(Second of a Two-Part Year-End Review… [Derived Headline]
By RICHARD HINTON
(Second of a two-part year-end review.)
A second experimental mountain lion season came and went. The Professional Walleye Trail returned to Bismarck-Mandan for its championship after a three-year absence. And the American white pelican population stayed put this summer at Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge for the first time since 2003.
Those are among the highlights as we look back at some noteworthy events during the final six months of 2006.
July
Mountain lion killed
A female mountain lion was killed on a ranch in western North Dakota east of Watford City in the Badlands, the North Dakota Game and FIsh Department reported.
According to Brent Schwan, NDGFD district game warden, Watford City, the rancher heard a commotion involving his dogs and went to investigate, saw a mountain lion treed about 50 yards from his house, went in the house to get a rifle, and upon returning the lion was on the ground in a confrontation with his dogs. The lion was then shot.
The lion appeared to be a young female weighing approximately 80 pounds.
Moose spotted near Kohl’s
A moose was spotted wandering near the Kohl’s department store and the MDU Resources campus in Bismarck before it was captured and taken out of the city.
Police and North Dakota Game and Fish Department workers tranquilized the animal about noon, NDGFD enforcement chief Bob Timian said.
The young bull was transported to the Lonetree Wildlife Management Area near Harvey.
Young pelicans banded
More than 1,300 white pelican chicks at Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge were sporting sky-blue leg bands after 26 researchers and helpers applied the numbered bands on 1,305 unfledged pelicans inhabiting the north island in less than five hours, Kim Hanson, the project leader at Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge, announced.
Duck numbers
The number of breeding ducks in North Dakota continues to remain above the long-term average, according to the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s recent spring breeding duck survey.
The 59th annual spring survey, conducted in May, showed an index of nearly 3.7 million birds, 11 percent lower than last year but still 76 percent above the 1948-2005 average, said Mike Johnson, NDGFD migratory game bird management supervisor .
Two fined for poaching
Two Lansford men have been fined and placed on probation in federal court for their parts in a competition that awarded points for shooting certain species of wildlife in violation of game laws.
Erik W. Seay, 23, was ordered to pay restitution of $800, placed on supervised probation for two years and ordered to serve 120 hours of community service. He also lost his North American hunting privileges for two years. Eric R. Remynse, 19, was ordered to pay $500 restitution, placed on supervised probation for 18 months and ordered to serve 100 hours of community service. He forfeited his North American hunting privileges for 18 months.
Sakakawea ebbing
After riding higher than it was a year ago since January, Lake Sakakawea dropped Tuesday to exactly where it was a year ago – 1,817 feet above mean sea level. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers points to below-normal spring runoff and continued dry conditions for the decline.
Record pheasant hunters
North Dakota ‘s expanding pheasant population brought out a record number of hunters last fall, according to statistics recently finalized by the NorthDakota Game and Fish Department.
In 2005, North Dakota had 92,801 pheasant hunters, about a 9 percent increase over 2004. The number of resident hunters increased 9 percent and the number of nonresident hunters increased more than 8 percent.
The total bag was 809,775 roosters, compared to about 587,500 in 2004. In comparison, the pheasant harvest was about 135,000 in 1997, following a severe winter. The record harvest was 2.4 million in both 1944 and 1945.
Pronghorn licenses
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is recommending 3,810 pronghorn licenses for the 2006 hunting season, a decrease of 1,905 from the record total in 2005, said Randy Kreil, wildlife division chief.
Second lion season
A second experimental mountain lion season will run statewide from Sept. 1 through March 11 or until a season quota of five lions has been met.
The number of confirmed mountain lion sightings in the state has grown significantly in the past two years, most likely as a result of increased immigration from South Dakota and Montana, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department said.
Changes included making kittens, lions with visible spots, or females accompanied by kittens, off-limits and no hunting or pursuing with dogs will be allowed until Jan. 1.
September
Duck habitat
A new duck nesting habitat practice (CP37) that enrolls wetlands and associated uplands into the Conservation Reserve Program is available to landowners after Oct. 1.
CP37, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Services Agency, allocates 100,000 acres in five states – Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, South Dakota and North Dakota. North Dakota received 40,000 of the 100,000-acre allocation.
First lion killed
Ken Herslip, 47, the Minot hunter who illegally shot a mountain lion kitten, said he made an honest mistake.
Mountain lion kittens, which can be identified by their spots, are off-limits to hunters under new state rules, as are female lions accompanied by kittens. Killing them is a Class B misdemeanor that could bring up to 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, state Game and Fish Department deputy director Roger Rostvet said.
The female mountain lion, about 5 months old, was shot northwest of Grassy Butte, Rostvet said. It was the first cat killed during this year’s experimental hunting season in North Dakota, and will count toward the quota of five lions, he said.
Bear discovered
A rural Dickinson couple discovered a black bear carcass lying on the side of Interstate 94.
The young bruin that weighed more than 150 pounds was “deader than a doorknob” west of Hebron, said Luke Simons, who speculated that the bear was hit by a semi. The bear probably was the one spotted near Hannover in Oliver County a week earlier, said North Dakota Game and Fish Department district game warden Dan Hoenke.
October
Successful hatch
American white pelican chicks enjoyed a better year at Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge this summer.
Only 12 percent, or about 1,300 chicks, of the estimated 11,000 young birds died this summer, said Ken Torkelson, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman in Bismarck. Few, if any, chicks survived in 2004 and 2005.
Kemos PWT champ
Tom Kemos caught just the right-sized fish to claim the 2006 In- Fisherman Professional Walleye Trail Mercury Championship.
Kemos, of Oconomowoc, Wis., who led each day, weighed a 10.9- pound, four-fish basket on the final day for a three-day total weight of 36.9 pounds.
Bismarck’s Sheldon Meidinger, who started the final day in 24th place, moved into 20th, tipping the scale at 11.85 pounds for a three-day weight of 24.95 pounds. Tom Backer, Fargo, finished in 19th place after starting the final day as No. 7.
Smelt down
Low water levels on Lake Sakakawea have resulted in a reduced rainbow smelt population, but other coldwater forage fish, including cisco, or lake herring, are filling in some of the gap, according to fall surveys conducted by North Dakota Game and Fish Department biologists.
The annual surveys assess reproduction and status of both game and forage fish species. A hydro-acoustic smelt survey was completed in August, and standard netting surveys were completed in September.
Bighorns euthanized
Three bighorn sheep rams were euthanized by North Dakota Game and Fish Department game wardens in Slope County, after the sheep had multiple contacts with domestic sheep and goats.
Domestic sheep and goats may carry respiratory strains of bacteria that can result in large scale die-offs of wild sheep. They were put down approximately 25 miles from a native herd.
Successful spawn
Fisheries crews have concluded another successful salmon spawning effort, reports Jeff Hendrickson, North Dakota Game and Fish Department fisheries biologist, Riverdale.
North Dakota Game and Fish Department fisheries crews collected more than 700,000 salmon eggs from Lake Sakakawea and the Garrison Dam Tailrace.
Because of the reduced forage abundance and low water projections for 2007, NDGFD will stock fewer salmon than normal next year.
Second lion killed
Pheasant hunter Kent Ferguson, of Mohall, killed the second mountain lion of the season after it got into a scrap with one of his bird dogs. The cat was a healthy adult female between 3 and 4 and had never had young, said Dorothy Fecske, furbearer biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.
Third lion killed
Another pheasant hunter, Bismarck resident George Linz, killed the season’s third mountain lion near the Missouri River in Washburn.
A 107-pound male, the mountain lion was estimated to be 11/2 to 21/2 years old, Fecske said. The cat, which was of dispersing age, probably was using the Missouri River as a travel corridor, she added.
November
Fourth cat taken
The fourth cat taken in this experimental mountain lion season was hit on a county road south of Dawson and dispatched with a rifle shot, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department said. Dawson is about 55 miles east of Bismarck.
Dean Dewald, of Dawson, was going to visit his brother, Roger, when he hit the 100-pound lion, said Dawson district game warden James Myhre. The cougar, a 3-year-old female that was not nursing, will count toward the five-cat quota this season.
Lion season closed
North Dakota’s second experimental mountain lion season closed Nov. 9 after a New Salem-area rancher killed the fifth cat on the outskirts of town.
Dave Wolding, who ranches west of town and works at the New Salem Veterinary Clinic, shot the cat in a culvert near the clinic. The male cougar was between 3 and 4 years old, weighed 110 pounds and was 861/2 inches from its nose to the tip of its tail, said Fecske.
Although there was talk of “fair chase” and flushing the cat from the culvert, but the concern was if the cat escaped and ran into town after being flushed.
Young bull moose killed
Authorities are looking for suspects in the killing of a young bull moose. Game Warden Alan Howard said the moose was found dead near Norwich.
Mulies in good shape
North Dakota’s mule deer population remains in good shape, based upon aerial observations during the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s fall reproduction survey.
Bruce Stillings, big game biologist, Dickinson, said two primary indicators – ratio of fawns per doe, and bucks-per-doe – were near long-term averages. The fawn-to-doe ratio was 0.85 fawns per doe, and the buck-to-doe ratio was 0.40 bucks per doe.
Observers who accompanied pilots in fixed-wing planes, counted 2,192 mule deer during the October survey, which encompassed 19 study areas and 240 square miles in western North Dakota. Each spring, biologists survey the same study areas to determine a population index.
Collar put on cat
A mountain lion trapped in Billings County over the weekend became North Dakota’s first cat to be fitted with a radio collar and released.
Information gathered from monitoring the 11/2-year-old, 108- pound male cat’s movements will supplement the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s studies of the carnivores, said Fecske.
NDGFD staff retrofitted a VHF pronghorn collar to fit the lion, and the frequency is the same as the pronghorn collars, Randy Kreil, NDGFD wildlife division chief, said Monday.
December
CBC results
Observers found at least 47 species this year during the 38th Bismarck-Mandan Christmas Bird Count, down from the record of 53 species attained a couple times in the past few years. Observers counted 16,471 individual birds, the majority of these being Canada geese. Lapland longspurs also occurred in good numbers. The purple finch had a streak of 38 years broken by not being found.
Bald eagle shot
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the North Dakota Game and Fish Department are investigating the shooting of a bald eagle in northwestern Barnes County on Nov. 25, the USFWS announced in December. A deer hunter in the area saw a man get out of a vehicle, walk a short distance and fire a shot. The deer hunter later found the wounded eagle in the location the shot came from. It’s being treated at the Dakota Zoo.
“X” marks the lion
The state’s only radio-collared mountain lion was traveling within a 15-square-mile area of where it was released, a North Dakota Game and Fish Department check showed.
The 11/2-year-old, 108-pound male lion was located about five miles from his capture point, about 25 miles north of Medora.
(Reach outdoor writer Richard Hinton at 250-8256 or richard.hinton@bismarcktribune.com.) 2006: Year in review, Part II
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