A man and his best hunting companion enjoy the beauty of a fall bird hunt.

But the similarities between this day and those of year’s past ended at the yellow, inverted triangular sign indicating the prairie we were about to explore was part of the N.D. Game and Fish Department’s Private Land Open to Sportsmen, or PLOTS, program. Which means, in essence, that a cooperating landowner had voluntarily agreed to open the property to walking hunting access in exchange for a lease payment that would add to the operation’s bottom line at the end of the year.

PLOTS program