Another round of North Dakota Game and Fish Department Advisory Board meetings is approaching and at least two of the topics up for discussion should generate considerable interest. One is the state’s new aquatic nuisance species prevention rules, the other is an ongoing evaluation of goose hunting hours to determine if changes are warranted.

Advisory board meetings are held twice each year. North Dakota is divided into eight judicial districts and those are also used as the boundaries for Game and Fish advisory districts. Board members are appointed by the governor to serve as a liaison between district residents and the Game and Fish Department.

Each advisor hosts two public meetings, typically during the weeks after deer season and again in April. That makes 16 different meetings in 16 different communities each year. Almost always, the Game and Fish director or deputy director, as well as some division chiefs, attend the meetings along with agency staff from the local area.

Goose hunting hours
Switching to goose hunting hours, the Department has permitted full-day goose hunting on Wednesdays and Saturdays in some form since 1998. This was initially designed as a way to increase harvest on snow geese, the thought process being that changing shooting hours over the course of several days would confuse geese that were accustomed to feeding undisturbed afternoon hours. At the same time, it was felt the additional hunting pressure would not be so intense that birds would leave an area because of it.

Statistics point to a decline in overall goose harvest the past decade. Canada goose harvest has increased significantly, while snow goose harvest has declined. Some of the snow goose decline is due to variations in annual reproduction. For example, North Dakota’s 1991 snow goose harvest was 174,000, the following year it was 96,000 with the same regulations.

In recent years, the snow goose harvest has been closer to 30,000. What has happened is the bulk of the snow goose migration is sticking in southern Canada, which has suitable food supplies, but lower hunting pressure. Part of the ongoing evaluation is how to maximize hunting opportunities when snow geese are in North Dakota, and part of it relates to Canada geese.

One of the options Department biologists are consider allowing all-day goose hunting every day later in the season, perhaps starting sometime in November or early December. With normal weather and migration patterns, the Missouri River area is most affected by this possible change as geese stage there well into winter, and on many days it seems those birds pattern their feeding to start after the daily 2 p.m. close of hunting hours.

Looking at states farther down the flyway, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas each have all-day hunting for geese. North Dakota’s early September season is open all day as well.

For the time being the Department is not considering all-day every-day goose hunting, or going back to exclusively half-day hunting. But between those boundaries are many possibilities and that’s why this topic is set up for further public discussion at advisory meetings.

If you can’t attend a meeting – the complete schedule is posted on the Game and Fish Department website at gf.nd.gov – there are ways to contribute your thoughts before decisions are made sometime this summer. The best way is an E-mail to ndgf@nd.gov; or call 701-328-6300.

Doug Leier is a biologist. He can be reached by email: dleier@nd.gov