The first official bird hunting
season opener of 2019 took place in late February, but it’s highly unlikely
anyone has yet seen, let along hunted, a snow goose flying over North Dakota’s
cold, snow-covered landscape.
I can recall a few years ago that reports
of scout flocks of snow geese were spotted in mid-February even before the season
opened, but those birds met with snow and wind and were soon nowhere to be
found, likely blowing back south for a few more weeks.
The point is, in the two decades
that North Dakota has had
spring light goose conservation order
, birds have been
spotted in the state only a few times birds right around the opening date,
which the state Game and Fish Department sets in later February to ensure the
season is open when huntable numbers of snow geese start to arrive. Most year’s
it’s mid-to-late March before that happens, and in a few years, last year being
one of them, the northward migration doesn’t hit our southern border until
April.
That could very well be the case
again this year.
As hunters wait patiently, we can
explain the framework of the 2019 spring conservation order:
·Residents must have a valid current
season 2018-19 (valid through March 31) or 2019-20 (required April 1)
combination license; or a small game, and general game and habitat license.
·Resident youth under age 16 only
need the general game and habitat license.
·Nonresidents need a 2019 spring
light goose conservation order license. The cost is $50 and is valid statewide.
·In addition, nonresident youth
under age 16 can purchase a license at the resident fee if their state has
youth reciprocity licensing with North Dakota.
·A federal duck stamp is not
required for either residents or nonresidents.
Resident and nonresident licenses
are available online at the North Dakota Game and Fish website,
gf.nd.gov, at license vendors around the state, or by calling 800-406-6409.
Hunters must register annually with
the Harvest Information Program prior to hunting in each state. The HIP number
can be obtained online, or by calling 888-634-4798. The HIP number obtained for
North Dakota’s spring conservation order is also valid for North Dakota’s fall
hunting season.
The spring conservation order is
only open to light geese – snows, blues, and Ross’s. Species identification is
important because the conservation order is clos4d to the taking of white-fronted
and Canada geese.
It’s impossible to say when the
huntable flocks will arrive for good, or how long they will stay in one region,
let alone the entire state. As fascinating and massive as the spring flocks
are, they are widely unpredictable as the snow line and weather patterns change.
Typically, the birds will enter the
state somewhere east of the Missouri River and even more often in the Dickey,
Sargent and Richland county areas and push north as fast as possible often up
through the Devils Lake, Rugby and Minot areas on their way to their spring
nesting grounds in the northern provinces of Canada.
