DNR announces Minnesota waterfowl stamp contest winner
Sep. 10—ST. PAUL — Albert Lea, Minnesota, artist Mark Kness won the Department of Natural Resources' 2024 Waterfowl Stamp Contest with an acrylic painting of a ring-neck duck, the DNR announced this week. Jake Levisen of Austin, Minnesota, earned second place with a ring-neck duck painting done in open acrylics, soft body acrylics and water-mixable oils. Third place went to Stephen Hamrick of Lakeville, Minnesota, with a painting of a ring-neck duck done in acrylic on illustration board. The winners were selected out of 13 eligible submissions.
The waterfowl stamp can be purchased in combination with a hunting license or as a collectible. Visit the
Minnesota DNR website
at
for more information about habitat stamps and contest guidelines. — staff report
OSSEO, Minn. — Fishing advocacy group MN-FISH is launching what it calls "The World's Greatest Fishing and Hunting Auction" starting Tuesday, Sept. 12, and ending Sunday, Sept. 17.
The online auction includes dozens of unique hunting or fishing adventures plus fancy deer blinds, Minnesota Wild tickets, Bud Burger bronze and more.
The donated items, along with the winning bids, will help fund MN-FISH efforts to remind legislators about the need to invest in hatcheries, boat accesses, fishing docks, shoreline fishing sites, bait shortage issues, Mississippi carp controls and other issues and necessities across the state.
"If we anglers don't ask for legislative support, it won't happen," Ron Schara, MN-FISH president, said in a statement. "History tells us that. Investing in fishing has been neglected for more than a decade by our legislators. But no more.
"MN-FISH will continue to keep Minnesota fishing strong ... if we get your help and contributions," Schara added. "This is the real world."
To visit the auction
go to MN-FISH.com. — staff report
WASHINGTON — The National Park Service, through the North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department, has awarded $733,487 to communities across the state through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., announced the awards Thursday, Sept. 7, for the following projects:
* $72,000 to the Mandan Park District toward the replacement of an existing playground at the Legion Park in order to improve accessibility and update the exterior of the warming house.
* $191,515 to the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians to build a splash pad at Ox Creek Park in Belcourt, North Dakota.
* $55,000 to Finley, North Dakota, to renovate Finley Park by replacing the current non-ADA compliant playground equipment with new, improved, safer ADA compliant equipment.
* $80,000 to Wishek, North Dakota, to renovate their outdoor swimming pool by fixing leaking pipes, replacing the pool filter system, and installing new concrete pool walls, floor and PVC liner.
* $204,120 to Lakota, North Dakota, for the conversion of the currently unused and damaged wading pool into a zero-entry wading pool with splash features.
* $130,852 to Hazen, North Dakota, to improve public outdoor recreation opportunity for the community by renovating North Star Park.
In 2019, Cramer helped pass the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, which was signed into law by President Trump in March 2019. The bill reauthorized and reformed the LWCF program, primarily funded by offshore oil and natural gas leasing revenues, so states receive at least 40% of its funding. Traditionally, the majority of investments were spent on federal land acquisition. — staff report
ST. PAUL — During Minnesota's youth waterfowl hunt — Saturday, Sept. 9, and Sunday, Sept. 10 — youth hunters will have a special opportunity to learn how to hunt waterfowl with an adult who is not hunting. During the two-day hunt, waterfowl hunters 17 and younger, when accompanied by a non-hunting adult 18 and older, can take ducks, geese, mergansers, coots and moorhens from a half hour before sunrise to sunset. Hunters should review important details about participating in this hunt on page 8 of the
Minnesota Waterfowl Regulations
at
.
Throughout Minnesota, the youth waterfowl weekend happens when many people are engaged in a wide range of water-based activities, including harvesting wild rice. The Minnesota DNR urges all over-water waterfowl hunters to be aware of and cautious about people participating in other activities on the water, no matter where they hunt. — staff report
MIDDLE RIVER, Minn. — Hunters at Thief Lake Wildlife Management Area in northwest Minnesota harvested an estimated 6,640 ducks in 2022, WMA staff reported in the 2023 Thief Lake Newsletter. That's the highest estimate since 1996 and up 30% from the harvest of 5,116 in 2021. The 2022 total includes an estimated 405 teal taken during the early teal season.
Hunter success, measured in ducks per hunter per day, was the second highest on record, but down slightly from the record high in 2021 — 2.39 in 2022 compared with 2.52 in 2021. The 2022 season got off to the slowest start since 2004 but made up for it over the course of the fall. Opening day was plagued by warm, foggy, misty, windless conditions and a lack of locally produced ducks due to the spring flooding.
Hunter success was best during mid-October and again in early November, according to the newsletter report. Hunting pressure was low during those time frames. Harvest was split equally between dabbler and diver ducks. Top birds in the bag during the regular season were ringnecks (No. 1), wigeon, blue-winged teal, mallards, redheads and pintails. Freeze up came with the storm that hit Thursday, Nov. 10. — staff report
BISMARCK — Hunters should be respectful and cautious
as farmers and ranchers are busy with field work this time of year, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department said in a reminder.
Department officials said hunters should pull to the side of the road or find an approach when meeting combines, grain trucks or tractors pulling equipment. In addition, hunters should avoid parking along roadways or field approaches where vehicles could block travel by farm machinery, leave gates as you found them, collect trash and empty shells, and not clean game in the road ditch or approach. — staff report
BISMARCK — The North Dakota Game and Fish Department was recently a partner on a Multistate Conservation Grant project to create a comprehensive online course on how to hunt upland birds.
In this free course, five stories of different upland hunters and landscapes are featured, including North Dakota. It also covers the basics of equipment, technique, safety and more with companion video modules.
The course is available on the
Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever
website. — staff report
BISMARCK — Hunters can help in the effort to manage upland game birds in North Dakota by collecting feathers from harvested birds and sending in wing envelopes, the Game and Fish Department said.
Birds included in the department's upland game wing survey, which has been in practice for decades, are ring-necked pheasants, sharp-tailed grouse, Hungarian partridge, turkeys and ruffed grouse.
Collecting enough pheasant samples is typically never a problem, but securing enough sharptail and partridge feathers can be.
Game and Fish biologists will take as many sharptail and partridge feathers as they can get because the more collected, the better the data. Biologists can determine if birds are male or female, age ratios, survival, nesting success, hatch dates and overall production.
What biologists learn from samples is vital to helping manage North Dakota's upland game birds. Instructions for submitting wing data are printed on the envelope.
* More info:
. — staff report
BISMARCK — The North Dakota Game Wardens Association is sponsoring scholarships for enrolled higher education students interested in majoring in wildlife law enforcement or a related field.
Applications are available by contacting the North Dakota Game Warden's Association,
, and must be received no later than Oct. 15. — staff report
