2009 North Dakota Cow Elk Season

I drew my once-in-a-lifetime elk tag in North Dakota this spring. I chose to apply for a cow elk tag in Unit E4. E4 is the smallest unit and is found just to the north and west of Interstate 94 and the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP). My family and I are moving to Alaska this fall (2010) so I wouldn't have another chance at a resident tag in the next couple of decades at a minimum. A cow tag seemed the most probable since most hunters apply for an any elk tag which allows them to take a bull or cow.

I wasn't able to scout due to time and money limitations as a graduate student working on the prairies of NW Minnesota. I spent alot of time with maps and on the phone with folks like Mike Oehler, wildlife biologist at TRNP, and Marty Egeland, local ND Game and Fish employee. They both were enthusiastic about my opportunity and gave me as much information as they could. The most common recommendations I heard were 1) elk distance themselves from cattle (or heavy grazing due to the obvious reduction in forage), 2) they prefer ash draws for cover, and 3) get away from the roads.

I'll throw in a spoiler because I can't finish this topic tonight but I was successful in shooting a ND cow elk. However, I was unsuccessful in killing and retrieving it. I did help a fellow hunter harvest and pack out his animal. I will include that story and more, including my daily exploits, in a future post.

PG13

2009 ND Early Goose

A friend and peer in the UND Biology graduate program found a nice fallow field for us to chase resident honkers in on 22 August. After getting beat to the field we decided to set up in another fallow field a mile away. We buried the truck upon entering the field but the old GMC was able to back out of it somehow. Averting that crisis, we set up 3.5 dozen decoys in a field that was planted to corn in 2008 but left fallow this year.

Because of the problems with access and soil moisture we were a bit late getting set up and had a couple scouting flocks come past before we were completely set up. After settling in though we had really good luck. If birds saw us they passed within shotgun range almost every time. We never did get a flock to dump in with the landing gears down but they were close enough to bring to the turf.

Gypsy, my 1/2 german shorthair, 1/2 chocolate lab, got her first dose of goose hunting. She is only 16 months old but I was able to get her into the layout blind and sit still enough to get birds in range. She ran out to fetch the first bird of the morning but it seemed like it was a bit heavy for her so she resorted to plucking it instead. We knocked down a juvenile that she went after and knocked to the ground. After getting run over the young goose reared up and hissed with it's wings outspread. I went out to encourage her and so she moved in and got swatted right across the face by one of the wings. For now she hasn't retrieved a goose and although intimidated, I think she's still in the game.

We ended up shooting our limit of 5 birds/hunter in just a couple of hours. We mostly got into singles and pairs but had a few family groups that visited. It was a good first day afield and an awesome way to dust off the old shotguns.

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