3:54 p.m. - Just ahead of opening weekend of pheasant season, a statewide landowners group is asking hunters to sign a petition that favors farmer friendly issues in return for being allowed to hunt.

Hunters who decline will be turned away, said Don Berge, the president of the Landowners Association of North Dakota.

Dean Hildebrand, the director of the state Game and Fish Department, called the action "disturbing."

"It's a situation where they are placing hunters in an unfair, untenable position," Hildebrand said Wednesday. "There is not anybody who respects landowners more than I do. To use that venue to carry their agenda makes it difficult for the public."

Hunters and hunting organizations always say they are sympathetic to landowners, Berge said in an interview Tuesday.

"Now's their opportunity to show in writing that they are," he added. "There's nothing like putting your signature on a piece of paper to say you are sympathetic."

The petition asks hunters to support the permission requirement for access to all private property, the appeal of swampbuster, rural economic development and property rights education by making a $10 donation to the Land Legacy Foundation.

"Making sportsmen in North Dakota suffer for something like that just doesn't make sense," said Stu Wacker, the realty field supervisor in Bismarck for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, "but they have every right to do what they want, if they feel that's best way to get their point across."

The season for pheasants -- North Dakotans' most popular upland game bird -- opens a half hour before sunrise on Saturday.

After the hunting seasons wind down, the petitions will be sent to the state's congressional delegation, with copies to the White House and the governor's office, Berge said.

LAND numbers about 500 members, said Berge, a Litchville area landowner. In 2003, there were 30,300 farms and ranches in the state, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Swampbuster and other wetlands-related issues are primary concerns for LAND. Swampbuster, a provision of a 1985 farm bill, is designed to protect natural wetlands by denying farmers eligibility for federal programs if they convert wetlands to croplands. The loss of benefits covers all of a farmer's cropped land.

Berge said there are multiple ramifications with swampbuster.

"When it initially was brought forward, it was not intended for sloughs or potholes," Berge said. "It's become outright harassment of people. There's deep resentment here."

He said several court cases were pending related to landowners and wetlands but declined to go into specifics.

"North Dakota Game and Fish and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are flexing their muscles against landowners," Berge said. "We've had enough. They have forgotten who they serve."

Wacker responded, "We don't take people to court if we don't feel there is a legitimate violation."

Hildebrand said he would be happy to meet with LAND anytime to try to foster a better understanding with the group.

"I think we in North Dakota appreciate farmers and landowners and appreciate what they do for the state," he said. "My philosophy is to support them any way we can. We do have a good working relation with the vast majority and will continue to provide our support and try to work with them any way we can."

In the past, other landowner groups have asked members to post their land in opposition to swampbuster, Wacker said.

"Swampbuster and the rest are national issues," he said. "It will take more than North Dakota to get any of that changed."

Feedback about the petition has been positive, Berge said.

"Landowners feel finally something is being done in a positive way," he said, adding that some hunters also have inquired.

"They didn't realize what's happening with swampbuster, and they want to have good relations with landowners."

Berge expects the petitions will be turned in by the time the organization's annual meeting rolls around in early December.

Every LAND member has copies of the petition, and some are sharing them with neighbors, Berge said.

"How far and wide it goes all depends on distribution," Berge explained. "We've had inquiries from nonmembers who wanted to know more about it. They are in favor of it."

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