How Hunters Help Nature

For Clint Otto, archery hunting for mule deer in the Little Missouri National Grasslands in western North Dakota is a bit like going to the casino. It all comes down to a bit of luck, and you might leave empty handed.

Clint will sleep in his truck the night before, rise before the sun and start hiking under the stars with a packed lunch and plenty of water. He’ll walk for miles and miles, hours and hours, searching for the right animal to pursue. Once he’s found one, he may hike another few miles, finding the best direction to approach it from. He stays silent, slowly creeping closer, observing the sights and sounds of nature, until he has a clear shot.

Maybe he’ll harvest a trophy buck to fill his freezer. Maybe he won’t. Either way, a day spent in the wild on lands available to everyone is not a day wasted.

“There’s this draw, this allure to always come back, even though it’s hard,” Clint said. “It’s a tremendous roller coaster of emotions—you fail a lot and occasionally you succeed. And what you’re really doing is you’re making memories. That’s what it's about.”

Hunters are Conservationists

Clint is one of more than 100,000 licensed hunters in North Dakota who support conservation through license fees and taxes on equipment like guns and ammunition. Those funds go directly toward protection and restoration of habitat for game species like pheasants, deer and waterfowl, but also benefit habitat for non-game species, like grassland birds and pollinators.

North Dakota’s hunters take a safety course to secure a license, which includes information about conservation. These courses often include information about why hunting has bag limits and seasons and how hunting benefits wildlife and habitat.

“We like to hunt and eat deer, pheasants or whatever,” said Stephanie Tucker, furbearer biologist and game management section leader at North Dakota Game and Fish Department. “But we realize we need to do it in a sustainable manner and that we need to provide good habitats for the long-term sustainability of those species.”

Hunting and Wildlife Management

Stephanie, a lifelong hunter, works on a team that carefully considers how many licenses to offer up each year for the various game species hunted in North Dakota based on the population of that animal and other factors. That can range from just a couple tags for a species like bighorn sheep, to more than 40,000 tags for more abundant game species, like white-tailed and mule deer.

“Hunting and trapping are our most important wildlife management tools,” Stephanie said. It’s a proven strategy to balance what North Dakota’s habitat and resources can withstand.

Not only are there environmental considerations—like managing population size to avoid depletion of resources or spread of disease—but also social considerations, like when a wild animal becomes a nuisance or a danger to people, pets or livestock.

Hunting on Public Land

More than 90% of North Dakota is privately owned. Which means many hunters hunt on land they own, land owned by friends or family, or rely on public access programs like the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s Private Land Open To Sportsmen (PLOTS) program.

Clint Otto enjoys hunting on public land, like the Little Missouri National Grassland, where he can sleep in his truck, start the day early and fill his coolers with game meat before sunset.

“It’s something that anyone can do who lives here in North Dakota, and you don't have to have a lot of money to do it,” Clint said. “It’s really important for us to have places that we can go and have these authentic, wild experiences, whether we're seeking tranquility, or an adventure or just to be out in nature observing wildlife. Those things are totally accessible out on this land.”

Hunting at TNC Preserves

As North Dakota’s population continues to grow and land is fragmented and converted for development, energy use and agriculture, the habitats that support both game species and non-game wildlife species are lost. The loss and fragmentation of these habitats also lead to fewer opportunities to have quality experiences in nature, like the one Clint described.  

TNC’s work in North Dakota conserves the habitat that many game species and other wildlife need to survive and provides places where young and old alike can enjoy nature, whether it be through hunting or other outdoor recreation activities. TNC’s preserves in North Dakota provide hunting opportunities, with some restrictions to protect sensitive natural areas.