THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 2011 N.D. outdoors: The good, bad and sometimes ugly PAGE 2C
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A lot to do about nothing I feel like ranting this week — but I don’t know what I would rant about. Could be that I’m sick and tired of winter already, now that we’re a full six weeks into it. Six weeks? Can that be right? The snow was here to stay the last week of deer season, so I guess that is about right.
BRIAN GEHRING
Whomever it was who said when you get older time doesn’t fly, it bounds and leaps, had it right. Last winter, OK, the last three winters, have pretty much stunk as far as ice fishing goes. This one is shaping up to be more of the same. Snow is one thing, and while it does make getting around on the ice harder, there usually are some trailblazers around who will blast some paths across the ice. But with the crazy winds we’ve been having, just getting on the ice has been a battle. More than a few ice fishing tournaments already have been canceled or postponed. The ramp near Lake Audubon is getting a few more shacks on it, but from what I have seen through this past weekend, most of them are sticking pretty close to the ramp. And a few more shacks are popping up on Sweet Briar, but on Oahe, things have been hit and miss because of the rise and fall of the river. On most lakes, I think it’s as much a situation of anglers being afraid they won’t be able to get their shacks off as it is just the difficulty getting around. With about a foot of snow across most parts of the state, the snow on the ice doesn’t help make new ice either. It just weighs down what we do have so water comes up through the holes and soaks everything. But look at the bright side of things — this week’s 25 below zero temperatures should help make some new ice. This winter, the weather has been so lousy the National Weather Service has actually had to invent a new weather advisory category to describe it. It’s called the “extreme cold” advisory. That means the actual air temperature could hit 30 below zero, with winds less than 5 mph or some insane number like that. For one, I don’t think there Continued on 2C
The game has changed for coyote vs. fox By BRIAN GEHRING Bismarck Tribune If you think you have been seeing more foxes lately, your eyes haven’t been playing tricks on you, and you’re not alone. In many areas of the state, reports from game wardens and others indicate red fox numbers may be on the rise in the past couple years. Conventional wisdom says when it comes to coyotes and foxes co-existing — they don’t. Where you see coyotes, you normally don’t see foxes because they compete for the denning areas and some of the same food sources. Normally the coyotes will push the foxes out of the area. S t e p h a n i e Tu c k e r, furbearer biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said populations of foxes and coyotes aren’t tracked like deer, but there is data to support the inverse relationship between the two furbearers. Tucker said one of the measures of fox and coyote numbers since the 1950s has been a rural mail carriers survey that reports sightings. From 1896 to 1962 or so, Tucker said data also was collected from bounty surveys so there is historical data to indicate that where you find coyotes you won’t find foxes, and vice versa. Tucker said the balance
turned in the mid-1940s, when coyote numbers dropped and fox numbers increased. Around 2000, Tucker said the coyote numbers increased and the fox numbers dipped. Of course fox numbers are not up in all areas of the state, but Tucker said there are pockets here and there, particularly north and east of Bismarck, where that is that case. District game warden Tim Larson of Turtle Lake said he and others in that area have been seeing more foxes than in previous years. But at the same time, Larson said he has not seen much of decline in coyote numbers. There are a number of theories as to why the foxes have been making a comeback, but nothing concrete. Larson said it could be that mange has been on the downswing in recent years. Both species are affected by the disease, which is carried and transmitted by mites, but foxes are more susceptible to dying from mange than coyotes. It could be a food source issue. One thought is that with the heavy snow cover the past few winters, rodent species like voles that use snow as cover have been surviving at a higher rate, adding more variety to the table, so to speak. Or it could just be the natural cycle of the population dynamics on the prairie. “It could be the cycle is
Courtesy of the Game and Fish Department
TOP: Foxes, like this young pup, have been been making a comeback in recent years. Historically, foxes and coyotes aren’t found together in the same areas, but that has changed. ABOVE: The coyote is considered by many as an ultimate survivor and will drive foxes out of their territories. now swinging back the other way,” Tucker said. The Conservation Reserve Program also could be an indirect factor giving both foxes and their prey cover. Coyotes are often regarded as the ultimate survivors, but the same can be said for foxes. Fox e s h a v e s m a l l e r home ranges than do their counterparts, so their diets likely are more varied than coyotes’. So what happens when
the population shifts? District game warden Brent Schwan of Watford City said there are, without a doubt, more foxes in his area. And like other parts of the state, Schwan said the coyote numbers still seem to be stable. Coyote-calling contests and coyote hunting in general have become more popular in recent years. Even so, that hasn’t put much of a dent in the coyote numbers in part,
because the market for fur is not what is was a few decades ago. A good coyote fur might fetch around $10, with a fox fur at about $8. “It’s hard to get a good feel for the numbers,” Schwan said, because the last two winters, conditions have kept a lot of hunters out of the field. “Getting around has been tough so there aren’t a lot of hunters out there,” he said. Continued on 2C
Don’t miss the Dock Dogs February 18-20 at the Bismarck Civic Center! Extreme Vertical
Big Air
As seen on ABC, ESPN and the Outdoor Channel!
First ever appearance in Bismarck!
Speed Retrieve
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