Tag: goose hunting

The Rooster Crows – 9/20/19

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By Bill Anderson

Although there hasn’t been a lot of talk about hunting so far, the early season on Giant Canada Geese opened on August 15 and closed on September 15; the mourning dove season opened on Labor Day weekend; and, the archery season for deer opened on Labor Day weekend, too. There is probably no experience more memorable in a young hunter’s lifetime than taking his first deer with bow and arrow. Rutland native Dan Narum, now a North Dakota District Court Judge residing in Lamoure, recently provided the following report on the first successful archery hunt by his son, Asher.

Asher is now 10 years old. This year was his third year deer hunting with his bow. He has hunted western North Dakota in my company during the last two years and has been fortunate to get three chances at mule deer bucks out there. But buck fever affected his shots each time. Fortunately, they were all clean misses. This year we decided that we would try to get his first deer on our land at Lake LaMoure. Since long before he was born I have been preparing the land as prime wildlife habitat for him to hunt. I have planted hundreds of trees and managed the grass. I have not even harvested a deer on the property. This year on opening day Asher, his classmate Owen Peterson and I set out for the blind as soon as school was out for the day. The boys were pretty slow to settle in to hunt and it took about an hour to get them to be quiet enough for any deer to come by our blind. Once the boys settled in to hunting, though, the deer started to come. After about two hours a lone doe came by and presented a 15-yard shot. Asher made a near perfect shot and the arrow passed clean through the vitals. We were able to watch the deer move off and lie down. The most difficult time for me was managing to keep the boys in the blind for an hour after the shot. Asher has hunted with me in New Mexico, the North Dakota bad lands and many areas in Dickey, LaMoure and Ransom counties. For him to take his first deer on our land means a lot to me. Someday it will also mean a lot to him. With Asher’s bow season done, the following morning I travel to Lonetree Wildlife Management Area near Harvey. I am serving as a mentor for a youth rifle deer hunt through the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. Through the hunters education program we find kids who don’t have an adult to take them hunting and provide them an opportunity to spend a day learning about hunting, and then we take them out to experience real hunting. This is my third year participating in the mentored hunt. It’s been a very rewarding experience.

Thanks to Dan for the report, and congratulations to Asher on a successful hunt in the company of his Dad and his best friend. It doesn’t get any better than that!

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The Rooster Crows – February 26, 2010

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By Bill Anderson

The Calendar said February 24 on Wednesday morning, but the thermometer said it was the 55th day of January, according to the Assembled Wise Men at the Rutland Café. Depending on whose thermometer was checked, the mercury was hovering at somewhere between 21 and 25 degrees below zero. “Is it cold enough for you?” was the question of the day, to which the correct answer was, “Not until the fat lady sings!” The answer was nonsense, but so was the question.

Kevin and Wendy Willprecht returned from a Winter vacation get-away in Jamaica on Friday, February 19. They had flown out of Fargo a week earlier, making stops at Minneapolis and Atlanta before landing at Montego Bay.  The Breezes Beach Resort near the city of Nigrel was their final destination.  Kevin reports that 7 miles of white sand beach and ocean water temperatures hovering around 80 helped make their stay a pleasant one. Coffee beans and sugar cane are the two major crops grown on the mountainous island, says Kevin, with much of the sugar cane becoming the raw material for the production of Jamaican rum, one of the island nation’s major exports, along with bauxite, the ore from which aluminum is made. A former British colony, Jamaica has been an independent nation since 1962. Despite a booming tourism business, much of the island nation’s population appears to struggle with Third World economic status, says Kevin. All in all, he reports a very enjoyable time on the tropical Caribbean paradise. The Wilprecht’s children spent their vacation time in the Grandma and Grandpa Resort at the home of Arlen & Jan Willprecht in Lidgerwood, where the attentive staff catered to their every need.

Rob & Lacey Wyum departed Rutland on Friday, February 19, bound for Minneapolis, where they boarded a flight to Miami on Saturday, Feb. 20, with their destination being a cruise ship headed for the eastern Caribbean. The cruise is a delayed honeymoon trip for Rob and Lacey, who were married in Milnor last October. Rob is employed with his father, Mark, and uncles, Steve and Mike, in the Wyum Brothers Ransom Township farm business. Lacey is employed at the Sargent County Abstract Co. in Rutland and in the Clerk of Court’s office at the Sargent County Courthouse in Forman.

Here’s some urgently needed information! The Spring Conservation Snow and Blue Goose hunting season opened in North Dakota on Saturday, February 20.  Although we have plenty of snow, right now we have no geese. According to Jack Lalor, Assistant Project Manager at the Tewaukon National Wildlife Refuge, the geese are still down in Texas, Louisiana and Mexico with the rest of the snowbirds, waiting for the snow between here and there to melt. As conditions appear now, Mr. Lalor stated, it is unlikely that many geese will be seen here before late March or early April. The purpose of the Spring conservation season is to reduce the numbers of snow and blue geese so they do not over populate, over graze and destroy their summer nesting range in northern Canada. Resident hunters need a valid 2009 North Dakota hunting license and a shotgun in order to participate in the hunt, according to Mr. Lalor. There is no daily limit or possession limit during the conservation season, and hunters may remove the plugs from shotgun magazines, as well. Non-resident hunters may also participate in the hunt without the usual limitation on the number of days that restricts their hunting opportunities during the Fall season. Non-residents may purchase a license to participate in the Spring snow and blue goose season from the North Dakota Game and Fish Department for a fee of $50.00. The season ends on the first Sunday in May.  Even though the season is open right now, though, an expedition afield will probably not be very productive for several more weeks, in Mr. Lalor’s opinion.

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The Rooster Crows – April 4, 2008

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By Bill Anderson

March, the month that was put on the calendar to let people who don’t drink know what a hangover feels like – too depressing to live, too tough to die – departed on Monday, throwing a snowstorm and several inches of wet, sloppy snow our direction as it slammed the door on its way out. April Fool’s Day, Tuesday, April 1, fooled us by pretending it was still March.

The Spring conservation snow goose hunting season has been open since mid-February, but there were no geese here until the last 10 days of March. For the past 2 weeks, millions of the birds have been moving through this area, feeding in last year’s corn and soybean fields and providing some great hunting for those hardy enough to go afield and smart enough to outfox them. The purpose of the conservation season is to reduce the numbers of snow and blue geese to a level that can be sustained by their Summer range in northern Canada, so the usual rules that govern waterfowl hunting during the regular Fall season don’t apply. Hunters may remove the plugs from the magazines on their automatic and pump action shotguns, making 5 shots available before reloading is required, and there is no limit, other than their shooting ability and carrying capacity, to the number of snow and blue geese they are allowed to harvest. They must, however, have a valid North Dakota hunting license to avoid running afoul of the law. It’s not a sure thing, either, as the geese seem to fail to appreciate that all of this shooting is for their own good and continue to outsmart the hunters on many occasions, even if they are birdbrains. Hunters from Minnesota, Iowa and Montana, as well as North Dakota, have landed in Rutland, along with the geese.

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