Hunter Enthusiasm: Two Deer Hunters Walking on Prairie

Rising or falling deer license numbers. Habitat on the landscape. A plan to manage deer in North Dakota. All of these things mean something to many people as deer hunting, a storied activity that dates back nearly nine decades when licenses were first issued to hunters, in North Dakota remains relevant.

“We see the enthusiasm for deer hunting in a couple of different ways,” Williams said. “For one, we see it in the number of people who actually apply for deer licenses, which remains pretty high.”

In 2020, more than 81,000 hunters applied for the 69,050 licenses made available by the Game and Fish Department.

“We also see it in the form of frustration when people aren’t getting a deer license and have to wait a period of time to get a deer license,” Williams said. “We still hear from hunters about that and it’s understandable. But I also take that as enthusiasm for deer hunting. The day our phones don’t ring, or our emails don’t light up from people with concerns and interest in deer hunting, that tells me that maybe they’ve run out of enthusiasm.”

Williams said wildlife managers certainly understand the frustration of some hunters who have difficulty drawing a license through the Department’s deer lottery. Yet, if a hunter is willing to be flexible, sometimes there is an answer for that.

“If you’re an individual who is particular about where you deer hunt because of, say, a connection to grandpa’s farm in a particular unit, but it’s difficult to draw a license there, and you don’t feel like you have the ability to move to another unit where you have a better chance … the frustration certainly gets a little bit higher,” he said. “But if you want to be out there hunting and participating in the family event associated with deer hunting, applying for an antlerless tag is not the worst thing in the world.”

Williams said it’s understandable that most hunters want to draw a buck license, but that’s not going to happen.

“Even when we were issuing close to 150,000 licenses, not everybody had that buck tag,” Williams said. “That’s not practical. That’s not possible. So, if people want that experience and just to feel like they’re part of the hunt, looking at other options is certainly something to consider.”