No more party hunting in Zone 3, SE MN

[Red Cabin]

I agree,

[Gopher_Guy]

The best way to increase the age & quality of bucks is to move the gun season off of the rut.

This is the correct answer. Push the gun season in zone 3 back to the time Iowa's starts and you're in business.

Last year I finally drew an Iowa tag. Of course with my luck it was the first year they jacked the price of the tag up. I had enough points to draw so I just was like well I will go and that will be it. I can't justify that price in the future, as I can go on a nice Montana trip for what I spent in Iowa to hunt deer. But, that's another story.

Anyhow, I was hunting just 10 minutes over the MN border past Harmony. In 1 week of WARM hunting I saw more big bucks than I have seen in probably my entire life of hunting in Minnesota (near Winona). It could have been even better had the weather cooperated. Did I suddenly become this great hunter? No, of course not. I just happened to be in an area that does not let their stupid little bucks get blasted because their gun season is a full month after peak rut. Oh, did I mention that 90% of the time in Iowa I was on public ground and for the most part none of it was land I had scouted? Man, did I have fun.

I applaud the DNR for FINALLY doing something, but their efforts would have been better received by just pushing back the dates of the gun seasons 2-3 weeks.

[Ebiz]

I doubt that will ever happen, follow the money.... I know there are alot of MN people who also hunt the WI season and I would imagine there are also alot of WI people who also hunt in MN. Move the season to the same time and lose out on the non-resident license fees.

[Gopher_Guy]

Correct, but if they moved the season like Zone 3 to when Iowa's season starts (first weekend in Dec) it would be a non-issue. The land characteristics of Iowa and SE MN are practically identical. The problem is MN has tended to manage the entire herd like the state is the same all over. northern MN is vastly different than SW MN which is vastly different than SE MN.

There are very few hunters in MN who can hunt Iowa year to year (due to the cost and limited draw), unlike NR hunting in WI.

[11-87]

First they got the apr's... now they want to[Note from admin: Please read forum policy before posting again. Thank you.]with some tradition.. and move the hunt!!..

Why not move it to every other year then!!

maybe they should put weight restrictions out too ... so we can't shoot a deer under 150#

[Coach1310]

Correct, but if they moved the season like Zone 3 to when Iowa's season starts (first weekend in Dec) it would be a non-issue. The land characteristics of Iowa and SE MN are practically identical. .

This may make sense if it WAS ONLY IN ZONE 3. The problem with pushing the season back in other parts of the state is a lot of ground that holds deer in November, doesn't hold deer in December or even late November. That would force an even more crowded situation.

[Gopher_Guy]

Right, that's why I mentioned zone 3 specifically. I realize it is not applicable to other parts of the state. That's why I was implying that the state needs to manage the state as separate portions, and not be all inclusive. There is just so much different territory in this vast state.