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Mark Jones Sports Editor 701-572-2165 sports@willistonherald.com

Thursday August 9, 2012

Sports
A good hunting spot can be hard to come by
Even though I couldnt But more often than not, squeak more than a C when you really consider the out of college calculus, Ive possible answers, they are always enjoyed thinking questions of the loaded through complex variety that often questions. Its the result in a cant-win easy ones that somesituation. times seem to trip Its not so much me up. that I dont know And in my posithe location of good tion as a State Game hunting spots or and Fish Department good fishing spots for outreach biologist, that matter. and as a district The challenge game warden before comes in determinthat, I get a lot of ND ing the callers expecquestions. Outdoors tations. My first anWhile many of swer is often another the daily questions Doug question, something arent complicated, Leier like well, what sort I still enjoy working of experience are you through those that looking for? require consideration Say for example of what-if scenarios, and I give an approximate or then double-checking the even a GPS location to any possible answers with waror all of these inquiries. My dens and biologists. Quesinterpretation of a good spot tions about gratis licenses to hunt pheasants might and trespassing can follow be considered a poor spot an array of winding paths for other hunters. If that depending on the circumhappens, after the hunt, the stances, and along the way blame is on me for suggestto providing a clear answer, ing it. I learn the legal and biologiEach persons expectacal facts and am better able tions of quality or good to answer future inquiries. develop over years of experiYou might be a bit surence. Think about it for a prised that some of the minute. For me, if I just see more difficult questions to a few roosters on a pheasant answer fall along the lines of hunting outing, thats a good wheres a good place to go day Most hunters would at . pheasant hunting? or do least want a shot or two. Othyou know where the ducks ers might be satisfied only are? or can you suggest a by seeing a hundred birds good place to find a quality and getting a limit. Still deer? others are disappointed in At first glance these quesanything less than a limit in tions seem pretty vanilla. an hour. The other factor that comes into play is access. In places where birds are plentiful, particularly for pheasants, its usually harder to find access to private land, and public areas have high traffic. If someone wants to see a lot of birds and I send them to county X, without explaining that they could spend a lot of time going from place to place seeking permission, or sharing public places with other groups, they may not be happy customers. Or how about if I decide Ill provide the directions to my secret spot and you stop and knock on the door and ask permission, and the landowner thinks that Doug Leier is sending hunters down to my way I get . enough interruption at supper the way it is. I dont need him adding to it. I think most people who inquire about hunting or fishing spots are hoping for someone to touch a penpoint to a map or a computer screen, and say go here. Usually, however, its much more complicated than that kind of like calculus vs. simple math. I can say for certain that the daily limit for rooster pheasants is three. But where best to go to shoot a limit? Thats not so cut-anddried. Leier is a biologist with the Game and Fish Department. He can be reached by In places where birds are plentiful, particularly for pheasants, its usually harder to find access to private land, and public areas have high traffic.
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Shorts

N Dakota St to play Indiana in mens basketball

FARGO (AP) The North Dakota State University mens basketball team might be playing the top team in the nation this year. The Bison are scheduled to play Indiana on Nov. 12 in Bloomington. Many preseason college basketball rankings have the Hoosiers at the top of the list. NDSU head coach Saul Phillips says the Indiana game will be a highlight of a very challenging 30game schedule. The Bison return four starters and the top five scorers from last years 17-14 squad.

Carroll mens basketball signs transfer forward

HELENA, Mont. (AP) Carroll College mens basketball coach Brandon Veltri has announced the signing of 6-foot-7 forward Noah Kone-Nelson. Kone-Nelson transfers to Carroll from NCAA Division II Academy of Art in San Francisco. He will have two years of eligibility remaining. Veltri says Kone-Nelson averaged 6.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game last season, while making 47 percent of his shots. Kone-Nelson attended Jefferson High School in Portland, Ore., where he was a member of three Class 5A state championship teams.

WILLISTON HIGH SCHOOL

Indians top Twins 6-2 to end 11-game losing streak

CLEVELAND (AP) For the first time in 13 days, there were actually some smiles in the Indians clubhouse following a game. And with good reason. The Indians broke their 11-game losing streak with a 6-4 win over Minnesota on Wednesday . Cleveland, which was outscored 95-36 during the slide, avoided tying the 1931 franchise record for consecutive losses with its first win since July 26. Justin Masterson pitched seven strong innings and Shin-Soo Choo went 4 for 4 with two RBIs to finally give the Indians something to feel positive about. Im sure there was relief in all of Cleveland and every Cleveland fan in the country, Masterson said. The right-hander then drew a long sigh and said, We can win. Manager Manny Acta, who tried to stay upbeat during the skid, admitted his team had started to fall into the inevitable trap that occurs when a streak keeps growing. You start playing not to lose instead of playing to win, he said. Thats human nature. Acta admitted the streak was difficult to deal with since this was a team-wide collapse. The starting pitching and offense topped the list, but those areas have been inconsistent all season. All-Star closer Chris Perez blew two saves in three days, the infield defense one of the teams strengths committed three errors in the last three innings Tuesday, blowing a 5-1 lead. You feel helpless at times because you have very little control of a lot of things, he said. I had never seen anything like this before and I hope I never see it (again). Acta praised his players for keeping their heads up as the defeats mounted. Our guys stayed pretty strong mentally the whole time, he said. Its a credit to them. The Indians went from 3 1/2 games to 9 1/2 games behind Chicago in the AL Central during the streak and Choo admitted staying upbeat has been difficult.

Montana State opens camp with energy, enthusiasm

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) Montana State football coach Rob Ash says the Bobcats opened fall camp with energy and enthusiasm, but says the execution needs some work. Ash says he told the team after Mondays practice that he liked their effort, but their play was sloppy and they didnt execute like he wanted. Third-year quarterback Denarius McGee says the Bobcats have plenty of players who can make big plays. The Bobcats were picked to win the expanded Big Sky Conference title in polls of both coaches and media. MSU opens its 2012 season on Thursday, Aug. 30 against Chadron State. The game kicks off at 7:05 p.m. and will be MSUs firstever night game at home.

The Coyotes are back

The Williston High School Coyotes hit the field for the first time on Wednesday. The Coyotes held their first practices at 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. They will host Meet the Coyotes night, an event for fans to come out and meet the players on Friday, Aug. 17 at 6 p.m.

LC State volleyball picked to win Frontier title

WHITEFISH, Mont. (AP) Frontier Conference volleyball coaches predict Lewis-Clark State will defend its volleyball title. LC State received six first-place votes and 62 points in the poll. Rocky Mountain and Carroll College each received one first-place vote. Rocky was second with 54 points followed closely by Carroll with 53 points. Westminster College and the University of Great Falls were tied for fourth with 40 points. Montana State-Northern is ranked sixth.

May-Treanor, Walsh win third gold

LONDON (AP) Misty May-Treanor danced on the sand and then off it, leaving Horse Guards Parade with Kerri Walsh Jennings and a third gold medal. Playing in the Summer Games together for the last time, the twice-defending champions extended their unbeaten streak to 21 in a row by defeating Jennifer Kessy and April Ross 21-16, 21-16 in an all-American final on Wednesday night. The match started with nearby Big Ben pealing the hour and ended with the Star-Spangled Banner rising from the iconic venue in the Prime Ministers backyard, just down the Mall from the royal residence at Buckingham Palace. Playing on Henry VIIIs former jousting tiltyard, with the current Prince Harry in the crowd, Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor continued their reign as champions of the beach. Its insane. It doesnt feel like its real, Walsh Jennings said. I told Misty when we were getting our medals: If I wake up tomorrow and we have to replay this match, Im going to be furious. Because it feels like Im in a dream. It truly feels surreal and it didnt feel like that the first two times for whatever reason. But this, its almost too good to be true. Dominating the sport for three Olympiads, Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor have won every match theyve ever played and lost just one of 43 sets. No one had ever won even two beach volleyball gold medals before the Americans won their second straight in Beijing. No woman had ever won three Olympic beach volleyball medals of any kind. I know how hard it is to win one tournament. And the amount of tournaments theyve won is crazy, said Kessy, who jumped for joy on the medal podium after she and Ross won silver in their Olympic debuts. For them to do it for years and years and to be on top is just really impressive. We learn a lot from them. Earlier Wednesday, Brazils Juliana and Larissa beat Xue Chen and Zhang Xi of China to win the bronze. Brazils Emanuel and Alison were scheduled to play Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann of Germany in the mens gold-medal match on Thursday night. Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins of Latvia were to play Reinder Nummerdor and Rich Schuil of the Netherlands for the mens bronze. Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor pulled away midway through the first set of the title match and were never threatened in the second, falling to their knees and hugging as Ross serve went long on match point. Then they took the celebration to the stands.

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Contact sports editor Mark Jones at 5722165 ext. 140