Results for Zone 3

[someday]

The following numbers were in the Rochester paper on the 13th. 5955 bucks in 2010 compared to 8818 in 09. 18,288 all deer in 2010 compared to 21400 in 09. While the DNR expected the antlerless harvest to go up it actually fell 2%. Considering most of the corn was still in the field and in 2009 and mostly harvested in 2010 this seems amazing.This coincides with what hunters have been telling me. many parties who target meat animals 1.5-2.5 yr old does and usually filled out or better found these animals hard to identify and went without killing any. Many said the only deer they chased out during the 3B season were the same groups of fawns. We do not need more deer in this area! Two months ago My Daughter hit a large deer coming home East of Rochester on I90. The deer jumped in front of her and she hit it before she could break doing at least 70. I thank God many times every day it did not go through the windshield and kill Her!

[bottom-bouncer]

Glad your daughter is ok. But what is your point? you mean we didnt shoot as many does because people cant tell the difference between a buck and doe or did it maybe have something to do with the fact that 349 went from intensive to only one deer either sex but just one. maybe it had something to do with the fact the weather or could it just possibly be that some hunters just didnt get lucky this year. But thanks for posting this info it completely surprises me that the numbers were down being the DNR told us that the numbers would be down a year ago when they decided to do this in zone 3.

[bottom-bouncer]

Oh yeah and most meat hunters target anything that is brown and do not give me your story about not the guys you know. Because in your next thread you will tell us how they struggle to identify an eight point buck from a six point buck when there doing a drive and the deer are running its just so hard to tell. But those same meat hunters can identify two and a half year old doe compared to a 4 and ahalf year old doe in the same woods running. PLEASE!!!

[someday]

Perhaps the hunters in your area are immature and know nothing about the deer they should select for harvest, but the hunters I'm talking about have been processing their own meat for a very long time. They were driving out 50 or more deer every day and deciding not to shoot.If there is a lack of deer in your area that is too bad but that is not the case here.there has never been more and with CWD having been found only a few miles from here leading to the destruction of a large elk herd. I think increasing the herd here is insane.

[hockeybc69]

Part of the APR goal is to reduce deer numbers so that should make you feel better.

[PostFrontal]

We hunt all seasons from October through the end of the year. We typically shoot most our does during muzzleloader, and some during the 2nd weekend of 3A. Starting with the Friday of the second weekend of 3A the weather made it miserable. We spend as much time in the field as anyone, but like last year with the standing corn, anyone that tried to hunt this year knows it was because most people weren't in the field because of the weather.

[picksbigwagon]

Part of the APR goal is to reduce deer numbers so that should make you feel better.

I must have missed that, I thought the intesive harvest and management tags were to reduce numbers not antler point restrictions

[someday]

The Post-Bulletin Quoted a Don Nelson saying they thought the harvest would be up 10-15% but fell 2% overall. I'd suggest anyone interested do a search. The title was (Snow is tough on turkeys too)

[Jameson]

Here is the link to the Postbulletin article mentioned.

Looking at the numbers it does appear that APR's are balancing out the sex ratio of the herd. A good thing. The article brings up a good point that many hunters are just unwilling to shoot a doe.

[PostFrontal]

...I forgot, at the same time, I do think that the DNR was way off in what they thought deer numbers were at in our area 343 which can play into it. We have trail cams out all season, and numbers were way down. When I think about other areas that I hunt in the state they did all go from intensive to lottery like b-b's. So maybe they aren't way off, maybe they do that on purpose...leave zones intensive a year or 2 longer than they should...drop the numbers below their "goals" then bring them back through lottery to where they want to manage them.

If you look at the southwest, they did the exact same thing, but kind of got caught because that area doesn't support rate of growth of the heard as would in zone 3.

I guess if the DNR would actually come out and say, "this is how many deer are in this area, this is how many we want for our goals, and going forward we want all areas to be lottery, managed, or whatever it would be easier to see why one zone is lottery, one is managed, and one is intensive.

[hockeybc69]

“Our primary goal with the antler-point restriction was to shift harvest pressure onto does,” says Hansen. “Shooting bucks doesn’t contribute much to controlling deer numbers, and we were looking for a way to get hunters to shoot more antlerless deer.”

The idea, said Hansen, was that if hunters had to pass up shots at young bucks, there was a good chance the next deer to come along would be a doe, and they would shoot it. Letting more bucks survive was only an incidental effect, but it is one that many hunters are happy about. "

Picksbigwagon,

That is a quote from Lonnie Hanson of the Missouri DNR regarding APR.

APR has a direct result on increased antlerless harvest, so with that you get population control.

Do some searches on the internet with his name and/or MDC. And there is some great information about the Missouri APR since its implementation.

[lakevet]

I think we have to remember that the primary goal is to manage the deer population overall first. This is what society in general wants the DNR and hunters to accomplish. If more hunters are truly willing to have an empty freezer and tag than shoot a doe or fawn, it is not a good trend. Also if antlerless harvest does not trend up to help manage the deer population, it means the main primary purpose of the APR regulation is not being met, thus weakening the case for retaining APR's. So if you are for APR's don't pass on the does and fawns!

lakevet

[ANYFISH2]

Someday I see your point, but one year does nothing to prove this will not work as intended. If I were to guess that next year alot more hunters will be more comfortable in thier identification and more antlerless deer will be shot, alot of people are afraid to be called "poachers" so are going to be extra carefull, nothing wrong with that.

I too have been against telling people what they can shoot based on antlers, although I understand and like the managment idea. I just hope that next year or the year after when there is a statistical jump of like 20% higher harvest antlerless deer we don't hear you use that as a reason to bash APR's also. Lets see how it works out.

[someday]

I do not expect any changes from the DNR, But I can tell you some of the changes hunters have told me they plan to make to deal with the APR. As I've said before on this site several older hunters have told me they do not feel their reduced abilities will allow them to continue deer hunting here. One told me His family group is thinking of just hunting out West. He use too and two sons still go out to hunt trophy bucks. With the third generation out of school now they are planning to have all go out and get their deer that way. He said it is allot easier to pick out the deer you want at long range with a scoped rifle. Another group said they always hunted 3B because they hunted for meat and had kids in school so the later season gave them more hunting time. But this year it seemed most of the mama does got shot 3A so they are going to switch. One family said they hunted 3A and let others hunt their land after that. They are thinking of some family hunting all three seasons from permanent hunting shacks and posting their land to others. What ever it takes I am sure those who want to hunt will find a way to adapt. I'm not sure through that whatever the APR was created for that will be the result.

[hockeybc69]

I am really lost on the objective of this topic.

[CodyDawg]

My uncle's boss's neighbor's nephew's friend's brother said ..... all that type of talk is just plain [PoorWordUsage].

You cannot use anecdotal evidence to determine whether this type of thing is effective or not. Weather and corn harvest play a role in deer harvest and very few other things. The DNR does a pretty good job managing on the zone level. You are alwasy gonna have people complain about the micro level that is the land they hunt. They dont see as many deer for whatever reason and it is the DNRs fault. Give it some time to let the weather and corn harvest mitigate and see how this works. Maybe, just maybe, the couple of thousand less deer shot were the very deer they are trying to protect, ever thought of that???

[analyzer]

I can't speak for everyone, but within our party, we were waiting until the 2nd weekend to fill our tags with antlerless deer. We passed up several opportunities to shoot a doe opening weekend, and watched a few "non-legal" bucks walk by. We were going to fill our tags the 2nd weekend with does if we didn't see a nice trophy, but as you know, the weather turned pretty sour on that 2nd Friday basically killing any chance we had to fill out.

Opening Saturday and Sunday was pretty warm. I had told myself, unless it was Mr. Big, I wasn't shooting it, because I didn't want to drive it back to the cities looking for a processor. I had at least 15 deer I could've shot, including a couple does that were less than 10 yds from me. If I had the same opportunity the 2nd weekend I would've pulled the trigger, but nothing was moving in that slop.

[someday]

Actually My friends and I have been doing allot of thinking lately. Mostly We have been thinking about what we are going to do with all the money we are going to make from selling trophy bucks to nonresidents. It seems we own some of the best land in the world for growing trophy whitetails and they are worth million$ if not billion$ I was contacted last Fall by a friend of a celebrity about hunting trophies on my place. While too late for last years season hopefully next Fall. Wabasha County and I understand at least one other in the area have already authorized committees to determine how best to make this area like Buffalo County Wisconsin. I understand they get $12000 per hunter per season there. One of the concerns we land owners had was that these trophy hunters would have little interest in shooting does to manage the population. Your snotty post as helped alleviate our concerns for our fellow Minnesotans. I'm thinking 4 new Hummers with brush Guards.

[InTheNorthwoods]

Actually My friends and I have been doing allot of thinking lately.

Don't hurt yourself.

[TODDY]

Wow, interesting! All over the map.

I hope all the land owners in SE Minnesota aren't as snobby as "one" that has posted here. You want less deer, play by the same rules as the rest of the state.

STATEWIDE DEER GUN SEASON.

NINE DAYS.

DONE.

Purely political why Zone 3 has two seasons. Plenty of lobbying.

Hummers in farm country, funny, the Chevy and Ford Boys will get a real kick.

I bet most of us didn't know Brad and Angelina had frinds in MN, and I didn't know they hunted. They seem more PETA like.

Good grief!

TODDY

[someday]

I'm a Dodge Hemi guy myself, But with commodity prices where they are most farmers should be able to afford a caddy just for Sunday. It was you people who taught me how to be snotty!

[96trigger]

Someday, I have heard nothing about Wabasha County doing what you say, I live here and have for my whole life. Not sure what you are talking about or where you are going with the last rant. I understood where you were coming from and even agreed with you on letting senior citizens shoot what they want, and I am a QDM supporter. However, the take my ball and go home attitude wasn't very appealing. Rants like that really make it look like you are just a disgruntled hunter that had a bad season. I was taking you seriously until the last post, now it just seems like [PoorWordUsage].

[hockeybc69]

I think this topic alone has the credibility of someday going down the tubes very quickly......

[someday]

Contact your County Commissioner the Resolution No. is 2010-225 They passed the resolution last year. But I do not know if then committee members have already been selected. There was an article I was told in the Lake City paper awhile back. I have seen the 14 page plan they are working off of.

[96trigger]

I have seen nothing in the Plainview or Wabasha Paper, what exactly does this resolution include?