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The Coolest Thing Ever | North Dakota Game and Fish

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The Coolest Thing Ever | North Dakota Game and Fish


Last turkey season we were in the thick of the newborn stage. I was lucky to get out a few times, but it was a lot more abbreviated than I’m accustomed to. After another long, albeit mild, winter riddled with daycare illnesses, I found myself dreaming of turkey season. I was manifesting calm, sunny weekends and a stretch of household health to get us through.

Come opening weekend, Grandma and Papa arrived and the weather part was just as planned, if anything, maybe too warm. We dusted off the Kelty and pitched it in a familiar piece of grasslands. However, my cozy night under the stars was quickly interrupted with a nightlong bout of vomiting in the buffaloberry bushes. I’m still not sure if it was due to our Mexican food date night in Dickinson or yet another stomach bug but seemed par for the course these days. I almost opted to stay back that morning, but I had waited too long for this.

Tired and nauseous, “Team Ocho,” made up of myself, Scott and good Friend, Jason, hiked the mile and change back to the trees where we knew turkeys would be roosted. They were there, they gobbled, and they headed the other direction. The morning drug on as we tried to predict where they were headed but seemingly always got it wrong and found ourselves in their dust. It was getting warm, and I needed a nap, so I recommended a move back to camp.

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It only grew hotter and whatever bug I had seemed to sneak up on Scott, too. The mood was not what I had expected for a sunny opening turkey weekend. We wasted away the afternoon before deciding on a drive to try to find some other birds to roost for the morning.

Wouldn’t you know it, we stumbled into a few male birds strutting around. We parked the truck and climbed a hill to get eyes on them. Spirits lifted as we enjoyed a beautiful evening display of turkeys being turkeys and counted a dozen different males. The sun was fading, and we knew they’d roost soon, but just then we heard the dreaded sound of a pickup. It slowed to a stop and my initial thought was “now we’ll have to have a discussion on morning plans,” but that thought was quickly interrupted by the pickup door opening, a shotgun blast, and birds running.

My heart sank. Frustration that we just wasted our entire evening and were left with no plan for the morning. Disappointment that those hunter’s vision of a turkey hunt and mine were so misaligned. And bummed on never getting to find out what tomorrow morning would have been like.

Our tags were left unfilled, and a bitter taste lingered for days on a weekend I had envisioned going so much differently.

Fast-forward to the following weekend and we planned on taking turns. Scott headed west after bedtime Friday, and by the time Fisch was enjoying his usual scrambled eggs Saturday morning, we received a text that Dada had sealed the deal and would be heading home soon. As readers know by now, turkey nuggets for dinner.

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Sunday was my turn and I opted to hunt my leftover unit alongside Jackie, Department marketing specialist and turkey hunting novice.

Scott with harvested turkey

I had no intentions of pulling the trigger unless I called in a double. We scouted these birds before the season and made the only move we had, get as close to them on public land as we could. We setup a strutting tom decoy with a real fan, a breeding hen and a jake.

The morning greeted us with a chorus of gobbles, sharp-tailed grouse, pheasants crowing, swans trumpeting and deer sneaking through the very buffaloberries we were hiding in. I yelped and turkeys responded. At one point I thought an entire group was heading our way but then the gobbles retreated. Later in the morning, I thought we had another one hooked as Jackie saw him last at 100 yards and he gobbled in the creek bed below us for a good half-hour before going silent again. I waited and waited, staying silent, but he never did appear.

It was growing late and as a last resort I gave the ole gobble call a try. No response, but a few minutes later Jackie noticed the tom back up on a ridge, fanned out at about 500 yards. This time, he was fanning, running, fanning, running. No gobbles, but she saw him in the same spot at 100 yards and then things once again seemed to halt. I stayed patient and quiet.

And then I heard, at a remarkably close distance, the unmistakable spitting and drumming. Without moving a muscle, I shifted my eyes to the left and at about 5 yards a strutting tom emerged. I couldn’t really warn Jackie who was about 10 yards to my right but hoped she’d see him soon enough.

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She did and quickly shifted to reposition her gun and he came out of his strut but remained focused on our decoy. I shook with anxiety thinking to myself “shoot, shoot.”

Jackie and Cayla with harvested turkey

Her safety clicked off, a pause, and finally the sound I was waiting for. But I don’t know what happened, he didn’t flop. He seemed confused and began to slowly walk away. “Shoot again,” I said. But his head was beginning to go below a hill, and instinct kicked in. I stood up and pulled the trigger.

I still couldn’t tell you what happened and the last thing I want is to embarrass Jackie, a good friend and hunting partner. If she did miss, we’ve all been there. I was still shaking even though I wasn’t planning to shoot. I just didn’t want him to get away if he was injured but we agreed I’d tag him so that Jackie could continue hunting.

Regardless, Jackie was pumped: “THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING EVER.” Those of you who’ve had the pleasure of meeting Jackie might be able to imagine this. And I agreed with her in my own, more reserved expression. I hope it always stays the coolest thing ever. That’s what I envision when I think spring turkey hunting. And that’s what replayed in my head all week as I counted the minutes until I could get back out there for Jackie’s first bird.



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What channel is North Dakota vs Wisconsin hockey in Frozen Four today? Time, TV schedule to watch

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What channel is North Dakota vs Wisconsin hockey in Frozen Four today? Time, TV schedule to watch


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For one weekend only, the Midwest (and Denver) descends upon Sin City.

The 2026 Frozen Four — the penultimate stage of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship — will open with No. 2 seed North Dakota Fighting Hawks taking on the Wisconsin Badgers in Las Vegas. The Fighting Hawks have been dominant thus far in the tournament, winning their first two games by a combined score of 8-0.

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Presumptive NHL draft top-five pick Keaton Verhoeff headlines North Dakota’s roster, but Cody Croal leads the team with three goals in the first two rounds.

Watch Frozen Four games with Fubo (free trial)

North Dakota will be taking on the biggest surprise appearance, with Wisconsin surviving the Worcester Regional Final over No. 3-seed Michigan State in an overtime thriller. The game-winning goal came on a deflection off the stick of Ben Dexheimer, who headily tipped in what looked like a harmless dump-in from the blue line. Wisconsin is looking to be the first team since 2006 to win the men’s and women’s national title in the same season.

The last team to achieve the feat? Wisconsin.

With that, here’s how to watch the Frozen Four match between North Dakota and Wisconsin, including time, TV schedule, streaming information, game odds and more:

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What channel is North Dakota vs Wisconsin hockey today in Frozen Four?

The Fighting Hawks-Badgers match will air live on ESPN2, and is available for streaming on the ESPN app (with a cable login) or Fubo, the latter of which has a free trial for new users.

Stream North Dakota-Wisconsin hockey live with Fubo (free trial)

North Dakota-Wisconsin Frozen Four start time today

  • Time: 5 p.m. ET
  • Date: Thursday, April 9
  • Location: T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas)

North Dakota vs. Wisconsin is set for a 5 p.m. ET faceoff on Thursday, April 9, from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

North Dakota vs Wisconsin Frozen Four prediction, picks, odds

Odds from BetMGM as of Wednesday, April 8

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  • Spread: North Dakota (-1.5)
  • Over/under: 5.5 goals
  • Moneyline: North Dakota -200 | Wisconsin +154
  • Prediction: North Dakota 4, Wisconsin 1

Wisconsin is on an incredible run, but its win over Michigan State comes with the caveat the Spartans were without Charlie Stramel for two of their three periods. The trio of Cody Croal, Jack Kernan, and Dylan James do enough to win this game, and North Dakota will play for its first national championship in 10 years.



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UND Track and Field With Split Events

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UND Track and Field With Split Events


GRAND FORKS, N.D. (UND Sports Information)– Fighting Hawk track and field is set to split between California and North Dakota for a pair of meets this week, with competition occurring from Thursday to Saturday for UND.

It all begins out west at the Bryan Clay Multis where action will begin at 1 p.m. CT on both Thursday and Friday in Azusa. The Fighting Hawks overlap on Friday as action kicks up at the NDSU Spring Classic at 1 p.m. CT on Friday and 11 a.m. CT on Saturday in Fargo.

Last Time Out

North Dakota track and field collected four total broken school records over the weekend, with two more coming in Saturday competition as the Fighting Hawks took on two meets out in California

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MIKE FANELLI TRACK CLASSIC

Saturday competition began for UND in the women’s 10,000-meter run where Elle Sondag crossed the finish line in 36:28.89 in her event debut to take eighth in section one and finish eighth overall. In the men’s portion of the same event, Ethan Adams finished 23rd in section over for 26th overall behind a PR time of 31:19.28 that now ranks ninth in school history.

In the 800-meter run, Gabriella Ruggeri ran a time of 2:10.65 (PR, fifth all-time) to finish fourth in section four and 25th overall in 21 heats of competing athletes. Aleksa Milanovic represented the men and finished second in section six and 13th overall out of 27 heats of competition with a time of 1:51.63.

Then the history-making turned up a notch. Olivia Correale broke the program record in the women’s mile run with her time of 4:47.47 to take first place overall in the event. And the domination continued in addition to the new school history. Katie Rogers took second in 4:52.51 with the second-best time in UND history as Marie-Louise Jorgensen finished fourth with a time of 4:56.93 in her event debut that now ranks third in the record books. Frida Giersdorff rounded out the speedy performances with her 4:57.59 clocking for seventh place and the fourth-best time at UND.

The men’s mile run race followed with the same kind of headlines as Louis-Lys Fanucchi added to the weekend success. He also broke the men’s mile run record with his time of 4:07.75 as Henrik Lindstrot followed in fifth place with a time of 4:10.97, marking a new PR and the third-best time in school history.

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TRITON INVITATIONAL

The throwing results continued for North Dakota in San Diego with Fighting Hawks competing in the shot put and discus throw. Julia Matthews tied her outdoor personal best of 46-4 1/4 (14.13m) in the women’s shot put, which ranks eighth in school history, to finished 13th in the event.

STANFORD INVITATIONAL

Late results from yesterday’s competition at Stanford came in with historical performances for North Dakota on Friday evening.

It all began with Giersdorff besting her own school record by over 12 seconds in the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase. She ran a new PR time of 10:06.17 to rewrite history and take seventh place in the event. Over in the men’s half of the event, Fanucchi emerged victories with his clocking of 8:42.15, which marks a new PR and the second-best time in school history. Lindstrot came fifth in 8:49.08 for a new personal best and the third-best time in the UND record books.

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Another school record fell in the women’s 10,000-meter where Keeler broke another one of her own top marks. She took fourth overall in the event with her time of 31:56.03, which improves her previous school record by nearly 10 seconds. Her locking now sits as the 20th-fastest time in NCAA history.

In section two of the event, Shewaye Johnson ran a 33:44.70 (PR) for the third-best time in UND history and ninth place. Naja Weiler clocked a 33:51.36 (PR, 13th place), which now sits fourth in school history and marks a new freshman record.

Summit League Accolades

Peak Performer of the Week

– Jadyn Keeler – Women’s Track (April 7)

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Fight ‘em Hawks!

The Fighting Hawks have already achieved a plethora of new top-10 indoor marks in program history this season, including four chart-topping school records:

*Olivia Correale – Mile Run (No. 1 – 4:47.47)

*Louis-Lys Fanucchi – Mile Run (No. 1, 4:07.75)

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*Frida Giersdorff – 3000-meter Steeplechase (No. 1 – 10:06.17)

*Jadyn Keeler – 10,000-meter Run (No. 1 – 31:56.03)

 

On Tap

North Dakota track and field will take on a plethora of meets next weekend with the Pacific Coast Invitational, Beach Invitational and Bryan Clay Invitational out in California as well as the Tom Tellez Alumni Invitational in Texas.

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For updates and more information on North Dakota track and field, follow on social media @UNDtrackfieldXC or visit FightingHawks.com.



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HHS reminds North Dakotans that services and support are available to prevent child abuse during Child Abuse Prevention Month

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HHS reminds North Dakotans that services and support are available to prevent child abuse during Child Abuse Prevention Month


North Dakota Health and Human Services (HHS) is reminding North Dakotans that services are available to strengthen families in recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month. Read the Child Abuse Prevention Month proclamation.

North Dakota reported 532 confirmed cases of child abuse and/or neglect in calendar year 2025.  

“Although even one case is one too many, based on the number of assessments completed, the percentage of confirmed cases remains consistent compared to the previous year,” said HHS Children and Family Services Prevention and Protection Administrator Kirsten Hansen.  

To help children and youth remain safely at home, HHS offers FamilyFirst Services, which are designed to strengthen families through support for both children and their parents or caregivers. Services are based on the specific needs of the family and focus on practical support for parents; behavioral health, including both mental health and addiction; and other needs. Visit FamilyFirst Services for more details.  

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Throughout April, several agencies across North Dakota will be hosting in-person and virtual events in recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month. Visit Families Flourish ND for more information about upcoming events.

April is also a time to remind people that North Dakota has a law that allows parents to turn to approved Baby Safe Haven sites if they are unable to safely care for their infant. Parents can safely surrender an infant up to 1 year of age without fear of prosecution or questions. Infants must be unharmed and given to an on-duty staff member at a hospital or other approved location.

Reporting suspected child abuse or neglect 
HHS reminds individuals that if they suspect a child in North Dakota is being abused or neglected, they should call the statewide toll-free Child Abuse & Neglect Reporting Line at 1-833-958-3500. If it’s an emergency and a child is in immediate danger, call 911. 



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