Articles

Leier: It's not too early to start thinking about deer licenses

Fargo It’s not even June, but the chatter along river banks, fishing piers, boat landings and bait shops isn’t just about where the fish are biting or the big one that got away. In fact, every year around the backside of May, there’s almost as much talk about deer season.

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Leier: Free fishing a good way to get young anglers hooked

It’s hard to believe when I glance at the calendar that it’s May, and not June or maybe July.

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Leier: Any time is the best time to fish

I am the first to admit I am not a professional angler. When it comes to tips and tactics on how to land a lunker walleye or fill a stringer in short order, I have got more questions than answers.

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Leier: Regulation changes for year-round game fishing season unneeded

Recently a reader took issue with an explanation I previously provided regarding harvest of big fish in the spring prior to the time that either walleyes or northern pike have spawned for the year.

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Flood, drought alter fishing regulations

I don’t necessarily consider myself old, but I do know I’m old enough to remember the drought of the late 1980s and early 1990s when Devils Lake was hardly visible from Minnewaukan, and one day I walked across the parched bottom of Hobart Lake in Barnes County.

• Doug Leier

New outdoor activities develop long-lasting memories

I have had the opportunity to hunt many different places and species across North Dakota, much of it a result of having lived in more than 10 different zip codes across the state. It’s those places, and the people who go with them, that often account for the best memories. While we always remember the biggest deer or a limit of fish, the best stories come from the one that got away, or getting stuck, lost or a having a late-night windstorm blow through camp.

• Doug Leier

Leier: Sage grouse recovery plan efforts starting to get off the ground

Because of a long-term population decline throughout their native range, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considered in 2010 listing sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act.

Leier: Meeting season a good time to get valuable outdoors information

While many hunters and anglers associate spring and summer with fishing season and fall with hunting season, truth be told, in North Dakota fishing is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days each year.

Harvest surveys are an important tool

After a couple of cups of coffee and the usual bantering about weather at my favorite corner convenience store, a recent discussion turned to North Dakota Game and Fish Department surveys.

Leier: There's plenty to look forward to in 2012

The older I get, the faster time seems to pass. My neighbor and friend Mick explained a few years ago it’s a function of the percentage of life.

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Columns

Leier: No two deer hunting seasons are alike

North Dakota’s lower deer and pheasant populations in recent years have generated many discussions. In terms of recent history, the numbers are smaller, but compare the deer license allocation from the 1970s, or pheasant harvest numbers from the early 1980s, and hunters have a little more to consider.

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Leier: Light winter could help geese season

Fargo - Since 1999, North Dakota hunters have had a spring hunting opportunity besides turkey. While overall interest and participation in turkey hunting overshadows the spring’s light goose season, those with a decade of spring goose experience and first-time participants alike are looking forward to the 2012 season, which opened Saturday.

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Leier: Mild winter has been a good thing for ND wildlife

Winter officially began in December, and except for a few days of normal cold, it didn’t even feel like winter throughout January.

Mild winter is the main reason why deer have been tougher to spot

As a biologist, I deal with aspects of fish and wildlife behavior on a routine basis. Hardly a week goes by that I don’t get at least one phone call or email from someone who witnessed an odd, strange, or erratic animal behavior, or saw something in an unusual location.

Leier: Outdoors is a place to gain perspective

Over the holidays, I bumped into an old high school friend, and true to form for a couple of guys who love the outdoors and also have young families, we began sharing stories.

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Leier: Down year for wildlife has many hoping for a better 2012 gaming year

For a lot of North Dakotans, the end of 2011 can’t come fast enough. While none of us can predict exactly how the coming year will unfold, for the state as a whole, and most wildlife in particular, 2012 just has to bring improvement, doesn’t it?

Getting hooked on spearfishing a tough sell, but worth a try

When it comes to trying something new, I will admit I usually need a good reason to change or replace anything in my routine.

Leier: There's plenty to be thankful for when it comes to the outdoors

Each year without even having to review, I can count on a few standard column topics finding their way onto my screen, like spring fishing, deer season questions and answers, and the pheasant outlook.

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Leier: Getting to know chronic wasting disease

In the last two years, two North Dakota deer have tested positive for chronic wasting disease. These are the first two positive cases discovered in the state among thousands of deer tested over the last decade or so.

• Doug Leier

Leier: Deer hunters shouldn't lament fewer licenses

Eighty years ago, during the fall of 1931, Herbert Hoover was President, the Dick Tracy comic strip debuted, and what is often considered the beginning of North Dakota’s modern day deer season began. Hoover, Tracy and deer aren’t related, but together they serve to illustrate how much time has passed since the first North Dakota deer season.