# GF Herald article



## Hunter_58346 (May 22, 2003)

Posted on Sun, Oct. 17, 2004

Nonresident no-shows

Restrictions mean fewer hunters from other states in N.D. this fall

By Sam Cook

Duluth News Tribune

MEDINA, N.D. - Fewer hunters are putting North Dakota in their duck hunting plans this fall.

Sales of waterfowl licenses to nonresidents are down about 20 percent from last year at this time, said Paul Schadewald, chief of the Administrative Services Division of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

Higher gas prices could be one factor in the decline, but some hunters are frustrated with North Dakota's restrictive regulations on nonresidents. The state of Minnesota has filed a lawsuit against North Dakota over the issue, and the case is pending.

The regulation changes - higher license prices, shorter hunting seasons, restricted zones - have sent some hunters elsewhere.

Sherry Schmidt of Medina sees it at the North Country Lodge that she owns with her husband, Joe. Reservations are down about 20 percent, she said.

"A lot of people who called said they were going to try Canada this year, or South Dakota," Schmidt said.

A total of 16,800 nonresident waterfowl licenses had been sold through Monday, compared to about 21,000 at the same time last year. A total of 26,000 nonresident licenses were sold last year, down from 30,000 the two previous years, Schadewald said.

Sales of small game licenses (for pheasants and sharp-tailed grouse) are on par with last year, Schadewald said.

Towns such as Medina have been hurt by the nonresident waterfowling restrictions.

"Last year, it was way down," said Pat Guthmiller, who owns the Decoy Bar in Medina, a town of about 350.

The restrictions, passed by the state Legislature in August 2003, were spearheaded by North Dakotans in the state's larger cities, several Medina residents said.

"It didn't come from rural. It came from urban," Sherry Schmidt said. "Jamestown. Fargo."

Schmidt estimates that waterfowl hunters typically have infused more than $250,000 into Medina's economy in October.

"This is Christmas," she said.

In addition to restrictions on nonresidents, more land has been posted as closed to hunters in recent years. Some of that land is being leased by either residents or nonresidents who want to guarantee themselves a place to hunt. That's troubling to Mick Erickson, a North Dakota native who is manager of the Chase Lake Prairie Project, a conservation initiative of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Woodworth, N.D.

"My son may not have the same opportunities that I've had," Erickson said.

Hunting pressure, much of it from nonresidents increased through the late 1990s and through 2002, when North Dakota potholes were full of rainwater and duck populations were high. Erickson began to be concerned for the ducks.

"I don't want to see our public lands get too much pressure," he said.

That's why the state restricted nonresident hunting in two popular zones to just seven days per season, Erickson said.

"The last three years have been pretty busy," he said.

But this fall, fewer out-of-state license plates are being seen on the main street of Medina, which lies within one of those zones. And local residents can't help but notice.

"You feel it. You bet you do," Guthmiller said.

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Cook covers the outdoors for the Duluth News Tribune, a Herald sister paper. Contact him at [email protected].


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

There is a fellow from the Jamestown-Medina area with the same name as this Joe, don't know if it's the same person, who markets hunting real estate to NRs. Last yeart he pulled the HIP # list and sent a letter to the upscale NR addresses, telling his prospective clients not to deal directly with locals, that he could get them a better deal.

OK. So this land broker has heavily marketed hunting land, causing a *lockout* on many acres, and then complains that hunters aren't showing up? I wonder why? :eyeroll:

Boys, there is going to be a fight royal in the next session over the hunting laws. Bet your Danner boots on it. What are you doing NOW to preserve the ND hunting? Get on the stick. Contact your legislative candidates that you want current laws to stay in place as to the split license, the increased fees, and time limitations.


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## Hunter_58346 (May 22, 2003)

.......and i find it curious that the GF Herald is publishing an article from a journalist from Duluth????


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## gandergrinder (Mar 10, 2002)

I bet if I wrote a letter to the editor of why I don't hunt certain areas it would never see the light of day.


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## Remmi_&amp;_I (Dec 2, 2003)

Gander, that just may be a good litmus test! We should draft a professional and factual letter and send it to the various newspapers in the state just to see it they publish it.

Let's get some feedback on this. If it will only backfire on us and make it worse, we shouldn't do it. But.....if the consensus is that we could make our valid points, we should go for it.

Any thoughts Dick????


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Minot Daily News, Jamestown Sun, Fargo Forum, And Grand Forks Hearald as well as some of the weekleys have usually published letters for me. It is a free country guys. North Dakota Resident Sportsmen Have been taking one hit after the other. They seem to like to blame everything on Eastern ND, Fargo and Jamestown. I also like to read the slant put on the topic by the author, There is a serious need out there to do the Paul Harvey Thing and tell "The Rest of the Story"

If you have the facts down and are willing to stand behind them, Do it!

My two cents!

Bob


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## Dan Bueide (Jul 1, 2002)

Only way to know for sure about the lower numbers so far would be to survey those who aren't coming back. With the newbies that come each year, the number of non-returners are even higher than the general lower total hunter numbers.

We had the same restrictions last year and an upsurge in NR uplanders and a funtionally equivilent number of NR waterfowlers. Why, then, are the restrictions to blame? Easy target, but everyone better dig a little deeper than that.

Equally as likely to to account for the reduced numbers is the continued/growing lockout via buy/lease/o-g, the "non-ND experience" many have encounted the last couple of years and the reports of reduced waterfowl numbers. The Medina/Woodworth area could be a case study for the first of these.


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## Rick Fode (Sep 26, 2004)

GG,

Draft up your letters, you'd be suprised how many people agree with you, Dakota Country printed my letter in the first attempt. Bill Mitzel called me at home to get some photos before it went to print. The squeaky wheel gets the grease! Now is the time to voice your opinions and get out and vote, I sent mine and my wife's absentee ballots and the current governor lost two votes already! He is the first guy that needs to go. I will keep calling and sending letters until the NR numbers are around 5000 and someone puts screws to the G/O's that are ruining it for all of us. Until the NR numbers come down, the land will remain posted and access will be difficult, because they are the only people that will pay to shoot a few ducks. I wish you could have seen what it was like 15 years ago, you'd be totally disgusted with what is happening now. Make it happen!


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