Minnesota to offer sandhill crane season beginning Sept. 4
ST. PAUL -- Minnesota will offer its first sandhill crane season of the modern area this fall in the northwestern part of the state. The season will open Sept. 4 and continue through Oct.10.
Shooting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset until Oct. 2, the opening day of duck season, when shooting hours for sandhill cranes will be the same as for waterfowl.
The open area will consist of the "Northwest Goose Zone" (see map), which includes portions of Kittson, Roseau, Marshall, Pennington, Red Lake and Polk counties. There will be a daily bag limit of two birds with a possession limit of four.
Sandhill cranes in northwestern Minnesota are part of the midcontinent population, the same birds that pass through North Dakota and which is estimated at more than 450,000. That number is above the population goal of 349,000.
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Sandhill cranes long have been considered "recovered" and have been hunted in some states since 1961.
Hunters will be required to use nontoxic shot. A $3.50 permit will be required to hunt cranes in Minnesota. Additional information can be found in the 2010 Minnesota Waterfowl Hunting Regulations supplement that will be available in August.
Meanwhile, Minnesota's waterfowl season opens at 9 a.m. Oct. 2, early goose season opens Sept. 4 and Youth Waterfowl Hunting Day is set for Sept. 18. Info: mndnr.gov.
North Dakota's sandhill crane season, which also requires a special permit, is set for Sept. 18 through Nov. 14 in Unit 1 and Sept. 18 through Oct. 24 in Unit 2. Info: gf.nd.gov.
-- Herald staff report
Wardens conduct
ANS check near GF
DEVILS LAKE -- North Dakota game wardens and state Highway Patrol personnel stopped 23 boats and talked to 54 people July 16 during a roadside check for aquatic nuisance species along U.S. Highway 2 near Larimore, N.D.
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According to Paul Freeman, northeastern district enforcement supervisor for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Devils Lake, wardens issued two citations during the check -- both for illegal transport of live bait. The anglers, from Minnesota and South Dakota, were transporting leeches they'd brought in from out of state, which is illegal.
Freeman said 15 of the boats were from North Dakota, six were from Minnesota and one each was from Wisconsin and South Dakota.
"I thought it went real well," Freeman said. "It wasn't terribly busy, but busy enough."
Lynn Schlueter, aquatic nuisance species coordinator for Game and Fish in Devils Lake, said more than 90 percent of the anglers stopped during the roadside check were aware of the threats posed by aquatic nuisance species such as zebra mussels and Eurasian watermilfoil. Zebra mussels recently were confirmed in the Red River near Wahpeton-Breckenridge.
Schlueter said most of the people, even the two who were cited, didn't want ANS to be moved.
"They just didn't read their fishing regulations," Schlueter said.
Freeman said Game and Fish likely will conduct similar inspections across the state this summer.
-- Brad Dokken
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FLW Walleye Tour
begins Thursday on DL
DEVILS LAKE -- Professional anglers competing in the FLW Walleye Tour Western Division will visit Devils Lake from Thursday through Saturday for the final stop in the Western circuit. Hosted by the Devils Lake Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, the tournament will feature as many as 300 top walleye anglers casting for top awards up to $35,000 in the Pro Division and $7,500 in the Co-angler Division.
"Bring everything you've got," said Brian Brosdahl of Max, Minn., who had a top-10 finish at Lake Oahe last month. "Devils Lake is a unique fishery in that any style of fishing will work. There are so many different ways to catch fish up there you should just bring everything and be prepared to make adjustments. It's all about being able to make good decisions."
Anglers will take off at 7 a.m. daily from Woodland Resort, which also will host the weigh-ins beginning at 3 p.m. There will be a family fishing clinic from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the marina before the final weigh-in.
The FLW Tour Championship is set for Sept. 23-25 on Leech Lake near Walker, Minn.
-- Herald staff report
Did you know?
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- Charlie Parker of Omaha, Neb., weighed in a 20-pound, 6-ounce catfish to take the top prize of $1,600 in the annual Rod and Reel Rally catfish tournament July 17 on the Red River near Drayton, N.D. Troy Srnsky, Warren, Minn., placed second with a 20-pound, 2-ounce catfish. A total of 136 anglers competed in the tournament, weighing in 52 fish.
- Jamie Gudajtes and Dustin Lunski weighed in three catfish for 38.2 pounds to win the season-ending tournament of the Red River Catfish League on July 17 on the Red River in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks. Info: www.catfishleague.com .
- More than 1,800 licenses remain in 14 units after the lottery for North Dakota's fall wild turkey season. Beginning Aug. 4, all remaining licenses will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis, and hunters are allowed a maximum of 15 licenses. Info: gf.nd.gov.
- Field & Stream magazine and Trout Unlimited have named the "Best Wild Places" in the American West. The six locations, which are all located on public lands, are The Roan Plateau, Colorado; The Outlaw Triangle, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado; The Alpine Triangle, Colorado; The Gila Country, New Mexico; The Cabinet-Yaak Mountains, Montana; and the Blue Lakes and the Pine Forest Range, Nevada.
