Fall is upon us, and like most years, it has provided outdoor enthusiasts with a plethora of options for spending quality time outdoors.

Whether it’s upland game, waterfowl, special deer hunts, youth hunting or even time on the water, autumn 2024 has provided many reminders of why we choose to live in this part of the world.

So many options. So little time.

With that in mind, here’s a snapshot of some of the outdoor activities and events people have been enjoying so far this fall.

It’s been another good waterfowl season in the Devils Lake region, said Mark Fisher, a longtime district wildlife biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Devils Lake who retired Friday, Oct. 18, after 30 years with the federal agency.

Contributed / North Dakota Game and Fish Department

Mallards and green-winged teal are currently plentiful, Fisher says, and geese are “flowing into the country,” along with large numbers of snow geese and smaller Canada goose subspecies, including lesser and Richardson’s Canada geese.

“There’s been a lot of people around, and I think most people are doing pretty well in terms of the number of birds they’re putting in the bag,” Fisher said. “This last little cold front, some birds moved out, but we’re getting some birds in as well. I can remember this time of year, often, when you get a lot of pressure and birds move out, it’s a bit difficult to find birds. But there are many birds to hunt for people who are still interested in (hunting).

The number of snow geese is growing “right on schedule,” says Fisher.

“I always consider Columbus Day the day (snow geese) are supposed to arrive,” he said. “If you drive around, you can find flocks of snow geese here and there. Their numbers haven’t peaked by any means, but their numbers are increasing.”

The long weekend that coincides with the Minnesota MEA’s annual teachers convention — which was Oct. 17 this year — typically sees the largest influx of out-of-state hunters, Fisher said. After that, the hunting pressure decreases.

Prairie trails and other back roads are generally dry, so getting around is no problem.

“There are still (hunters) around, but there’s so much habitat,” he said. “Some of the wetlands are still abundant and corn is being harvested on time this year. And of course there’s no snow, so birds have a lot of places to feed and loaf in wetlands and stuff.

“So, it’s still looking pretty good here.”

So far in the 2024-2025 pheasant season in North Dakota, hunting reports have basically worked as predicted.

Contributed / North Dakota Game and Fish Department

Pretty good, in other words—especially in the northwest and southwest parts of North Dakota, where fry numbers were up from 2023 in late summer roadside surveys.

“I’ve heard or seen good reports basically all over western North Dakota,” said RJ Gross, wildlife biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Bismarck.

According to Doug Leier, outreach biologist for Game and Fish in West Fargo, pheasant success in the southeastern part of the state has been “good in pockets,” especially along the edges of cornfields and near harvested corn.

Many other areas, however, can best be described as “spotty,” says Leier. The number of farms, at 7.9 per 100 miles, increased from 5.9 in 2023, and the total number of pheasants, at 57 per 100 miles, increased from 53 pheasants in 2023.

“Most hunters in the Southeast (have been enjoying) the nice weather, even if they didn’t find as many birds or miss any shots they should have connected on,” Leier said.

The weather was beautiful and pheasants were plentiful on Sunday, October 20th during the Finley Wildlife Club’s annual youth pheasant hunt.

According to Brian Tuite, treasurer of the Finley Wildlife Club, about 35 to 40 hunters participated in this year’s hunt, which was held on private lands near Finley, North Dakota.

Contributed / Mike Stromsodt

Finley is located in Steele County, about 65 miles southwest of Grand Forks.

The Finley Wildlife Club held its first youth pheasant hunt in 2012. For this year’s hunt, the club bought and released 350 roosters and about 50 hen pheasants “at about 17-18 locations” in the Finley area, Tuite said. There was great support from the landowners, he said, and Finley Motors and Heartland Chevy dealerships again sponsored the event.

Without that support, the hunt would likely not become an annual event.

As in previous years, the hunt was open to the public, in accordance with North Dakota Game and Fish Department pheasant hunting regulations. The only requirement was that adult hunters brought at least one youngster into the field.

Heading into this year’s grouse season in Minnesota, the Department of Natural Resources was careful to temper expectations for hunters riding high from last year’s banner season.

In 2023, an estimated 66,800 hunters pursued grouse in Minnesota, down from the 10-year average of 72,100, but they shot 339,600 grouse, a 34% increase over the 10-year average. Last year’s 73% hunter success rate was higher than the 10-year average of 70%, and hunters landed an average of 6.9 birds each — nearly two more birds than the 10-year average, DNR statistics show.

Brad Dokken / Grand Forks Herald

Statewide increases in spring drumming suggested the hunt this year could be even better. Then came widespread rains and chilly temperatures in late May and early June, dealing a double whammy to nesting opportunities for ruffed grouse and other ground-nesting birds.

With the season now several weeks old, the grouse reports seem to be playing out about as expected.

“Both personally and from what I’ve heard from others, the rip season has been spotty and closer to average than last year,” said Charlie Tucker, director of the Red Lake Wildlife Management Area at Norris Camp, south of Roosevelt, Minnesota.

Some hunters report satisfaction and decent numbers, Tucker says, especially those willing to work a little harder to find birds.

“Other hunters don’t have as much success, and it seems to vary from day to day,” he said.

Scratch reports from farther east in the state have been “slightly better,” Tucker said.

“It’s possible that just a few miles to the east they missed a rain event that affected the survival of the chicks,” he said. “We were ready for a great season, but the spring rains seemed to put a stop to production. Still, the hunters who put in the effort find some rewards.”

This year’s accessible deer hunt at Rydell National Wildlife Refuge near Erskine, Minn., drew 16 participants, and three deer were harvested during the Oct. 10-12 event, said Randy Sorenson, executive director of Options Interstate Resource Center for Independent Living in East Grand Forks.

Contributed / Heather Everson, Options

Options and the US Fish and Wildlife Service organize the hunt in partnership with the Minnesota DNR, providing people of all ages and disabilities with a place to hunt, a couple of meals and hunting lodging. This year’s hunt, the 29th annual, was open to as many as 20 participants.

Despite only harvesting three deer, hunters weren’t necessarily lacking opportunities to pull the trigger, Sorenson said.

“If people would have met all the deer that we saw, that would have been really great,” Sorenson said. “But it wasn’t.”

Contributed / Heather Everson, Options

Hosting an event the size of the Options-accessible hunt also requires a significant volunteer effort, and this year’s event included “roughly 40” volunteers over the three days, said Options attorney/trainer Heather Everson.

“During the three days there was a lot of conversation between old friends and new friends,” she said.

Minnesota’s regular firearms deer season is still a couple of weeks away — Saturday, Nov. 9 — but hunters have already shot and logged more than 18,000 deer between archery, youth and other early seasons, DNR statistics show.

According to the DNR’s interactive

crop update online

website, hunters who on Thursday, October 24, had harvested 18,117 deer throughout the country. Of that total, the harvest included 36.28% adult bucks, 47.23% adult females, 7.77% young females and 8.72% young males.

Harvest numbers are generated from the DNR’s electronic license and registration system.