# Newspaper writer needs to be set straight.



## dieseldog (Aug 9, 2004)

I am wondering what some of SD policies are for NR hunting licenses. Don't they severly limit NR waterfowl? The reason is that there is a local newspaper writer that was in SD last weekend and saw all the people hunting birds and he thought it was great what they were doing to help out with economic development, and then he went on to bash our state saying that maybe someday ND will see the light and let our friends from all over come here. I would just like to set him straight that SD isn't this big warm cuddly teddy bear that he thinks he saw. He even mentioned about the guys he saw walking the ditches along the hiway and then you see a bird fly and a shotgun pointed at the road as you are approaching and then see the bird fall. He evidently thought that wasn't too bad. Needless to say he isn't a hunter and doesn't own an acre of land but wants to exploit our resource. These so called community minded individuals that don't hunt or own land make me sick. No one is knocking on there door at 5:30 on a Sat. morning looking for a place to hunt. Thats a good idea I think I will go wake him up this sat. morning and ask him if I can bowhunt his backyard. Then we will see if he wants that repeated every weekend during the hunting season. So if anyone has any good information for my letter to the editor, lets here it. Help me tell him our side. thanks


----------



## fargodawg (Sep 20, 2005)

I think that you are talking about Mike McFeeley (sp?), he is and always will be a moron, he writes the worst article bashing everyone except himself, he writes the "trendy" "controversial" articles that make people boil. he is a piece of .... in my book and has always been a waste of time to read if you are looking for facts.


----------



## Lvn2Hnt (Feb 22, 2005)

Anyway you could post the article on line?


----------



## dieseldog (Aug 9, 2004)

Not sure how to post article. but here is the website. maybe someone else can post it.

crosbynd.com/journal/columnists/steve.html

Also I don't think it made the online print but on the back page it had an article that a farmer in the Fortuna area found his dog shot in a field by his house. He had a red heeler cattle dog and he said that it was full of BB's and he could tell it was shot with a shotgun and not a rifle. Like he said if you are close enough to shot it with a shotgun you should be able to tell that it is a dog and not a coyote. Also the collar should be a dead giveaway. Anyone know anyone with any good red or blue heeler puppies, i can tell him about. Sad story I feel bad for him.


----------



## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

By Steve Andrist...Crosby Journal

S.D. pheasant hunting rules the roost 
The only thing thicker than the pheasants was the orange-vested, shotgun-toting hunters.

Driving along U.S. 281 Saturday, between Ellendale, N.D. and Aberdeen, S.D., they were everywhere. This was opening day of pheasant hunting season in South Dakota and it was obvious.

The pheasant opener is a pretty big deal in northwestern North Dakota, but it's nothing like South Dakota.

Maybe it just seems that way because the hunters are so visible. They walk the ditches and parallel fence lines, scaring up what by all accounts this year is an abundance of birds.

It's odd to see a party of men carrying guns just 20 yards away as you drive down a U.S. highway.

It's even more odd to see a dog running between his masters and the road, to see it kick up a bird, to see a shot gun aimed in your direction, and then to see the bird tumbling through the sky toward you.

That's the way it is in South Dakota. They clearly don't care how close to the highway you hunt.

There is a case pending in the South Dakota Supreme Court over what ditch hunters can and can't do when the birds they shoot fall onto nearby private property.

Other than that, South Dakota rolls out the red carpet for orange-vested visitors.

Every bar and restaurant and motel is labeled with a bright orange "Hunters Welcome" banner.

At the steakhouses, where hungry hunters are down to the brown-green camo, waiters and waitresses cover their house polos with orange vests.

Up and down the hallways of the motels there are more rooms with dogs than without. The innkeepers don't even bat an eye at guests of the four-legged variety.

This is their harvest, and they'll do whatever it takes to make sure the yields are heavy.

Unlike their Dakota neighbors to the north, they don't argue about protectionist hunting policies. Like Minnesota does with fishermen, South Dakota treats hunting as economic opportunity, as business to be coveted.

Some day, perhaps, we'll go to school on our neighbors and begin to learn the lessons of economics 101: bringing in new dollars from outside your economic base is the best business you can get.

The sights of small towns

Our weekend trip to South Dakota brought us through a wide swath of south central North Dakota, an area that, like ours, is really not on the way to anywhere.

So we decided to spend some gawking time passing through towns we don't normally get to see.

There was Napoleon, which is a bit like Crosby in that it is a county seat town that is the only population center in a very sparsely populated county. But it's not nearly as clean and neatly kept.

There was Wishek, which despite being full of freshly paved streets seems to lack a community focus to offer some identity.

And there was Edgeley, a place defined by the sawhorses that are used for sign posting in the middle of Main Street intersections.

The most interesting, though, was Kulm.

We went off the beaten path to tour this burg of 400 in hopes of finding the house that wife Barbara lived in during her year in first grade.

Even though she had not been back since leaving in about 1960, we found the house looking much like she'd remembered it.

Now sitting in the shadows of about 30 wind towers that generate and export electricity, Kulm has the appearance of a place where people are proud.

Old buildings aren't left to look old and decrepit, but are pleasantly maintained.

Yards and streets offer an invitation to visitors no matter how few they are in number.

It's a town that is like grandma's house -- there's not much new, but everything is fresh and in it's proper place.

It's what all our small towns should be -- pleasant and


----------



## Lvn2Hnt (Feb 22, 2005)

Ken, you're so quick, I was just working on that :lol:


----------



## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Old Steve fails to mention that "our neighbor" to the south has the most restrictive waterfowl hunting laws for non-res. in the US.But it is typical of the pro-comercial hunting gang to only look at one side.


----------



## Lvn2Hnt (Feb 22, 2005)

Being a writer and communicator, not to mention a sportsman (to use the term loosely) I can't believe the atrocious writing displayed in this column. Not only does the story follow absolutely no semblence of a story line, but it just doesn't make any sense at all!

Now, did I read this wrong or is he bashing ND? Doesn't he live in ND and work for a "paper" in ND?

Seriously, is this guy that big of an idiot?


----------



## muskat (Mar 5, 2002)

Idiot.

SD Non Res Licenses
$110-Small Game, 10 Day license
$110-Waterfowl, 6000 licenses available........split into seperate zones.

ND Non Res Licenses
$85-Small Game, 14 Day license
$85-Waterfowl, unlimited licenses, 14 days split into zones 
OR
$115-Waterfowl, unlimited licenses, 14 days statewide

What is this guys email addy?


----------



## muskat (Mar 5, 2002)

Nevermind, I found it.


----------



## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

http://www.crosbynd.com/journal/columnists/index.htm

I don't know how he is related to Sen. Andrist who I believe owns the paper.But one look at Sen. Andrist's bills and columns kind of tells it all.


----------



## Lvn2Hnt (Feb 22, 2005)

In the process of writing a rebut.... anyone have any links to facts about economic impact of hunting on North Dakota?

Any comments others would like to thow in? I'll post the draft before sending it.


----------



## dieseldog (Aug 9, 2004)

Senator Andrist is his father. I know all about there hunting views as I have to go to a community group meeting every week with him and his father and other community leaders. At the meeting yesterday I had to listen to Sen. Andrist comment on how great the out of state hunters are and that our ND Game and Fish Dept. only cares about the hunting interests of ND residents from Jamestown and Fargo areas. He also stated that, i quote " The Game and Fish Dept is PORKING the nonresident on our license fees" end quote. Since it is a community meeting and I am representing the business that I work for at them I just sit and bite my tongue and maybe make one little comment or two.


----------



## muskat (Mar 5, 2002)

> " The Game and Fish Dept is PORKING the nonresident on our license fees"


The license fee's are right in line with other states with comparable hunting oppurtunities.

There is nothing worse then when so called "representatives" of our state throw around non-facts and untruths. FRUSTRATING :******: .


----------



## Lvn2Hnt (Feb 22, 2005)

Edited and mailed:

I am writing in regard to a recent column that was published in The Journal. The column was headlined "S.D. pheasant hunting rules the roost," written by Steve Andrist.

This statement was made in the article, "Unlike their Dakota neighbors to the north, they don't argue about protectionist hunting policies. Like Minnesota does with fishermen, South Dakota treats hunting as economic opportunity, as business to be coveted."

The column also stated, "Some day, perhaps, we'll go to school on our neighbors and begin to learn the lessons of economics 101: bringing in new dollars from outside your economic base is the best business you can get."

North Dakota boasts a billion dollar economic influx each year as a result of non-resident and resident hunting licenses, motel stays, meals eaten, gas pumped, and supplies purchased, among many other amenities that I and my fellow hunters enjoy

North Dakota's license purchases are nothing to shake a stick at either. According to the North Dakota Game and Fish (NDGF), in 2004, non-resident hunters purchased 26,952 small game licenses, up from 2003. This doesn't even take into account big game licenses, fishing licenses, or waterfowl licenses.

North Dakota is taking economic advantage of our abundant hunting resources; and may, arguably, be taking too much economic advantage.

North Dakota gives non-residents cheaper licenses and let them hunt longer than our neighbors to the south. A non-resident hunter in South Dakota will pay a minimum of $110 for licensing and are only allowed to hunt for two, 5-day periods. North Dakota allows non-residents to hunt for a minimum of $85 and give them two, 7-day periods.

Who are you to advocate and push for the economic exploitation of a natural resource that is not yours, mine, or anyone else's? And, who are you to say that North Dakota isn't pursuing the economics of hunting enough?

It is pretty safe to say that you have not done you research. Have you researched the environmental impact of areas overpopulated with hunters? Have you sat in a coffee shop with hunters who are distraught over the commercialization of land by outfitters and guides who have posted land once open to the public to hunt? Or have you fully researched what North Dakota has or has not done to promote hunting as an economic opportunity?

North Dakota invites all who want to enjoy what our state has to offer, but it is our duty as citizens of this great state to see that commercialization restricted enough to preserve what we have. Our hunting resources are not renewable ones, despite what some may believe. Push for more commercialization of hunting and wildlife abundance as we know it today will cease to exist long before you've made a living off of it.


----------



## Lvn2Hnt (Feb 22, 2005)

dieseldog and muskat..... remember this one from Sen. Andrist?
http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11652


----------



## gandergrinder (Mar 10, 2002)

> First of all I would like to comment that not only was the writing style choppy, difficult to follow, and contained no real valid observations or conclusions, but it also misconstrued hunting differences between separate states.


If you want this to see the light of day you won't be able to keep this in the letter. The description of his writing skills, while accurate, probably won't make you any friends. However, you could attack his facts or lack of them.

If your response makes their paper it will most likely double its size.

Was this included as an article or was it part of an opinion piece?

Nothing like reporting the "news" in the "news"paper. :roll:


----------



## ND decoy (Feb 1, 2003)

Looks to me like this either he did no research in writting this piece, or it didn't fit in with the point he was trying to make and just left it out. Either way not telling the whole story.


----------



## Lvn2Hnt (Feb 22, 2005)

gg>

Good points, had already taken that part out.

It does need to get cut down, not sure where I'm going to do that yet.

From what I've understood, it was a column, not a news story, but published and read nonetheless

Thanks


----------



## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

dd, any chance you could pm me the address of the group meeting there in Crosby?


----------



## njsimonson (Sep 24, 2002)

> Some day, perhaps, we'll go to school on our neighbors and begin to learn the lessons of economics 101: bringing in new dollars from outside your economic base is the best business you can get.


I'm getting tired of arguing the "bottom line isn't the only line" in hunting and fishing because no one wants to hear it. In a money-driven society, that's all people seem to care about. No one wants to hear tradition, family, friends, fun, enjoyment, excitement, etc anymore.


----------



## Hunter_58346 (May 22, 2003)

Maybe, just maybe the Andrist group will get the picture. Was it resident hunter greed that ruined his home town of Crosby? Or maybe was it the CRP Craze of the 80's that spelled doom for Crosby. Before the CRP offering that made Crosby a destination for pheasants, they were also known as the durumn capital of North Dakota. Then US government steps in , offers $$$ for NOT planting crops. 3 bulk oil dealers---GONE,,,,3 car dealers---gone, 3 farm implement dealers---gone, cafes---gone, even a lonely bar/strip club---gone. Here is a challenge to the Andrist gang from that area---where do YOU fit the last 30 years of history for Crosby????


----------



## dieseldog (Aug 9, 2004)

Yeah the CRP craze didn't help out any businesses in town other than the hunting side. It put alot of decent land into retirement some of that land is now back into production and with todays technology it is actually producing decent crops. It also put some land away that never should have been broken up ever. Yes all those businesses did disappear. But the bar/strip club is still going strong. I just wish that Mr. Andrist would understand that we don't mind having NR hunters, but they have to be regulated. We are just trying to make sure that we always have a resource to hunt. Most NR's are coming to ND because their own states failed to manage the resource and we have what they used to have. GOOD HUNTING OPPORTUNITIES that don't cost and arm and a leg. But they just think that since we try to limit the numbers that we are just missing out on more $$$$ each year. But what he doesn't understand is limited numbers of hunters X more years of hunting will win out over unlimited hunters over a shorter period of years once that resource is depleted. THey want it all right now, they aren't thinking down the road. Just my opinion.


----------



## dieseldog (Aug 9, 2004)

Hey guys LVN2HNT's letter made it in this weeks paper. It sounded real good. Thanks for writing.


----------

