2012 deer season harvest predictions and what are you seeing in the field compared to last year

[laker1]

Over all I think the deer harvest will be similar to last year,maybe down 5%. Up in northeastern Minnesota north of Duluth it looks a little better than last year. Been grouse hunting by Longville and deer sign is not abundant. Go to the Mille lacs areas when bow hunting and I think it will be the same as last year.

Mild winter does mean bigger bucks and bigger antlers than normal.

Your predictions and have you been seeing much for deer or sign?

[Boar]

I think harvest levels will be similar to last year or higher, lots of sign in my woods an more bucks than ive seen before also.

[mntatonka]

The deer are here, but the licenses aren't. Went from intensive to managed and had one of the highest crop damage years ever. Hopefully the DNR pulls their heads out of their bums and bumps us back to intensive next year so we can actually do something about the population during the season, rather than in August.

[matchset]

harvest should be up by a considerable amount. no corn. early rut. lots of dead little bucks

[jay83196]

Numbers dont mean as much as all the new area regs. I think . Deer numbers are probably similiar but many more lottery or hunters choice will limit deer harvest more I say it will be down 10% .

[Jameson]

Doe Antlerless harvest will be down. Buck harvest will remain the same or be slightly up.

[96trigger]

I'm hoping for better deer numbers than last year. Deer numbers were way down in 342 last year. Very glad that they went to managed instead of intensive. This year Ihave better numbers on camera, but still lacking a little in the sighting department. Numbers need to come back up a little. Over all harvest will be similar to last year, maybe up a little with better weather forcasted.

[archerystud]

I think the southern part of the state was down last year because of all the high winds. Around me most guys only hunt the weekends and both of them had high winds last year. I saw deer while bowhunting but not much during gun season.

I think numbers will be up in the south a bit, unless the weather turns kind of ugly again.

[laker1]

The deer are here, but the licenses aren't. Went from intensive to managed and had one of the highest crop damage years ever. Hopefully the DNR pulls their heads out of their bums and bumps us back to intensive next year so we can actually do something about the population during the season, rather than in August.

You have a rare area,and most deer hunters were asking for a more conservative season. North central Minnesota has been over harvested in recent years.I have seen areas with few deer in the past move miles to a good crop field so number of deer in one spot still can remain high on a individuals farm field.

[96trigger]

Yeah, the winds last year were brutal. We were seeing some deer pretty steady until opening weekend then they vanished. We were still down in numbers though. Usually archery hunting I'll see multiple deer on stand, this year and last year Iam lucky to see one. Trail cam pics of does and deer sign seem to be up a little from last year. Quite a few twins and triplets born this spring, preceded by a mild winter should help. The heavy snows two years ago killed a few deer, I think we would have been alright if we weren't intensive again last year. Very glad we are managed this year. Hoping it helps get us back to where we were in the late 90's and early 2000's. Had to hunt hard last year for the deer. Some of us never got a shot off in our group. That is rare in our zone.

[NoWiser]

I'm hopeful that it will be a little better in my area this year. I'll be happy if everyone gets to see a deer this year. There will be three of us hunting. A buddy of mine for 4 days, and my dad and I for a week straight. Last year 3 of us hunted 9 days and saw 3 total. I'm predicting 4-6 deer seen this year for the group, and one nice buck shot. I'm giving myself a 30% chance of putting a wolf down, too. This week is going to be a struggle at work!

[hockeybc69]

Quote:

giving myself a 30% chance of putting a wolf down, too

Bold prediction!!!

You feel you have a better chance of getting a wolf than a deer?

[laker1]

It would be nice what zone were in or talking about. Nice info tho.

[Musky Buck]

I'm thinking similar, not seeing much daylight activity, definitely nocturnal, hope the weather is decent then I'll see a few, what is the forecast ?

[NoWiser]

Bold prediction!!!

You feel you have a better chance of getting a wolf than a deer?

I only feel I have a better chance at a wolf than a deer because I will be concentrating on wolf hunting for 8 days straight. I'll be covering a lot of ground trying to get close to the packs, and actively calling for them. I think this will hurt my odds of getting a buck, but help my odds of getting a wolf. The area we hunt is an absolute hot bed of wolf activity, and we see them nearly every year.

Laker, sorry, it may seem foolish, but I don't give out the zone where I hunt. Let's just say big woods hunting in the NE corner of the state. I worked way too hard to find this spot and don't want to give out any clues to where it is. Especially on the internet.

[Musky Buck]

Check that forecast, first 3 days could be interesting,ice,sleet,snow etc. involved, going to hunt all day Saturday for sure if Sunday looks crazy, mercy.