Snapshot of outdoor activities reveals plenty of good times so far this fall - Grand Forks Herald | Grand Forks, East Grand Forks news, weather & sports

Fall is on the homestretch, and like most years, it’s given outdoors enthusiasts a multitude of options for spending quality time outdoors.

Whether it’s upland game, waterfowl, special deer hunts, youth hunting events or even time on the water, the fall of 2024 has provided numerous reminders of why we choose to live in this part of the world.

So many options. So little time.

With that in mind, here’s a snapshot of some of the outdoors activities and happenings people have enjoyed so far this fall.

It’s been another good waterfowl season in the Devils Lake region, says Mark Fisher, a longtime district wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Devils Lake who retired Friday, Oct. 18, after 30 years with the federal agency.

Mallards and green-winged teal are currently abundant, Fisher says, and geese are “pouring into the country,” along with good numbers of snow geese and smaller Canada goose subspecies, including lesser and Richardson's Canada geese.

“There’s been a lot of people around, and I think most people are doing pretty well as far as numbers of birds that they’re putting in the bag,” Fisher said. “This last little cold front, some birds moved out, but we’re getting some birds coming in, too. I can remember this time of year, oftentimes, when you get a lot of pressure and birds move out, it’s kind of hard to find birds. But there’s a lot of birds to hunt for people that are still interested in (hunting).”

Snow geese numbers are building “right on schedule,” Fisher says.

“I always consider Columbus Day kind of the day when (snow geese) should arrive,” he said. “If you drive around, you can find flocks of snow geese here and there. Their numbers haven’t peaked, by any means, but their numbers are building.”

The long weekend that coincides with the annual Minnesota MEA teachers’ convention – which was Oct. 17 this year – typically sees the largest influx of nonresident hunters, Fisher says. After that, hunting pressure declines.

Prairie trails and other backroads generally are dry, so getting around isn’t a problem.

“There’s still (hunters) around, but there’s so much habitat,” he said. “Some of the wetlands are still abundant and corn is being harvested on time this year. And of course, there’s no snow, so birds have a lot of locations where they can feed and loaf in the wetlands and such.

“So, it still looks pretty good over here.”

So far during North Dakota’s 2024-25 pheasant season, hunting reports basically have played out as predicted.

Pretty darn good, in other words – especially in the northwest and southwest parts of North Dakota, where brood counts were up from 2023 in late-summer roadside surveys.

“I have heard or seen good reports basically in all of western North Dakota,” said RJ Gross, upland game biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Bismarck.

According to Doug Leier, outreach biologist for Game and Fish in West Fargo, pheasant success in the southeast part of the state has been “good in pockets,” especially along the edges of cornfields and near harvested corn.

Many other areas, however, could best be described as “spotty,” Leier says. Brood counts, at 7.9 per 100 miles, were up from 5.9 in 2023, and total pheasants, at 57 per 100 miles, were up from 53 pheasants in 2023.

“Most hunters in the southeast (have enjoyed) the nice weather, even if they didn’t find as many birds or missed a few shots they should have connected on,” Leier said.

The weather was beautiful and pheasants abundant last Sunday, Oct. 20, during the Finley Wildlife Club’s annual youth pheasant hunt.

According to Brian Tuite, treasurer of the Finley Wildlife Club, about 35 to 40 hunters participated in this year’s hunt, held on private lands near Finley, North Dakota.

Located in Steele County, Finley is about 65 miles southwest of Grand Forks.

The Finley Wildlife Club held its inaugural youth pheasant hunt in 2012. For this year’s hunt, the club purchased and released 350 roosters and about 50 hen pheasants “in about 17-18 locations” in the Finley area, Tuite said. There was great landowner support, he said, and Finley Motors and Heartland Chevy Dealers again sponsored the event.

Without that support, the hunt likely wouldn’t be an annual event.

As in previous years, the hunt was open to the public, in accordance with North Dakota Game and Fish Department pheasant hunting regulations. The only requirement was that adult hunters bring at least one youth with them in the field.

Going into this year’s Minnesota ruffed grouse season, the Department of Natural Resources was careful to dampen expectations for hunters riding high from last year’s banner season.

In 2023, an estimated 66,800 hunters pursued ruffed grouse in Minnesota, down from the 10-year average of 72,100, but they shot 339,600 grouse, a 34% increase when compared with the 10-year average. Last year’s 73% hunter success rate was higher than the 10-year average of 70%, and hunters bagged an average of 6.9 birds each – nearly two birds more than the 10-year average, DNR statistics show.

Statewide increases in spring drumming counts suggested hunting this year could be even better. Then came widespread rains and cool temperatures in late May and early June, which delivered a double-whammy to nesting prospects for ruffed grouse and other ground-nesting birds.

With the season now several weeks old, ruffed grouse reports seem to be playing out pretty much as expected.

“Both personally, and from what I’ve heard from others, the grouse season has been spotty, and closer to average than last year,” said Charlie Tucker, manager of Red Lake Wildlife Management Area at Norris Camp, south of Roosevelt, Minnesota.

Some hunters are reporting satisfaction and decent numbers, Tucker says, especially those who are willing to work a bit harder to find birds.

“Other hunters aren’t having as much success, and it seems to vary from day to day,” he said.

Grouse reports from farther east in the state have been “slightly better,” Tucker says.

“It’s possible that only a few miles east, they simply missed one rainfall event that affected chick survival,” he said. “We were primed for a great season, but the spring rains seemed to put a damper on production. Even so, the hunters who put in the effort are finding some rewards.”

This year’s accessible deer hunt at Rydell National Wildlife Refuge near Erskine, Minnesota, drew 16 participants, and three deer were harvested during the Oct.10-12 event, said Randy Sorenson, executive director of Options Interstate Resource Center for Independent Living in East Grand Forks.

Options and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service organize the hunt in collaboration with the Minnesota DNR, providing people of any age and disability with a place to hunt, a couple of meals and hunting accommodations. This year’s hunt, the 29th annual, was open to as many as 20 participants.

Despite harvesting only three deer, hunters didn’t necessarily lack opportunities to pull the trigger, Sorenson says.

“If people would have hit all the deer that we saw, it would have been really good,” Sorenson said. “But that wasn’t the case.”

Hosting an event the size of the Options accessible hunt also requires a considerable volunteer effort and this year’s event included “roughly 40” volunteers during the three days, said Heather Everson, advocate/trainer at Options.

“During the three days, there was lots of conversation between old friends and new friends,” she said.

Minnesota’s regular firearms deer season is still a couple of weeks away – Saturday, Nov. 9 – but hunters have already shot and registered more than 18,000 deer between the archery, youth and other early seasons, DNR statistics show.

According to the DNR’s interactive online harvest update webpage, hunters as of Thursday, Oct. 24, had harvested 18,117 deer statewide. Of that tally, the harvest included 36.28% adult bucks, 47.23% adult females, 7.77% juvenile females and 8.72% juvenile males.

Harvest numbers are generated from the DNR’s electronic licensing and registration system.