Unit 7: Set 5. Bringing Back the Game: Hunting and Game Conservation in North Dakota - Upland Game Bird Hunting Documents

Intro | Documents | Historic Record | Whitetail Deer |
Deer Documents | Pheasants | Bird Documents | Photos |
Activities

The Game and Fish Laws booklet specified legal game birds, seasons, and bag limits. Note that pheasants and partridge are listed in the 1917 laws, though North Dakota hunters have not yet had a season on those birds. When this law states that placing birds in cold storage is against the law, it is probably referring to the Lacey Act, a federal law of 1900 that prohibited the interstate transportation of game animals hunted for commercial purposes. Cold storage in private homes was uncommon in 1917.

The second document concerns game bird provisions for 1931, the first year that pheasant hunting was legal. With the bag limit set at 3 male pheasants, it appears that pheasants had become plentiful by 1931.

The 1945 law shows that pheasants and Hungarian partridge (both introduced birds) have become plentiful enough to have a 5 bird bag limit. Prairie chickens are still included though this will be the final year of a prairie chicken (pinnated grouse) season.