North Dakota's deer season has been set - and this year, 10,350 more licenses will be given out - bringing the total licenses available to 65,000.
Casey Anderson is assistant chief of the wildlife division with North Dakota Game and Fish. He says in total, mule deer licenses are up by 450, and antlerless mule deer are up by 700. Licenses for antlered whitetail deer are up by 700 while antlerless whitetail are up by 1,250. The category of "any antlered" licenses increased by 3,150 and "any antlerless" by 4,100. In addition, muzzleloader licenses are now up by 184, with youth licenses up by 45. Anderson says in recent years, fewer licenses were given out due to thinning herds after tough winters. But the herds have been coming back, even after the seemingly rough winter that just ended.
"We had a rough winter, but realistically when you look at it, it was relatively short. We didn't really starte getting snow til the end of January, and a lot of times, you know, our animals obviously have lived in North Dakota for a long time - the snow and the cold doesn't bother them in shorter durations, it's when you get those long, seemingly drawn out winters. Now of course, it was the worst toward the end so a lot of us felt like winter was really long. But when you look back on when we started getting snow, and the amount of snow that we had on the ground, that impedes movement and the animal's ability to find food - it wasn't really on the ground for that long."
CWD, or chronic wasting disease has been found in some sections of North Dakota. Anderson says hunters will be expected to comply with regulations regarding the harvest of animals in those sections. Hunters can apply for licenses online at the North Dakota Game and Fish website. They are available until June 5.