North Dakota Outdoors and beyond

PLOTS Guide Available Online

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s Private Land Open To Sportsmen Guide for 2012 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 late August.

The guide will feature about 840,000 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.

Hunters can also view the guide, and find a list of vendors where guides are available, on the 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 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.

Out-of-state hunters are reminded that state law does not allow nonresidents to hunt on North Dakota Game and Fish Department owned or managed lands during the first week of the pheasant season.

Private Land Open to Sportsmen acreage and state wildlife management areas are open to hunting by resident hunters only from Oct. 8-14. Nonresidents, however, can still hunt those days on other state-owned and federal lands, or private land.

The law applies to all small game, waterfowl, furbearer and big game hunting on PLOTS and state wildlife management areas during the first seven days of the pheasant season. Starting Oct. 15 this year, nonresidents may hunt on PLOTS and WMAs as long as the appropriate season is open.

Residents Only on PLOTS, State WMAs from Oct. 9-15

Out-of-state hunters are reminded that state law does not allow nonresidents to hunt on North Dakota Game and Fish Department owned or managed lands during the first week of the pheasant season.

Private Land Open to Sportsmen acreage and state wildlife management areas are open to hunting by resident hunters only from Oct. 9-15. Nonresidents, however, can still hunt those days on other state-owned and federal lands, or private land.

The law applies to all small game, waterfowl, furbearer and big game hunting on PLOTS and state wildlife management areas during the first seven days of the pheasant season. Starting Oct. 16 this year, nonresidents may hunt on PLOTS and WMAs as long as the appropriate season is open.

Grouse and partridge seasons open in North Dakota Saturday, PLOTS guides are a great tool to help find your way around ND

The annual PLOTS guide locates lands open to hunting through agreements between the Department and private landowners, as well as public lands such as wildlife management and waterfowl production areas. Printed guides will be available in early September from license vendors and county auditors located around the state. See the list of locations where PLOTS guides are available.

Note: PLOTS maps change frequently as new tracts are added and others are removed.  Maps on this page are the most current available and are updated periodically to reflect recent changes.

What to do if you find a discrepancy between the PLOTS Guide and conditions on the ground?  If you find an area listed as a PLOTS tract, but that is not marked with yellow triangular PLOTS signs from the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, the department suggests that you err on the side of caution and avoid entering the area until you have checked it out with us.

The Department’s interactive PLOTS maps available in real time – Note: Turn off popup blocker.

Nonresident hunting restriction.

Note:  Nonresidents may not hunt on lands owned or leased by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, including State Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) and Private Lands Open To Sportsmen (PLOTS), for the first week of pheasant season (October 9-15). This restriction applies to all types of hunting, not just pheasants.  This restriction does not apply to lands owned or managed by other state agencies such as state school lands, federal lands such as US Fish and Wildlife Service Waterfowl Production Areas (WPAs), or to private lands not enrolled in the G&F PLOTS program.

PLOTS maps and related documents appear in PDF format.  To view or print them requires Adobe® Acrobat® Reader®. Get it free athttp://get.adobe.com/reader/.

Using this Guide

• Introduction to PLOTS Guide – 136Kb PDF
• Private Land Initiative – 127Kb PDF
• Habitat is Key & Hunter Behavior Can Influence PLOTS Retention – 106Kb PDF
• Using this Guide – 153Kb PDF
• Map Legend – 47Kb PDF
• PLOTS Rules and Ethics – 160Kb PDF

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s Private Land Open To Sportsmen Guide is available online at the Game and Fish 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 1 million PLOTS acres, a level reached in 2007 and maintained each year since.

Because the guide is printed in August and distributed in early September, 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 that will remain in the program, but the habitat and condition of the tracts 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 at gf.nd.gov.

Hunters can also view the guide, and find a list of vendors where guides are available, on the 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 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.

Open Fields was finally funded on the Federal level, providing states without  PLOTS type program (private land open to sportsmen) a financial injection to provide public hunting access. And before critics take pot-shots understand the heritage of hunting in our nation, along with the economic boost of PUBLIC hunting access. Yes people love to point towards $$$$ as the driving force as to what is good or what is not good. I don’t fall into that…but that’s another story…here’s proof of the economic benefit of PUBLIC hunting access in South Dakota

PIERRE – A state program that leases private land and opens it to public hunting helped boost South Dakota’s economy by at least $15 million last year, according to a study by the state Game, Fish and Parks Department.

need your 2009 North Dakota Private Land Open to Sportsmen PLOTS guide? The pages are updated online at http://www.gf.nd.gov the actual hard copies won’t be out for a few more weeks. But you can find you PLOT and print it off.