North Dakota Outdoors: A Double Whammy

North Dakota Outdoors:  A Safe Hunt Is A Successful Hunt
October 12, 2006 

Pheasants are plentiful this fall across the prairie. Deer numbers, too, provide plenty of incentive to get out and enjoy what we may someday refer to as “the good old days.”

I’m not going to apologize for appreciating the hunting opportunities that should be available this fall of 2006.

While game populations largely depend on habitat and weather conditions, another aspect of the hunt, and the one I feel is easily the most important, is safety.

Let’s face it. If you can’t find a rooster, deer or duck, it’s more about your effort and less about the game population. Success is in the eyes of the beholder, but that’s what makes hunting so special.

One area, however, that doesn’t garner enough attention in the equation for a successful hunt is a safe hunt.

Safety, like success, depends on the actions of hunters. As a certified hunter education instructor, I join with hundreds of other volunteer instructors who stress that the need for safety trumps all other concerns. No one will remember how many ducks or how big the buck if the hunt is marred by an accident of any nature.

A couple items warrant review here, and each and every time your mind shifts to hunting.

First, treat every gun as if it were loaded. It’s that simple, no matter if it’s a toy gun or real gun, whether you’re in the field, at home or anywhere between. When transporting your gun or someone else’s, always assume and treat the gun as if it were loaded.

You’ll find trained law enforcement, hunters and gunsmiths will always “clear” any firearm, just to confirm with their own eyes, that to the best of their knowledge the gun is not loaded.

Secondly, never point or aim your firearm or bow at any thing you don’t intend to shoot. This holdstrue in all scenarios. Even when shooting clay pigeons or sighting in at the rifle range, and even if you know, for a fact, that the gun is not loaded, never point a gun in a misdirected manner.

I began instructing my own kids at the age they were able to pick up a plastic toy gun, that they should never point a gun – even a toy – at any person.

Teach a kid that a gun is a toy and that’s exactly how they’ll treat it. Instructing a youngster or anyone grasping a gun to treat it as a loaded firearm is good practice. And we all know practice creates the habits which we’ll take through life and into the field hunting.

Most of these past notations are advice on handling firearms in the field, but they are sound recommendations for any time you find yourself in the company of guns of any caliber type and make.

A final bit of advice as you take to the field hunting North Dakota’s bountiful game this fall. I know how difficult it is to deal with buck fever, or the adrenaline rush when a rooster busts out of the brush or cattails, or even when ducks and geese come into the decoys. Even the most seasoned hunters feel a rush that only hunting can provide. As you shoulder your gun, take a split second and make sure of your target and surroundings.

If for any reason something seems to have changed, like maybe you’re not sure where your partner is, then by all means pass up on the shot.

When the scope focuses and you see something beyond the buck, stand down until you’re sure of the target and anything in front of and behind it. Just a split second may be all that is needed to make sure your hunt is both safe and successful.

And lastly, if you find yourself in the middle of an unsafe situation, by all means remove yourself. Alcohol and hunting don’t mix, neither do unsafe practices.

Here’s wishing you and yours a safe and successful fall.

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North Dakota Outdoors: Stamps For Ducks
October 20, 2006

Even if you’re not a duck hunter, I think you’ll appreciate what thousands of duck hunters across the prairie are doing this fall. It’s about as simple a task as you can make it, and much of the time they don’t get enough credit for how they’ve contributed to the good of the cause.

Here’s what happened to make me stop and think. A few weeks ago I went to the post office and bought my duck stamp. I’ve done this for just about 20 years running, which seems like a long time, but I know there are readers who can tell me they’ve purchased duck stamps for decades upon decades. Some day I hope to reach that level also.

Buying a duck stamp provides a hunter age 16 or older the federal authorization to go afield hunting ducks, geese and swans. But it provides more than just a legal right to hunt. Consider that 98 cents out of every dollar generated by the sale of federal duck stamps goes directly to purchase or lease wetland habitat for protection in the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Understandably, the federal duck stamp program has been called one of the most successful conservation programs ever initiated, and is a highly effective way to conserve America’s natural resources.

As I signed my duck stamp I took a moment to appreciate the Ross’s goose which adorns this year’s stamp. I pondered the artist who won the right to have their work grace this magnificent stamp. Further research shows the designer was Sherri Russel Martin of California.

Duck stamp sales began in 1934 and have generated just under $700 million and directly resulted in leasing and purchase of more than 5 million acres of waterfowl habitat.

What’s not often mentioned in translation, and this is where benefits to people who don’t hunt waterfowl come into play, are the multitude of fish, reptile, amphibians, shorebirds and other species that benefit from habitat preserved or enhanced because of duck stamp sales. Consider that an estimated one-third of all endangered and threatened species find protection behind duck-stamp-purchased property.

People from all walks of life, from hikers to birdwatchers, benefit from duck stamps. And last but not least, protected wetlands purify water supplies, reduce soil erosion and sedimentation.

This year a notation on the stamp is made about the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, celebrating its 20 years of existence. Like the duck stamp, the NAWMP in its own right has been a monumental effort to preserve, maintain and enhance waterfowl populations and their habitat, which trickles down to benefit more than just ducks as well.

I flipped the duck stamp over and learned more about the NAWMP and its two decades of success. Basically, it’s a continent-wide response to habitat loss, low population levels and a need to reverse the trend.

As quoted on the back side of the stamp, the plan created a conservation model of public and private partnerships – called joint ventures – to conserve waterfowl habitat in areas of major concern.

What’s transpired is nothing short of a marked success, including 13.1 million acres of wetland habitat conserved, preserved and maintained across North America.

So hunters, take a moment to give yourself a pat on the back. And if you don’t hunt or haven’t bought a duck stamp, for $15 you too can maintain and enhance this conservation legacy.

Leier is a biologist: He can be reached by email: dleier@nd.gov

Photo Credits to the North Dakota Game & Fish