Bow season opened at noon on Sept. 1 and closed on Oct. 8. Any pronghorn was legal for a bowhunter, and license holders could hunt in any open unit.

If you visit the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s Web site at www.gf.nd.gov, you’ll find a note that non-residents may not hunt on certain lands owned or leased by the state during the first week of pheasant season. But that was Oct. 14-20 last season, so this restriction doesn’t affect non-resident bowhunters who are out after pronghorns. (Non-residents, by the way, can hunt pronghorns only during the archery season. Firearms tags are available to North Dakota residents only.)

A total of 16 management units -- all of them in the southwest portion of the state -- were open to pronghorn hunting last season. Expect similar, if not identical, boundaries for the 2007 seasons.

All units were open with unlimited tags for archery hunters. Gun tag ceilings were established by management unit, and they also are likely to be similar in 2007. Unit 4A, bounded by U.S. 85 on the east and U.S. 12 on the north, had the highest number of permits available. The department even set a split season in this unit, with 650 permits available for the early season, and another 500 available for the late season.

The early season opened at noon on Oct. 6 and closed on Oct. 15, with 250 any-pronghorn tags and 400 doe/fawn tags available. The late season ran Oct. 13-22, with 250 any-pronghorn and 250 doe/fawn tags available.

The other management units had a 16 1/2-day season that opened at noon Oct. 6 and closed on Oct. 22.

Legal hunting hours are basically the fairly traditional half-hour before sunrise to half-hour after sunset (except for the noon start on opening days). Remember the following, taken from state regulations, about the end to your daily pronghorn hunts in North Dakota: “Hunters must cease any hunting activity, leave any stand or blind, and must be in the process of leaving the field at the close of shooting hours (a half-hour after sunset).”

SOUTH DAKOTA
As good as North Dakota’s 2007 pronghorn season is shaping up, it pales in comparison to that for its neighbor to the south. In fact, based on the numbers, it’s not a stretch to call this state the home of the Great Plains’ best pronghorn hunting.

Hunters last year took more than 12,000 pronghorns in South Dakota. Whereas Stillings estimated a statewide population of slightly more than 12,500 pronghorns in North Dakota, South Dakota hunters harvested almost that many animals last season.

The total tags filled break down to 11,799 by gun hunters and 503 by bowhunters. The 2006 pre-season estimate of the state’s pronghorn population was 56,000 animals. “Winter should not have affected (our) numbers,” said South Dakota biologist Ted Benzon, who added that his state too experienced another relatively mild winter.

Unlimited archery tags most likely will be available throughout the archery season, which should open around the third week of August and run through the end of October. The 2006 season went from Aug. 19 to Oct. 31.

As noted on the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks’ Web site, pronghorn hunting here is limited to the West River area of the state. Most pronghorns are going to be using private land, so you’ll need to do some advance scouting and visiting to obtain permission for the places you want to hunt.

Although archery tags are expected to be unlimited again this season, bowhunters will have to buy their tags in one of three ways: in person at the Pierre licensing office, by mail using a printed application, or online using a credit card. Each hunter can buy one archery license, although some management units will have two-tag licenses available.