Despite calls for a veto, Gov. John Hoeven intends to sign a bill that will allow hunters on Indian land to possess only a tribal hunting license.

"We will work with the tribes to make it work," Don Canton, the governor's communications director, said Wednesday, a day after the House gave its nod to Senate Bill 2041.

A grass-roots sportsmen's campaign urging Hoeven to veto the measure had resulted in 24 e-mails or telephone calls to the governor's office by late afternoon.

The legislation allows non-Indians hunting on tribal land within a reservation to buy only a tribal license. Under current law, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department requires non-Indian hunters to buy a state license as well. The change also will allow non-Indian hunters to transport game off the reservation with only a tribal license. Indian hunters who hunt on tribal land only need a tribal hunting license.

The directors of two tribal fish and game departments don't foresee any changes in the way they manage land or game animals because of the new law.

"We will manage the resource for the good of the resource and make biologically sound decisions like we always have," said Todd Hall, director of the Three Affiliated Tribes Fish and Wildlife Department. "The only thing that will change is coming to the table with the state and developing a positive working relationship."

"Our season for nonmembers pretty much mirrors the state," said Jeff Kelly, director of the Standing Rock Game and Fish Department.

He said a small majority of nonmember licenses went to North Dakotans and the others went to hunters across the country.

Because of the checkerboard of tribal and private land, there will be some challenges for hunters, Paul Schadewald, chief of administrative services for NDGFD, predicted.

"Tribal land is not marked, and people will have to know where they are," he said.

But despite potential jurisdiction challenges, everything should be doable, Schadewald added.

Hall said no other bill was more scrutinized this session, and he was happy as a "tribal member and a North Dakotan" that it passed.

"It was a collaborative effort among the five tribes and the state (Game and Fish) department and the state Legislature to come up with a resolution," he said.

Kelly wasn't as concerned about the checkerboarding.

"The wardens all know the areas," he said. "If somebody violated the game code on fee land, we would contact the state. That's the way it's always been."

Kelly also said he would like to talk about joining the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, which North Dakota belongs to. Among compact states, penalties for game violations in one member state carry back to the home state.

"We are willing to sit down and join this compact like any other state. We have data on all the hunters that come in," Kelly said. "If they are on their blacklist, we would honor that.

"It needs to be worked out department to department."

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