deer harvest reports ? anyone

[laker1]

Good reports and it is nice to know the zone,it gives a good picture what is going on statewide,not just your area.

[Hammertime]

2nd weekend served us much better in zone 176. We were only 1 for 6 the first 3 days of the season with a couple of bucks sighted but not shot at. We had just the 1 good size doe shot the first weekend. The second weekend, only 2 of us were up there. We went 2 for 2, a nice 6 pointer and a spike. Deer were moving much more this weekend that the opener, and it was nice to actually be able to hear something other than wind!

[BuckmasterG]

Zone 259 Opening weekend: O-7 only deer seen was one Sat. morning prior to shooting light, and 1 the Friday before opener while working on stands Couple fellas stayed up throughout the week while a couple more joined them for 2nd wknd. O-for

Back home zone 118 2nd wknd: 0-3, 0-5, and 1-3.. Few deer kicked up during drives, there was shooting around and some seen, not many within range during shooting light and not much movement throughout the day unless kicked up.

Luckily I was able to tag a management doe with my bow on halloween night to get my brother and I some meat and scraps for sausage and still have my archery tag in tact. One deer for 2 guys and a young family who enjoy venison won't go a very long ways. I'll admit I'm more enthusiastic about archery hunting although it seems to get much more difficult after the rifle/shotgun season. What's tough though, is seeing those who only have rifle/shotgun season to harvest their deer (many times only having the weekends available) and witnessing them put in there time, effort and dedication (all-day sits for 4-5 days) and not being able to see a single deer on stand- my apologies soft side showing

With the shortening of daylight the time available for me to bowhunt decreases dramatically. There is tons of buck sign and prior to gun season there were only a handfull of sits that I wasn't able to see some deer whether it be does, fawns or small bucks.. I'm just hoping that with that mentality of "when the going gets tough, the tough get going" that I'll have the opportunity to aleast get out some more and maybe manage to bag myself a late-rut buck or atleast whack another doe to get us through the offseason. Goodluck to anyone who may be hunting the 3rd weekend, archery or muzzie.

[bigbucks]

I'd think your harvest drop percentage is about right. I'll say 19 though. From Thursday night-Sunday the people I was hunting with did shoot a total of 7 deer. One of the guys who shot one is somebody who's not truly in our party, he usually hunts with us one day a year, so excluding that one we went from 4-19 to 10-19, still not great, but an improvement. They seemed to be moving better early & late then they had been. I personally think the wind was a big factor opening weekend. We had approximately 15 different bucks on our cameras & we killed none of those. We could have killed a few of them bowhunting, but chose not to.

[Musky Buck]

Same big bucks, had a dozen bucks in October but they travel and many travel a lot farther than people think, a few claim your area but the does start to dictate where the bucks want to be, had a buck on camera on Halloween, 1 of the dozen, he got whacked opening day nearly 4 miles away, and we swapped tcam pics with a guy, a buck 1 day was 2 miles away and the next day it was on my camera so they come and go and it's night travel generally, the last good shootable 30 bucks or so 0 were during shooting light, I think they can get t-cam savvy also, they know it's out of the ordinary and we scent up the area going in and out. We didn't get any deer this year but that's ok, it's hunting not killing or we could've piled up the yearlings, the mature bucks were extremely hunkered down this year, the only big ones I heard of and it wasn't many were dusted between 11AM-230PM.

[hockeybc69]

I sure wish I understood this rut stuff. I see articles talking about hunting the rut hard, all day long.....

I have 6 cams on our farm, and in 5+ years of running cams hard, I can count on one hand the number of pics of mature bucks walking during legal light.

I need to disagree a bit Muskybuck. If you are saying deer are traveling that far(which I dont disagree they wont do), then they wont know where those cams are placed on some of those properties further off from their normal home range.

I have gotten MANY pics of new bucks during the rut that I never had a pic of. They are coming from far off more than likely, and those darn deer are still walking after dark................

[laker1]

Better weather, Friday holiday increase second weekend deer harvest

(Released November 16, 2011)

Better weather conditions for hunting and a Friday holiday for some were the likely reasons deer registrations climbed to within 7 percent of the 2010 season-to-date level after the second weekend of the 2011 firearms deer season, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Final numbers from the second weekend show that hunters have harvested 143,000 deer so far in 2011, down only 7 percent from the 2010 to-date harvest of 153,000. During the second weekend, hunters registered approximately 27,000 deer compared with about 22,000 last year.

“Veterans Day usually falls during the week, meaning many hunters have only Saturday and Sunday to hunt,” said Lou Cornicelli, DNR wildlife research manager. “With the holiday on Friday this year, hunters had an additional day to spend in the field, and the wind was more favorable.”

High winds, which tend to limit deer movement because they adversely affect a deer’s hearing and scenting ability, resulted in a 19 percent decline during the first weekend of the season.

Cornicelli said he expects the final season harvest to be comparable to last year’s total of 207,000 provided weather cooperates in the northern rifle zone, where the season ends Sunday, Nov. 20.

Additional deer will be harvested during the late southeastern season, which runs Saturday, Nov. 19, through Sunday, Nov. 27, and the muzzleloader season, which begins Saturday, Nov. 26, and continues through Sunday, Dec. 11.

© 2011 Minnesota Department

[Musky Buck]

That's where it differs, I don't get new pics of new bucks during the rut, 0. I get about 8 shootables cruising mid-late October and never more than 1 picture, they know where the camera is or I'm getting just 1 pic as he cruises through then never again. I shot 1 in 2008 I had a picture of, only picture October 15th, got him Nov. 6th about 50 yards away, he abandoned that trail and there are few trails where I'm at, I definitely think my trailcam has cost me a buck already by me spooking him out or by him not wanting to be near a smelly t-cam full of batteries, pray for rain after setting it, but where I hunt those mature bucks are very very touchy and never pattern at all. Those patterns change daily and once we all hit the woods your odds dwindle quickly.

[ANYFISH2]

Our group hunts area 246, this may have been our best year. Group went 3 for 4 but should have been full. Opening weekend we seen 22 deer, which is about 15 more than most years. Our little piece of public was covered in deer on sunday especially. On the friday before very little sign one scrape with lightly used trails. At the end of sunday, 11 scrapes and pounded trails, they just had good timeing this year.

[Bear55]

Musky I wouldn't put your cam out anywhere you want to hunt. I use to do that and got pics of bucks but never shot any of them. I think the deer let the cams tell them where not to go. That and guys constantly checking them and scenting up the area teaches the big boys to stay away.

[Musky Buck]

I think that's the angle I was aiming for with hockeybc, I'm quickly changing my tune about trailcams, I think for 90% of the hunters they maybe matter not, but for my area it has not helped and I can't see it helping other than to see what I already know cruises through the area. Man you scent up my area at all and it's game over why is that ? Haven't seen a hot doe in there since 2001. That's 10 rifle seasons 6 of them tcam is out. I think the mature bucks you spook em 1 time in there and they are going to set up shop in a scentless area somewhere in the near area, wouldn't we ? I also think this some though, there is so rarely human scent in there that it really freaks them out, I'd be better off going in there daily maybe so they may get used to it a bit, I wear chest waders in there and they peg my footprint boot tracks 100% of the time it's unreal, how thru a 1/2 mile of swampy tamarac water they can peg my tracks on the highground with such ease is crazy to watch happen, they know there area very very well. Our harvest was basically nothing and that's ok, that's hunting.

[laker1]

Harvest in the Tower area had been down 38 percent from last year after the first four days of the season, but after the first 10 days of the season, the harvest in that area was down 19 percent from the same period last year.