NW ND prairie bird count dropped significantly

I was referencing this podcast on the WPA drainage.

westernwingshooter.libsyn.com

The Western Wingshooter Podcast: Waterfowl Production Area Distruction!

Wess and George join me to chat about the Waterfowl Production Areas right here in our neighborhood that are being drained by oil companies to frac their wells. After contacting the Game and fish and the state water commission we decided this was a matter that the hunting public should know about.
westernwingshooter.libsyn.com
 
It is no secret that the past 2-3 years in NW ND have been pretty crazy good.

e-posting is changing things a bunch

NW ND was phenomenal pheasant hunting before the sloughs recharged in the early 90s.
 
At one time NW ND was quietly a great place to run dogs and shoot pheasants. It was a zoo opening weekend (mostly ND residents from Williston, Minot and parts in between) ... then pretty quiet as geese entered the state in mass and deer season came next.

When the Bakken was renewed and first going strong ... it was nearly impossible for NRs or even people from eastern ND to find lodging to hunt. Had family in the "vicinity" so that was never an issue.
 
BRITTMAN said:
At one time NW ND was quietly a great place to run dogs and shoot pheasants. It was a zoo opening weekend (mostly ND residents from Williston, Minot and parts in between) ... then pretty quiet as geese entered the state in mass and deer season came next.

When the Bakken was renewed and first going strong ... it was nearly impossible for NRs or even people from eastern ND to find lodging to hunt. Had family in the "vicinity" so that was never an issue.
Click to expand...
Yep pre Bakken it was no problem to get a room that took dogs any time. Then there was no rooms, but still good access. Now with e-posting access is tough but rooms are more available.
 
The North Dakota sportsmen groups kind of were run over with the e-posting. Much of ND had their panties in a bunch when the protestors occupied private land south of Mandan ... the tide turned a bit towards favoring landowners ... initial laws did offer some protected/exception to legal sportsman, but an e-posting trial snuck its way in (just a few counties initially) ... it then went statewide and once you e-post it pretty much lasts for perpetuity.

I have notice that some landowners that did not post now e-post. Land cash rented or owned by cooperatives, etc... often were left unposted ... not true anymore. As each year goes by neighbors talk and it spreads ... the ability to contact those epositng is nearly impossible, but it was heading that way anyways as farmers went from a home phone listed in a phone book to "private" cell phones.
 
BRITTMAN said:
The North Dakota sportsmen groups kind of were run over with the e-posting. Much of ND had their panties in a bunch when the protestors occupied private land south of Mandan ... the tide turned a bit towards favoring landowners ... initial laws did offer some protected/exception to legal sportsman, but an e-posting trial snuck its way in (just a few counties initially) ... it then went statewide and once you e-post it pretty much lasts for perpetuity.

I have notice that some landowners that did not post now e-post. Land cash rented or owned by cooperatives, etc... often were left unposted ... not true anymore. As each year goes by neighbors talk and it spreads ... the ability to contact those epositng is nearly impossible, but it was heading that way anyways as farmers went from a home phone listed in a phone book to "private" cell phones.
Click to expand...
Yea, the days of just being able to go out and hunt unposted land are just about over. The e-posting has kind of gone how I figured it would, in that pretty much everything would get posted. A friend who grew up in the NW was talking about how some extended family has land that has never been posted in history but they did last year because everything else around them got e-posted and their land was getting overrun with hunters. It's sad because a lot of land that is e-posted probably never gets hunted at all.
 
BRITTMAN said:
At one time NW ND was quietly a great place to run dogs and shoot pheasants. It was a zoo opening weekend (mostly ND residents from Williston, Minot and parts in between) ... then pretty quiet as geese entered the state in mass and deer season came next.

When the Bakken was renewed and first going strong ... it was nearly impossible for NRs or even people from eastern ND to find lodging to hunt. Had family in the "vicinity" so that was never an issue.
Click to expand...
Back in the 80's & early 90's western ND was as close to a hunting paradise as I could ever imagine. A guy could set up camp in the National Grasslands, hunt for a week, and never see another person, let alone another hunter. Not so much nowadays...
 
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