N.D. DEER SEASON NOTEBOOK

NDGF to replace

lost deer tags

Can't find your North Dakota deer license? No need to panic.

Gary Rankin, district game warden for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Larimore, will be issuing replacement licenses from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday at Turtle River State Park near Arvilla, N.D., and from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday at the North Dakota State Highway Patrol office, 2397 Demers Ave., Grand Forks.

North Dakota's firearms deer season opens at noon Friday.

Rankin said he and Game and Fish outreach biologist Marty Egeland issued about 40 replacement licenses to Grand Forks-area hunters before deer season last year. His advice: Don't wait until the last minute to look for your hunting license.

"If hunters will check early, it's sure easier to replace them," Rankin said.

Wardens list

common violations

Here are some of the most common violations game wardens encounter during deer season, according to Rankin and Mike Sedlacek, district game warden for Game and Fish in Cavalier, N.D.:

-- Trespassing. "Some of the saddest things we have to deal with are not only a hunter real sad because he's going to be prosecuted, but a landowner upset about what's occurred behind his house or his driveway," Rankin said.

-- Transporting firearms with a shell in the chamber.

-- Open containers of alcohol.

-- Transportation violations - transporting someone else's deer without obtaining a transportation permit.

-- Untagged deer.

Plan ahead to buy

remaining doe tags

Lots of doe tags remain in some units, and the North Dakota Game and Fish Department will continue to sell them through archery season.

Still, hunters shouldn't wait too long because some units only have a few tags left, reports Carrie Whitney, licensing supervisor for Game and Fish in Bismarck.

Another reason to buy early, she said, is because licenses aren't issued at the time applications are received.

"The application is processed the day it is received, but the license isn't available to be sent out until the next business day," Whitney said. "So, if a deer hunter applies for a license on Friday morning of opening day, it will be mailed the next business day."

As of Monday, more than 14,000 doe tags were still available in units 1, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F1, 2G, 2H, 2I, 2J2, 2K2, 2L, 3A4, 3E1, 3E2, 3F1, 3F2, 4E and 4F. They can be used during the bow season with a bow; the deer gun season with a bow, rifle or muzzleloader; or during the muzzleloader season with a muzzleloader.

Hunters must stay in the unit to which the license is assigned. Apply online on the Game and Fish Web site at www.gf.nd.gov . Residents and nonresidents are eligible to apply.

NDGF offers

testing incentives

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department will be sampling deer that hunters shoot in the eastern third of the state and testing the animals for chronic wasting disease and bovine tuberculosis.

Game and Fish will collect samples from 1, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F1, 2F2, 2G, 2G1, 2G2 and 2L.

As an incentive, participating hunters who submit deer heads for testing will have their names entered in a drawing for five muzzleloaders and 100 Sagen Saws.

Game and Fish will collect deer heads from the following dropoff points:

-- Brocket: KO Bar.

-- Cavalier: Ugly's Tavern.

-- Devils Lake: North Dakota Game and Fish District Office, 7928 45th St. S.E.

-- Fargo: Fleet Farm, 3730 S. 36th St.

-- Fordville: Waldo's Bar.

-- Forest River: Tom's Lounge.

-- Grand Forks: Ted's Taxidermy, 1202 Shakespeare Road.

-- Gwinner: Johnnie B's Bar & Grill.

-- Hannaford: Remedy Bar.

-- Jamestown: North Dakota Game and Fish District Office, 3320 E. Lakeside Road.

-- Munich: Dave's Joint.

-- Nekoma: Pain Reliever.

-- Rock Lake: Cahill's Pub.

-- Walhalla: North Dakota Forest Service Office, 101 Fourth St.

-- Wolford: Corregidor Bar.

For more information, check out the Game and Fish Web site at www.gf.nd.gov .

Fast facts

-- In 2006, 6.1 percent of the people who purchased North Dakota deer licenses didn't go hunting, according to Game and Fish statistics. In units 2B and 2C near Grand Forks, the percentages were 5.6 and 5.1 percent, respectively.

-- Game and Fish biologists have aged deer up to 16 years old in North Dakota.

-- The record North Dakota typical whitetail scored

194 6/8. Kevin Bruner shot the buck in 1994 in Pierce County. The record nontypical whitetail, shot by Roger Ritchie in 1968 in Mountrail County, scored 254 6/8, according to "North Dakota Big Game Records," edited and compiled by Lyle Hanson.

-- The record typical mule deer, shot by Roy Mitten Sr. in 1937 in McKenzie County, scored 196 4/8; the record nontypical mulie scored 237 2/8 and was shot in 1965 by Palmer Georgeson in Golden Valley County, according to Hanson's "North Dakota Big Game Records."

- compiled by Brad Dokken