# Advisory Meeting Reports



## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Lets hear what happened at the meetings. Topics disscussed and comments??????


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Three meetings held so far, Casselton last night. So what was disscussed?


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

The first hour the G&F took questions and comments about the past hunting season. A lot of interesting comments came up, but none that surprised me.

They spent the next hour discussing the deer populations, changes in the Sage Grouse season, and the new potential for a Prairie Chicken season. And it was rounded off with talks of the 2004-06 fishing seasons.

Worth the trip, and it was nice meeting you tsodak!


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## Field Hunter (Mar 4, 2002)

I was busy last night and couldn't make it.....care to elaborate on the "interesting" comments?


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## stevepike (Sep 14, 2002)

For those who plan on attending these meetings, it helps to have a notebook and write down your questions ahead of time so you don't forget them. They can get pretty far off topic and it is easy to forget your questions. Also the notebook is great for writing down some of those "interesting" comments.

My favorite was one from the meetings on the waterfowl zones.
"I'm just a dumb German Russian who wants to hunt some ducks" 
No offense to anyone but this is what the guy said. The guy said it when it was kinda tense, cracked up the whole room and put everyone back at ease.

See ya in Bismarck.


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## Ron Gilmore (Jan 7, 2003)

The topic of leg tags was discussed and so was the need for better zones along with total numbers of NR licence and where they chose for there seven day period. Zone 1, 22 percent Zone 2 ,11 percent That is 33 percent for a very small portion of the state that had waterfowl.

The topic of guide numbers came up and they indicated we had a dramitc increase in numbers because of the law change. We have about the same number of G/O licensed but landowners that guide on ther own property no longer need one.

Baiting for deer was brought up and the state is looking at this issue so that may need to be reviewed at a later date.

Dan asked about using PLI money to establish new temp rest artea's to hold birds longer in state. The understanding I got was they intend only to enhance area's around existing rest area's. If memory serves me correctly and with some input from others there I thought that money was dedicated to establish *new area's. We need to follow up on this and I recommend that others bring this up or we will end up with the same issue that we had with the PLOTS closing to pheaasnt hunting instead of all hunting as the law stated.

It was nice to see some of the other members from this site at the meeting, Chis, Tom, Greg, Tim,Dan, and a couple others.

One thing I forgot to ask about was the open meeting law rulings on Advbisory board meetings. Please make sure that this is brpought up at other meetings in the state.

I also want to thank the Casselton Wildlife Club for hosting the meeting.

I do believe that Ken Topp is stepping down and a position will be open. Nominations are needed to fill this slot.*


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## NDMALLARD (Mar 9, 2002)

Toop stepping down is a good news for North Dakota sportsman, From personal conversations I have had with him he is no friend to resident hunter s. Let's hope Dan Bueide is a nominee to fill this vacancy. Are you listning Governor?


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## Fetch (Mar 1, 2002)

Now there is a idea that absolutely needs etree support

Dan for his regions advisory committee

We need to have a letter writing campaign anytime one of these opens

I DON"T THINK WE ARE FAIRLY REPRESENTED ON THIS COMMITTEE AT ALL & I refuse to even go the meetings - until I get a better feeling for them - (Now thats a personal thing - Cause I used to go to alot of them in my area ) If I went today I'd most likely get so peeved I'd say more negatives than good things - so I stay away :******:

With the people currantly on it we are in deep Do Do - if they are going to use them as the voice of Resident Hunters

& I agree 100% with what Dick has said - ALL their meetings need to be open to the Public & Press & I'd like to see a comment period after, for those that could not make it - to be heard (on the record) ---It has been used as a Lame way to get & hear what some want to hear :******:


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## frosty (Dec 6, 2002)

A reminder to those in the central part of ND, advisory board meeting tomorrow night, Thursday 7 pm at the Game and Fish Bismarck office. Hope to see many of you there.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

BISMARCK: so what was shaking there last night? How did it go? Did the ETREE-Scorecard flyers ever show up?


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## stevepike (Sep 14, 2002)

Unfortunately no they did not. I have 4 pages of notes I need to put together to post.

Sheldon's Realtree Turkey hunts did come up though


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Bummer. The line of communication was too long, it's a lick on me. The next set of flyers will be color coded for ETREE signup and legislator letter grades and ranking. And they will be there on time.


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## stevepike (Sep 14, 2002)

BTW, it would be great if nodakoutdoors could host some of the advisory meetings. I am willing to kick in a few bucks for refreshments (  I should probably send Chris a few bucks before I get ahead of myself here) and whatever else is necessary for the Bismarck ones.


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## stevepike (Sep 14, 2002)

A lot of good info and the G&F let the people talk as much as they could (3+ hours). 46 sportsmen and about 12 G&F employees present. Good meeting overall.

Topics of the Meeting
1.	Canned hunts. The game from these types of hunts are mainly controlled by the board of animal health. G&F does inspections on the deer side of it. It is a touchy subject. Alot of people don't like them, alot feel it is private property and should not be regulated and landowners should not be told what they can and can't do. Best comment heard when someone mentioned Economic Development. One older gentleman in the back said under his breath "so is prostitution". 
2.	Managing Excess Elk in The Park. The G&F is working on a controlled management action to allow sportsman to control the number of elk when they exceed the carrying capacity. Have to watch the wording on this one. Feds control a lot of it so don't expect it anytime soon.
3.	Number of Wolves and Mountain Lions in the state. No one really knows, not sure if they want to spend the huge amount of money to find out and study/control. Half a million dollars was mentioned.
4.	National Grasslands trail policy. They are not enforcing it but the fed has a guy that is. One guy said they call him "Rambo". Weird wording on policy does not allow ATV's but does allow snowmobiles. Working on acquiring more land out there for our use.
5.	Farmers and Ranchers requesting depredation help. They do not get funds, but help with hay yard fences etc. Dept. talks with them and HIGHLY encourages allowing hunting as a viable management method. Talked about the bills that were killed that could have helped this more.
6.	Commercialization of our sport scares the G&F and influences many of their management decisions.
7.	CWD
8.	Reservations. They are working with various tribes to iron some things out. Sheldon was brought up. Interim study in the legislature.
9.	School Land. 400,000 acres. Over 90% open to hunting. 
10.	3 sections of land in the Turtle Mountains that the DOT is purchasing and G&F will be leasing back for hunting. 
11.	Baiting of Deer. Pretty split on this one.
12.	Tagging of festered/previously shot deer. Have to tag them and get put on a list for a replacement deer. You will NOT get a replacement tag.
13.	Deer Lottery. Hard to get tags. 
14.	Fishing. New lakes closed to winter fishing. Paddlefish. White Bass proposed limit of 35 and Burbot Proposed limit of 10.
15.	Boat Ramps on SAK
16.	Harmon and Harmony Lake. 
17.	Managing Deer by units
18.	Antelope, Elk and Bighorn Management
19.	Possibly getting rid of split seasons. Only if landowners and sportsmen both want it.
20.	Mines opening up land to hunting. Need to iron out liability aspects as too many people think they have deep pockets and would exploit their generosity of letting us hunt. 
21.	Confluence and the purchase of some nice land up there. Buckmasters used to lease it.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Thanks for a great report Steve. I urge nodakers to forward that list of discussion topics to their buddies in Dist. #6, Wimbledon, and also Dist.#2 Minot, so sportsmen there have a heads up. IMO the cased gun suggestion and the leg band-tags are also good ideas.


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## stevepike (Sep 14, 2002)

Thanks Dick. It is hard to take good notes, transfer them and still pay attention/participate.

What is the cased gun issue?


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

The cased gun issue is a potential requirement that firearms would be zipped-locked in a case while in a vehicle. The idea being that it would cut down road hunting problems. Not a popular idea in Dist 6

Wimbledon Advisory Meeting: Dec 8, 41 attending + 8 NDGF

1 Fishing Derby-Tournaments were discussed as to the payment cap that goes back to the resource. Currently 10% of the $ take is supposed to be returned to NDGF for resource improvement, but a cap was placed in the past to give large tourmaments such as Devils Lake, etc. a by.

2 Enforcement monitering duck derbys or any commercial contest that sells the public resource. Needs to be stepped up.

3 Inspecting tournament boats for noxious invaders, plant and animal.

4 Multiple licenses for increaseing doe harvest needed.

5 Dean had concerns about waterfowl contests that put a "wall of hunters" in the field, moving birds to other areas. Commercialization must be addressed by legislature.

6 Waterfowl rest areas dropped and re-enrollment.

7 Zone 1 &2. Dean shared comments from commerial interests about waterfowl zone 1 & 2; three groups emphaticlly objected to new regs, these were G/Os- businesses, NRs who purchased private hunting land-farms, and NRs who purchased hunting houses.

8 Compensation for crop loss-depredation was discussed.

9 Open Metting Law pertaining to Advisors Advisory Meetings. Dean said the Board complys by informing the Attorney General in advance. 
(*NOTE*: *3 positions are opening. Toop, Melby, and Grubely are going off the board. 4 members are to be nominated by landowner-farmer groups and 4 by sportsmens groups. We need to get on this issue ASAP) DM*

10 Leg banding-tags for NRs-did not sound encouraging.

11 Weighted lottery system-six year max wait period. Relationship to desireable whitetail and mule deer units. True preferance system was discussed.

12 Elk in TRNP. Increasing number of cows beyond capacity-cannot be removed from state due to CWD fedral restrictions-a "controled management" study is under way by all parties and EIS is being done.

13 Resident Only PLOTS week was very popular. Some farmers complained about the number of hunters in their area. Noted that ND Tourism has spent large sums promoting hunting in these areas. A 10AM October opener was discussed. Noted that farmers-hunters DO NOT call in violations, need to do so to curb that activity. It is our responsibility. Noted that court costs assessed to violations have risen to $225.

14 Response time for wardens and addressing complaints. One thought it was too slow, others refused to sign complaints, many thought wardens do great job under difficult conditions.

15 *Dean said, "Deer season management by unit is critical to determine what landowners and sportsmen can tolerate for pressure in each unit, because each unit is different*. There are apx. 40+ deer units in ND. (I thought that was the exact same reason put forth for 5-7 zones for waterfowl hunting; apparently the pancake does not taste the same on both sides) DM

16 Catch and release for smallmouth bass on Spiritwood Lake. Some felt too many whoppers were harvested lately. Some felt spearing has destroyed pike fishery there. Spiritwood has dropped from #1 to #5 for spearing in just 3 years.

17 Shallow lakes are at risk this year due to falling water, some have already crashed, it was expected. Dean said *an unused resource is a waste; *(maybe unused pheasants in SW ND are a waste?) DM

18 Falling water on Sakakwea is destroying smelt forage base. Walleyes are being concentrated short term with negative long term effects. Salmon fishery is deterioting already, size is decreasing fast.

19 Fish by-passes on low head dams was discussed. 2 were installed for $18,000 each in eastern ND-cost share may be available for more if locals show interest.


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## Fetch (Mar 1, 2002)

> 15 Dean said, "Deer season management by unit is critical to determine what landowners and sportsmen can tolerate for pressure in each unit, because each unit is different. There are apx. 40+ deer units in ND. (I thought that was the exact same reason put forth for 5-7 zones for waterfowl hunting; apparently the pancake does not taste the same on both sides) DM


AMEN to that - I guess once there are 100,000 combined waterfowlers they will decide to manage it better :roll: :eyeroll:


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