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

[Jaspernuts]

Best year ever. I think were in zone 230? Janesville/pemberton area. Shot 2 in the first half hour and our group had 5 down by 9:30. Filled 6 out of 8 tags and saturday and butchered on Sunday. 2 spikes, 2 6 pointers, one nice 130 class 10 point and one doe.

[mntatonka]

Best year ever. I think were in zone 230? Janesville/pemberton area. Shot 2 in the first half hour and our group had 5 down by 9:30. Filled 6 out of 8 tags and saturday and butchered on Sunday. 2 spikes, 2 6 pointers, one nice 130 class 10 point and one doe.

That's 2 legal deer in an APR zone. Wouldn't you just love that sort of regulation out there?

[surewood]

I've been hunting hard since October 28th between rifle/archery. My sightings are maybe 1/3 of last year overall. Rifle season is a disappointment. Last year opener weekend I saw 16, this opener 3. Doe and two fawns yesterday, unicorn spike buck today. Hill City area.

[InTheNorthwoods]

Way down in 210/184. Sightings were down. Trail pictures are down. Shots heard were down. The late spring must have had a high toll on the herd.

On a bright note (sarcasm), I've heard and seen more coyotes than ever before...

[MUSKY18]

On a bright note (sarcasm), I've heard and seen more coyotes than ever before...

Well I hope you filled a bunch of yote tags!

[chasin_walter20]

Hunting 241 on private land and the only deer I saw was the wide heavy-set 8pt I shot opening morning. 7 deer total for the 10 of us hunting. Not much shooting in the area and not seeing near the numbers as of previous years! Even though the entire week prior we have videos of several shooters out during daylight hours. Still early in the week with lots of time left

[Jessie_H]

area 157: opening weekend shot 2 bucks, saw atleast 3 others on our property. Seeing more bucks than does compared to last year (not complaining one bit though). Very little shooting opening weekend. My husband is still up there hunting all week and is continuing to see bucks chasing the does. It's fun seeing all the activity in the woods this weekend. I had a doe run right under my stand, 1 buck about 100 yrds away in a swamp near me, and then my buck I shot walked in about 35 yds away from me, all within minutes. Very exciting morning it was.

Weekend before Rifle, I saw 14 deer in one night while bow hunting. Definately seeing more deer than previous years.

[BryanL]

Terrence opener around Cannon Falls. Hunt private land and heard very few shots. Sat 20 hours combined Saturday and Sunday and didn't see a single deer. Friend hunted on Monday and same thing, no deer. Not sure if corn coming out on the Thursday before opener through them off but NOTHING? I even sat on a chopped cornfield edge with a lot of area to see one evening and saw nothing. Bummer.

[laker1]

Great posts and very informative,maybe tomorrow,Wednesday the DNR will come out with the weekend harvest?

[nitro640]

157 saw one deer sat and 12 sunday, i'd say about average for where we hunt.

[FISHINGURU]

Seen 2 Does and 2 Bucks on Saturday, 7 Does on Sunday, took Monday off, 2 Does and a Buck today. Still no big boys though, about ready to harvest a Doe any day now to secure up some venison for ice fishing.

[MattL]

I'm very interested to see the DNR's first report. I bowhunt in south central MN and it seems numbers are down some but it may just be the small area within the zone I hunt where pressure has increased and farming habits changed over the past few years.

[Archerysniper]

Area 227 I saw one doe the 3 days I hunted and that one was getting slugs launched at it by another hunter. We had 8 people hunting 4 private farms with a 6 and 5 pointer taken and 1 doe missed.

[jerkin'm]

We hunt in 240 on very good private land and it was pretty normal as far as deer seen. The wind on Saturday really messed things up it seemed. Me and 3 buddies went home with zero deer in the truck which was a first for us. We are semi fussy about what we shoot though and it was a combination of looking the wrong way, gun on the shoulder talking to hunting partner, scope turned up to the highest power and the buck is 15 feet etc.. someone stole our boat we use to cross a small water filled ditch too...oh yeah, and the keys got locked in the truck too...that killed about half of Saturday afternoon ...I am looking forward to Muzzleloader season...

[delcecchi]

Friend of mine got 9 for 5 guys down here in the SE somewhere, opening weekend.

[certified jumbo]

183. We went 9 for 13. With 5 does and four 8 points.

Deer numbers are down significantly in area. We had a couple great food sources which helped us out.

[Dbl]

Zone 258 five hunters. Saw one doe run through camp and one buck kicked up walking to a stand. Shots were as quiet as I've heard in 30 years hunting this same area. Group next to us had two deer for 10. Wind was brutal Saturday, not great on Sunday after 9am.

[shortfatguy]

I saw 1 deer before shooting light on opener, that might have been a buck, and a doe and fawn. After those 3 I saw no deer the next 2 days. This is from a stand where I regularly see 5-10 deer or more every day. Talked to some locals and the farmer across the rd lost 3 horses to wolves. Im sure that had a little to do with the lack of deer!

[laker1]

Not even seeing much for deer trails in southern cass county.

[laker1]

Firearms deer harvest down 8 percent from 2012

Minnesota hunters harvested 77,008 deer during the first three days of the firearms season, down 8 percent from 2012, according to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Leslie McInenly, DNR big game program leader, said a slightly smaller harvest over the first three days is not surprising.

“Last year, opening weekend weather was almost ideal and the state’s corn harvest was virtually complete, she said. “So given Saturday’s roaring winds of up to 30 miles per hour, which tends to restrict deer movement, and more available deer refuge areas due to pockets of standing corn, the harvest is about what you’d expect.” In some areas, she said, about a quarter of the corn crop was not yet harvested.

The DNR had sold 445,385 firearms deer licenses as of Monday, about 1,000 fewer than last year but roughly 10,000 more than 2011.

Around the state, opening day hunting conditions included snow in the north and gusty winds and overcast skies most everywhere, turning nicer on Sunday. The harvest was down 19 percent in the northeast, 4 percent in the southeast and 6 percent for the remainder of the state. Because hunters have 48 hours to register a harvested deer, final opening weekend numbers for 2013 will be greater than those reported today.

[JIvers]

I saw fewer deer in just over two days of hunting this year than I did opening day last year. This was on my ground in Fillmore County.

I am sure there were just as many deer around; the difference was in the crop cover.

Last year my three tower blinds overlooked green alfalfa and picked corn, and there was no standing corn anywhere near.

This year the tower blinds overlooked dead alfalfa (sprayed by the renter in preparation for seeding that ground next spring), picked beans, and scraggly weeds on fields that were never planted due to the cold wet spring. There was also thirty acres or more of standing corn on my ground bordering some timber, and more standing corn in the area.

The result is simple: the deer stayed in the corn, and had no reason to use the open fields where my blinds are.

After two days of seeing little activity I went in the corn after the deer, and filled my tag in maybe a half hour on Monday morning. Plenty of sign--tracks, freshly gnawed corn, and beds--in there, too. Last year those deer would have been out in the picked corn and alfalfa in front of my stands.

[fr0sty]

Zone 240, slowest I've seen in my 6 years here. I've seen 0 deer. Been hunting all day every day so far. My daughter and I did have an exciting opening morning though. Climbed into our box stand and a fat coon came barreling out in the dark. My old heart didn't need that!

[paceman]

241 east of Frazee. Numbers appear to be down about half from previous years. A few does/fawns and small bucks seen. Nothing for rut behavior.

[Notime]

Finally scored today. After sitting for 2 hours I decided to make a gentle push to my girlfriend which took me about 2 hours and produced nothing. It took me nearly 50 minutes to walk back and get the four wheeler. I drove around to get her and when I stopped the machine 2 deer got up where I had just walked through and hour earlier. I managed to get them both,small buck and a huge doe. Still the only 2 deer I saw in the woods. 184

[Musky Buck]

More, but it's because of standing corn, I have the prime food spot in the area for once this year and many people in the area are seeing nothing, I saw 12 bucks, 7 does, and 1 fawn in 2 days, 9 of the bucks were different and only 1 was worth harvesting and didn't get a chance. So yes saw way more, but it's not like the area is that way, the standing corn is crucial and drawing in the deer in the area.