# Sorry Hunters ( No Plots Guides) Allowed



## curty (Sep 18, 2003)

I put in a order for plots guides from the Game & Fish weeks ago and never recieved them. In the meantime I ran into a very (reliable) source who told me that a few of our favorite spoting goods chains put a stop to it so they have to come to thier stores to get one.

Only registered vendors can recieve them. I just called Game & Fish and was told it was the shipping cost that they decided to only give them to vendors. Luckily I snagged a box (SHHHHHH)! After they are gone I guess if you dont have one you will have to find a vendor who does or drive to scheels or cabellas and make a impulse buy while you are there.

P.S. Fargo is only 75 short miles from here Just a short walk in the park!
OK vented


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

That doesn't sound fair to me. I snagged a box for a local gas station-cafe and they were gone right away. PLOTS books are *not* funded by vendors, but by sportsman dollars. They should be easily accessable to sportsmen. Call Joel.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

I got 1 at the motel in Elgin last week.He had a good supply.But he could have driven to the Bismarck office to get them I suppose.


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## njsimonson (Sep 24, 2002)

You can get them for free, and can customize them to the area you are going to by clicking on the following link.

http://www.nd.gov/gnf/info/plots.html

Hope this helps.


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## sierra03 (Jan 27, 2005)

I hit a gas station east of town right off the interstate at valley city, and there were a bunch of them


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## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

Dick Monson said:


> PLOTS books are *not* funded by vendors, but by sportsman dollars. They should be easily accessable to sportsmen. Call Joel.


 :withstupid:


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## Kevink (Oct 25, 2005)

Everyone, I just want to provide you with some information regarding the distribution and availiability of PLOTS guides. First off, NDGF has printed 50,000 copies of the guides in past years. During the initial years of the PLOTS Guide, the Dept. was sending guides out to individuals who requested them, and mailing them to motels, hotels, CVBs, lodges, and whoever else called in. That method was very wasteful. Many individuals requested more than one copy, many hotels had them laying on the pillows in motel rooms and many of the guides were simply not ending up in the hands of hunters-those who essentially paid for the product. The Dept. decided that it would be a much wiser use of hunter dollars to make the guides available at license vendors, NDGFD offices, National Wildlife Refuges, County Auditors, and on the Dept. website available for download. This year, the Dept. printed 50,000 initial copies and an additional 10,000 copies were just printed a few weeks ago. On average, the guides cost about $1.50 per copy to produce (not including shipping-which is extremely high this year due to rising fuel costs). To put things in perspective, if the Dept. is paying $1.50 an acre for PLOTS land, that equates to 10,000 acres that will not be available for hunting this fall because the cost was absorbed by the PLOTS guide (and this doesn't include the initial 50K copies printed and shipping costs). The cost for administering the PLOTS program is large and the Dept. realizes the PLOTS guide is a very important component of the program but we also need to be responsible with hunter dollars. If you are not a license vendor, you can pick up a supply at a county auditor or a game and fish office. If you are a license vendor, you should have received a supply. The Dept. is asking that vendors distribute the guides to hunters but have the guides available upon request, rather than sitting on the counter for anyone to take. The Dept. wants the guides to get in the hands of hunters, but we also want people and vendors to be reasonable by only allowing one copy per customer. To get an idea of how many guides we need to print each year, we send out a request form to all license vendors asking them how many guides they would like to receive. If you are a vendor and did not receive a shipment of guides, it may be because we did not receive the form back from you. Currently the Dept. is down to a minimal supply of guides. We are limiting shipping and are not planning to print any additional guides. Kevin Kading-Private Lands Coordinator-NDGFD


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## tsodak (Sep 7, 2002)

Well said Kev, thanks for getting that out there.

Tom


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## MRN (Apr 1, 2002)

Kevin,

We appreciate your thoughfulness and hard work.
Thanks for taking time to tell us what's up.

M.


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## curty (Sep 18, 2003)

Thanks Kevin, But I am sure we will have to agree to disagree. Everyone who buys a hunting licence should have a reasonable access to them or (one).

Some Motels were putting them on the pillows??? That is plain stupid!! I respect the Game and Fish Dept. more than that. And one other thing to consider how much does shipping cost for those with UPS?. Has the GNF ever checked into shipping them USPS (media mail) Probably save a ton of cash also.

Thanks again Kevin


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Kevin, welcome to the Nodakoutdoors and please stop back often! Man, you gotta love this site. Right from the horses mouth every time.


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## sierra03 (Jan 27, 2005)

well it doesnt always come straight from the horses mouth...sometimes you catch crap from the horses ***. But its cool to hear from someone of in the related field. Thanks for finding us kevin.


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## faithsdave (Jan 8, 2004)

Kevin, thanks for the good work and for letting us all know what is involved. Maybe you could start some other threads and explain just what goes in to getting land into the PLOTS programs? Thanks again, cousin Dave


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

The other option is to print your own off the G&F website. Most people probably don't need maps of the whole state anyway.


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## Chemo (Jul 29, 2003)

Yep, they used to be right on the pillow, well almost. the group I hunt with stays in Dickinson and for the last two years we had a hard time finding the plots maps, before that the hotel would have a package for us on arrival with a plots guide in it.

Well this year we got ours after a visit from the local CO. That is only after he checked out licenses, guns, went through all our coolers, bags, bins, bags, trucks and quizzed our local landowner friend that helps us find land to hunt. He was kind enough to dig and find us a new copy. We were happy to get the guide.


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## g/o (Jul 13, 2004)

Maybe Curty and some others should approach the Hospitality Group and kick some money in and get them distributed to the motels that want them. I feel Curty is correct they should be available at the motels.


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## Field Hunter (Mar 4, 2002)

Just out of curiosity, because I really don't know, does the Outfitters association kick-in any funds to the hospitality association other than lobbying efforts. if so how much?

It seems that since they are using a public resource to be able to charge for access, that they should be asked to kick-in and help support a worthy project like the PLOTS guides.

Not trying to be sarcastic. Just asking.


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## g/o (Jul 13, 2004)

FH, No we do not kick in anything to hospitality we are just on the same side most of the time. If you are not familiar with ND laws we are not allowed on PLOTS. If you recall the NDPGOA supported this bill when it was introduced. Now it gets reported all the time that o/g's are using this. So I strongly urge you to call the game and fish and report it immediately when or if you find a o/g hunting PLOTS with clients. I really don't know why an outfitter would want a PLOTS guide at there place.

Since there is no cap on either waterfowl or upland license.....G/O would then sell licenses to their clients.And you better have one of those blue colored ones if you use a G/O.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

G/O...guides just don't have to be with their clients when they hunt PLOTS....so the law basically means nothing.Your clients can hunt all the PLOTS they want....you just can't be with them.

Because of this loophole....I would propose that anyone using a G/O be required to have a different colored license.....say blue instead of yellow.Real easy for CO to enforce the law then.

Since we have no cap on either waterfowl or upland licenses...G/O would then sell licenses to their clients....and you better have a blue colored one if you use a G/O.This would be for both res. and non-res. hunters.


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## g/o (Jul 13, 2004)

Ken, I don't feel the colored g/o license thing would work it would be very confussing. For instance a client hunts with Kyle and then on his way home stops and does some freelancing. On the same thought I have proposed for years a private land license. You would only be allowed on private land. As far as a outfitter bringing or sending clients to PLOTS well he has to be crazy. First it is against the law,second doesn't repeat buisness mean anything to him? If I can't provide better hunting at my place than on PLOTS, I won't be in buisness long.


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## DJRooster (Nov 4, 2002)

Colored license? Thats goofy! Residents get the whole season to hunt wherever they want and NR get two weeks to hunt wherever they want except for the opener on PLOTS land. Don't need to micromanage the resource. Has anyone seen g/o's hunting PLOTS land with their clients and if you did was it reported? Simple solution to the problem.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

DJ you are wrong in that you cannot hunt whereever you want.The law says you cannot hunt on State of Federal land with a G/O.But it is almost impossible to enforce because you can if you don't have the guide with you.

Colored licenses would make it easy for our CO to enforce the law....this is not micromanageing....just putting some enforcability into it.


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## DJRooster (Nov 4, 2002)

What about the guy who wants to use a g/o to hunt ducks in the morning and then wants to hunt grouse or some other game on their own in the afternoon? What color license will he need? And then on his return trip later on in the year when he will be hunting with relatives or friends for waterfowl for two days and then continue on to Mott for the rest of the week to hunt pheasants with Cannonball, which colored license should he buy or bring? Sounds a bit to complicated because I don't see where there is a lot of guides using PLOTS land. Like g/o said, it is not good for business and because sooner or later you will get caught if the rest of us are doing our job.


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## Lvn2Hnt (Feb 22, 2005)

Field Hunter said:


> Just out of curiosity, because I really don't know, does the Outfitters association kick-in any funds to the hospitality association other than lobbying efforts. if so how much?
> 
> It seems that since they are using a public resource to be able to charge for access, that they should be asked to kick-in and help support a worthy project like the PLOTS guides.
> 
> Not trying to be sarcastic. Just asking.


They are not required to kick in money, but they are providing funds to programs like the PLOTS when they pay their G/O licensing fees.



> 20.1-03-36.2. Guides and outfitters licenses.The department shall deposit in the game and fish department private habitat and access improvement fund any funds collected under section 20.1-03-36.1 or this section from hunting guides and outfitters which are not used for the administration of this chapter.


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