Say Anything Blog

I like salmon but not sure what I’d do with 288. Halibut? Now that’s another story. But this guy was into salmon in a BIG way.

Troopers sighted the vehicle near the Muldoon Road exit on the Glenn Highway and stopped its driver, Choong Il Park, 68, who was in possession of 288 salmon and 70 rainbow trout above the limit, according to troopers.

full story here

Mountain lion hunting, management, behavior and research are constantly breaking new barriers of information in North Dakota. Here’s a nice update from John Odermann and the Dickinson Press.

The first year we proposed it, we took a lot of criticism from people for being too aggressive and took a lot of flack for not knowing enough about the population to justify a season, Kreil said. We felt having a season and actually being able to examine and study the animals that were taken, would help us manage lions better in the future and that proved to be true.

The knowledge that the Game and Fish has gained as a result of the regular seasons is head and shoulders above what they had before, according to Kreil.

full story here

We’re kind of a throwback family. On Sunday nights from 7-8PM prairie public TV replays the old Lawrence Welk Show. Proof his draw spans generations is that my three kids all under age 6 love the show. They literally do. I remember watching as a kid for my 2nd or 3rd cousin Joey Schmitt playing accordion a few times on the show. Pretty heavy stuff for North Dakota.

Tonight’s episode featured a tribute to mardi gras. For some reason it’s hard for me to imagine LW at the Mardi Gras. But here’s Anacani’s tribute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPXDnl8ULEI

So if your looking for a little retro TV check it out.

I’ve been battling what turned out to be double lung infection not influenza like first diagnosed in a previous post. So would I be out of line for asking for my co-pay back from the first visit?

If i took my car in and they said it was a flat tire when in fact the car was out of gas would they make me pay to fix a flat tire that wasnt flat?

I know it’s a reach but by golly a young family of 5 we’ve made 7 trips to the clinic this week. Two have turned out to be erroneous.

I’ve been fighting influenza for better part of the week. Which wouldnt be so bad, but the entire house has strep throat, sinus, ear infections….we ain’t to healthy. So here’s what doesn’t really seem to work.

As the illness set in I ramped up with multiple doses of echinacea, zinc, vitamin c, vitmin a, ginseng. I drank excessive amounts of white tea, green tea, V8. None of which really did much for me. so ...i took Dayquil, robitussin, cough drops, and switched into apple cider vinegar with honey on almost an IV drip with a cup by my side all day.

About the only thing that has made any comfort is a nice hot bubble bath, Vicks vapor rub (our house smells like a nursing home) and 3 Motrin about every 3-4 hours.

This week in the Dickinson Press John Odermann takes a closer look at the concerns of baiting big game in North Dakota.

The reason presented was the feed piles would contribute to the rapid spread of diseases, such as tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease, if they were present in the population.

McKenna said the Game and Fish isnt prepared to call for an outright ban of baiting, but it does have concerns.

Disease is a concern as you have animals in the surrounding states that have tested positive, McKenna said. TB-free status could be lost in Minnesota. Its kind of brewing up there and it scares us, because we dont want that here in North Dakota.

full story here

I’d take fishing over basketball any day. At least in Illinois the kids will have a choice as fishing is now a HS sport.

Illinois will become the first state to have a statewide bass fishing tournament at the high school level.

Where was this when I was staring at creeks from my school windows?

On Monday, the Illinois High School Board of Directors approved a recommendation from executive director Marty Hickman to add the bass fishing tournament ``as an IHSA activity beginning in the spring of 2009, provided that adequate sponsorships are secured in advance for the tournament.’‘

From many discussions I’ve had in the months since I wrote the original column in the Sept. 16 Sun-Times, I’ve been amazed at the level of support from the business end of fishing, the club level (which will be central to making it work), the teachers and other volunteers, and the high school kids.

I’ll cast to that!

full story right here

if you want to hunt turkeys you need to have a tag. if you want a tag you need to apply. you are going to apply. the deadline is Wed. get r’ done

Spring Turkey Applications Due Feb. 13

Applications for the 2008 spring turkey season must be in the mail and postmarked, or submitted online, before midnight Feb. 13.

Prospective hunters can apply online, or print out an application to mail, at the North Dakota Game and Fish Department website, gf.nd.gov. Lottery and gratis applications are also available at county auditors, license vendors and Game and Fish offices. Applicants can also apply by calling 800-406-6409.

In addition, first-time spring turkey hunters ages 15 or younger are able to receive one spring license valid for the regular hunting season in a specific unit. To be eligible, the youth hunter must be 15 or younger on opening day of the spring turkey season, and have never received a spring turkey license in North Dakota.

Only North Dakota residents are eligible to apply. The spring turkey season is open from April 12 through May 18.

As a graduate of NDSU-Bottineau back in the day. MSU-B means little to me. Personally if the name must change, I’d vote (and have) for Bottineau State College—

BISMARCK, N.D.

Minot State University’s Bottineau campus is considering changing its name.

Advocates of a new name haven’t agreed on what it should be. Campus dean Ken Grosz says Bottineau residents want the town’s name included in the school’s new moniker.

The two-year college used to be called the School of Forestry. Grosz says there’s some support for bringing back that name as part of a broader environmental theme for the school.

Grosz says some other suggestions include Northern Lights University, Peace Garden State University-Bottineau, Four Seasons State College and Bottineau State College.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to increase the cost of the federal duck stamp to raise millions of dollars to preserve and restore valuable wetlands used by ducks, geese and other critters.

The stamp now costs $15, but President Bush’s 2009 budget proposal asks Congress to raise it to $25.

Personally I’m all in favor of this. Parents are better at judging if a kid is ready to safely go into the field hunting. Some 10 years old maybe safer than older hunters. And just because it’s set at 10, doesnt mean parents will allow kids to hunt. They may wait until they are more mature.

And when it comes to hooking kids on hunting, most kids get hooked on video games and other distractions way before they hit 10. So this is a move to ensure the heritage of hunting is carried on.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Kids as young as 10 could hunt under a bill that has received initial debate in the South Dakota Legislature.

Rep. Mike Buckingham of Rapid City is behind the measure. He says the state is at risk of losing a generation of hunters, and allowing kids to begin hunting at a younger age would help get them hooked.

HB1263 would allow a 10 year old to hunt without getting a license if the youngster is accompanied by a parent or guardian who has a license but is not hunting.

Testimony on the bill was not finished, however, and the House Agriculture Committee will resume consideration of it on Tuesday.

The current hunting age is 12 in South Dakota.

Arday Ardayfio, a Fargo Kiwanis member and one of the event organizers, does not expect a decrease in turnout.

Ardayfio said the Kiwanis Club will still attempt to break a world record of serving more than 30,724 pancakes in eight hours.

The feed begins at 7 a.m

Excess elk from National Parks used to be shipped off to other states, and many were happy to have them available. Chronic wasting disease eliminated that possible action. And now…

Since the practice was stopped, the herd at the park in southwestern North Dakota has grown to as many as 900 animals, on land that can sustain only about 360.

At Rocky Mountain, where chronic wasting disease was discovered in the early 1980s, the elk herd is estimated to be at the high end of a target range of 1,600 to 2,100 animals.

At Wind Cave, where the disease also was detected, the animals number about 650, nearly double the ideal herd size. The park had been shipping out elk as recently as 1994.

All three parks are working on new elk management plans. Rocky Mountain’s plan includes the use of National Park Service employees and volunteers to cull the herd.

The conservation group WildEarth Guardians advocates the restoration of wolves to manage elk at Rocky Mountain. Executive Director John Horning said the group will sue in federal court by spring to block that park’s plan to shoot the animals.

The preferred approach in the Wind Cave plan, which will be presented to the public in draft form in the spring, is to allow animals to move outside the park and be hunted, said Dan Foster, the park’s chief of resource management.

here’s the full story

Stearns, 38, has seen quite a few cougar tracks during the three years he has lived on his 10-acre rural property, about 2 1/2 miles west of Highway 7.

About a year ago his wife, Mary, persuaded him to buy a .38-caliber revolver.

Stearns bought the lightest, shortest model he could find — a “police special” with a 1-inch barrel.

“It’s kind of ridiculous for target practice, but it’s easy to carry,” said Stearns, who works as an occupational therapist. “When you’re running you don’t want something heavy and cumbersome.”

Besides the gun, he bought a cougar hunting tag.

He didn’t much care if he ever killed one of the big cats.

full story right here