Doug Leier: January news and notes from the North Dakota Game and Fish Department

WEST FARGO – North Dakota’s hunting, fishing, trapping and conservation heritage is well known, and even those who don’t hunt or fish enjoy the outdoors of our great state. It’s part of why we live here. The great outdoors is ever changing from the impacts of weather and loss of habitat, to the cyclical nature of populations that ebb and flow as a function of nature.

While we spend time this winter pondering the long-term influence of North Dakota’s lean months on deer and pheasants, we’ll also keep our eyes and ears open for happenings at the biennial North Dakota legislative session.

Once again, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department will track hunting and fishing issues during the 2025 legislative session. This is helpful to those interested because keeping track of the changes to just one bill, for example, can be challenging.

Interested outdoor enthusiasts can follow proposed outdoors-related bills by going to the

Game and Fish Department website

at gf.nd.gov. A brief description of each bill will be included. To view each bill in its entirety, click on the hot-linked bill number.

If you were born after 1961 or are age 12 or older, you must take an in-person or home study certified hunter education course before you can get a firearm or bowhunting license in North Dakota.

Understanding this, especially if you have your sights set on hunting this fall, now is not the time to drag your feet. Most in-person courses are held from January through May.

Individuals interested in taking a hunter education class in 2025 must click the education link on the

North Dakota Game and Fish Department

website, gf.nd.gov. To register for a class, click on “enroll” next to the specific class and follow the simple instructions. Personal information is required. Classes are listed by city and can also be sorted by start date. Classes will be added throughout the year as they become finalized.

To receive a notice by email or SMS text message when each hunter education class is added, click on the “subscribe to news and alerts” link below the news section on the Game and Fish home page. Check the box labeled “hunter education” under the education program updates.

Children must turn 12 during the calendar year to take the home study course, and age 11 during the calendar year to take the traditional in-person class.

Tree stands, blinds, steps and other personal items such as cameras, must be removed from all wildlife management areas by Jan. 31.

Items not removed by then are considered abandoned property and are subject to removal and confiscation by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

North Dakota hunters receiving a survey this winter are encouraged to help with wildlife management by completing the survey online or returning it to the Game and Fish Department.

Big game, small game, waterfowl, swan, turkey and furbearer questionnaires are being sent to randomly selected hunters.

It is important hunters complete and return the survey, even if they did not hunt. The harvest survey allows Game and Fish to evaluate the hunting season, determine the number of hunters, amount of hunting activity and size of the harvest.

A follow-up survey will be mailed to those not responding to the first survey.

Doug Leier is an outreach biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. Reach him at dleier@nd.gov.