How MN can get big bucks

[Nova]

Almostthere, very nicely put and true as heck. Everyone shoot what they want not what someone else wants them to shoot. I personally don't shoot small bucks, but feel very strongly that everyone should make up there own mind.

[Tyler D]

No matter what happens there is never going to be agreement on this issue. All I know is that every year more and more people get sick of only seeing little bucks and are turing to QDM. 30 years ago catch and release in fishing was almost unheard of, and now it is like a religion to many fisherman. I think deer hunting is headed the same way, and as more and more people see the results of QDM, more and more people will start practicing it.

Tonight I passed up a very nice ten pointer, spread to the edge of its ears nice long tines, but still immature with very thin horns. Many people would think Im crazy for passing it up, but I know next year it will be only that much bigger. Look at the bucks shot out of ripley every year, because they have a chance to grow up, Minnesota has the potential to be one of the premier trophy white tail areas in the country. and one day I think it will as more people see what can be accomplished by shooting antler less deer and letting small bucks grow.

[oilguy]

nodak, the road hunting capital of north america. certainly you don't want minnesota to become like that.

[Shoot2Kill]

Hello all...I'm new to this site...just was introduced to it by a friend at work. This probably isn't the best thread for me to start off in, but what the heck.

I just moved here from Alaska after a 5 year jaunt in the Air Force. I originally grew up in Iowa, so my heart is there...with all the BIG bucks.

I follow a hunting forum from Iowa religiously and let me tell you...there are some pigs being taken down there this year...and here is why...and I'm sure it's been covered, but here's my .02.

More and more of the hunters down there are practicing QDM and letting the little ones walk. If you want to see more big bucks, the little ones have to live. For the first timer, or kid, great..shoot away, but for those that want the bigger racks, there has to be a little self control. If you're unhappy with the size of deer in your area, but still shoot small bucks just to kill something, then that's your fault. Most people now days don't have to shoot a deer to survive the winter.

I saw it mentioned earlier in this thread..in my opinion, this state has it's seasons a little jacked up. Why on earth is the gun season right smack dab in the middle of the rut? I can bet the bank that there are a lot more bucks killed during gun season because it is during the rut when they're all out thinking with the wrong head than there would be if the season was after the rut. If big bucks get shot during gun season, they can't bread the does, the bucks left over get to tend to the does, and the genetics start to go down the toilet if the big boys are gone.

Just look at Iowa...season starts Oct 1 and goes through Jan 15. Gun season is in December...after the rut..which gives bowhunters full advantage of the rut...unlike MN. Bowhunters kill a lot fewer deer than gun hunters because they aren't blasting away at anything they see..not saying all gun hunters do that, but the majority of all party hunting has the "brown it's down" mentality..little bucks need to live!!

MN has three times the deer population as Iowa, but we can only harvest 1 buck here, but Iowa can harvest 2 and they still have huge deer...why is that? Anyone?

As far as a draw for buck or doe permits...I don't necessarily agree with that...you'd be out of your mind all season for a couple years in a row if you didn't get drawn for a buck tag. I'm guessing the majority of people wouldn't even go if all they could shoot was a doe.

Sorry for the long post...I hope I didn't offend anyone, just had to jump in. This seems like a great site! Glad I found it!

[buzzsaw]

You didn't offend me, in fact your post was well written.

[fish stalker]

I let a little 8pt buck go by yesterday afternoon, only about 5 min after it got by me I heard someone on the property next to mine shoot two times . more than likely the deer I let by did not make it.

been practicing QDM for about 5 years now but if other people dont join in, it does not work.

[deeky]

After this weekend, I have to agree with both lottery system and selective harvest of bucks.

This was South Dakota (lottery system), land on which the owner requires all bucks shot to be at least 4x4. In two days of hunting, with 5 buck tags to fill, our group ended up with a 3x3 (miss-read the horns), 4x4, 4x5, and a 5x5, and we saw a lot of other bigger bucks both shot and running. We filled 10 of 12 tags and the owner has two more weeks to fill his remaining tag.

I understand that here not every one is going to be selective about their bucks, and if that's all you see, then so be it - there are convincing arguements from public-land hunters. I myself will choose to be at least more selective of bucks if I take one, knowing that I have done my part and I know I won't feel guilty about it later. It has to start somewhere, and if you feel something should be done, all you can do is your part, regardless of what the guy down the road is doing. If you see it as a problem and yet do nothing about it, you become the problem. I personally happen to see non-selective harvest as a problem.

[bigbucks]

Reading through this entire post there seems to be some generalities made, that like some others have said are not true of the whole state. It looks like people who hunt the NW part of the state can't figure out why anyone would shoot a small buck when there's X times as many does as bucks whether that's 4,5,6, 7 times as many, whatever. What people in areas like that don't realize is that the doe to buck ratio isn't that far out of wack everywhere. I'd say over the last 3 years of bowhunting in Central MN I've seen a pretty equal number of does, bucks, & fawns, if anything I'd say the ones I saw the least of were does. Don't get me wrong there's a ton of deer around here, maybe not by some further North standards, but there's a lot, however the ratio is closer to 1-1 than in a lot of areas. I think a lot of that probably is the split seasons in Zone 4, sure people shoot the first buck that comes along, but in reality they shoot the first deer that comes along, doe or buck.

Most of the parties I talk to shoot a mix of small bucks, various sized does, & fawns, with occasionally a big or at least nice buck thrown in. Sure some years you get mostly does or mostly bucks, but that equals out the next year as they're more of the opposite gender in the area. I've grown up with the mentality that any deer is a good deer & remember the years when a buck & a doe was the take for a party of 9 or 4 fawns & a doe or whatever. Every area is different & has to be evaluated differently. We hunt all private land & so does everybody around us, but the average amount of land per hunter is probably 20 acres or less, that means there won't be a lot of deer for most of the hunters to choose from, just based on the pressure. The herd in our area, do to all the food can withstand all that pressure, but it sure isn't condusive to many bucks living to be very old, unless they're passed on by a lot of hunters. I had four hunters from my own party within probably 400 yards of me opening morning & at least that many from other parties, that's a lot of guns one deer has to make it past. I do advocate letting the small bucks go & although I don't always pass on them have let many, many go by. I just don't feel right about telling someone who hunts much less than I do, that they can't shoot one, because I let it go. I agree these are the good old days of MN deer hunting. I will take a doe from a yearling on up over a yearling buck any day of the week & have done it several times, but that has to be everyone's choice. What somebody else said about what stage of hunting each hunter is at affecting what they want to shoot, is dead on in my book. I personally would not be at all opposed to moving the firearm season back a couple of weeks. I'd be all for flip flopping the firearms & muzzleloader seasons. To me it would make sense to be progressive. Bow's the hardest, ML the next hardest, Firearms while still by no means "easy" is the easiest of the three.

Sorry for the length & the rambling. From the diversity of the answers it's obvious most of us agree it's a complex issue. In my book also it's a good problem to have. We could be talking about how there don't seem to be deer almost anywhere instead of the size of the deer & also a few small areas where there aren't many, along with all the areas where there are too many.

[Shad rap]

I did not read all of the postings but my two cents is that we should copy Iowa. Move the gun hunting back to December and let the rut happen during bow season. You will have a few more smarter bucks that wont show them selfs during the gun hunt. we will start seeing more deer and bigger buckes with in a few years.