up from a small lake and listen to the last anglers of the season drop their boats off…

By Doug Leier My neighbor taught me another new word. Locavore. I wasn’t sure if it was in Websters or if it was slang. But the meaning hit home. There’s a growing interest in fishing, hunting or even planting food on your own. Securing it “locally.” Maybe it was grown in your own garden or…

By Mike Peluso I know our open water days are limited. The long-range forecast does have a couple nice days in there, but it’s definitely turning colder and my brain is slowly shifting to the hard water season. The walleyes are still biting on the Missouri River however. It seems the fish are really mixed…

By Nick Simonson There couldn’t be a harder choice Hunting this time of year To choose between my favorite patterns To chase pheasants, ducks or deer To pick from all the options Of blaze orange and camo Is about as easy as telling you My favorite guns and ammo There’s shadowgrass for swamp hunts And…

By Nick Simonson There is nothing more surprising on an upland hunt than to wander into a draw or to the edge of a stretch of grass and watch a covey of grouse or a group of pheasants rise en masse, wings whirring over their warning calls issued in the moment of excitement.  Likewise, there…

By Mike Peluso Into the start of November, fishing remains good to decent on the Missouri River near Bismarck. Walleyes are slowly making it closer to Bismarck. Remember with the low water, it’s river all the way down past Beaver Bay now. This really changes the game. Fish of all sizes and variety are being…

By Nick Simonson North Dakota’s deer hunters breathed a collective sigh of relief last week, much of which could be seen in the air outdoors as temperatures dropped down into the lower teens and even the single digits in some portions of the state. The first hard frost of the fall coming with those temperatures…

By Nick Simonson Driving back from a buddy’s backyard range, I glanced at the dash thermometer of my truck. The digital readout displayed the late afternoon high of 61 degrees.  In the calm conditions which were ideal for our final sight in of the season, it was almost hot, especially in comparison to the cold…

NDG&F Release Following Wednesday’s announcement from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources of a suspected case of chronic wasting disease in a wild deer southwest of Climax, Minn., the state Game and Fish Department is increasing its Hunter-Harvested Surveillance efforts to include Unit 2B in eastern North Dakota. Hunters in deer gun Unit 2B are…

By Nick Simonson The sound of a grunting buck can send a shiver of anticipation up any hunter’s spine.  What was a calm sit in a tree stand can quickly become an adrenaline rush of epic proportions.  Whether it’s a low tending vocalization to a nearby doe, or something more aggressive toward another buck (whether…

By Nick Simonson When it comes to the outdoors, I’m not a huge traveler.  I find contentment and more importantly, excitement, close to home with the opportunities I have nearby.  Whether that’s plying the breaklines for walleyes, casting to rising trout on a stocked lake, or working public parcels with my dog for pheasants, much…

By Hannah Hayes There are several components of the hunt I value more than a bird in the bag. As a bird dog fanatic, there’s nothing I enjoy more than watching my dog work. As someone who values connections with others, the conversations both afield and at the tailgate are ones I cherish most. As…

By Nick Simonson For an uplander, there’s nothing more reassuring than a trusted shotgun.  For me, it remains a super light 20 gauge that shoulders easily, swings smoothly, and more often than not, connects with my target.  The familiar crook between trigger guard and checkered wood grip where my hand tenses up as a bird…

NDG&F Release Every year the North Dakota Game and Fish Department receives questions from deer hunters who want to clarify rules and regulations. Some common questions are listed below. Hunters with further questions are encouraged to visit the Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov., or call 701-328-6300, from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. weekdays. I have…

By Mike Peluso I commented earlier this week about the condition of the fish on the Missouri River and the fish are definitely on the skinny side. The good news is the water temperatures are falling and these fish should begin to feed heavily. We finally experienced our first hard frost of the fall. This…

By Doug Leier While some hunters have been in the field enjoying dove, waterfowl and upland game hunting opportunities, there’s many hunters who just hunt deer and the new electronic posting regulations may not be understood. It’s difficult to address each question and scenario so I suggest taking time to understand the regulations and reading…

By Nick Simonson The Bismarck State College (BSC) Mystics Clay Dusters trapshooting squad put on a dominant performance at the Minnesota Collegiate Athletic Conference (MCAC) 2021 Clay Target Championship on Oct. 19 in Alexandria, Minn., with sophomore Ayden Kautzman posting a perfect 100 to lead the team to its first championship and earn him the…

By John Bradley On a recent road trip back from Denver, after exhausting all my podcast downloads and Spotify playlists, boredom struck, and in desperation to stay awake, I decided to count roadkill. I’ve always called out game when driving, pointing out deer, antelope, or pheasants, while often annoying my passengers, but never roadkill. This…

By Nick Simonson I’ve come to despise plastic. I guess not all plastic, just the plastic that gets in the way of enjoying the outdoors and the aesthetics of being in places where plastic shouldn’t be. Like all things in this life, it’s a harsh duality and a battle of rationalization along a fine line…

By Mike Peluso It’s been a rough week weather wise. I did fish one day on Sakakawea and one day on the Missouri River near Bismarck. I’ll start with Lake Sakakawea out of Indian Hills Resort. We had a ton of wind and our first cold snap of the season. We marked a ton of…

By Nick Simonson Autumn is often a brief part of the circle of seasons in the upper Midwest, but for those that piggyback their ice fishing or angling success on the hunting adventures that come with it, it may be the most important portion of the year. The wide and varied game bag afforded hunters…

By Nick Simonson When it comes to hunting, where you find habitat, you find your quarry.  While fields of corn and soybeans will draw pheasants, deer and waterfowl to their edges to feed, the other 95 percent of their lives are spent loafing, staying warm, remaining hidden and raising their young in places kept away…

By Mike Peluso So the calendar is saying fall. The temperatures lately are saying otherwise. Unfortunately, this is slowing the start of the fall river bite somewhat. The fish are biting at times and other times they are not. The one thing I’ve noticed is the fish are feeding in short spurts with right before…

By Doug Leier One of the key points in explaining many North Dakota Game and Fish Department numbers is understanding the index is not a census. Not every pheasant, deer or grouse in the entire state is counted. Think of how time-consuming, expensive and impossible this would be. Instead, routes are determined and surveyed each…

By Nick Simonson That favorite day of many outdoorsmen is fast approaching – pheasant opener.   With head bowed, eyes skyward (is that physically possible?) and tongue firmly in cheek, we once again pray that divine intervention outweighs Murphy’s Law this autumn with the following blessing: Heavenly God, to whom I pray,provide me birds on opening…

By Nick Simonson Sportsmen are rarely dissuaded by the weather, unless it’s life-threateningly cold, or hot to the point of taxing the well-being of a field dog, adventures in the uplands continue through all sorts of conditions.  Wind, snow and even rain impact how pheasants relate to their habitat and where they seek shelter, and…

By Nick Simonson They say summer moves fast, and it’s true, but by far, fall goes by the quickest of all the seasons; especially for those of us of a hunting mindset, and specifically in this particular autumn we’re experiencing.  It always feels as if the next three months will be subject to the wills…

By Doug Leier Jeb Williams began as the director of North Dakota Game and Fish late summer and it’s been a busy start to his tenure. While he’s been a coworker for more than 20 years, here’s a conversation to help us all get to know Jeb a little bit better. What is your wildlife…

By Nick Simonson Along with all the hunting seasons that come with it, fall also provides a chance to stalk a couple types of massive beasts long ago introduced to the great plains.  But they don’t possess paws with which to corral their prey, or hooves with which to make a quick escape, rather these…

By Nick Simonson This weekend’s youth pheasant season allows young hunters their first crack at upland success.  As it requires adult hunters to be with them in the field and not carrying a shotgun, there’s no second guessing who gets the shot at a rising rooster during this special two-day stretch. Having participated in the…