By Doug Leier One of the most important aspects of drawing a North Dakota regular season lottery license is applying by the deadline. Seems simple enough, right? Our licensing folks could certainly entertain you with the many applications that come in the final 24-48 hours. Waiting until the last minute doesn’t improve the odds of…

By Jarrod Fredericks Angling for all species in northeastern South Dakota has been ramping up as conditions stabilize and temperatures warm.  Water temperatures are nearing the 60 degree mark and we are seeing the walleyes firing up.  Currently most lakes have bass and crappies in the shallows for spawn. Trolling crankbaits a bit deeper has…

By Mike Peluso Walleye fishing on the Missouri River has definitely improved since Wednesday of last week. The water in the river is settling back down, it’s clearing up, and the fish are responding. I’m almost done on the river here near Bismarck for the spring. A few more trips and I will be headed…

By John Bradley The warning signs are there for America’s wildlife and if you listen close, you can hear the alarm bells ringing. Across the nation, over a third of wildlife species are at a heightened risk of extinction. Here in North Dakota, the Game & Fish Department (NDG&F) has identified 115 species in need…

By Nick Simonson In good springs and bad, snowy ones and warm ones, no matter how the kids come out of the final day of competition in the USA High School Clay Target League’s regular season, it’s the four weeks in between today’s end of the often chilly, windy, and trying eight weeks that make…

By Doug Leier The 38 game wardens in North Dakota come from a variety of backgrounds and interests but each bring to the Game and Fish Department a special skill, talent and ability. Spending time at the Department’s booth at the Sportsman Show this winter I enjoyed the conversations with hunters, anglers, kids and those…

By Mike Peluso Boom goes the dynamite if you are looking for action! Early this spring I was questioning if we had a population of smaller fish. Well, I’m here to tell you we do! Unfortunately, I fear these are older fish finding very little to eat and not growing much. The bigger fish in…

By Nick Simonson Recharged prairie potholes across North Dakota welcomed returning waterfowl to the state, following a challenging 2021, which saw the single largest percentage drop in prairie wetlands within the state’s borders in the 74-year history of the annual survey conducted by the North Dakota Game & Fish Department.  After significant snow events in…

By Nick Simonson With the drought of 2021 in the rearview mirror for the Red River valley of eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota, following significant spring snows and ample April rains, the challenging conditions which limited angling opportunities for the flow’s large catfish late last summer and into fall are also in the past. …

By Nick Simonson It’s been a long mix of chilly winter and underwhelming spring.  Cold temperatures, snow, rain and general nastiness extending into May have built up a longing for the warmth of the later stretch of the season and the start of summer, and maybe with recent changes in the pattern, just possibly, that…

By Doug Leier The fishing opener for North Dakota was technically April 1. No fooling. Anglers fishing in North Dakota needed a new fishing license April 1, 2022 as the previous license expired March 31. It’s been that way for almost 30 years. The harvest of big fish in spring before walleye or northern pike…

By Mike Peluso It is hard to believe the Big Muddy walleye tournament has come and gone already on the Missouri River this spring, but that’s probably because we never really had a spring. Lots of major weather events definitely got in the way. I feel good about how things played out. Even though I…

By Nick Simonson As spring finally settles in across the region, rooster pheasants are staking out their claim and managing their harem of hens in an annual ritual that fills the early morning air with the raspy call of competing cocks.  From the edges of sloughs, along budding shelterbelts, and into the beige grasses of…

NDG&F Release North Dakota’s 2022 deer season is set, with 64,200 licenses available to hunters, down 8,000 from last year. In total, any-antlered licenses decreased by 150 from last year, any-antlerless by 350, antlered whitetail by 4,150, and antlerless whitetail by 3,700. Antlered mule deer licensed remained the same, and antlerless mule deer licenses increased…

By Nick Simonson In an effort to provide anglers with more to fish for in North Dakota and encourage the use of expanding and varied fisheries resources, the North Dakota Game & Fish Department (NDG&F) has launched its 2022 Fish Challenge and is also in the annual process of stocking trout into various lakes and…

By Nick Simonson On the Pokemon cartoon series, there’s a character named Goh, whose ambition is simply to encounter and capture every single type of fighting creature in the Pokemon universe.  From the grub-like Weedle to the majestic azure legendary horse-like being Suicune and all sorts of different ones in between, that’s his only goal…

By Doug Leier  It was mid-March when the first open water fishing reports from the Missouri River started feeding the spring fishing frenzy of anglers. Some anglers have two months of fishing behind them, while others wait for Memorial Day weekend, signaling the kickoff of summer fishing.  First things first. There’s always time to review…

By Jarrod Fredericks Having just returned from a National Walleye Tour event on the Missouri River in Chamberlain, S.D., I can say that the walleye bite on the Missouri River in that stretch is amazing.  Fish are in full spawn with lots of males milking and being caught in very shallow waters from one to…

DEO Release Dakota Edge Outdoors is teaming up with experienced South Dakota fishing guide and tournament angler Jarrod Fredericks to share the incredible multi-species fishing available to anglers in northeastern South Dakota.  An experienced outdoors communicator, Fredericks will share his take on walleye angling in the region, along with tips for other species on openwater…

By Mike Peluso It’s the week of the Big Muddy walleye tournament, which is always the pinnacle of the spring here on the Missouri River near Bismarck. It means a couple things to me. First off, I wasn’t allowed to fish it for the first 10 years of its existence, and I sure wish I…

By Nick Simonson When spring eventually arrives, and it will, the time for big bass will be upon us.  Whether it’s largemouth staking out the dark-bottomed shallows of a backwater bay for their ideal spawning site, or smallmouth holing up on a cleared gravelly patch against a stack of timber placed by recent floodwaters, both…

By Nick Simonson Throughout the upper Midwest, stocking trucks will be hitting area waters with this season’s set of rainbow, brown, and other species of trout, providing anglers a unique opportunity which may only exist naturally in those flows a half day’s drive away. While targeting stocked trout in pits, ponds and small impoundments may…

By Nick Simonson In the outdoors, there are always points of contention among anglers, hunters and just about anyone else with an opinion on anything that swims, flies, or falls for a lure or decoy. I’m not talking about the testifying in front of the legislature type of interactions, or the courtroom conservation battles handled…

By Mike Peluso It’s been a spring to remember on the Missouri River in the sense that it’ll be tough to forget, no matter how much I might want to. Thinking back, I can only recall two days so far this season, since the river opened up on Mar. 19, where it was nice out….

DEO Release In partnership with Crush Life Gear, Dakota Edge Outdoors is proud to offer North Dakota Deer Crossing gear to help raise funds for the Ethan Grove Scholarship Program. A hilarious spoof of a standard deer crossing sign, the North Dakota Deer Crossing design shows off just how big our bucks can get and…

By Nick Simonson While a new socking of snow looms on the horizon for western North Dakota this weekend, it’s likely that last week’s blizzard which dropped 15, 20, and in some places more than 30 inches of snow had limited impact on most big game species in the region.  According to Brett Wiedmann, Big…

By John Bradley I was going to write about a successful North Dakota spring turkey hunt. Hiking out into the badlands, the first camping trip of the year, and turkeys gobbling from their roost. I would have told you how I closed the distance, made a few notes on my call and that a tom came…

By Nick Simonson In the process of fishing, I’ve seen a good deal and done a lot of it. I’ve read a ton, watched some more, and through trial-and-error learned quite a bit, but most days it feels like it’s never enough. Through that trial-and-error with new ideas, patterns, and processes, I trade frustration for…

NDG&F Release A total of 57,086 North Dakota deer hunters took approximately 32,793 deer during the 2021 deer gun hunting season, according to a post-season survey conducted by the state Game and Fish Department. Game and Fish made available 72,200 deer gun licenses last year. Overall hunter success was 57 percent, with each hunter spending…

By Doug Leier May conjures up images of the first meadowlark on the prairie, stray migrating snow geese and spring turkey season wrapping up. We’ll also likely spot the first brood of Canada geese and find a few ticks to remove from you or your dog. May 1 every year marks the start of North…