Bird Dog & Retriever News
April / May 2023 issue page 14
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Nebraska
Commissioners approve 2023-2024 waterfowl recommendations
Jerry Kane March 14, 2023 Comments Off on Commissioners approve 2023-2024 waterfowl recommendations
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission approved changes to 2023-2024 waterfowl hunting seasons in Commission Orders at its March 14 meeting in Kearney.
For the 2023-2024 seasons, the Zone 3 and Zone 4 duck seasons will open a week later than last year with Youth Hunt dates the weekend prior. Other season dates are calendar date adjustments.
Waterfowl seasons are set by balancing hunter preferences with migration, hunter harvest, and hunter participation.
The approved 2023-2024 Nebraska waterfowl season dates are:
Early Teal:Low Plains – Sept. 2-17, High Plains – Sept. 2-10
Youth Hunt: Zone 1 – Oct. 7-8, Zone 2 – Sept. 30-Oct. 1, Zone 3 – Oct. 21-22, Zone 4 – Oct. 21-22
Duck and Coot: Zone 1 – Oct. 14-Dec. 26, Zone 2 – Oct. 7-Dec. 19 and Jan. 10-31 (High Plains), Zone 3 – Oct. 28-Jan. 9 and Jan. 10-31 (High Plains), Zone 4 – Oct. 28-Jan. 9
Dark Goose: Platte River Unit – Oct. 28-Feb. 9, Niobrara Unit – Oct. 28-Feb. 9, North Central Unit – Oct. 7-Jan. 19
White-fronted Goose: Statewide – Oct. 7-Dec. 17 and Jan. 25-Feb. 9, Light Goose Regular Season: Statewide – Oct. 7-Jan. 3 and Jan. 25-Feb. 9
Light Goose Conservation Order: East Zone – Feb. 10-April 15, West Zone – Feb. 10-April 5, Rainwater Basin Zone – Feb. 10-April 5
Challenge rewarded: Upland, Duck slam grand prizes awarded
Jerry Kane March 8, 2023 Comments Off on Challenge rewarded: Upland, Duck slam grand prizes awarded
Hunters love to go afield hunting in Nebraska when a challenge is involved. A chance to win a shotgun in the experience only sweetens the deal.
Two Nebraska hunters now are owners of new shotguns as the grand prize winners of the latest seasons of the Upland and Duck slams.
Zachary Goodrich of Sidney won a Weatherby Orion 12-gauge shotgun in the Upland Slam, while Josh Schnitzler of Battle Creek won a Franchi Affinity Elite 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun in the Duck Slam.
The fifth year of the Upland Slam gave 169 hunters and the fourth year of the Duck Slam gave 162 hunters a reason to take advantage of the state’s excellent opportunities and growing availability of publicly accessible land. In both slams, hunters upload photos of their harvests to a website and share information about their hunting experience. The finishers of each of the slams became eligible for the random drawings for the shotguns.
The Upland Slam challenges hunters to harvest a ring-necked pheasant, sharp-tailed grouse, greater prairie-chicken and northern bobwhite quail in Nebraska during the season. The slam is a partnership between the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever of Nebraska.
“We have thoroughly enjoyed offering this experience with Nebraska Game and Parks and reading hunters’ stories of pursuit over the last five years,” said Kelsi Wehrman, state coordinator for Nebraska Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever.
“The Upland Slam has brought many new faces to the state and created an awareness to hunt a new species, such as grouse, for many Nebraska hunters,” she said. “Congrats to all the finishers and their four-legged friends that helped make it happen.”
This season, 98 hunters completed the Upland Slam. They received an official certificate and pin. All participants who harvested at least one species were entered into monthly drawings for prizes. They included prize winners Mike Raynor of Dakota City, who a won $200 Scheels Gift Card, Nolan Kocian of Dwight, who won at Traeger Wood Pellet Grill, and Tristan Kocian of Dwight, who won a Youth Lifetime Permit.
There were 524 photos submitted to the Upland Slam. Participation included hunters from 10 other states, as well as three youths. Find the names of all hunters who successfully completed the Upland Slam at OutdoorNebraska.org/UplandSlamFinishers.
The Duck Slam is a partnership with Ducks Unlimited and challenges hunters to harvest a teal (blue-winged or green-winged) of either sex, as well as drakes of three other species: an American wigeon, a mallard and a northern pintail. All ducks had to be harvested in Nebraska.
The 70 hunters who completed the 2022-2023 Duck Slam received an official certificate, a pin, Central Flyway bragging rights and were registered to win one of several great prizes donated by Ducks Unlimited. There were 457 photos submitted. Among the participants were six youths – four of whom finished – and hunters from 12 other states. Find a list of hunters who completed the Duck Slam at OutdoorNebraska.gov/DuckSlamFinishers.
North Dakota
2023-24 Licenses Needed April 1
North Dakota anglers, trappers and hunters are reminded that new licenses are required beginning April 1.
Licenses can be purchased online by visiting the North Dakota Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov. Once the license is processed, hunters and anglers will have the option to print a hard copy and/or download the license to a smart phone or mobile device, which is helpful when asked to show proof while hunting or fishing in rural areas that lack cellular service.
Licenses can also be purchased at more than 140 vendor locations throughout the state. The 2023-24 small game, fishing and furbearer licenses are effective April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024.
Grant Supports High School Trap League
Local clubs or communities interested in receiving a grant to support a high school trap shooting team must have the application in before April 1. Existing teams that have received a grant in the past are not eligible.
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department offers a grant of up to $1,000, with funds designed to purchase gear such as eye and hearing protection, vests, shell bags and magnetic barrel rests.
Interested applicants can print out the high school trap league grant application online at the Game and Fish website, gf.nd.gov.
For more information, contact Game and Fish education section leader Marty Egeland at 328-6612, or email megeland@nd.gov.
Game and Fish Offers Wildlife Food Plot Seed
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department will again offer free seed for the upcoming growing season to landowners interested in planting wildlife food plots for pheasants.
Rather than a traditional corn or sunflower food plot, this seed mix provides increased plant diversity, including flowering plants from spring through fall, which will attract insects, the major diet component of pheasant chicks. Additionally, the mix will provide needed cover during spring and summer, as well as a winter food source. Other wildlife species will also benefit from this mix.
Department private land section leader Kevin Kading said most Game and Fish food plots are part of the department’s Private Land Open To Sportsmen program.
“This food plot campaign does not require a PLOTS contract, but we are asking participating landowners to allow reasonable public access, which could mean simply providing access permission to hunters from time to time, putting up ‘Ask Before You Enter’ signs around the area, or not posting the surrounding land,” Kading said. “Landowners participating in this promotion cannot charge a fee for hunting.”
The department will provide enough seed to cover up to a maximum 5-acre planting at no cost to the landowner.
Landowners interested in receiving the food plot seed must sign up online by April 1. Seed will be available in April at Game and Fish offices in Bismarck, Jamestown, Devils Lake, Harvey, Dickinson, Williston and Riverdale.
Game and Fish private land biologists can provide technical assistance on food plot location and site preparation.
Landowners interested in additional financial incentives may be considered for the PLOTS program as well. More information is available by contacting a private land biologist at any Game and Fish office in the state, or email ndgf@nd.gov.
2023 CRP signup
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is accepting applications for its voluntary Conservation Reserve Program. Private landowners can apply at their local USDA Farm Service Agency office through April 7.
Cropland not currently enrolled in CRP may be offered during this general enrollment period. In addition, producers with CRP contracts expiring Sept. 30, 2023, may also be eligible.
CRP acres in the state peaked 15 years ago at nearly 3.4 million acres. With just 1.1 million CRP acres across North Dakota’s rural landscape today, the availability of critical nesting and fawning habitat required by many wildlife species has fallen significantly by comparison.
USDA has implemented changes in recent years to make CRP offers more appealing to landowners. Improved rental rates and new incentives have been added to encourage more land enrollment. CRP can provide haying or grazing opportunities when certain drought conditions are met, and many practices now allow grazing to occur every other year.
“The habitat created by CRP makes it a great fit for the Game and Fish Department’s Private Land Open To Sportsmen program,” said Kevin Kading, private lands section leader.
Producers interested in enrolling their CRP into the PLOTS program for additional financial incentives should contact a Department private land biologist in their area.
Game and Fish Announces Mobile App
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department developed a new mobile app that allows outdoor enthusiasts instant access in the field to their licenses, hunting and fishing regulations and other important information.
To download the app, go to Google Play Store or Apple App Store and search NDGF or North Dakota Game and Fish Department.
Brian Hosek, Department business operations manager, said for those who download the app to their phone or other mobile device, the first thing they should do is add a profile.
“It’s basically the same account information that you’ve added when using the online services, bringing in your first name, last name, date of birth, and adding that profile to the device,” he said.
And if users have multiple hunters and anglers in their household, they can add those profiles to the phone or other mobile device as well.
“The benefit of pulling the license information over to the device from other hunters and anglers in their household is that they’ll have that information available perhaps if they’re ever offline or need to access the license information,” Hosek said.
There are other valuable features on the mobile app that will certainly benefit outdoor users.
“We begin the homepage with sunrise, sunset times and some weather forecast information,” Hosek said. “This information is widely searched on our website, so it was important to bring this information over to the device.”
While users can view or download guides, regulations, proclamations and maps through the mobile app, there is also a buy and apply section, offering quick access to apply in Game and Fish lotteries, purchase licenses, register watercraft, the list goes on.
And like many mobile apps, it uses your location services to bring information back to the user.
“It could be hunting units, for example, that you’re based in depending on your location,” Hosek said. “Or it could be contact information for the warden in the area that you’re in or the location of the closest Game and Fish district office.”
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