South Dakota Hunters, Anglers and Trappers Can Now Carry Licenses on their Smartphone Devices

PIERRE, S.D. - Hunters, anglers and trappers in South Dakota will notice now when logging into their account through the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks’ (GFP) online licensing system that their small game, fishing or trapping license has a bar code in the upper right hand corner. This bar code allows GFP conservation officers to electronically scan the license on smartphone devices (Android, iPhone, etc.) while in the field in lieu of a paper copy.

Before heading into the field this fall, hunters, anglers and trappers can log into their GFP account from their device to view their small game, fishing or trapping license and take a picture or screenshot of it with their device (Android, iPhone, etc.).

This electronic version is an acceptable method of carrying a small game, fishing or trapping license. If hunter, anglers or trappers choose to print and carry a paper copy of their small game, fishing or trapping license, that continues to be an allowed practice.

This does not apply to federal waterfowl stamps, tags and licenses mailed from the GFP licensing office.

As technology evolves, GFP is committed to actively engaging with hunters, anglers and trappers across the state to provide them with the digital services that make it easier to do business with us.

For more information, please visit http://gfp.sd.gov/licenses/general-hunt-fish/digitallicense.aspx.

Michigan DNR’s Hunting Access Program awarded grant to increase hunting opportunities

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources' Hunting Access Program, which provides access to quality hunting lands near urban areas, soon will expand into the northern Lower Peninsula thanks to a new federal grant.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources will receive $951,400 to expand its Hunting Access Program into the northern Lower Peninsula to increase private-land hunting opportunities. This grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program, also will improve wildlife habitats by enhancing grassland, forest and food plots.

The Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program encourages landowners to allow outdoor enthusiasts greater access to their privately owned land for hunting, bird watching, fishing and hiking. According to a 2013 study by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, outdoor recreation supports 6.1 million direct jobs across the country and $646 billion in spending each year. Deer hunting alone attracts more than 700,000 hunters to Michigan each year and contributes billions of dollars to the state’s economy.

Michigan's Hunting Access Program was created in 1977 to increase public hunting opportunities in southern Michigan, where 97 percent of the land base is privately owned. Through HAP, private landowners receive financial incentives for allowing hunters access to their lands. One of the oldest dedicated private-lands, public-access programs in the nation, HAP provides access to quality hunting lands near urban areas.

According to DNR wildlife biologist Mike Parker, “HAP enrollment will be targeted primarily in the agricultural areas in the northeast and western northern Lower Peninsula, where public land is a bit scarce. Grant funds will also be used to restore wildlife habitat on willing HAP properties, to improve opportunities for deer hunters, turkey hunters and small game hunters alike.”

Using funds from Michigan’s recent license restructuring, this new federal grant and an existing USDA grant, the DNR plans to continue expanding the program in the southern Lower Peninsula, the northern Lower Peninsula and the eastern Upper Peninsula over the next three years. 

Visit www.michigan.gov/hap to learn more about the program and to see a current list of private lands available for hunting in Michigan. The HAP Web page includes details about enrolled properties, including types of hunting allowed and aerial photos of the properties.

North Dakota Agencies Prohibit Hunting over Bait

Hunters are reminded that hunting big game over bait is prohibited on all state owned or managed wildlife management areas, all U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service national wildlife refuges and waterfowl production areas, U.S. Forest Service national grasslands, and all North Dakota state school, state park and state forest service lands.

The governor’s proclamation relating to chronic wasting disease also includes a provision that prohibits hunting big game over bait on both public and private land in deer unit 3C west of the Missouri River, and all of units 3E1, 3E2, 3F1 and 3F2.

In addition, any firearms, equipment or accessories used by hunters on Private Land Open To Sportsmen acreage may not be left unattended and must be removed when the hunter leaves the area. This includes, but is not limited to, guns, blinds, stands, baits, scents and decoys. This means a hunter cannot place bait on PLOTS prior to or during the season and leave it there. Any bait would have to be brought to the PLOTS tract by the hunter the same day and taken out by the hunter the same day he/she leaves.

Hunting over bait is defined as the placement and/or use of baits for attracting big game and other wildlife to a specific location for the purpose of hunting. Bait, in this case, includes grain, seed, mineral, salt, fruit, vegetable nut, hay, any naturally derived scent or lure, 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.

North Dakota Deer Archery Season Opens Sept. 4

North Dakota’s deer archery season opens Friday, Sept. 4 at noon, and bowhunters are reminded that deer bow licenses and accompanying tags are only available through electronic purchase.

Bowhunters can buy a license online at the State Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov; by calling 800-406-6409; or at license vendors in counties that are linked to the Game and Fish Department’s online licensing system. Hunters who purchase bow licenses at an online vendor will receive a tag at the time of purchase; otherwise, hunters who purchase their license over the phone or personal computer should allow for several days to receive their tag in the mail.

Bowhunters must follow all regulations of the managing agency when using tree stands on public hunting areas, including displaying the owner’s name, address and telephone number on tree stands left unattended on Game and Fish wildlife management areas.

In addition, hunting big game over bait is prohibited on both public and private land in deer unit 3C west of the Missouri River, and all of units 3E1, 3E2, 3F1 and 3F2.

The archery season is open through Jan. 3, 2016. Hunters should refer to the 2015 deer hunting guide for season information and regulations.

PLOTS Guide Available Online - North Dakota

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s Private Land Open To Sportsmen Guide for 2015 is now available online at the Department’s website, gf.nd.gov. In addition, PLOTS Guides will be available at most license vendors throughout the state in early September.

The guide will feature about 730,000 PLOTS acres. Because the guide is printed in mid-August, some PLOTS tracts highlighted in the guide may have been removed from the program since the time of printing. There will also be some PLOTS tracts where the habitat and condition of the tract will have changed significantly. Conversely, Game and Fish may have added new tracts to the program after the guide went to press.

To minimize possible confusion, Game and Fish will update PLOTS map sheets weekly on its website.

The PLOTS Guide features maps highlighting these walk-in areas, identified in the field by inverted triangular yellow signs, as well as other public lands.

The guides are free, and will be available at county auditor offices and license vendors in the state; by walk-in at the Game and Fish Department’s Bismarck office; and at district offices in Riverdale, Harvey (Lonetree), Williston, Dickinson, Jamestown and Devils Lake.

The guides are not available to mail, so hunters will have to pick one up at a local vendor, or print individual maps from the website.

Michigan DNR confirms third deer positive for CWD; hunter participation is critical this fall

Map of Michigan highlighting Ingham County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced that a third free-ranging deer in Meridian Township (Ingham County) has tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD). The deer was a 5-year-old doe. All three CWD-positive deer detected thus far have been discovered within a mile of one another.
“As we stated with the second positive deer, this news is not surprising,” said Dr. Steve Schmitt, DNR wildlife veterinarian. “The good news is that all three deer came from the same small area.” Genetic analyses carried out by Michigan State University’s Molecular Ecology Laboratory indicate that all three positive animals were related as part of an extended family. Previous research has shown that CWD often is transmitted within family groups because of their close contact.
Hunters are critical to helping the DNR understand the prevalence and geographic distribution of the disease.
“We have focused our efforts thus far in the area around the first case,” Schmitt continued. ”We need individuals who have always hunted in Ingham County and surrounding counties to keep hunting. The DNR can’t fight this disease without their support. Hunters need to have their deer checked and tested so we can determine if this disease is established over a broad area or just persisting in a local pocket.”
In addition, it is critical that if an individual hunts outside Michigan in a state or province that has CWD in their free-ranging deer, elk, or moose that only the following parts of deer, elk, or moose carcasses are brought into Michigan:

• Deboned meat.
• Antlers.
• Antlers attached to a skull cap cleaned of all brain and muscle tissue.
• Hides.
• Upper canine teeth.
• Finished taxidermy mount.

If a hunter is notified by another state or province that a deer, elk, or moose that was brought into Michigan tested positive for CWD, that hunter must contact the DNR Wildlife Disease Lab within two business days (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) at 517-336-5030.
CWD is a fatal neurological disease that affects white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk and moose. It is caused by the transmission of infectious, self-multiplying proteins (prions) contained in saliva and other body fluids of infected animals. Susceptible animals can acquire CWD by direct exposure to these fluids, or from environments contaminated with these fluids or the carcass of a diseased animal.
Some chronically CWD-infected animals will display abnormal behaviors, progressive weight loss and physical debilitation. There is no cure; once a deer is infected with CWD, it will die.

To date, there is no evidence that chronic wasting disease presents any risk to non-cervids, including humans, either through contact with an infected animal or from handling venison. However, as a precaution, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization recommend that infected animals not be consumed as food by either humans or domestic animals.
The DNR provides CWD weekly updates online at www.michigan.gov/cwd. Announcements of additional CWD-positive deer within that same area will be listed online. Additional news updates will be issued if a CWD-positive deer is found outside the immediate area.

Related articles

• Michigan confirms chronic wasting disease in second free-ranging white-tailed deer (midwestdeerhunting.blogspot.com)

Father and Son Sentenced for Deer Trafficking

Donald W. Wainwright, Sr., 49, of Live Oak, Fla., was sentenced August 3, 2015 in U.S. District Court to 21 months in prison and a $125,000 fine for 12 charges related to violating the Lacey Act, one count of conspiracy and one count of wire fraud. His son, Donald W. Wainwright, Jr., 29, of Live Oak, Fla., was sentenced to four months of house arrest and three years of probation for eight charges related to violating the Lacey Act.

Carter Stewart, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Gregory Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, United States Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, Chief Scott Zody, Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Georgia Department of Natural Resources announced the sentences handed down by U.S. District Chief Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr.

According to court documents, the co-conspirators trafficked in live white-tailed deer.  Wainwright, Sr. owned hunting preserves in Logan County, Ohio, and Live Oak, Florida; both preserves were named Valley View Whitetails. Wainwright, Jr. was part-time resident and part-time operator of the site in Ohio.

Wainwright, Sr. illegally shipped deer to Florida from Ohio and attempted to ship deer to Georgia from Ohio. The deer herds involved with these shipments were not certified to be free from chronic wasting disease, tuberculosis and brucellosis. Federal Law requires interstate shipment of deer to be certified to be disease free. As a result, deer herds in Florida were potentially exposed to these diseases. His attempted shipment to Georgia was intercepted on I-71 South, about 50 miles from the Ohio River, when Ohio wildlife officers noticed deer noses and antlers inside a cargo trailer and pulled over a truck driven by Wainwright, Sr.’s employees.

“Trophy-sized white-tailed deer can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece if the animals come from herds that have been certified by government agricultural officials to be free from disease,” U.S. Attorney Stewart said. “Farmers are intensely interested in the disease status of white-tailed deer herds because their diseases can be transmitted to cattle and humans with potentially fatal results.”

Wainwright, Sr. placed federal identification tags from a certified deer that had previously died into the ear of uncertified deer they were selling. He then sold breeding services and semen from the deer to breeders around the United States.

The defendants also sold illegal white-tailed deer hunts at Valley View Whitetails of Ohio. They induced clients from around the country to hunt at Valley View Whitetails of Ohio – charging customers from $1,000 to $50,000 to kill deer inside his high fence preserve when Wainwright did not have a hunting preserve license. The customers then took the bucks back to their home states, including: Florida, Michigan, Alabama and Virginia.

"Chronic wasting disease can decimate wild deer and elk populations and we take egregious violations like this very seriously," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent in Charge Gregory Jackson. "We would like to thank our law enforcement counterparts in Ohio, Florida and Georgia for sharing their expertise and resources to fully investigate this case.”

Wainwright, Sr. pleaded guilty on February 27, 2015, to 12 charges related to violating the Lacey Act, one count of conspiracy and one count of wire fraud. He was also sentenced to 200 hours of community service to be served in a parks system and ordered to publish an article in The Deer Breeders Gazette.

Wainwright, Jr. pleaded guilty on February 17, 2015, to eight charges related to violating the Lacey Act.

Under the Lacey Act, it is unlawful to import, export, transport, sell or purchase wildlife, fish or plants that were taken, possessed, transported or sold in violation of a state, federal or foreign law. When it was passed in 1900, the Lacey Act became the first federal law protecting wildlife.

U.S. Attorney Stewart commended the cooperative investigation by law enforcement, as well as Special Assistant United States Attorney Heather Robinson with the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office and Assistant United States Attorneys Peter Glenn-Applegate and J. Michael Marous, who are representing the United States in this case. 

Related articles

• Three People Plead Guilty to Paddlefish Trafficking (missourioutdoors.blogspot.com)