Family-Outdoors

Applications for this spring’s turkey season must be in the mail and postmarked before midnight Feb. 13. Only North Dakota residents are eligible to apply. Prospective hunters can submit a  lottery application online , or  print an application , at the Game and Fish Department’s website,  gf.nd.gov . Applications can also be submitted by calling  (800) 406-6409 . Online or phone applications must be logged before midnight Feb. 13. Application forms are also available at most license vendors, county auditors and Game and Fish offices. The spring turkey season opens April 13 and continues through May 19. Game Wardens Association to Give Scholarship The North Dakota Game Wardens Association has a $300 scholarship available for a graduating high school senior entering college in fall 2013 who enrolls in fisheries or wildlife management with an emphasis on law enforcement. Applicants must be North Dakota residents and have maintained a 3.25 grade poin...

Blue-winged Teal(Photo credit: Wikipedia) The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s annual spring breeding duck survey showed an index of 4.8 million birds, up 16 percent from last year and 112 percent above the long-term average (1948-2011). The 2012 index is the third highest on record. All species were well above the long-term average. Wigeon (+88 percent) and green-winged teal (+221 percent) were at record highs. Mallards, gadwall, blue-winged teal, shovelers, redheads and ruddy ducks exceeded the long-term average by more than 100 percent. Only pintails, shovelers and canvasbacks were down more than 10 percent from last year, and mallards were essentially unchanged. Blue-winged teal were at their highest level since 2001, missing the record high by less than 1 percent. “Excellent production last summer brought many breeding pairs back to the state,” said Mike Szymanski, waterfowl biologist. “Fortunately, there was still enough habitat to attract them to North Dakota....