Minnesota is appealing a judge's dismissal of a lawsuit against some North Dakota hunting regulations, and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem hopes a ruling in another case will help sink its chances.

"I hope that Minnesota will look at whether they want to waste any further valuable resources on pursuing an appeal that is doomed," Stenehjem said Tuesday.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland dismissed the lawsuit, which was filed by Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch, Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and two Minnesotans who are former North Dakota residents, Starkey Grove and Charles Orvik.

Hatch argued that some North Dakota rules, which restrict when and where out-of-state hunters may go after some types of game, are unconstitutional restrictions on business between states.

Hovland concluded that Minnesota hunters come to North Dakota in "pursuit of a purely recreational activity," and are not engaged in interstate commerce. Michael Vanselow, a Minnesota deputy attorney general, and Harry Sieben Jr., a lawyer for Peterson, Grove and Orvik, filed the appeal last week.

Separately, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday used a newly approved federal law to dismiss similar claims that Wyoming laws favoring resident hunters were unconstitutional restrictions on cross-border business.