Bismarck, North Dakota - News

Like it or not, this weekend opens the gates to nonresident hunters.

Whether changes in the state's nonresident hunting regulations will affect how many visiting hunters we get won't be known for a while. What is known is that some changes -- restrictions on the number of hunting days and hunting areas and higher license fees being foremost -- have upset, or at least confused, some visiting hunters.

State Game and Fish Department personnel are hearing about it on several fronts.

"I've had people call and say they're not coming," Paul Schadewald, the administrative services chief for the state Game and Fish Department, said last week. "They don't like (the changes)."

For visiting waterfowl hunters, the main complaints center around the zones and the limits on hunting days.

Schadewald said he has fielded a couple of hundred calls from out-of-state hunters who own land in North Dakota or rent houses here to stay in while they hunt only to be facing a seven-day limit this season.

"The zones are one of the items that people are most upset about," he said.

Schadewald is one of the second line of department officials who field the gripes. Most calls coming in to the main telephone number at the Bismarck Game and Fish Department office are fielded by information specialists, who address general questions or concerns. Callers who insist on speaking to someone else usually are passed to Schadewald, Randy Kreil, the chief of the wildlife division, deputy director Roger Rostvet or director Dean Hildebrand.

If the questions are tougher or the caller seems upset, "we are advised to put them into administration," said Dawn Jochim, a resource specialist who also fields phone calls.

Eileen McEnroe, an information specialist, said she answers about 40 phone calls per hour at this time of year. Some callers want help with what licenses they need, others want hunting information or want to know how to fix licensing problems, and some callers even want weather information.

But they all add up.

Schadewald hesitated to offer an estimate on the number of calls he has fielded. "It's many hundreds of calls," he said.

He described the calls as cordial. "We've had good discussions. I've enjoyed talking to them," he said. He guessed that he spends about 10 minutes responding to each caller.

This isn't the first year that North Dakota has made major changes in its licensing and hunting regulations, Kreil said.

"Any time there are changes, the first year is the most difficult," he said. "When they understand the changes aren't that restrictive, they get used to it."

Another bone of contention with nonresidents is the Oct. 11-17 nonresident ban on hunting PLOTS land and Game and Fish wildlife management areas.

Schadewald said he's been told by a number of callers they're not coming for the pheasant opener because if they can't hunt those Game and Fish-managed areas, there's no place to hunt.

There also are misconceptions about that ban. Stories originating in Minnesota have incorrectly reported that nonresidents are banned from hunting in North Dakota that week.

"After we visit, they're not nearly as upset," Kreil said, explaining that the Game and Fish land is only about 1 percent of what may be available for hunting.

The 10-day limit on upland hunters has hit another group of nonresident hunters, Schadewald said. They would hunt grouse a couple of times and hunt pheasants a couple of times.

"Now they have to cut back or buy another license," he said. "That has upset some people."

The change in license fees -- separate small game and waterfowl licenses -- hasn't been a major issue with callers, Schadewald said.

A few callers have griped about residents being able to open the waterfowl season a week ahead of nonresidents.

Kreil said he also is hearing from residents, as well.

"Some resident hunters really appreciate that first weekend being for residents only," he said. "We heard last year how they got in a good quality hunt."

(Reach reporter Richard Hinton at 250-8256 or outdoors@bismarcktribune.net.)

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