Check this out. ND-Bill 2248

[Handsonthepole]

ND non resident waterfowlers. Haven't hunted there before but want to so was looking at the ND forum and I found an interesting topic in relation to bill SB2248. Basically it is a bill that would allow non-resident hunters to buy an additional 7 day lic. It was blocked yesterday but sounds like it will try again today? Don't really understand why they wouldn't want it to pass.

[Feathers Rainin]

The non-res hunting pressure in ND has gone through the roof in the last 5-10 years. Personally I hope they don't pass this.

[Sifty]

The non-res hunting pressure in ND has gone through the roof in the last 5-10 years. Personally I hope they don't pass this.

+1

[Scott M]

I'd like to see some license sales data. 5 years ago we started into a recession. I have a hard time believing the amount of non-res licenses has gone up substantially in the last 5-10 years. There's a ton of land and water in NoDak.

Last year there were legislative attempts to liberalize some of the non-resident licenses and seasons and they fell pretty hard. I'm not holding my breath that this will pass either.

[Sifty]

It maybe just the pressure of the areas that people are hunting, but we have noticed a increase in the area we hunt.

[BoxMN]

We don't hunt the pressured areas, but still plenty of birds. We never see anybody else except a couple groups of fields hunters who are friends of our farmer friends. I would like to be able to hunt three weekends, but fewer total days, personally. I would not pay an extra $100+ for an additional week though, so this bill wouldn't affect me.

Maybe they could allow three shorter periods in Zone 3 I won't hold my breath. I even own land there, so pay some taxes, but not much...

[walleye18]

It would be great to hunt more than 14 days total....but i understand the thinking of why the law is the way it is....the two 7 day periods offer not much flexibility at times - but thats a planning issue on my part.

I own property in ND as well. Love the place, wife is from there.

i too would like to see the "Facts" on out of state hunters - waterfowl specific. Searched the web many times for the actual amounts, never found it.

The number of waterfowl hunters i see in the area where we hunt is low. rarely see anybody - and thats great.

One thing we have noticed is the lack of respect all hunters (resident/non resident included) towards the land owner. Seeing more and more land that is getting posted - please guys, just ask, the land owner will let you hunt 99.9% of the time. Give them respect.

[Shane Z]

It maybe just the pressure of the areas that people are hunting, but we have noticed a increase in the area we hunt.

The hunting pressure has sure taken a toll on where I typically hunt in NoDak as well. Lots and lots of Men-a-Boatans hunting water everywhere you see.

This year I'll be extending my territory vastly, buying an out of state Wisconsin license this year should open many doors for me.

[BoxMN]

One thing we have noticed is the lack of respect all hunters (resident/non resident included) towards the land owner. Seeing more and more land that is getting posted - please guys, just ask, the land owner will let you hunt 99.9% of the time. Give them respect.

The no tresspassing signs are not just from landowners getting mad, but moreso (where we are anyway) to keep their neighbors off their land in deer season Most of the farmers we know don't give a carp about waterfowl hunting one way or the other, unless they have relatives coming in to hunt ducks for a weekend. Another thing we found is that even if it IS posted, if you ask, many farmers will let you on if you are "just going for those dam birds"... Also, I think part of the reason for the signs is that people will try to stop farmers WHILE THEY ARE FARMING to try to get permission. That is the worst, they just don't want to deal with the hassle of people stopping them while they are in their machinery and working, heck they would be stopping all the time. Easier just to post and not be bothered, even though they don't care if you hunt it.

We just stop at houses to ask or ask in the summer or have our friends call them, but with friends who farm there, we don't really need to go farther than their land. But like I said, we are not in the "prime" waterfowl area either.

[UMC]

The number of NR licenses has been around 23 thousand since they made it a totally separate license from upland game. They publish it in the game and fish magazine once a year but I can't find it at the moment. It used to be an extra 10 bucks on top of a small game license to get waterfowl and I think the total was more around 30 thousand in those days (mid-2000s is when it changed I think) since guys that were coming out for upland might as well buy waterfowl too just in case. Those guys probably don't buy both anymore since it's like $85 for waterfowl now.

I think two weeks is plenty. Residents in pretty much any state with 'destination' type hunting have some priveleges, I don't see why ND shouldn't.

[bassinboy3]

I also hope they dont liberalize the licensing and I am a avid waterfowler who does travel there to hunt. Alls that would do is allow more roost busting water hunting MN,WI hunters come in with their boats and ruin roosts on public waters. Which pretty well takes care of the ability to do things right and hunt fields.

Two weeks is plenty, the only thing I wish they would do is make early season goose non effective to your normal season license in all areas of the state.

[Shane Z]

A brief mandatory session on "huntable" waters would be nice in the Dakotas. Heck I'm from Minnesota, and seeing an entire body of water explode with ducks and geese just before shooting hours is NEVER a good thing.

[Scott M]

How in the world did we waterfowl hunt before the invention of the layout blind? Somehow we got by. I'm guessing its greenheads or bust for some of you. Just remember some of us like diver hunts too, including on puddle duck water. It's not as though there's a shortage of surface water in nodak

[bassinboy3]

You can shoot divers in Minnesota sometimes a lot more than in North Dakota. We go out there to field hunt the big greenheads and geese that we dont get much of in Minnesota and when roosts are covered with mud duck hunters and blowing all the birds out before daybreak it makes that almost impossible. It happens in MN too with people water swating honkers off of roosts when some of us put our time into scouting fields. Roost busting drives birds out of the area and makes for a one time pot shot at them.