NDGF Newsletter - August 30

[Swany]

Landowners Seek Doe Hunters

North Dakota Game and Fish Department big game biologist Bill Jensen is currently working with 33 landowners in 20 hunting units across the state who would like to host antlerless deer hunters in 2010.

“The current list of landowners has more than 400 openings for doe hunters,” Jensen said. “We will continue to add landowners and doe hunters over the next several months, and by time the season is over with we could match more than 500 antlerless deer hunters with perhaps 40 landowners.”

Landowners currently participating in 2010 are located in hunting units 2C, 2D, 2G2, 2I, 2J2, 2K2, 3A2, 3A4, 3B3, 3D1, 3D2, 3E1, 3E2, 3F1, 3F2, 4A, 4B, 4D, 4E and 4F.

“The program is designed to direct antlerless hunters to specific areas to reduce deer depredation problems in the future,” Jensen said. “It is not intended for buck hunters.”

The Game and Fish Department first started working with landowners in developing a contact list in 2006, and the program has been very successful, Jensen said. “In fact, several landowners have now dropped out of the program because they have either gotten on top of their depredation problems and/or developed solid relationships with hunters over the past few years that they now welcome them back every year,” he added. “This is how we intended it to work.”

Interested hunters can get their name on a list of possible participants by accessing the Game and Fish Department’s website at North Dakota Game and Fish Hunter Contact. Hunters who do not have Internet access can call the department’s main office in Bismarck at (701) 328-6300.

Hunters will provide their address, hunting unit(s) where they hold valid antlerless licenses, and if using rifle, muzzleloader or bow. From this list the department will select the number of hunters landowners have agreed to host. These hunters will be sent the landowner’s name, phone number and any information relating to the landowner’s specific situation.

Not everyone who signs up will end up with a new place to hunt, Jensen said, because not everyone’s schedule will match up with a landowner’s, and more people will likely put their name on the list than there are openings with landowners.

North Dakota’s 2010 regular deer gun season runs from Nov. 5-21. In addition, the archery season extends from Sept. 3 through Jan. 2, 2011; the youth season is from Sept. 17-26; and muzzleloader runs from Nov. 26 – Dec. 12.

 

Avian Influenza Surveillance Continues

State and federal wildlife agencies will continue to test wild birds for early detection of highly pathogenic strains of avian influenza.

A total of 200 samples from live birds will be taken through September in conjunction with duck banding efforts, and 400 samples from hunter-harvested ducks will be collected in September and October.

Hunters may be asked if their ducks can be sampled by an employee with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services. Sampling only takes a few minutes and does not damage birds.

In addition, morbidity and mortality surveillance of any unusual bird die-offs or illnesses will continue through October.

Avian influenza testing efforts began nationwide in 2006, and all samples for the highly pathogenic H5N1 subtype have tested negative.