Boat North Dakota Course

Children ages 12-15 who want to operate a boat or personal watercraft this summer must take the state’s boating basics course.

State law requires youngsters ages 12-15 to pass the course before they operate a boat or personal watercraft with at least a 10 horsepower motor. In addition, major insurance companies give adult boat owners who pass the course a premium discount on boat insurance.

The course is available for home-study from the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s Bismarck office. Two commercial providers also offer the course online, and links to those sites are found on the department’s website at gf.nd.gov.

While the home-study course is free, students will be charged a fee to take it online. The online provider charges for the course, not the Game and Fish Department. The fee stays with the online provider.

Upon completion of the online test, and providing a credit card number, students will be able to print out a temporary certification card, and within 10 days a permanent card will be mailed.

The course covers legal requirements, navigation rules, getting underway, accidents and special topics such as weather, rules of the road, laws, life saving and first aid.

For more information contact Nancy Boldt, North Dakota Game and Fish Department, by email at ndgf@nd.gov; or call (701) 328-6300.

CWD Proclamation Signed

The 2012 proclamation establishing guidelines for transporting deer, elk and moose carcasses and carcass parts into and within North Dakota is now in effect as a precaution against the possible spread of chronic wasting disease.

Dr. Dan Grove, State Game and Fish Department wildlife veterinarian, said three consecutive years of surveillance in deer hunting unit 3F2 have resulted in a total of three CWD positive animals. “The harvest locations of these animals are clustered within an area in 3F2 along major waterways and extend close to surrounding units,” Grove said. “Using a combination of data from winter surveys in 2009, 2010 and 2011, new research into the spread of CWD on the landscape conducted in Alberta and Nebraska, and a proactive approach to managing disease, it has been decided to extend the baiting ban into the deer hunting units surrounding 3F2. This ban will help curb the potential spread of CWD and artificial movement of deer via man-made causes.”

Therefore, hunting big game over bait is prohibited in deer units 3C, 3E1, 3E2, 3F1 and 3F2. Bait, in this case, includes grain, seed, mineral, salt, fruit, vegetable nut, hay or any other natural or manufactured food placed by an individual. Bait does not include agricultural practices, gardens, wildlife food plots, agricultural crops, livestock feeds, fruit or vegetables in their natural location such as apples on or under an apple tree, or unharvested food or vegetables in a garden.

In addition, hunters harvesting a big game animal this fall in North Dakota deer unit 3F2 cannot transport a carcass containing the head and spinal column outside of the unit unless it’s taken directly to a meat processor. The head can be removed from the carcass and transported outside of the unit if it is to be submitted to a State Game and Fish Department district office, CWD surveillance drop-off location or a licensed taxidermist.

If the deer is processed in the field to boned meat and the hunter wants to leave the head in the field, the head must be legally tagged and the hunter must be able to return to or give the exact location of the head if requested for verification. 

Hunters are prohibited from transporting into North Dakota the whole carcass, or certain carcass parts, of deer, elk, moose or other members of the cervid family from areas within states and provinces with documented occurrences of CWD in wild populations, or from farmed cervid operations within states and provinces that have had farmed cervids diagnosed with CWD. Only the following portions of the carcass can be transported:

• Meat that is cut and wrapped either commercially or privately.
• Quarters or other portions of meat with no part of the spinal column or head attached.
• Meat that has been boned out.
• Hides with no heads attached.
• Clean (no meat or tissue attached) skull plates with antlers attached.
• Antlers with no meat or tissue attached.
• Upper canine teeth, also known as buglers, whistlers or ivories.
• Finished taxidermy heads.

The following game management units, equivalent wildlife management units, or counties have had free-ranging deer, moose or elk diagnosed with CWD, and importation of harvested elk, white-tailed deer, mule deer, moose or other cervids from these areas are restricted.

·         North Dakota – Deer unit 3F2. Gutted/eviscerated carcasses being taken to a North Dakota meat processor are exempt, as are heads removed from the carcass and taken to a licensed taxidermist or provided to the North Dakota Game and Fish Department for submission for CWD surveillance purposes.

·         Alberta – Wildlife management units 150, 151, 163, 234, 236, 256, 728.

·         Colorado – All game management units.

·         Illinois – Counties of Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, DeKalb, Ogle, LaSalle, Stephenson.

·         Kansas – Counties of Cheyenne, Decatur, Rawlins, Sheridan.

·         Minnesota – DPA 602.

·         Nebraska – Upper Platte, Platte, Plains, Sandhills, Frenchman, Buffalo and Pine Ridge units, which include the counties of Cheyenne, Kimball, Sioux, Scotts Bluff, Morrill, Sheridan, Box Butte, Dawes, Banner, Cherry, Hall, Garden, Keith, Red Willow, Deuel, Grant, Arthur.

·         New Mexico – White Sands Missile Base (GMU 19), GMU 28, GMU 34.

·         New York – Any deer taken within the CWD containment areas of Oneida and Madison counties.

·         Saskatchewan – All wildlife management units.

·         South Dakota – Prairie units WRD-21A, WRD-27A, WRD-27B; Black Hills units BHD-BH1, BHD-BD3, BHD-BD4.

·         Utah – 16A, 16B, 16C, 13A, 13B, 8A, 8B, 8C, 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D.

·         Virginia – Frederick County.

·         West Virginia – Hampshire County.

·         Wisconsin – Any deer registered with a Wisconsin DNR Red Registration Tag from the area designated as the Disease Eradication Zone or Herd Reduction Zone including deer management zones 54B-CWD, 70-CWD, 70A-CWD, 70B-CWD, 70C-CWD, 70D-CWD, 70E-CWD, 70F-CWD, 70G-CWD, 71-CWD, 73B-CWD, 73E-CWD, 75A-CWD, 75B-CWD, 75C-CWD, 75D-CWD, 76-CWD, 76A-CWD, 76M-CWD, 77A-CWD, 77B-CWD, 77C-CWD, Washburn County.

·         Wyoming – All deer and elk units.

In addition, the following states and provinces have had farmed deer, elk, moose or other cervids diagnosed with CWD, and importation of farmed deer, elk, moose and other cervid carcasses or their parts are restricted: Alberta, Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Additional areas will be added as necessary and listed on the North Dakota Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov.

Because each state and province has its own set of rules and regulations, hunters should contact the state or province in which they will hunt to obtain more information.

Hunters with questions can contact the North Dakota Game and Fish Department at (701) 328-6300, or email ndgf@nd.gov.