OUTDOORS NOTEBOOK: Hunter education, Waterfowl survey etc.

Web site puts focus

on hunter education

BISMARCK — A Web site designed to promote the importance of hunter education and gun safety benefits both potential students and graduates, North Dakota’s hunter education coordinator says.

According to Jon Hanson, who coordinates the hunter education program for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, Hunterexam.com provides a free online hunter education study guide, complete with narration and interactive flash exercises.

“This is not an online course, and you will not receive your certification,” Hanson said. “It is only intended for studying the course material and hopefully used as a refresher by all hunters.”

Customized with information specific to North Dakota, the study guide offers quizzes with detailed illustrations to help students better understand the question and uses animations from different hunter education tools.

“Interactive features include identifying parts of a rifle or shotgun, adjusting sights and shooting at targets,” Hanson said.

He said the department encourages potential hunter education students and graduates to set up a free account.

“This will allow us to determine its effectiveness by gathering data on demographics and use, and allow the user to take the end-of-chapter quizzes,” Hanson said.

On the Web: www.hunterexam.com.

— N.D. Game and Fish Department

NDGF completes annual

winter waterfowl survey

BISMARCK — The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s annual midwinter waterfowl survey revealed 25,400 Canada geese wintering on the Missouri River in early January.

According to Mike Szymanski, waterfowl biologist for Game and Fish in Bismarck, harsh winter conditions beginning in mid-December pushed most waterfowl out of the state. “A mild fall allowed a significant number of smaller-sized Canada geese and snow geese to move through the state before Thanksgiving, but there was not a pronounced movement of large-sized Canada geese through the area,” he said.

Last year’s severe winter, when only 9,700 geese were counted during the January survey, broke the pattern of more geese staging on the Missouri River in North Dakota. Before that, several years of unseasonably mild winter weather allowed numbers of Canada geese using the river through winter to increase.

Geese numbers in the survey set records every year beginning in 2005, peaking at 175,000 birds in 2008 before dropping last year, Szymanski said. From 1998 to 2004, the number of Canada geese on the river during the midwinter survey was between 2,000 and 89,000. Before 1998, the count rarely exceeded 10,000.

Szymanski said it takes years for geese to establish a migratory pattern, and that’s why it could take several more years of favorable staging conditions to restore the record high numbers of the mid-to-late 2000s.

“It’s really important for those birds to maintain a positive energy balance,” he said. “Otherwise, we may not regain the numbers of geese we had several years ago.”

— N.D. Game and Fish Department

Did you know?

- Applications for North Dakota’s spring’s wild turkey season must be in the mail and postmarked before midnight Wednesday. Only North Dakota residents are eligible to apply. Info: gf.nd.gov. The spring season opens April 10 and continues through May 16.

- Park rangers at the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota will lead guided snowshoe and cross-country ski treks at 1 p.m. CST Saturday and Feb. 20. The 90-minute excursions will focus on the winter landscape and the ways wildlife have adapted to winter in the Badlands. Park staff also offered the tour this past Saturday. Participants should meet at the North Unit Visitor Center and will need to provide their own cross-country skis or snowshoes. Warm layered clothing and sunscreen, water and a snack also are recommended. Events may be canceled if extreme weather is forecast. Info: (701) 842-2333.