Expected worst Deer harvest in 20 years!

[jbell1981]

You can find maps and statistic back to 2003 here:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/deer/maps_stats_archive.html

And 1997-2002 here:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/deer/archive_stats.html

[harvey lee]

I would really like to se the season go back to what is was in my area with the 2 weekend season. Not the 9 straight days we now have, I believe way too much pressure on the deer herd.

With that said, I hunt private property and I can say overall, I saw a fair amount of deer archery hunting this fall locally, just fewer adult bucks. I went up north last weekend on private property archery hunting and saw many deer again. I saw one of the largest bucks I have seen in quite some time, the largest doe I may have ever seen and many others. many other deer also so I had zero complaints on the activity.

I did my rifle hunting in North Dakota and those tags were way down. I can say I had one of the best openers in all my years hunting 2 weekends ago in ND. I believe in like 8 hours of sitting, I saw 51 deer, that a good amount for the time spent in the words. Did not see any wall hangers but plenty of deer that one could be happy with unless you want a B&C buck.

Maybe it's just the areas I hunt but I am happy with what I saw in my outings.

Between my ND rifle trip and last weekend at a friends place up north, those were 2 of the best hunts I have had in years, good friends, lots of chances at deer, how can one best that?

With that said, the numbers could come up a bit more but for me it was acceptable.

[smsmith]

Thanks again jbell...I knew I could find maps/info at the DNR HSOforum but was hoping someone had stored the links previously to save me digging through

[Farmsfulltime]

You must be a bowhunter also, wouldn't hurt deer pops any if it was 3 weeks in zone 2 harvest in the 2nd weekend is almost nothing now most of the deer have gotten the rulebook by then move at night. Pretty sure the extra week wouldn't work for other reasons other than the deer Though

[smsmith]

Hunters register 102,000 deer through second weekend

Minnesota hunters registered 102,000 deer through the second weekend of firearms deer season, down 31,000 from the same period in 2013, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

So far this year, hunters during special hunts, and the archery and firearms seasons, have harvested 115,000 deer, down from the 2013 to-date harvest total of 147,500.

“Comparing this year’s harvest to harvests in previous years doesn’t necessarily reflect hunter opportunity or the number of deer on the landscape in 2014,” said Leslie McInenly, DNR big game program leader. This year’s lower harvest is by design because regulations were implemented to place more deer – particularly does – off limits to increase Minnesota’s deer population.

The DNR’s ongoing deer management work also includes upcoming revisions to the deer population goals for large portions of northeastern, north-central and east-central Minnesota. This is part of a multi-year goal-setting process for the entire state. People interested in helping set these deer population goals can get more information on the process and opportunities for involvement at www.mndnr.gov/deer.

In much of Minnesota, the deer season concluded on Sunday, Nov. 16. Additional deer will be harvested during the northern rifle zone season, which continues through Sunday, Nov. 23; the late southeastern season, which runs Saturday, Nov. 22, through Sunday, Nov. 30; and the muzzleloader season, which begins Saturday, Nov. 29, and continues through Sunday, Dec. 14. The archery season also runs through Wednesday, Dec. 31.

[Jameson]

Thanks for posting the old maps jbell and hockeybc.

I think another reason for the switch from zone 4 to zone 2 was to help simplify the regs. Look at all those different hunting dates on the map jbell posted, that could be a bit confusing.

The BIGGEST factor in the declining herd IMO isn't the change in number of hunting days, but rather the switch from Lottery to HC/Managed/Intensive. Proof? got none just speculating from a bad memory.

Also the change to allow everyone to hunt muzzleloader and bow season increased cross-tagging (both legal and not legal) as now there would be a reason for some to not put their tag on a deer during firearms season. Increasing the pressure on the deer, not a bad thing when we are trying to lower herd numbers, but if we are trying to rebuild the herd a bad thing.

How little the DNR did this year to lower harvest in times when they say they are rebuilding the herd might be a reason to support an audit of the DNR. Not splitting the firearms hunters into two seasons. Not limiting hunters to one area/zone. Not limiting hunters to one season (arch/gun/muzzy.)

[PurpleFloyd]

The weather in the state had a big impact on the hunt. Both weekends had wether that had the deer locked down and not moving.

BTW- I heard on the radio today that license sales in Sconnie are down a bunch and they are trying to encourage more people to buy licenses while also trying to figure out why so many are not hunting this year.

[smsmith]

WI deer license sales down 2%. MN down 10%

http://fox11online.com/2014/11/14/deer-hunt-2014-area-counties-see-high-harvest/

Shawano and Waupaca Counties in WI have densities over 100 dpsm in many areas. Of particular interest, note these quotes

“The landowner, he’s the king of the property. He kind of dictates what deer are taken numbers wise,” said Arlyn Splitt, Waupaca County Deer Hunter.

"Is there too much of a good thing? Hunters we talked to say in some areas of Waupaca County, there may be an excess of deer, but at this point, the damage to the crops is considered to be tolerable."

[hockeybc69]

Quote:

The weather in the state had a big impact on the hunt. Both weekends had wether that had the deer locked down and not moving.

Its November... What is to be expected this time of year? Every year its an excuse for low(er) harvest.

And to be honest, last weekend was not that bad. Whats considered a wind that locks deer down? 10 mph? 15mph? 20+ mph?

Temps werent that horrible. Reports complain when its too warm. Now is it too cold? Whats considered a temp that locks deer down?

Some of the stands we have are in thick timber and even if its blowing 15+ mph in the open, it aint that bad in the woods by any means. It would seem to reason that deer might be fooled into moving because it surely isnt that awful in the forested and hilly terrain.

I clearly remember hunting as a kid and in conditions that were god awful. And we saw deer all hours of the day.

We had an ice storm before opener one year when I was about 18. Trees were covered in ice and the follow up winds were gale force. Saturday middle of the day, a buck ran a doe around my stand, disappeared, showed up again. It was nuts. They both bedded in view less than 100 yds away. I got out of my stand, went to Dad and told him to walk over there in 15 minutes or whatever. Even with the ice and snow and the noise of my movement, I was able to walk up and around them to a hill top.

Dad snuck over to within 30 yds of them, shot the buck, the doe ran up the hill and I shot her.

One example of many that when the rut used to be on,,, it really didnt matter a ton that weather sucked butt.....

Weather is just excuses now that we dont see deer.

[jbell1981]

I don't know if there deer were moving or not on Sunday afternoon. If they were, we wouldn't have been able to see them. We quit at noon due to blowing snow & blizzard like conditions.

[cherokee]

I for one had the best season of my 37 years deer hunting.

I missed opening day due to a funeral but was in stand Sunday am. On Sunday I passed on three different 8 pointers, one busted up ten point and a shooter 11 point. The 11 point was not quite what I wanted. I saw the 11 point breed a doe. They both walked by me at seven yards. I saw chasing, heard grunting. It was an action packed Sunday with five different bucks and 11 different does and fawns.

On Sunday I hunted one hour. My hunt ended with a 140" eight point walking up to my stand and turning broadside. A well placed slug put the big 8 on the ground. My hunt was over.

Trust me I have been on the other end way too many times so I feel the pain of what a lot of you are saying. But for me, this was the best season ever. One I will never forget.

[SmellEsox]

The weather in the state had a big impact on the hunt. Both weekends had wether that had the deer locked down and not moving.

BTW- I heard on the radio today that license sales in Sconnie are down a bunch and they are trying to encourage more people to buy licenses while also trying to figure out why so many are not hunting this year.

I hunted Iowa all last week. Average highs were about 28, average lows about 10 and average wind speeds of about 18-20 mph with gusts to 35. Snow squalls blew in periodically through the days. I saw 41 deer in 5 1/2 days, 21 in one day. That weather didn't seem to lock them down much. If it did, I can't imagine how many deer I'd have seen. Plus there was still a lot of standing corn. And the DNR down there went bucks only! Whole different world. It's amazing how good hunting can be, even on public land, when the DNR in a state actually likes deer and wants hunters to have good hunting.

[sticknstring]

The weather in the state had a big impact on the hunt. Both weekends had wether that had the deer locked down and not moving.

Leslie, is that you?

[smsmith]

It's amazing how good hunting can be, even on public land, when the DNR in a state actually likes deer and wants hunters to have good hunting.

Bingo

I'd go a bit further and say that the IA DNR has responded to what hunters (the people who pay their salaries) want. The folks (hunters and non-hunters) in IA also understand and recognize that deer are an asset that can be maximized for economic gain (rather than vermin that must be controlled). Did you spend any money in restaurants, bars, hotels, gas stations, sporting goods stores, etc. when you were there?

[nonteepical]

I for one had the best season of my 37 years deer hunting.

I missed opening day due to a funeral but was in stand Sunday am. On Sunday I passed on three different 8 pointers, one busted up ten point and a shooter 11 point. The 11 point was not quite what I wanted. I saw the 11 point breed a doe. They both walked by me at seven yards. I saw chasing, heard grunting. It was an action packed Sunday with five different bucks and 11 different does and fawns.

On Sunday I hunted one hour. My hunt ended with a 140" eight point walking up to my stand and turning broadside. A well placed slug put the big 8 on the ground. My hunt was over.

Trust me I have been on the other end way too many times so I feel the pain of what a lot of you are saying. But for me, this was the best season ever. One I will never forget.

That's what a hot doe will do for ya! Congrats on a fun hunt. But this scenario has nothing to do with deer management, not saying you are saying that but guys on here do.

[CANOPY SAM]

The wind has been blowing AT LEAST 2 out of every 3 days since early October. And not just blowing, but HOWLING! I don't think I've ever seen the wind blow this much, this hard, ever. It's a drag, to say the least. It's basically ruined most of my hunting season in NW MN.

Temps won't shut down deer movement. In fact colder weather gets em' up and moving. But strong wind, that's another story. And it has been almost constantly VERY windy.

I'm also pretty sure the deer, by complete happenstance, just hit the "lockdown" stage on the day of the Saturday opener. I've now talked to dozens of people who had all their buck sign go completely cold for several days starting on that Saturday.

We actually have good numbers of deer up here in NW MN, and I have MANY friends that didn't fill ANY tags this season.

The wind finally let up yesterday morning after blowing hard for 48 hours. We got another inch of gentle snow yesterday evening, and by 9:00 p.m. the wind was howling again, and we're looking at blizzard conditions again this morning!

This hasn't been anything even near a "normal" November.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

It's amazing how good hunting can be, even on public land, when the DNR in a state actually likes deer and wants hunters to have good hunting.

This! ^^^^^^

That alone right there differentiates MN with our neighboring states. In MN deer are vermin and need to be destroyed and managed at very low densities.

[picksbigwagon]

And the DNR down there went bucks only! Whole different world. It's amazing how good hunting can be, even on public land, when the DNR in a state actually likes deer and wants hunters to have good hunting.

SO, the non resident doe tag I have in my truck right now for Iowa first season is no good? I guess I should tell the other 7 guys in our party who all have either sex tags about this. I suppose the dnr in Iowa forgot to announce that one to the public huh?

How many deer hunters are there compared to MN? There are parts of the state that don't have the deer numbers that other parts do. NE Iowa is like SE MN, perfect deer hunting area. Of course NE Iowa (my home area) doesn't have the population density like SE MN either (zone 3) ....

You can't compare Minnesota to Iowa, they don't have the human density or numbers of hunters that Minnesota does and that has a major effect in how the deer herd is managed by their DNR. Last year after hanging deer in town, we went to the bar for dinner, you would have thought it was "HSO deer forum Live" when you heard all of the locals complaining about how the DNR is managing the deer herd in Iowa. The consensus was that they were the worst ever and they are just trying to make as much many as they can.......sound familiar?

[sticknstring]

I'm also pretty sure the deer, by complete happenstance, just hit the "lockdown" stage on the day of the Saturday opener. I've now talked to dozens of people who had all their buck sign go completely cold for several days starting on that Saturday.

I think it's a safe bet that the 400k hunters hitting the field Sat morning is the happenstance you're referring to.

[Getanet]

SO, the non resident doe tag I have in my truck right now for Iowa first season is no good? I guess I should tell the other 7 guys in our party who all have either sex tags about this. I suppose the dnr in Iowa forgot to announce that one to the public huh?

How many deer hunters are there compared to MN? There are parts of the state that don't have the deer numbers that other parts do. NE Iowa is like SE MN, perfect deer hunting area. Of course NE Iowa (my home area) doesn't have the population density like SE MN either (zone 3) ....

You can't compare Minnesota to Iowa, they don't have the human density or numbers of hunters that Minnesota does and that has a major effect in how the deer herd is managed by their DNR. Last year after hanging deer in town, we went to the bar for dinner, you would have thought it was "HSO deer forum Live" when you heard all of the locals complaining about how the DNR is managing the deer herd in Iowa. The consensus was that they were the worst ever and they are just trying to make as much many as they can.......sound familiar?

Not to mention Iowa's deer harvest has declined for 8 straight years. People need to quite living this fantasy that hunters are in paradise in every state that borders MN.

[SmellEsox]

[quote name='picksbigwagon

SO' date=' the non resident doe tag I have in my truck right now for Iowa first season is no good? I guess I should tell the other 7 guys in our party who all have either sex tags about this. I suppose the dnr in Iowa forgot to announce that one to the public huh?

How many deer hunters are there compared to MN? There are parts of the state that don't have the deer numbers that other parts do. NE Iowa is like SE MN, perfect deer hunting area. Of course NE Iowa (my home area) doesn't have the population density like SE MN either (zone 3) ....

You can't compare Minnesota to Iowa, they don't have the human density or numbers of hunters that Minnesota does and that has a major effect in how the deer herd is managed by their DNR. Last year after hanging deer in town, we went to the bar for dinner, you would have thought it was "HSO deer forum Live" when you heard all of the locals complaining about how the DNR is managing the deer herd in Iowa. The consensus was that they were the worst ever and they are just trying to make as much many as they can.......sound familiar?

[/quote']

Nonresidents were the only hunters to get antlerless tags in the area I was hunting. We talked to some resident hunters and they were surprised we could shoot a doe. And yes, they have fewer hunters in IA, but far less deer habitat. I would almost bet that they have more hunters per available deer habitat than we do in MN. And trust me, what they consider lousy hunting is amazing hunting to a MN hunter. In my understanding, the DNR down there wanted to cut back on antlerless harvest the last couple years, but they were over-ridden by the Governor. So yes, I still believe their DNR is far more concerned about deer and deer hunting than ours is. By a long shot.

[smsmith]

I think it's a safe bet that the 400k hunters hitting the field Sat morning is the happenstance you're referring to.

Yup, bucks were definitely not in "lockdown" around here. I saw 2 instances of limited chasing by a young buck, other than that every doe I saw was either with other does and or their fawns...and no bucks were anywhere around them.

Either breeding had been completed (doubt it), or the sudden influx of hunters along with everything that goes with them (shots, increased vehicle traffic, smells, sounds, etc. etc.) pushed the bucks into survival mode rather than breeding mode.

[picksbigwagon]

Esox, I know that the NW part of Iowa had no doe tags available,maybe a hand full for the non resident for firearm, but that is only that one corner of the state, that is horrible deer habitat compared to other parts of the state. You post came off reading that the entire state no one got a doe tag which is false.....State wide they have cut down on antlerless permits for both resident and non resident, but it hasn't been eliminated as you made it sound.

[SmellEsox]

Esox, I know that the NW part of Iowa had no doe tags available,maybe a hand full for the non resident for firearm, but that is only that one corner of the state, that is horrible deer habitat compared to other parts of the state. You post came off reading that the entire state no one got a doe tag which is false.....State wide they have cut down on antlerless permits for both resident and non resident, but it hasn't been eliminated as you made it sound.

It's amazing how good deer hunting is in that horrible deer habitat. And the DNR wants to make it even better! Wow! However, you are right, there are antlerless permits available for other parts of the state. They did eliminate the January antlerless season statewide and cut back significantly on tags in most areas in IA. The difference is, the DNR did this on their own. In MN, area managers wanted to keep hammering them until hunters and the commish told them they needed to back off. That's the difference. MN DNR deer managers are already saying they're going more liberal next year.

[smsmith]

MN DNR deer managers are already saying they're going more liberal next year.

Predicted this on another site...there will be more Managed units in 2015 than there were in 2013.

Hope I'm wrong

[mntatonka]

The difference is, the DNR did this on their own. In MN, area managers wanted to keep hammering them until hunters and the commish told them they needed to back off. That's the difference. MN DNR deer managers are already saying they're going more liberal next year.

How many deer managers? All I ever see is the complaints about one particular manager.

[SmellEsox]

[quote=mntatonka

How many deer managers? All I ever see is the complaints about one particular manager.

[mntatonka]

Yeah you busted me. I don't know about other deer managers in MN. Although from Lou and Leslie, Marrett, etc., the philosophy is to manage on the liberal side. All I know is that across central MN, antlerless deer have been hammered for years.

I'm certainly not trying to argue with you or anyone, I'm just curious. I don't know that I've ever heard anything about anyone except Beau. I talk to my local guys (Don and Don), and they both seem to know what they're doing from a management perspective, although the state doesn't always listen to them

[hockeybc69]

Our deer manager makes me wonder what is going on......

Agreed to stabilize our herd via Stakeholders process for permit area 240 in spring 2007. Chose to keep intensive harvest for 2 more years after that. Why?

After 2014 is complete, our harvest will be down nearly 50% since 2007. Far from a stabilized harvest/poulation......

And I dont want to hear its because of the harsh winters the past 2 years. Its not because of wolves.

Its been in a downward spiral since 2007.... Why? HOw?

[Jameson]

...and they both seem to know what they're doing from a management perspective, although the state doesn't always listen to them

I remember discussing Hunter Choice areas on here when they first came out. One poster wrote that the area manager was very against having their areas as HC, because they thought it should remain Lottery.

No point, just another example...