GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) – The North Dakota representative of Pheasants Forever says hunters are going to work to find birds this year.
Matt Olson says pheasant hunters who venture out for Saturday’s opener and beyond will find that numbers are down across the board.
Olson says a late and wet spring hampered production, although the cover is good so there will be opportunities to find adult pheasants. However, he says it will take some trekking through deep sloughs.
The lifelong pheasant hunter and North Dakota native says the “days of taking a nice, easy walk and getting your roosters are probably over.”
Olson was recently named regional representative of Pheasants Forever after working as one of the conservation group’s farm bill biologists.
DEVILS LAKE, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota Game and Fish Department officials say results from the summer portion of a fishing survey on Devils Lake and nearby Stump Lake show impressive numbers.
The report estimates that anglers kept 212,000 walleyes and 14,000 perch in June, July and August. That compares with an estimate of 92,000 walleyes and 2,400 perch during the same period in 2007, the last time a survey was conducted.
Walleye and perch numbers were up despite fewer lines in the water. Anglers put in about 500,000 hours of fishing from June through August, compared with 627,000 hours in 2007.
The survey began in April and continues through next March.
