Doug Leier: The heritage of North Dakota deer hunting

One of the truly unique aspects of hunting is that within the framework of rules and regulations each hunter can make choices to create their personalized hunt. Early morning weekend. Late afternoon weekdays. It s the choice of each hunter and the 16 ½-day deer season is the epitome of the hunting heritage unique to North Dakota. Doug Leier is an outreach biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. Reach him at [email protected]. Ask any North Dakota hunter what draws them to the field each November, and you will quickly realize that deer hunting is far less about filling a freezer and far more about tradition. Sure, the jerky, sausage and stories are part of it. But there s more. So much more. For some, the standard measure of a successful hunt is the harvest. However, if you sit down with generations of hunters across our state, the conversation rarely starts with the size of a rack or the body size of a healthy doe. Instead, it centers on the essence of hun