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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Definitely less deer which is a good or bad thing depending on who you ask.

I'll be in a bucks only zone but we have plenty of deer where I hunt. They've been fed and didn't have much if any winter kill.

Interesting note. Last season the majority of deer brought into the local deer processor were bucks.

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There was severe winter kill in northern Wisconsin.The area I hunted last year near the Brule River was nearly ground zero for winter severity as measured on the DNR winter severity index. At least the northern approx 40% of Wisconsin is bucks only, and you can only take one combined any method. Only around Superior could you get a doe tag for archery only, and it was limited to 150 and is sold out. I can personally vouch that deer sightings in and around Superior are substantially reduced. Doesn't mean there are no deer, just fewer. Yearlings were particularly hard hit. In my six total hours hunting in and around Superior, I have seen one deer.

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Nary a deer to be found in the northland, with the exception of pockets near populated areas where the deer had an easier go at it the last few winters.

I spend a lot of time driving for work throughout northern MN and rarely see deer and deer kill on the road. I saw 2 dead deer on Hwy 16/15 heading to Silver Bay area, and each carcass had a dozen or more ravens working on it, as well as 4-5 bald eagles, all at the same time on 1 carcass. To me that is very telling how low numbers are up here.

Don't come up with very high expectations of filling a tag the next few seasons.

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Definitely less deer which is a good or bad thing depending on who you ask.

I'll be in a bucks only zone but we have plenty of deer where I hunt. They've been fed and didn't have much if any winter kill.

Interesting note. Last season the majority of deer brought into the local deer processor were bucks.

Can you give me a Unit # or general locale you hunt in? Feel free to PM me. I already have a spot picked out, so no worries with info. I haven't been able to make it since 2011 due to kids, etc. Just wondering...

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

uptracker, I started hunting in the 70's so I've witnesses the worst of times and the best of times. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought we'd ever see Intensive harvest(5 deer) up here so my perspective of what is plenty of deer is much different then someone else.

I sit back and bite my tongue when I read about APR, QDM, and the like.

Not enough deer, too many does, not enough older bucks, don't shoot small bucks, 50 deer per sq mile, and whatever else fits someone's agenda. In the end all it takes is a couple of killing winters to were sitting at Bucks Only Season. All that fuss about passing on young bucks or the doe to buck ratio is off and sort of all for not. At night I see bucks in the feeder that would never show themselves in daylight. Buck to doe ratios won't make them any less elusive. I hunt and live in a small pocket that didn't get hit hard by winter kill the last 2 winters. Reason being, supplemental feeding throughout the entire winter and till green up. I say supplemental because those deer still browse and travel. In a 1 sq mile I know of 4 places where deer are fed. Instead of yarding up and over browsing on a starvation diet they travel. Those routes have winter shelter, browsing, and bedding areas.

So using what I observe in this pocket isn't an indication of what the overall heard is doing. This isn't a deer hunters utopia by any means, only that the peaks and valleys are less. No public land close by but no shortage of hunters.

Still I see plenty of road kill or deer grazing the fields on my drives.

It isn't like driving the gauntlet with deer all over the roads but its not close to the what we had in the 70's either. That leads into DNR and deer management. Its a tough job and could never please everyone. I have no complaints there and never have. You can try and manipulate all you want but Winter has more effect on the overall deer density then anything else. We went from Intensive Harvest to Hunters Choice to Bucks only in a short time.

Lets see what happens this winter. After deer season I'll start feeding again till green up.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

I say supplemental because those deer still browse and travel. In a 1 sq mile I know of 4 places where deer are fed. Instead of yarding up and over browsing on a starvation diet they travel. Those routes have winter shelter, browsing, and bedding areas.

How is the Wolf Pop, doing in these areas? Does sound kind of like a Wolf Utopia, having so much nice pickings in one area! wink

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I think in most parts of Northern Minnesota the key to harvesting a deer is to hunt a lot and when/if you do see a deer make sure you get it on the ground. I've hunted since the early 80's up north and been successful many years even when the numbers are down. I'm not always a guy who stays on the stand all day but I'm out there enough to get luck on my side.

My nephews and their friends spend a lot of time back at the cabin and then grumble about not seeing or shooting a deer. In 34 years we've shot one deer back near the cabin (remote area). I've never had a deer sitting by me while watching a football game back at camp.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

I've never had a deer sitting by me while watching a football game back at camp.

leechlake, you should start hunting at the Days Inn. You can still watch the game and not even get out of bed! grin

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Persistence usually pays off.

Leech, not much wolf activity. We have one once in a while but they move through.

I could go a few miles away and see a lot more wolf sign.

I'd imagine they have easier pickings with stressed deer.

Again, its not like we have deer camped out in the yard. They browse their way in and out, stopping at the feeder for a short time meanwhile keeping their travel routes open.

There is some misinformation that deer eat their fill at feeders. They don't, they might eat a couple cups and they're off.

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Thanks ST!

BTW, deer over here eat at a feeder for hours. I just went to my buddy's camp last week and I watched 10-12 deer eat at a feeder for over four hours without leaving. This was in the northern lower peninsula in MI. They ate until all the corn on the ground was gone and then attacked the rape. This was out the back door of a camp from 6pm until we went to bed.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Thanks ST!

BTW, deer over here eat at a feeder for hours. I just went to my buddy's camp last week and I watched 10-12 deer eat at a feeder for over four hours without leaving. This was in the northern lower peninsula in MI. They ate until all the corn on the ground was gone and then attacked the rape. This was out the back door of a camp from 6pm until we went to bed.

Remind him that he needs to remove his "bait" before hunting season! laugh

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Leech, I had a big write up for you, but it was rejected due to the quote. Basically, it said I was in MI. Baiting is legal and near a camp/house is "recreational feeding". I know, I'm not into it either. It's the main reason I travel to hunt.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Leech, I had a big write up for you, but it was rejected due to the quote. Basically, it said I was in MI. Baiting is legal and near a camp/house is "recreational feeding". I know, I'm not into it either. It's the main reason I travel to hunt.

Dude, I was just pulling your chain! Feed on with the birdies! wink

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Haha. It wasn't a negative write up towards you. Just how entrenched MI hunters have become with bait. I went to a farm with my buddy that weekend. Trucks were lined up for a scoop of beets at $30. Corn was $5. 200 miles north, in the UP, it's $80 a scoop and $11 for shelled corn. They sell the [PoorWordUsage] out of it. I trip over bait piles in the woods here... Makes me sick. I haven't gun hunted here in five years. Come the good rut bowhunting time, it coincides when thousands or bait piles are being established, guys out scouting for gun season and blind building. Tough to have a good hunt here.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
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