Deer reports-less deer,more deer seen than last year? How does it compare?

[laker1]

It would be interesting on observations you made this year from where you hunt,compared to past years?

Also it would be nice to know a broad general statement of at least what county,otherwise your remarks would not mean much.

I hunted crow wing county and myself just seen a glimpse of three deer in 3 days and shooting around the area seemed down,but it was windy and it made it a little more difficult to digest how much shooting opening day.

[diederich06]

I'm in cass county, seen a few does and fawns but the shooting was definently down in my area.

[schmoe147]

Shots down significantly near Itasca state park area (184). Our group saw a fair amount of deer.

[nofishfisherman]

I was in zone 259 and I personally saw nothing all weekend but I was dealing with some nasty swirling winds that didn't do me any favors. A buddy hunting not far away where the terrain helped him be able to get downwind saw 2 does Saturday morning and one large doe saturday afternoon. He ended up taking the large doe that was close to 200 pounds before being field dressed.

Overall there was a fair amount of shooting between 7-9am on Saturday morning. Once 9am hit the shooting stopped almost completely. After that it was just a few shots in the am and a few more in the pm each day.

[Jeff13]

246 cass county public land, we saw some deer not as many as years past our group of 5 took two does. It was ok I would say. Windy as heck.

[mrklean]

We were in 242 took 3 bucks and one doe group of 5 of us not a bad year, shots around the area seemed about normal but deer on our cameras was down

[walleyeking19]

246-just west of pequot on private land. Deer sightings were way down. Only got 4 deer for our 8 guys. We normally are pretty picky on what we shoot and still get 6 or 7. I saw 25 deer last year opening weekend, and this year only saw 9...the wind definitely didnt help

[archerystud]

291 - I only saw 5 does on the gun weekend which is way down for me. However, I bow hunted the entire week prior to gun season and had one morning with 5-7 different bucks cruising through. Put my son on that stand and he had zero deer go by on opening morning.

The cooler weather/storm early in the week had them moving. The warm up and windy conditions deterred the deer movement.

[MUSKY18]

We hunted in 259, just east of Hackensack. Deer movement/sightings in the area we hunt we WAY DOWN. We ended up going 1 for 8, with the one deer being a small 8. Total for the 8 of us, we never once saw a doe during shooting hours. Every deer that was seen while on stand was a buck. Definately the worst year of hunting we have had up there since the early 200's. Talked to quite a number of groups that hunt in the same area as we and they were having the same results. One group went 0 for 11, another went 2 for 10. Just seemed like the deer numbers are down in the area we hunt. Not sure what the rest of 259 was like but if it was anything like our hunt, I expect it to go lottery again soon.

[Notime]

I hunt near Guthrie in Hubbard county. I never saw a deer on stand and I spent about 9.5 on Saturday and 8 on Sunday. Sunday I moved to a huge chunk of tax forfeited land (over 1200 acres) and I had the only tracks in the last 1/4 mile. There were a few deer tracks in the snow. I did find a gnawed on deer pelvis that looked to be about a month old. Very poor hunting compared to last year and last year I thought was bad.

[leech~~]

We hunt up by Outing. Last year I had seen around 25 Deer in the same clear cut stand that I had seen not one on in 4 weekends of Bow hunting before rifle this year. We did end up pulling two deer out of the area on opening day but it may have been because they were pushed by other hunters in the woods. Shooting in the area was way down this year, and I did not see one other hunter in other parties pull out a deer down the road we hunt on. We went 2 for 9 guys as of opening weekend.

[Big Country]

We hunt north of duluth, near fish lake. Not many shots as compared to the past. I saw a button buck that had either a goiter or infected lymph nodes. Poor little guy. Cousins saw deer, but mostly in the thick clear cuts. They passed on several yearling does. Had a blast, but 5 guy's and no deer down is very unusual for us. My buddy hunts Meadowlands and said it was the worst opener ever. That's saying something. They always see a lot of deer. He spoke to some locals and they were saying the same thing. Looks like the late spring/snow we had may have had an impact on the herd in our area. BC

[TRZ II]

We were in Carlton County with 3 guys on public and private. Seemed a bit down. I got a nice 8pt, 195 lbs. and another guy shot a spike. We saw about 8 deer between us. All bucks, not many does around. If the rut was not so strong it would be really bad!

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

214.

There were more close by shots than in the last 5 years, but a lot less in the distance. Seemed to really die off at 9:00 on Saturday, which is when the wind really picked up.

[monstermoose78]

We hunt in Cook County and for opening weekend only one deer was shot in our party of 8 and only 2 other deer were seen. The number of shots I heard seemed to be far less than normal.

[maros91]

Also in Cook Co. I couldn't make it but my Dad did. Didn't see a deer all weekend. Got a pic of a wolf chasing a buck on cam. Not in the same frame but seconds apart.

[1eyeReD]

Report from a friend and family member as I didn't go this opener....

Carlton County on public.... Shots are less and less every year. Prob due to wind, but only heard a few shots. Thought last year was bad with low number of shots heard, this year was far worse. As far as seeing deer goes, used to be able to at least see a few throughout the weekend. Talked to other parties and same results for the others. A local guy missed a forkie. Another local guy saw 3 does and didn't get a permit this year so he didn't shoot. The rest of the campground of a few different parties (locals/non-locals) didn't even see a goose egg. Also strange is none of the guys who applied got their antlerless permits this year (lottery unit).

On the other hand, record number of turkeys seen this year by my friend LOL!

[CANOPY SAM]

Wow!!! I hate to say it but these are some really dismal reports.

East of TRF in Pennington County.

Opening morning I watched deer all morning. Fair amount of shooting, but not what we normally see (hear) even up here. I took a nice 8-pt. that walked right up to me, then 20 minutes later his brother walked up the same trail. I let him walk hoping he'd make his way over to my son, but he winded me and took off in another direction.

I'd venture we had/have 20+ deer on and around the section we hunt, but after the first day the movements/patterns of the animals became virtually impossible to track. Figured the extreme cold we're having would get em' up and moving pretty good, but it's gone very quiet the last few days.

I think they're on to us....

[anchor man]

242, saw a big doe and a nice buck Friday bow hunting, then just a couple small fawns the rest of the weekend.

[mntatonka]

plenty of deer in 346, but way less hunters (and shots) due to more and more restriction of private lands, and breaking up of hunting parties due to banning of cross-tagging.

[PurpleFloyd]

Not seeing a lot of deer but we are seeing so few hunters that to me that is the scary part. 299. In the past it would sound like a war zone in the Blue Earth river valley by Amboy starting right at the crack of dawn and going for most of the morning. Now we hear about 2 shots in the first hour. There used to be cars lined up at every access point by the river and now in spots where there used to be 6-8 cars there are 0-1 cars.

Driving around our area in the past there was constant traffic and nearly every vehicle had blaze orange in it. This weekend we saw maybe 4 total vehicles. The deer are here but lots of land abutting to where we hunt has been sold and posted and doesn't get hunted at all. The deer either stay in or get to there and just hang out.

[hockeybc69]

Area 240

I didnt see a deer. Son saw 2 deer running across a neighbors property. Dad saw the same little 6 pt 3 times and one doe. My buddy and his son saw a pair of does each(pretty sure it was the same 2 deer).

Nothing shot. 4th year in a row, we have not fired rifles for 5 guys.

Better or worse than last year? I would say about the same. We had 2 guys last year that didnt see a single deer. Its been pretty dismal for a few years now.

We were hunters choice a couple years, but this year we are managed again.

Sure hope something changes going forward so we can see some numbers of deer, but at the rate we are going, there is nothing in place that would help increase any numbers of deer.

Frustrated yet another year.

[fowldreams]

224 private land- saw 2 seperate bucks chasing does. Too far to shoot with the slugs.

156 private land- saw 2 does and they both came home with us.Only two of us hunting.

Very little amount of shooting both locations. Although , I would say it was the same as last year.

[Eric Wettschreck]

SW MN.

Our group did well. Number of deer seen were about the same as last year. We did, however, see/shoot and see/not shoot some real nice bucks.

Not many other hunters out there. Lotsa guys still working the fields in the combine or doing fall tillage.

[22x]

I was in zone 259 and I personally saw nothing all weekend but I was dealing with some nasty swirling winds that didn't do me any favors. A buddy hunting not far away where the terrain helped him be able to get downwind saw 2 does Saturday morning and one large doe saturday afternoon. He ended up taking the large doe that was close to 200 pounds before being field dressed.

Overall there was a fair amount of shooting between 7-9am on Saturday morning. Once 9am hit the shooting stopped almost completely. After that it was just a few shots in the am and a few more in the pm each day.

We are in 259 as well. Shooting on both mornings was significantly less than previous years. We saw a total of 9 deer on Saturday - my son had 2 opportunities on does, but missed both times Sunday we didn't see a single deer while in our stands. Did a small drive Sunday around noon - 1 guy saw 1 deer. Pretty sad. We saw alot of deer sign during the drive. Didn't see many deer in vehicles on the way home either. Pretty disappointing.

I should have added - 8 guys - 2 deer shot, one was a doe fawn.