Dakota Recreation Report

[Lee Borgersen]

  ... Dakota Recreation Report.


 
             










 


 


Oct. 23 2015


 

 

 


.........Outdoor Notes:

Be careful with bird identification when pheasant hunting with young broods still not in full plumage.

Tree stands and ground blinds must have identification on N.D. Game & Fish Dept. Wildlife Mgmt. Areas (WMA).

Hunting over bait is prohibited on WMAs, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and N.D. Forest Service lands.

Avoid letting dogs get into lakes and wetlands with tainted looking water or areas with blue-Agreen algal blooms. Blue-green alga is toxic and deadly to animals.


Oct. 24: Mink, muskrat, and weasel trapping seasons open.

Oct. 24: Dickey Co. Pheasants Forever banquet, Ellendale, 5:30 p.m., fireside Steakhouse & Lounge.

Oct. 30: Devils Lake Ducks Unlimited dinner, 5:30 p.m., Devils Lake KC Hall.

Oct. 31: Dry Lake, Ashley, 5 p.m., American Legion.

Nov. 2: Crow season closes.

Nov. 6: Deer gun season opens.

Nov. 7: LaMoure Co. dinner, Edgeley, 5:30 p.m., Angry Beaver Lodge.

Nov. 9: Dove and woodcock seasons close

Fishing:

Devils Lake elevation, Oct. 21: 1,450.3 feet above mean sea level (MSL).

Stump Lake elevation: 1,450.3 MSL.

Lake Sakakawea elevation: 1,841.57 MSL; 13,000 cubic feet per second average (CFS) Garrison Dam daily releases.


N.D. Game & Fish Dept. Dist. game wardens: Mixed bag of species from the Missouri River tailrace with fair success. Lake Sakakawea fair for walleye.

Jamestown Reservoir, Pioneer Bait Shop, Jamestown: Some walleye activity from shore on Mallard Marsh. Jamestown Reservoir producing some crappie from shore with a few walleye mixed in.

Jamestown Reservoir, Sooper Stop, Jamestown: Little activity on the reservoir.

Hunting:

Deer: Fast-moving corn harvest could help archery hunters.

Doves: Most doves moved out.

Pheasants: More birds showing up in portions of Richland, Sargent, Dickey, and LaMoure counties with hunters finding most birds in CRP/slough grass and edges of corn and CRP. Pheasant hunters finding fair to good pheasant success around Lonetree WMA with a few partridge coveys. Mixed success around the Ward and McLean county areas. Fair success around the midsection of Lake Sakakawea. Fair to good success in central, northwestern, and western N.D. Good success in the southwest.


Waterfowl: A few birds are starting to trickle in across the north-central part of the state. Cranes are starting to move out but a few snow geese are moving in along the Canadian border. Lots of activity in east-central N.D. but not much for migrating birds moving in yet. More birds are showing up north of Valley City and are concentrating on available wetlands but spreading out to feed. Waterfowl are scattered around the Devils Lake area with hunting pressure moving local birds out and not enough cool weather to moved many northern birds down. Some snow geese are also coming into the Devils Lake. Birds are concentrating on wetlands still holding water. Cool weather moved out some local southeastern waterfowl. Hunters in Richland, Cass, Traill, and up through Steele and eastern Barnes counties found less birds but they were still spread out in small wetlands with generally light pressure. Teal and gadwall could still be around with warmer weather still lingering. Birds still scattered in pockets in Dickey, McIntosh, Logan, Kidder, and Stutsman counties. Try field spreads for geese. Fair to good duck success in areas surrounding the east end of Lake Sakakawea but geese are becoming skittish. No incoming waterfowl movement yet into the midsection of Lake Sakakawea area yet.

Migration:

Arrowwood Nat’l. Wildlife Refuge, Pingree: More lesser Canada geese showing up with flocks of about 50 birds scattered throughout the area. Many big geese moved out and swan numbers are increasing slowly. Duck numbers are down overall, perhaps because only larger wetlands still have water. Even those are losing water and gaining mud flats. However, more mallards, shovelers, pintails, and green-winged teal are on the refuge. Corn harvest is well underway and beans are complete so waterfowl have more feeding areas available. Some avocets, yellowlegs, dowitchers, and snipe remain on the refuge, along with great egrets and heron species. Gull numbers also increasing and the first migrating tree sparrow were observed. Some Savannah and vesper sparrows still along the roadsides, along with meadowlarks and horned larks. Good numbers of juncos and Harris’s, white-crowned, and white-throated sparrows visiting area bird feeders.