Alrighty then... this is a real can o' worms. Personally I think it's a stupid lawsuit and will end up costing MN taxpayers WAY too muc and end up costing us other things in the long run. However, I've talked to MN hunters who bought licenses, made plans, only to have them backfire because the law change in ND was a "sudden" thing. I don't know how much truth there is to that. I want to know one thing: Who is this lawsuit going to benefit? NOBODY. Are the hunters who took off work and had to cancel plans going to get those days off back again? Doubtful. Are they going to get money back from licenses that they couldn't use? Nope. So what the hell is the point of this lawsuit? I'll tell you: It's nothing more than a glorified political p*ssing contest! It's just dang stupid and I think that, as stated before, it'll end up like this: MN will lose this stupid lawsuit and will retaliate by changing hunting laws for NR hunters. In turn, ND will change it's laws again, then MN will change again, and the hits just keep on comin'. Tit for tat. I don't ever even hunt in ND, but I hunt birds in Montana. They have something VERY similar. NR cannot hunt ANY birds until a week after opener. Residents get that first week. Does it bother anyone? Probably. Does it bother me? Hell no! Why? Because i think resident hunters deserve to have the first crack at birds in their own state. But, like I said, it's gonna turn into a huge p*ssing match and MN will probably retaliate by changing fishing laws (more than likely, why come here for bird hunting?).
Now, i've talked to people who RELY on NR hunters and fishermen for an income. Some of them in the small towns in ND are EXTREMELY PO'd at the state of ND itself! A small town grocer and liquor store owner told me he'll have MAJOR problems making ends meet because he counts on NR hunters from MN for a good majority of his business! I suggest writing to the proper government officials (I can;t remember the a-holes name here in MN, but I did write to him when i first heard about this) and saying you oppose this action. But, on the other hand, because this is, in reality, a political p*ssing contest, it probably won't do you a lot of good. What politician wants to hear he's a complete dumb-*ss, after all?