Whats the deal?

[Andrew Erickson]

This season has been horrible for me. I've hardly even been seeing deer. This is my first year at Bemidji State so hunting up here is way different then what I'm used to(usually hunt in SW MN). My confidence is at an all time low! I wash my clothes, spray down every time, do my best to play the wind and nothing has worked. We've hunted public and have got permission to hunt some private and it doesn't seem to matter. I know i shouldn't be b****ing about it and just get out and hunt but I've been out every week since opener, usually 2-3 times a week plus the weekends, so i have put in time. I just don't know what the deal is. Anyone else having a poor season?

[mabr]

Rins I think alot are going through the same thing this year.Not sure why either thats whats sucks. I had a good early season but after the October lull well in my case it never went away.

I watch and follow a couple online shows and both Wisc and Mn hunters have had off seasons from what Ive been reading. Now anything south of us has been unreal. I Think i meesed up this past week. I seen more dead deer on the roads last week than I had all year I realy believe the HARD chasing started last week. But i was to tired and discouraged to get out and try.

[1johntimm]

I had the same season as your explaining. Hunted 14 days morn. and afternoon and saw a total of 5 deer! Not a doe to be seen?

[DonBo]

Too, too many antlerless tags given out in most areas. Where are the deer? Killed 'em all the last few years.

[fivebucks]

Plain and simple there are way fewer deer in the Bemidji area than in southern MN. Northern MN has had normal to hard winters the past 2 years and that really takes a toll on the herd. They also have the wolves to deal with. We rifle hunt by LOW and I bowhunt by Northome and we are seeing way fewer deer the past 2 years - they just ain't out there.

[Musky Buck]

There's a lot more nocturnal deer out there than we think, I saw 1 fawn almost each day rifle hunting, finally the last day I said I'm going on a straight line to where they bed and see, jumped lots of deer, lots, 0 daylight action, but 100 yards away from my stand they were there, just 0 daylight action, but areas vary and some areas are low on deer numbers as what's left will seek out the best areas in the area. It was a weird season for sure. They were nocturnal long before the orange army hit the woods, then once pressured they really became night movers.

[Scoot]

I agree with the above info- there are a few different factors contributing to this: number of tags, number of coyotes, tough Winters. There's no doubt in my mind the biggest contributing factor has been the tough Winters for the past three years. Last Winter was very, very tough in many areas. The reason you're not seeing many deer is because there aren't too many deer to see.

[sticknstring]

You're not alone. After a great September, I've had one of the toughest seasons that I can remember. Hard to shoot what isn't there.

[Cheetah]

Too, too many antlerless tags given out in most areas. Where are the deer? Killed 'em all the last few years.

Agreed

[slimngrizzly]

Too, too many antlerless tags given out in most areas. Where are the deer? Killed 'em all the last few years.

I completely agree DonBo. Actually in my arera they dont give out hardly any anymore. IMO, what did it was a decade ago or so when they had the smart idea of this "all-season super license" or whatever where we could take a Doe AND a Buck with any hunting method. We shot 2 deer each for a number of years and then all of a sudden, it was like... there's no deer left! Now you cant hardly get a doe tag. Its very frustrating. And with these winters our herd is not recovering from the overharvest from years back. And of coarse the little bucks are taking the heat of it.

I had a great season this year.... but overall ive seen far fewer deer than ever before and im dissappointed at the numbers compared to what used to be!

Slim

[mainbutter]

I saw a dozen total on nov. 6... A few I could have jumped on and rambo-ed with a knife they were so close to my stand.

But the rest of my hunt was very sparse.

[bigbucks]

In our area I agree with Musky Buck, they went nocturnal early & have primarily stayed that way. The rut was very late, not really starting until well into gun season & the deer were already so nocturnal they just stayed that way. Scrapes & rubs kept showing up, but the deer didn't. The sign was there & now that we got some snow the tracks are there, the deer just didn't move much in daylight. I personally had my worst season in several years, well at least so far. Still hunting pretty hard. Bow hunted twice this weekend, don't ever remember doing that the week after gun season.

[leech~~]

I say clean, oil and put them away. Hopefully better luck next year.

Lets go ice fishing!

[Bear55]

I think a lot of the nocternal behavoir has to do with pressure. We seem to have unlimited opportunities these days to shoot deer (too many tags too) and a lot of the guys who love to deer hunt are doing it with a bow, rifle, and muzzeloader. That is a lot of pressure alone, then add in guys scouting and putting up stands, working food plots, checking game cameras, other hunters, and the general public the deer have a pretty good reason to hunker down. We also have a booming yote and wolf populations to keep the deer on edge. Top it off with far less available hunting land than there was 20 years ago and you have a recipe for very little movement.

[Farley]

This year has definetly been worse for me than other years. I've seen probably 6 deer total while on stand, 3 of them during firearms season. We really hit it hard with the cameras, stand maintence, scouting this year so dont know if that was a factor, I think its the winters, after my morning hunt Sunday I walked around and did a lot of scouting and found 1 maybe 2 spots where there was more than one set of deer tracks in the fresh snow. They just arent there.

[Musky Buck]

Agree Bear55, there are so few safe havens for deer now like in my area when the dairy farmer's boat sank, all that land became someone's hunting ground to lease what field there was, or why buy it also zone 4 we had our pressure split up more and you couldn't muzzleload, the locals are really talking about a heavy coyote population so in spring they figure a fair amount of fawns got taken out in other areas and some here to there are wolves that are spreading out territorially. Pressure, etc. But, what about the farm I live on that had 0 pressure, yet by mid-october they went nocturnal and there is no adjacent pressure, weird year, then again our rifle hunts have been way on the mild side over the last decade, if I packed a body full of fat on and had those temps I wouldn't move much either in the daylight, strange year guys.

[Andrew Erickson]

well i guess in a way im glad to hear its not just me? but yeah this has been tough.

[Gopher_Guy]

I've hunted probably 30 days so far this season. Early season I saw a lot of deer and quite a few bucks, several big ones. Then I had 2 weeks off at the end of Oct/early November. I hunted 10 days, over 100 hours on stand in MN and WI, including 5 straight days of all day sits. In other words I have put in the time.

Anyhow, the quality deer sightings (big deer) during that 2 week stretch was very low. I had 6 days of 10+ deer sightings, however I only saw 2 big bucks. I probably saw 40 different bucks, but other than those 2 they were all little ones (yearlings/2 yr olds). During a 5 day stretch in Buffalo County (just across river) I did not see a single big deer and only 1 big deer was shot in camp. I would hear chasing and grunting in the dark and then shortly after sunrise everything just stopped.

I think the warm weather and the full moon just wreaked havoc with hunting. This weekend I went gun season and walking out to the stand at 5:45 I was casting a shadow, that's how bright the moon still was. I don't think the numbers are as low as people say, like I said I have seen a ton of deer this year, but the deer movement this month has really been lacking.

[sticknstring]

GG - Got any does you need thinned out down there? I grew up in Dakota Co.

I think the harvest will be down from last year, continuing the overall trend for the past 6-7 years. We probably won't see numbers like we did in the early-mid 2000's ever again. We need a prolonged el nino pattern and an open wolf season for starters. Of course we're only one bad winter away from having 1996-7 type numbers too.

[Scoot]

I don't think the numbers are as low as people say, like I said I have seen a ton of deer this year...

In the three areas I've been hunting this year my trailcams clearly tell me that your assessment doesn't apply to the areas I'm at. Numbers are way, way down or the deer have learned to avoid trailcams. Two of the areas I'm at have more coyote pics than deer pics! Total number of deer pics is way down.

[Fish&Fowl]

Plain and simple there are way fewer deer in the Bemidji area than in southern MN. Northern MN has had normal to hard winters the past 2 years and that really takes a toll on the herd. They also have the wolves to deal with. We rifle hunt by LOW and I bowhunt by Northome and we are seeing way fewer deer the past 2 years - they just ain't out there.

Nailed that one.

[CrewJones]

I think a lot of the nocternal behavoir has to do with pressure. We seem to have unlimited opportunities these days to shoot deer (too many tags too) and a lot of the guys who love to deer hunt are doing it with a bow, rifle, and muzzeloader. That is a lot of pressure alone, then add in guys scouting and putting up stands, working food plots, checking game cameras, other hunters, and the general public the deer have a pretty good reason to hunker down. We also have a booming yote and wolf populations to keep the deer on edge. Top it off with far less available hunting land than there was 20 years ago and you have a recipe for very little movement.

I agree with the ladder the wolves are awake and hunting at dusk and dark, that keeps the deer moving all night as well as the full moon last week that makes it easier. I had a tough year and im not done yet but its been frustrating to say the least

[Gopher_Guy]

GG - Got any does you need thinned out down there? I grew up in Dakota Co.

I think the harvest will be down from last year, continuing the overall trend for the past 6-7 years. We probably won't see numbers like we did in the early-mid 2000's ever again. We need a prolonged el nino pattern and an open wolf season for starters. Of course we're only one bad winter away from having 1996-7 type numbers too.

Did you go to Winona for High School? I went there.

Would you believe I haven't even shot a doe yet? The majority of my hunting is done in hunter's choice and as such I have to keep my tag for that ever elusive buck. I do hunt some land in a management zone but haven't had a chance at a doe in those areas.

I should note I'm hunting southeast MN and we don't have the wolf problem yet. Deer numbers seem high to me still.

That being said we haven't seen any deer in 3b gun, mainly because they just don't seem to move anymore during this season because nobody hunts it. We tried making multiple drives last weekend and never saw a deer, I have a feeling if we see one we will see a bunch.

[rkhinrichs]

its been tough to in duluth area. went to the hunting land in Long prairie we went 3-4 guys hunting! and saw a lot of deer. going to go there for a late season bow hunt.

[Musky Buck]

I've noticed also the decrease in the amount of shooting the past 5 years or so even on opening day which was windy, when you have people surrounding each other and no 1 cares about wind direction in my area as every stand has orange in it, someone's scent is being blown directly into the bedding areas so with that windy opener, and they don't move much in it anyway, they got a human lesson before they became venison. Every field in my area has field stands and the people are scaring them out of the field(s) an hour before shooting light and they go find a gnarly tangle, bed in it tight. Used to have very few field stands in my area, you could get into your stand and they could sorta naturally calmly walk/chase to the bedding grounds and you'd see them. Weather,wind,etc. lots of factors and man when there's no snow you'd swear there are 0 deer around, but just look for the nastiest tangles in your section you hunt in and I promise there's a few in there. Years back they didn't need to quite retreat to such ratholes, but pressure is now at a max in many areas especially the farmland areas.