The Daily News

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has set the spring wild turkey season for this year and there will be fewer licenses available. A total of 6,640 turkey licenses are up for grabs in the lottery. That’s down 495 from last year. The decrease in licenses is mostly in the Badlands units due to poor reproduction last year.

The big change is the number of hunting units has been reduced from 29 to 22 and that especially impacts this area. Previously, the units that covered this corner of the state were 41, 37 and 70. Those three units have merged into one and it will be called Unit 37. The configuration is the same as it is for the fall turkey season. This unit now runs from here all the way to just beyond Napoleon and from Highway 46 south to the South Dakota border.

This change could be a problem. The three original units combined were about half the size of the new unit because they only extended to the Oakes area. The number of licenses issued in those units last year included 225 in Unit 41, 200 in Unit 37 and 200 in Unit 70 for a total of 625 turkey licenses. The remaining area that makes up the new unit used to be included in what was called the “R” unit, or the remainder of the state. There were 350 licenses available in the R Unit but that comprised a wide area circling up past McClusky and up to Langdon and back down to Fargo.

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In the new Unit 37 there will be 675 licenses available this year. That’s only 50 more than last year for a unit that is now twice the size of the three combined original units. Maybe that’s all the licenses that can be added with all the new territory but the number of licenses isn’t what bothers me. It’s the elimination of the zones.

By the combining of the zones there will be a disproportionate number of successful applicants from the eastern end of the zone because that’s where the population is - Fargo. Most hunters would rather hunt turkeys as close to home as possible and as a consequence the public land areas, such as the National Grasslands in this end of the unit are going to see a disproportionate amount of hunting pressure. The spring turkey hunting pressure has increased every year since a season was created in this region and I’ve seen a steady decline in both the number of turkeys and the quality of the hunting experience because of that hunting pressure. That’s just a personal observation in the area that I hunt turkeys, in the years that I draw a tag.

The ability to hunt the entire unit may seem like a good thing but I don’t know anyone on this end of the state that’s going to drive to Napoleon for a morning of turkey hunting. The population base is here in the east and I believe the majority of the hunting pressure will end up here too. But, I could be wrong.

In any case, if you want to apply for a turkey license, applications are available at license vendors and the county auditor or you can download and print one from the Game and Fish website at gf.nd.gov. Or simply apply online. It’s easy and almost impossible to make a mistake. Youth hunters age 15 and younger, as of opening day of the turkey season, which is April 10th, may apply for their one-time, guaranteed first turkey license. They must choose a unit and hunt only that unit.

The spring turkey season is open to residents only and will run through May 16.

MN KUDOS

I’ve often been critical of deer management in Minnesota but there is one thing they’re doing right – not allowing hunters to kill antlerless deer in January when there’s the threat of killing bucks that have shed their antlers.

That’s not the case in other states such as Illinois, Kansas and Iowa. For example, according to Iowa’s DNR Web site their late-season antlerless hunt has resulted in hunters killing over 1,700 “shed-antler bucks” so far. Last year they killed just over 2,000 shed-antler bucks during the January season designed to harvest excess does. For a state that prides itself in producing quality bucks (and high-priced nonresident licenses) this type of season seems counterproductive.

Over the past five years or so I’ve bowhunted in many of the premier whitetail states at various locations in each state and the only place where I thought there were too many does was Oklahoma and that was on a private ranch just opened to hunting. From what I’ve witnessed, this aggressive assault on the doe population, all across whitetail country, has gone too far.

At least the Minnesota DNR isn’t allowing hunters to kill mature bucks that aren’t even carrying what makes them so special - their antlers! That’s a good thing.

REMINDERS

-Don’t forget the meeting of Three Rivers Archers at Richard’s Elementary School on Thursday, Feb. 4 beginning at 7 p.m. The school is located on north seventh street in Wahpeton, just across the street from the Seventh Day Adventist Church. This is an open forum meeting so if you’re interested in archery or bowhunting plan to attend.

-On Friday, Feb. 5, consider attending the Richland Renegade Toms National Wild Turkey Federation banquet in Mooreton. It will be held at the Mooreton City Hall beginning with a social hour at 5:30 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m. For more information or to obtain tickets contact John Davis at 642-3071 or Brad Glarum at 274-8956.

-Then, on Saturday, Feb. 6, you have the opportunity to attend the 15th Annual Bois de Sioux Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation banquet. That event will be held at the Wahpeton Eagles Club with a social hour at 5 p.m. and a prime rib dinner at 7 p.m. For tickets contact Rick Krump at 642-3618.

Finally, let’s not talk about the Vikings and that last game. I almost expected it. But I will say that I’d take Brett Favre back in a heartbeat.

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