# Former ND Lt. Gov. flames MN and Wis. hunters



## mnwatrfwl (Sep 16, 2005)

From another site apparently printed in the Grand Forks paper, the article is in it's entirety. I guess the R vs. NR issue goes to all levels. Just curious on your thoughts of this.

This is an article by Former ND Lt. Gov Lloyd Omdahl

LLOYD OMDAHL COLUMN: Running the orange gauntlet in Minnesota

Published Monday, November 12, 2007
If you promise not to tell our insurance company, Ruth and I will confess that we unintentionally traveled through Minnesota brush country on the first day of deer season.

When we saw the first three hunters in their bright orange vests standing by one of those "leaping deer" signs, we thought the Minnesota Highway Department had ordered its employees to work Saturdays to examine bridges before snowfall. These hunters must have been beginners from Minneapolis because experienced rifle persons - and motorists - know that deer are never found within 15 miles of deer crossing signs.

As we drove down this heavily-wooded back road, the orange thickened until there were at least six hunters for every deer - twice the number of licenses issued by the state. Apparently, no one was left in Minneapolis-St. Paul except women, children and animal rights advocates, none of whom dared leave town.

Every gun in Minnesota was being held by someone wearing orange and everything not masked in orange was considered game. For years, the game wardens have proposed that all hunters pass an alcohol test because too many hunters think that a little "snort" clears the gun scope and multiplies the deer. At least, it seems that there are more deer. And, of course, many "snorts" bring out many deer.

A count of guns indicated that it was safer in downtown Baghdad than anywhere in Minnesota on opening day of deer season. In fact, relatives of hunters should have obtained "Support Our Deer Hunters" magnetic ribbons for their cars. After all, the people out there in orange were only as safe as the most intoxicated amateur hunter suffering from an advanced case of buck fever.

Evidence of hunter optimist was everywhere. Every highway ramp was full of pickups, ATVs, trailers and Rent-all trucks. Some had campers parked in the woods so they could refresh themselves between outings.

To guarantee a successful outing, some of the wealthier hunters leased land for their exclusive use. This practice really aggravates the traditional hunters who see reserves as unethical. In fact, they are placing a measure on the North Dakota ballot to outlaw the practice. (Why not just rope the deer a few days in advance and shoot them when the season opens? What is this country coming to, anyway? What good is the right to bear arms if you don't get a fair chance to shoot something?)

As the season wears on, the only hunters in the field will be those who haven't bagged a deer. As their frustration grows, they will become more desperate, making it necessary to keep horses, cows, sheep, dogs, cats and other furry animals indoors until the shooting stops. Lacking a live target, they usually open mailbox season on the last day.

Deer hunting in North Dakota is much safer. In the first place, there is one less fatality for every 25 miles of distance from Minneapolis, making Dickinson and Williston very safe. Secondly, hunters can see for miles on our treeless plains so there is no excuse for accidents. Of course, it is true that the deer can also see for miles so they share in the safety factor.

I come from a hunting family. My brothers would go out with 30.06s, shotgun slugs and even bows on that first day. (I had seven brothers and there were never enough guns.) I lost interest in deer hunting when a hunter was shot out of a tree stand in Wisconsin by someone too drunk to drive but untested for hunting. That turned me to pheasants and then only when I find them in my backyard.


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## cwoparson (Aug 23, 2007)

Sounds like the ramblings of a moron. A retarded one at that. For someone that was supposedly intelligent enough to be Lt. Governor in a state he comes off like a idiot that in reality hates hunters and hunting. Guess he can't find any pheasants in his back yard. I suppose PETA loved his article though since he supplied them with a name and ammunition for one of their campaigns.


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## DuckBuster (Mar 18, 2003)

What a tool..... :eyeroll:


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## Shu (Oct 21, 2003)

I can't believe that's real


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## Dak (Feb 28, 2005)

Published 12 Nov in the GF Herald.

:beer:


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Fellows, you are a bit too tender. Former ND Lt. Gov Lloyd Omdahl writes a highly popular weekly column of social and political satire here in ND.

No group or activity escapes his pen. His columns on small towns, school boards, local government, the ND Legislature, etc are great reading and not done with malice, but humor. And he has treated ND hunters with the same barbs.


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## cwoparson (Aug 23, 2007)

Dick, what you say may be true but there is a difference in being humorous, getting a point across in a satire fashion, and just down right insulting. He certainly is in the latter group. One thing that stands out very clearly is when some one like this guy makes a comment such as "What good is the right to bear arms if you don't get a fair chance to shoot something", meaning to me he views the second amendment is about hunting, well the red flags goes up and I think I know what field this guy plays in.

Sorry, but to write in the fashion you say he does within one's own state where he is known for what he does is one thing but to write as he did about another state is malice in my opinion and not satire. Sounds like you guys have your own Jerry Springer, another popular guy within a certain crowd. :wink:


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

That was not cool at all to say any of that at all. If he was so scared about being in MN on deer opener why was he there is the first place? I think that he owns MN an apologie. Those comment were very demeaning. Hunting in every state can be deadly. No matter what we do people will accidently get shot. What about the guy that got his leg shot by his dog, as he when to retreive a downed duck.


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## Drake Jake (Sep 25, 2007)

blhunter3 said:


> What about the guy that got his leg shot by his dog, as he when to retreive a downed duck.


The dog probably was Minnesotan, so there is the answer... :-?

People who hunt late in the season are people who havent got a deer yet... they are mailbox hunters? I hunt all rifle season. If i have already shot a nice doe, i will stay out there to get a buck. If i have already shot a buck, ill stay around to get a nice doe. If i got both, then i will be out there just to watch the beauty of nature.

What an idiot. This guy makes himself look like a [email protected]$$! :******:


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Im pretty sure that the guy was from ohio or some state over there not MN.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Dick is absolutely right.......Minnesota hunters evidently have no sense of humor.Take it for was it is.......a lampoon of deer hunting in Minnesota......Lloyd Omdahl is ND's answer to Andy Rooney.His columns are almost always like this.He does this to us NoDaker's all the time.

Lighten up Minnesota hunters.....laugh a little.....Being from Minn.,I think it was hilarous....especially this line.....

"Lacking a live target, they usually open mailbox season on the last day." :rollin:

Oh and by the way .....this really shows a lot of class when you have no clue what our former Lt. Governor is all about....."What an idiot. This guy makes himself look like a [email protected]$$"


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## Burly1 (Sep 20, 2003)

You guys are insulted by Omdahl's satire, yet you elected a pro wrestler governor?


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## Dak (Feb 28, 2005)

Burly1,

That is a great line...


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## hunter121390 (Nov 7, 2006)

that guy is a dumba$$


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## jd mn/nd (Apr 8, 2004)

Well some people in MN elected a retired wrestler a govenor and the Republicans have been cleaning up that mess ever since it happened!!!! However at least he could write books and not just colums in the GF Rag. The LT Gov. of ND is a moron because even if he was poking fun at MN and WI he did not have one shread of truth to any of the writings in the column and then to try to point out that ND has a better safety record? I highly doubt that, if you take a per capita safety record we got ND smoked!!!! Secondly MN does not limit the amount of liscenses issued, we sell tags to everyone who wants to hunt even NR's from ND and yes there are a bunch that jump the border and hunt here because they could not even get a tag in THIER home state. Not to mention our deer herd is the one and only thing that our DNR has done right in the last 50-60 years of wildlife management or what ever they are really do now, oh yah I guess that would be kissing the bunny huggers butts on capital hill in St.Stupid, MN. I think that he should have stuck to politics in ND at least then you know that no one is listening to him, this way there is always the ever present danger that someone might read his stupid ramblings and be subject to a thread like this one.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Once again.....this is a lampoon......so Minnesota people have never joked about ND or Iowa or Wisc.......yeah right.

It is what it is.....if you Minn. people can't see that......Sheesh.....I guess you really have thin skins.


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## g/o (Jul 13, 2004)

If Omdahl was a Republican Dick, and Ken would be all over his comments because he is from the other party its alright. A week ago Kenny was complain about saying derogatory comments about the fighting Sioux at ball games is so terrible. Yet this is just great. Oh ya I can't forget :lol:  CYA


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## 4CurlRedleg (Aug 31, 2003)

That is exceptionally funny and true. :lol: :lol:

God Bless the Sotans!!


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## jdpete75 (Dec 16, 2003)

I bet mailboxes taste aweful  . But leave it to a coot shootin scissorbill to come up with a season for em


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

G/O.....only my mother and grandmother call me Kenny......and you definitly don't fit the description.So please don't do it again. :eyeroll:

As far as being a Dem. or Rep.......who cares what he is.....he writes funny stuff. :wink:


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

> If Omdahl was a Republican Dick, and Ken would be all over his comments because he is from the other party its alright.


Well, I am conservative and it's ok with me to. If it had been about ND I would have laughed then also. One has to laugh at themselves before they have the right to laugh at others. You take yourself way to seriouse g/o.


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## Dak (Feb 28, 2005)

There is some funny stuff in there. Some you could change the state to NoDak and it would apply. If he had used Wisconsin or the Dak the MN guys would be rolling on the floor laughing. The line "Thou dost protest too much..." comes to mind.


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## jd mn/nd (Apr 8, 2004)

Well as for the political venue of each person, or in this case the LT Gov. it does not matter. I personally do not and have not poked fun at any state. I also do not intend to poke fun at any state in the future either. With all of the other things going on and that have gone on in the past and currently, and by that I mean the NR issues, on both sides of the fence I fail to see the humor in any of his imbecile ramblings. If we as Minnesotans poke fun at one of our own that is one thing. However it is a completely different situation for one person from another state, to poke fun at something that they know little if anything about, and apparently has never experienced for themselves, then to write it in an open forum such as a newspaper, just goes to show that this was a not so well thought out jab at the "neighbors". ND is a great state and a great place to spend time weather it be hunting, fishing, sight seeing, visting friends and family, etc... MN is also a great state for many of the same reasons, we are not without our problems. However neither is ND, or WI for that matter. So until those issues are settled I do not believe that anyone should be throwing stones, when we all live in the preverabal " glass house". Ken you and Bob Kellman have both pm'd me on several different occasions and you both know that I am who I say I am. Ken you and I even buried the "hatchet" on a couple of issues and have agreed that one of these years we will get together to hunt. I do truely look forward to that time, and Bob has also been extended the same invitation and I also look forward to that opportunity. Hence the reason that I fail to see humor in the writings of this person. We should all be able to agree to disagree on certain issues and still get along. But when a person like this guy comes along and does a column like this one, I personally look at and say that he just trying to dump gas on an open fire. Maybe I just took it all wrong but I will tell you that if some idiot in MN did this to ND, I would be all over it in the same fashion as this. It was wrong to do and should not have been done, no matter which side did it to whom.

Thanks for putting up with my little rant.

Later JD


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

JD....I also look forward to hunting with you....just my opinion that Omdahl writes funny stuff.Don't be so sensitive.


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## cwoparson (Aug 23, 2007)

> If it had been about ND I would have laughed then also.


That's because you know who and what he is. The people in Minnesota do not know the guy and will be reading what they see as the opinion of ND's ex Lt. Governors unflattering opinion of their state. If it were reversed and you simply saw a article printed from a Minnesota paper and didn't know anything about the author would find it funny. No you would not. Use common sense even though your once Lt. Governor has none.


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## jd mn/nd (Apr 8, 2004)

Hey Ken!! how is the early retirement treating you these days? Are you all settled in to your new home and city? Did you manage to get out and do a little hunting this fall? I ended up scrubbing my second trip up this year as it seems that everyone else had more important things going on then to keep their word and go hunting in ND. So it was kind of a dismal year this year. However we did well deer hunting, here MN. My stepson and I tagged out this year. Keep in touch and let's get together for the beverage soon if nothing else, are coming through here any time in the near future?

Later JD


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## Dak (Feb 28, 2005)

Thanks for letting me know what I would do. You're wrong. I would find it funny.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

jd.....yeah I have been here 3 months or so now.Finally getting to know my way around the west end of Fargo/West Fargo now.Been out hunting a lot for just about everything.Wore out my GWP pup the first week of pheasant hunting.Time to go out again after Thanksgiving.Still 6 weeks to hunt those ditch parrots yet.

Have a nice Thanksgiving.Maybe next year when you are up in the Bottineau area we can get together.


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## jd mn/nd (Apr 8, 2004)

Glad to hear that things are going well for you! We'll see how things pan out for next year if things go like this year I will be selling the house and only going out with my sons. I had 9 guys lined up to go up to hunt and all but one backed out on me, so we scrubbed the planned last trip and stayed here in MN. If I do sell the house I will be going very protable! I can explain to you later on that matter. I hope you got that pup dialed in well. I am sure by now he is perfoming like a master for you. It is an exciting feeling to see that dog lock up on a good point. My sons and a couple of friends will also be doing some hunting over Thanksgiving, I am looking forward to it. I hope that all is well with you and your family and safe travels you and your for the pending holiday.

Later JD


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## nilsmaster (Sep 26, 2003)

Maybe at the age of 29 I'm turning into a grumpy old man. Can it be already? I do have gray hair and I'm balding...so maybe.

Any who, two people defending Lloyd's articles are two people I've witnessed for many years defending North Dakota and it's outdoor scene. Those two individuals are Dick Monson and Ken W.

Both claim that his articles are funny. That may be but this article is the first I have ever read of his. So, I ask just how are people suppose to know the difference between the VERY thin line of "comedy" and seriousness? All I know is there are too many people in America today prone to being "programmed" than those that can think for themselves. If one of those individuals happened to read this article, whalla, we have a hunting rights assassin on our hands with "factual" ammunition from a past legislator.

Like I said, perhaps I'm getting old and sensetive in my "old" age but I think this article should have tamed down the "humor" in it. Heck, a week later (if that) we had Renee Zapft (however you spell her name) from the Dakota Student write an article about hunting. Am I suppose to assume that was for fun too? Some are claiming that was the intent of the article. Furthermore, who's to say more won't pop up and be influenced the wrong way by Llyod's article? It seems to me there are those capable in doing so.

I don't know folks. First this, then that, then this, then that. Now we have a 2nd rights ammendment under attack in Washington. Humor only gets us so far and it depends which side of the fence the person stands on and just how influential they are!

So I'll end my statement and say that I know Dick and Ken must support Llyod or enjoy their articles. That's fine but please understand why many of us are a little leary in the humor. As a first time reader of Llyod's I had a whole different view.

Later folks and have a great Thanksgiving.

Tim Sandstrom


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Nils.....you are probably right.You have to be a reader of Omdahl's to appreciate him.He was LT. Governor over 30 years ago when George Sinner was governor.Also a teaching professor at UND.Since then he has written satirical columns for newspapers in North Dakota.I guess if I had never seen his columns before I might feel like you do........but that's why I have been saying over and over and over and over that it is a lampoon kind of like Andy Rooney.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

One of his best columns was about a Homeland Security Grant to a small ND town that didn't have enough folding chairs for all the local gov employees (7) to sit at the same time.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

I'm from Wisconsin still have alot of family there and hunt deer there almost every year.

His description would be very generous of the Wisconsin deer season.

True story

a good friend of mine once owned bar in Wisconsin, we were sitting eating lunch haveing a few when a guy from Illinois walking in and asked us if we know of a good plce to deer hunt.

My friend told him to going out of town on highway X until he saw the deer crossing sign park his car and walk in the woods exactly 300 steps and find a place to sit, that a big buck came though there every afternoon. The guy from Il thanked him and left . We all had a good laugh.

About one hour later he came back and bought us all around and thanks my friend profusely, the guy had followed his instructions exactly and had a huge 16 point buck on his car :lol:

It was amazing, you dont have to be good if your lucky....


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## Gooseguy10 (Oct 10, 2006)

To all the people fired up about the article.....we need a stick removal....stat.

I saw a great bumper sticker the other day that simply said "calm down!" Fitting in many cases, including getting fired up about a satire article regarding hunting.

And yes I am from Minnesota.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

Lloyd's response to Minnesote critics of his column......gotta love this guy.Even my wife who is also from Minn. had to laugh. :rollin:

When Minnesota elected a wrestler as its governor, the whole world thought the state was blessed with a remarkable sense of humor. The election didn't prove anything about the sense of humor, but it did indicate that anybody could be governor of Minnesota without doing the state much damage.

When someone declared that Minnesota was a Land of 10,000 Lakes, it was said in anger by someone who got stuck in swamps twice on the same day looking for Bemidji. Everybody laughed, and it became the state slogan even though nobody has seen the actual count or the definition of "lake."

It became obvious to me that Minnesotans lacked humor after I wrote a recent narrative on the opening day of hunting season in Minnesota. (It was humor by exaggeration, which is sometimes too subtle for some to catch.) Two alleged hunters castigated my misrepresentation of the fall slaughter and demanded an immediate retraction.
One of them wrote that he would drive to North Dakota to punch my nose, but he hasn't had a driver's license since the second day of hunting season. His letter was written on the back of a coaster from "Barry's Bar" in Brainerd, Minn.

Recognizing humor seems to be a problem for Minnesotans, probably because the state is densely populated by folks of Scandinavian ancestry. (Or should that sentence be reworded to read "populated by dense folks of Scandinavian ancestry?")

With a culture rooted in the gloom of fjords and snow, it will take several more generations before Scandinavians will be able to laugh out loud. It's a deep-seated cultural problem. And to think that a professional humorist, Al Franken, is running for governor.

Ole and Lena tried to make it in Minnesota, but only the Germans and other non-Scandinavians got the jokes. So they moved to Montana. Garrison Keillor couldn't take it, either. He had to leave the state - went to New York, where he ran into another class of people who couldn't handle humor. So on his way back to the St. Paul stage, he stopped at a Wisconsin rest area to laugh himself dry. He is now considered a recovering humorist, although he frequently lapses into laughter when no one is around.

Garrison has gone into subtle humor - so subtle that the Scandinavians don't get it. The Irish do, but when they break out laughing, the Swedes figure that the Irish had too many nips before coming to the theater - which is often true.

Being humorless is a serious deficiency in an age when laughing is needed to cope with life. Major crimes are up; kids are being left behind in school; the federal debt is outrageous; illegals are pouring over the border; Torii Hunter is leaving the Twins; the family budget is unbalanced, and the bank wants the house back. The government isn't solving these problems, so we might as well laugh.

Of course, Minnesota doesn't have much to be happy about. North Dakota has the oil that is moving at $90-plus a barrel and the bumper crops that are selling for record prices. The farmers and ranchers think they've gone to heaven without dying, and the state treasury has so much money that the Legislature is stuffing it in mattresses.

Yes, humor is easier to appreciate in North Dakota these days. Minnesotans interested in a happier, more humorous life are always welcome.


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## Dak (Feb 28, 2005)

hilarious!


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

I should point out that Omdahl is Norwegian.....so he is including himself in those "dense folks of Scandinavian ancestry."


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## njsimonson (Sep 24, 2002)

> About one hour later he came back and bought us all around and thanks my friend profusely, the guy had followed his instructions exactly and had a huge 16 point buck on his car


LMAO!!! :beer: :lol: :lol:


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## Dak (Feb 28, 2005)

Ken,

Somebody who can laugh at themselves? What a concept!!


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## Neanderthal (Oct 30, 2007)

I believe lloyd was taking a stab at humor, but if this is his best try maybe he should consider a different way to spend his free time.


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