The increase is due to an improved pheasant production year last spring and a mild winter. The higher numbers will lead to a nice breeding population.
Officials are gaining new information about how fish move, how long they live and what proportion of them are ending up on anglers' hooks. The goal is to use that information to further improve the quality of the popular Dakotas fishery.
Declining habitat and some tough winters have taken a toll on deer. Deer populations remain well below management objectives in most hunting units, and a conservative approach to hunting is needed to help with recovery efforts.
North Dakota hunters will not be able to go after mule deer does in the western badlands for a fourth straight year, as officials continue work to boost numbers of the animals that have been impacted by severe winters and the region's energy boom.
North Dakota will not have a bighorn sheep hunting season this year for the first time in more than three decades.
Groups like Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever urged lawmakers to spend more money to support outdoor projects.
The National Park Service is thinning the bison and elk herds in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, to keep them at manageable levels.
The spring pheasant crowing count survey showed a 6 percent rise statewide from last year.
The number of deer gun hunting licenses that will be made available in North Dakota this year will be the lowest since 1980.
Archers from Hankinson, Wahpeton and Wilton took top honors at a annual North Dakota archery tournament.