Rangerlab

I was just wondering what everybody thinks about the law suit that Minnesota is bringing against North Dakota involving restrictions on nonresident waterfowl hunters. Are you for it , or against it?

jlb66

I live here in MN and I think that it's a big big big big humonguos mistake of our state to bring that suit against ND. I'm not for it one bit I really think it's gonna come back to bite us as minnesotans right square in the A#$.

Rangerlab

I think I would have to agree with you. It bugs the crap out of me that ND an SD think they have a right to restrict non resident hunters from hunting federal birds, but I can see this turning into a tit for tat type thing where us Minnesota hunters will only end up loosing more than we already have.

brdhntr

as a former nd resident living on the border now, i am against it. the lawsuit is not going to resolve any issue. the fact that nd is puting the restrications on for federal migratory regulated hunting is soo wrong though. but the federal government needs to review the case in the proper dept, not in the courts. as far as for the pheasant hunting, nd has the right to do what they want. they can shoot their economy in the foot if they want to. the real issue is over land. make nonresidents pay higher taxes on the land or other restrictions. even minnesota has a diff tax rate for recreational land. let them do that. but since they went this route. mn should just raise the rates not nonresident fishing and hunting and not allow non-residents to fish opening week. then mn can shoot themsevles in the foot.[:-]

micdundee

I am from ND. I personally think the lawsuit is absolutely ridiculous. There is no way the will win for one and why should they have any say in when we let non-residents start hunting here. Its our decision. I am not against MN in anyway. I am all for non-residents hunting here too, its good money for the state. I just think the the lawsuit is one of the most idiotic things I have ever heard of. I also do agree with brdhntr. They should make non-residents pay higher taxes on land.

Jorgy

Someone have a link to this lawsuit so a Colorado guy can figure out what you are talking about? I want to play too

johnkeltgen

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?

btpatriot02

John you left one other thing out, This lawsuit makes us (minnesotans look stupid and foolish)

johnkeltgen

Oh exactly, btpatriot02. We, Minnesotans, are being made to look bad because of the actions of one politician. What the public doesn't see is that we, as Minnesota Sportsmen, don't agree with what is being done! All they see is: Hunter's are whining and now THEY (not the politicians) are costing the taxpayers money with this lawsuit. Let me assure everyone who reads these posts that 90% of the hunters here in Minnesota do NOT support this lawsuit. Maybe we (as a large group of hunters) need to get together and get in touch with Ducks Unlimited to show we do NOT support what is happening. DU at least has some clout in the political field and they would know how to handle a situation like this.