North Dakota’s roadside pheasant survey conducted in late July and August indicates total birds and number of broods are up statewide from 2014. Stan Kohn, upland game management supervisor for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said the survey shows total pheasants are up 30 percent from last year. In addition, brood observations were up 23 percent, while the average brood size was up 9 percent. The final summary is based on 259 survey runs made along 105 brood routes across North Dakota. “Our late summer roadside counts indicate pheasant hunters are going to find more birds in the southern half of the state this fall, with the southwest having the strongest population of young roosters,” Kohn said. “Hunters will also find average habitat conditions on the landscape.”
Statistics from southwestern North Dakota indicate total pheasants were up 34 percent and broods observed up 31 percent from 2014. Observers counted 25 broods and 207 birds per 100 survey miles. The average brood size was 6.2.
Results from the southeast show birds are up 27 percent from last year, and the number of broods up 21percent. Observers counted eight broods and 62 birds per 100 miles. The average brood size was 5.5.
Statistics from the northwest indicated pheasants are down 18 percent from last year, with broods down 32 percent. Observers recorded six broods and 46 birds per 100 miles. Average brood size was 6.3.
The northeast district, generally containing secondary pheasant habitat, with much of it lacking good winter cover, showed two broods and 15 birds per 100 miles. Average brood size was 4.3. Number of birds observed was down 17 percent, and the number of broods recorded was down 7 percent.
The 2015 regular pheasant season opens Oct. 10 and continues through Jan. 3, 2016. The two-day youth pheasant hunting weekend, when legally licensed residents and nonresidents ages 15 and younger can hunt statewide, is set for Oct. 3-4.
Landowners Seek Doe Hunters
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is currently working with landowners in 12 hunting units across the state who would like to host hunters with antlerless deer licenses in 2015. Participating landowners are located in hunting units 2C, 2I, 2J2, 2K1, 2K2, 3A4, 3B3, 3C, 3D2, 3F1, 4B and 4E.
The program is not intended for buck hunters, but designed to direct hunters with antlerless licenses to specific areas to reduce deer populations.
Interested hunters can get their name on a list of possible participants by accessing the Game and Fish Department’s website at gf.nd.gov. Hunters who do not have Internet access can call the department’s main office in Bismarck at 701-328-6300. Hunters will provide their address, hunting unit(s) where they hold valid antlerless licenses, and if using rifle, muzzleloader or bow. From this list the department will select the number of hunters landowners have agreed to host. These hunters will be sent the landowner’s name, phone number and any information relating to the landowner’s specific situation. Hunters must have a valid 2015 deer gun license since the Game and Fish Department does not provide a hunting license with this program. Not everyone who signs up will end up with a new place to hunt, because not everyone’s schedule will match up with a landowner’s, and more people will likely put their name on the list than there are openings. Currently, participating landowners have openings for about 120 doe hunters.
North Dakota’s 2015 regular deer gun season runs from Nov. 6-22. In addition, the archery season extends through Jan. 3, 2016; the youth season is Sept. 18-27; and muzzleloader runs from Nov. 27 – Dec. 13.
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