Seasons over-are you satisfied with your deer zone

[Musky Buck]

Time to give the deer some props also and the weather, there are plenty of deer around a lot of areas mentioned, they know to be nocturnal to survive, we had plenty of wind which they don't like to well, it wasn't all that cold of a wind either, it barely even froze or night time temps never had to defrost the truck window, but less deer around, weather, and this nocturnalism even before we hit the woods they were on that pattern for the most part. Also, dry, dry, dry. A swamp I hunt and have for 25 years, it was dry for the 1st time ever which resulted in there being way more room for them to bed down, they could lay anywhere in there, the grass was super tall because we didn't get that wet snow that knocks that down, anyway, I feel next year pending the winter/spring weather could be a really good one, but we don't know what next November 3rd will hold.

[shortfatguy]

My are was a hunters choice this year. I saw very few deer from my stand this year compared to years past. A lot of it had to do with the swamps all being dry. Areas that you would normally need waders to walk through were dry. I plan on putting up a couple stands in the ares they were using this season. The other factor that led to lower deer numbers around my stand is the farmer to the south tilled up all of the fields on that end of his property. The deer seemed to be concentrated toward the end he left untilled. I will be putting stands over there too. The area to the north of me is a managed area and the one to my south is intensive. I like having the option to go to another area an filling a bonus tag. I hope deer numbers allow them to keep the same set up.

[laker1]

Area 172 this year the buck kill is going to be down 5 to 10% according to harvest records,but the overall kill will be higher because last year it was lottery. Hunters choice brought into play a potential 14,000 to 17,000 additional doe permits for 172 vs 2000 lottery last year. Otherwise this zone the deer harvest would be lower than last year. This zone with much public land and lots of hunters due to lake homes in the area and one of the first big blocks of public wood north of the cities is over harvested.

[critterman]

Zone 169 numbers down very little sign. zone 232 numbers down. not satisfied.

[tracker x-2]

zone 338 herd a fair amount of shooting. first year of managed(hope theres a few does left) Luckily i got a few deer in mankato since the family didnt see a darn thing with the shot guns. Ill keep at it though with my bow over a food plot. Tracks in the snow sunday looked promising.

O ya to the original question yes im satisfied!

[HunterLee]

265- No we are hunters choice which I feel is way better than bucks only. Seen deer, but it was tough. We need to get rid of the rifles and go back to shotguns, way more sporting and would help our bucks out. 5 years ago there were nice ones all over, since we got rifles its getting tougher and tougher to find a decent one. Still looking this year and will be back to the stick and string and then the musket, in which I will blast a doe if I can't find a good mature buck.

[ANYFISH2]

246, hunters choice. Was a great year for deer numbers for us. I am satisfied. Hunters choice is a great fit for our part of 246, because a lot of public land and LOTS of hunters. I would love to be managed but I just don't know if that would be best.

[jnorm1984]

Hunt primarily 281 (lottery) and am happy with what they are doing. Saw "A" deer on every sit including bow hunting, but there is by no means an overwhelming amount of deer. Would also be happy if they would change it to HC to save a few small bucks and keep the meat hunters happy.

[Musky Buck]

Talked with a guy last night that not so many years ago his gang was buying mega bonus tags, now he's disgruntled about deer numbers, I said well I think they got thinned out quite a bit a few years back and remember you shoot a mature doe and that's like shooting 2-3 deer as she's not going to produce fawns of course. I said that's why 2 tags are available now because there's not as many deer around. We're going to have good number years and some not as good, just the way it is. We got spoiled in 2005, that year the numbers were at there peak and it's slowly declined since, but if you're lucky your lucky.

[MUSKY18]

Were you hunting the Paulbunyan?

Nope...we hunt county/Potlatch land to the west of Hackensack

[Wobbler]

I hunt Area 122. While the rut was late and the weather was not ideal; we did very well considering. 3 for 3 in "shooter" bucks. (Shooter equals 8 points or better or one we see on camera that the rack is not what we want in the herd) For instance I shot a 183 pound 5 pointer that would never be the big racked buck we would ever look for. We had 9 different bucks on trail camera that we knew were on our land. One of the bucks we shot was "not on camera" at all so that was a nice surprise. While we saw only a couple of does I do like it Managed. I love the fact if I see a good sized doe I can shoot it and wait for a "Shooter" buck and not go with the mentality that most have in the area "If it is brown it is down". Lots of people did poorly around us. But we own some of the land we hunt and the rest is public but on our land we have made nice trails, enclosed deer stands and are able to make nice shooting lanes which helps compared to most in that area. Now we are going to put in some little food plots in different spots to help our herd. The deer on our land moved alot.....problem was mostly at night all season. I have a feeling it was that way for many and without cameras we would have thought there was no deer either. The monster buck 2 nights in a row past my deer stand 2 hours after legal shooting hours! 6 cameras and each night had deer on them. I also would like to add we have not taken a doe in 5 years on our land or the public land that surrounds us which in my opinion has increased our buck sightings 2 or 3 fold in the last 5 years during the rut. Just because the DNR tries to manage your area as a sportsman we believe at our camp it is "Our Responsibility" to manage our land and shoot deer that fit our plan. 4 years from now my son will hunt and he will shoot whatever he wants. When he gets older like me I know he will follow our plan because he has seen the last 5 years of bucks we have shot. Just because the last 3 years I have a bonus tag does not mean I have to fill it people need to get beyond that mentality. When camps did that IMHO you shot all the deer up and it takes a few years for them to come back. I would be curious to see if everyone that hunts by me followed our plan instead of shooting everything they see because they have tags how hunting would be for them or have been for them this year. Everyone likes big racks on bucks but they can't get bigger if you shoot them as Spikers and 4's! Ok off my soap box!

[Scott M]

169-choice. I'm satisfied. Same as it always is, we see a maybe a deer or two a day, take what we can get to fill the freezer. If ya do it right, ya get your deer. No big bucks where we're at, it's hard enough to get them to come through and it's such a big, thick bunch of forest that QDM is out the window. I'm smart enough to know I can hunt elsewhere for trophies.

[laker1]

If I can see a deer a day I am happy.

[MNice]

157, very north end,intensive. I am lucky enough to hunt all private land, and all the owners & neighbors (about 400 acres worth) have been bucks only for 3 years, by choice. 2 years ago nobody saw a deer, last years we saw some does, this year we got a spike. Coyotes & wolves were see this year, and a few kills were found. WE always have fun, but I hope the deer hunting improves. Based on our area, there is no way this should be intensive.

[Born2Fish]

183-Hunter Choice. Well we, as a group, didn't see too many deer. I saw around 6 to 7, but that was opening morning and the three of us ended up tagging out opening day with 3 bucks. But we didn't hear a lot of shooting and really didn't see all that much sign either. We do hunt private land and normally get at least 2-3 deer a year. So I would have to say I am pleased with out area and can't wait to get back out there next year.

[Jeff13]

Hunted 246 and it was hunters choice I liked it and hope it stays that way.Deer we saw compared to last year was up, talking to other hunters in the area they liked it to.

[Sorgy]

We hunt the South end of 177. It is a managed zone. Our deer sightings were down this year. Lots of tracks in the snow moving at night. The winds the first 3 days did not help with the deer movement. They feel the pressure and go underground or noctournal Our buck sightings were down but I had some really nice deer on camera. Our group tries to protect the 1 1/2 year old bucks and small deer in general.

We ended up with 2 mature does, 2 spikes (Fine deer $50.00 penalty) and 2 buck fawns(as some would call them "baby bucks"). Kind of dissapointed in the "boy's" for the lack of id skills the second weekend. After several nice passes on small does it was open season. We have 10 guy's who hunt varrying amounts of time.

We continued to see lots of wolf sign including a sighting at less then 10 yards on the ground with one guy.

Wanderer I am very iterested in your managment plan.

Our plan came about because everyone did not want a lot of venison-(trouble getting everyone together to cut them up as well) so we decided to take clean shots at solid deer. Mature does and bucks at least 2.5 years old. We usually shoot in the 5 deer # for the group. This year we would have been fine with 3 nice mature deer.

We hunt 300-400 acres total of Potlatch land, state, county and relatives property. Deer numbers were fine. not a lot of pressure around us.

Good reading

Steve

[Wobbler]

Sorgy,

Our plan is like I outlined in my last post. We cut all of our atv trails twice a year. We scatter clover on these trails for the grouse and deer. Grouse hunting has been great along with deer using the trails for the lush clover. We cut it down when it gets fibrous and we keep it short. Many deer eat all along the trails all year. This year we plan on 5 or 6 small food plots. If we have food that deer want they will eat there all summer and throughout the fall. Does and fawns love it and in the fall the bucks will follow. We have land in the Superior National Forest and we have cut overs by us and I also hunt public land. What I have found is I can only cover 3 or 4 deer trails in the thick woods. My odds are not as good as on our own land where I have 4 places I have shooting lanes 100 yards long by 12 feet wide and I can cover 20 deer trails. They are all mowed as well and have clover in them. We also plant Red Osier Dogwood too which deer love as browse. St. Louis County has a spring sale and we buy it and plant it in areas around our stands. Simple management plan don't shoot small bucks. Those spikers and button bucks that were shot you just lost 4 bucks. I know it is not your fault but you just lost 2 bucks in the 2 and 1/2 old age group and 2 in the 1 and 1/2 age group for next year.......2 possible 8 pointers and 2 at least spikers. Last deer season I saw 8 deer and never pulled the trigger. All small bucks and does with fawns. It has taken me a long time to get to the point of passing on deer. Deer hunting is not shooting and killing. Deer hunting is the pursuit of taking an animal that satisfies me, the work to make my land better for wildlife, the company of my hunting party, the stories and everything else. It is not to fill my tag or someone else's tag. I had the best 9 days of hunting with my dad, brother, and brother in law regardless of how big my buck was. I actually wanted my brother in law to succeed more than me to get his first deer in Minnesota. A great hunter to me means all of that above and not the one who lays out 5 deer and fills everyone's tag.

[HandGunner]

Area 348...second season gun hunter. Hope it stays as a "managed" area instead of intensive harvest. Deer #'s down as far as we can see and the sound of shotguns firing gets quieter every year...almost non-existant this past weekend.

I believe the deer are still there...more and more land is being bought up and held idle during certain seasons. 3B is certainly one of them. On properties we used to have permission to hunt we now have absolutely no access or permission to enter the land...even to transport deer out of the valley...it makes the land almost unhuntable anymore.

The APR's MAY be good for the deer herd but what we've seen is that it's only increasing the demand and price of the private land in this part of the state. It really makes one wonder what's behind these regulations...money or management??

so true... hearing stories of how back in the good days this area here was full of deer this area was full of deer this area was a good spot this part was good this part was good, now its this spots good this spots ok this spot only at dawn this spot only in the morning. Why? because those good spots are now private land, even from the looks of it I can see why were so restricted on our access in the woods, just seeing the private land is such a tease to me, eyecandy, now that Im old enough to hunt I cant enjoy it like my elders did. Alot of it is so beautiful looking too like deer heaven, ok maybe not but still seeing how much we cant access anymore makes me sad. Other than that YES 348 deer heard is down, only seen 2 does that I lost the opurtunity to get and that was second weekend of 3A. Where I am makes me wonder if we will lose more of the public land in the future, if none of it was sold there would be plenty of room for whoever hunts there already but since lots of it is gone were all somewhat bunched up. Yea camp and hunt is what I love but Id give dat up to make it all a management land and just sleep at a hotel

[laker1]

They don't make land anymore,and estimates of Minnesota population doubling in 20 years we better cherish our public land. Not sell it off.

That said it would be interesting what percentage of choice zone hunters shot a anterless in a zone that was lottery last year. I am sure there is a percentage you could put on it and what the harvest you would expect for anterless harvest with a certain population. That makes it hard to compare harvests in certain zones when the type of hunt changes. In these cases the change in buck harvest is a better indicator. It seems like in many zones the number of monster bucks were down.

[BobT]

We hunt the very southern edge of area 176 which was a hunter's choice area this year (lottery last year). Sightings were probably a little lower this year than we've come to expect but we don't blame that on the DNR like it appears everyone else does.

Opening Saturday morning my nephew got a spike early, saw a doe and fawn later in the morning, and jumped a couple deer when he walked out to his wheeler for coffee and lunch. My brother saw one fork at his stand and let him walk. One other member of our 9-member party got a shot at a nice buck but couldn't find any indication he had hit it. Hope he missed.

The afternoon got windy with a swirling winds that stayed with us all weekend through monday. One minute it was in your face and the next it was at your back. Deer just don't move much under those conditions.

Early Monday morning one of our party got a 9pt. buck but nobody else saw anything. Tuesday morning my brother went out but when my daughter and I had to return home. I looked outside and saw a frosty morning with no wind and clear skies. I told my daughter that the deer would be moving today because they've been cooped up too long with the windy weekend.

Sure enough. By 9:00 my brother sent me a text message. Said he had a doe walk across one of his shooting lanes early with a decent buck but the buck never crossed the lane so he didn't get any opportunity for a shot. He also had two smaller bucks browsing in his shooting lanes but chose to let them walk. By the end of the day he saw seven deer.

The weather messed it up for us this year, not the DNR.

By contrast my brother-in-law and two nephews hunted about 15 miles away at his mothers in area 178 which is intensive. They had four does by noon opening Saturday. They too didn't see many deer the rest of the weekend but on Tuesday they got two more does and a buck by noon. My daughter and I stopped in at grandma's on our way home and when we were leaving at about 1:00, we got to the end of her driveway and across the road there were three does grazing in the middle of an open field. That area has been intensive for a few years in a row now and it is loaded with deer. Makes sense that it is intensive.

[Double D]

I agree with Anyfish2 and Jeff13:

I hunted 246, Hunters Choice and thought it was about right. Saw a good number of deer, let lots walk away, shot what we wanted, 3 bucks and 2 does for 10 of us, about what we want.

DD

[Wanderer]

I live in 227 - Intensive. I feel it could be moved to Managed.

I took the girls up to 172 which has been changed in the past 4 years from Managed to Lottery to Hunter's Choice this year. We've never seen a lot of deer up there but last year when it was Lottery was our worst year for success even though the girls both saw deer. I hunted as well but only got one glimpse at an 8 that was shot about 2 minutes later by whoever I kicked it to. This year I just sat with the girls in the two best spots I know of. Our youngest got her first - a spike on Opening Day with me watching over her shoulder. It was my best day in the woods this year! Our eldest heard deer but got busted in the shifting winds both days.

I hunted 348 with a buddy last weekend in the first year of being a Managed area from Intensive Harvest. A good call on the management plan IMO. We didn't see many does at all.