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

[walleye18]

I live up east of Pequot Lakes.....use to have lots of deer. We have 319 acres all to ourselves to hunt. Got the food plots, crops, etc....

Ever since the DNR had the area as a 5 deer limit to curb the population, it has gone down hill. We still see deer but in no way close to the amount we use to see.

Me, the wife and 2 boys saw a total of 5 different bucks. All were too small for us to harvest. 2 spikes, one fork, a small 6 and a fair size 6. We try to let them grow....knowing that if they travel to the neighbors, they might get shot....but if you keep the "girls" on the property, the boys tend to hang around. At least thats our theory.

Nonetheless, we have way less deer than what we use to have.

[CaptainMusky]

Walleye, curious if you have trail cams up throughout the year and if so what you had been seeing vs during hunting.

I this this weather has them locked down not moving unless overnight. Full moon and clear night with warm days = poor hunting IMO.

[PurpleFloyd]

Now with only about 80 acres of standing corn left in our area compared to over 200 last week we saw a big increase in the numbers of does yesterday. The bigger bucks we have been seeing or catching on film haven't made an appearance but by next weekend after the full moon is over and the last field is picked they will be there for the black powder guys to bag. We took one nice sized 10 last weekend that never went past the cameras all fall and a few that we have been poking for have proven elusive but right now the big boys are nocturnal and during the day they lay in the poster land, fence lines and ditches all day.

I would say the population where we hunt is increasing every year and is higher than it has ever been in my 35 years of hunting. Habitat loss is a concern but with the drop in hunters coupled with more land being posted and those owners not letting the land get hunted the deer have plenty of cover and much less pressure. We had a very large percentage of doe tags and youth permits and harvested several very mature does this year.

[walleye18]

CaptainMusky...yeah, we have trail cams out too.

We have been seeing deer - again, just not like we use to.

One thing we have noticed and observed (probably like some of the other folks on this forum) is that the bucks in our area tend to travel a lot.

In 2006, I shot a big/nice 8 pt. Scored 142 3/8. Really cool rack. We never saw that deer - ever.

During muzzleloader season he came around to finish some breeding. Saw him on and off for a week straight. Finally shot him.

A friend of ours had pics of this deer from his property. His property was 5.7 mile away. The theory of a deer living in 1 to 2 square miles is not valid.

the general area where we hunt has less deer. It is what it is. We try and make the best of it.

[CaptainMusky]

Walleye my son and I are hunting very near you probably within a cpl miles. We haven't seen a deer since opening day. We only have access to public land and its highly pressured. Most of the hunters we talked to haven't seen much either.

You have a nice setup and if you aren't seeing the deer its a roll of the dice for guys like me hunting public.

I agree the bucks tend to roam large areas here. I think the buck doe ratio is way out of whack. Maybe not but it seems like it to me from what I've seen around here.

[walleye18]

CaptainMusky...your right.

The Buck to doe ratio is wacked out.

Best of luck getting a deer.

[DRH1175]

hunt 176. seen more deer than the last couple. I personally saw 3 bucks and 3 does in 2 1/2 days of hunting. I passed them up to get bigger though as I am still bow hunting near home.

[Huskie]

Hunted northern Itasca county area 169 opening 3 days, 4 hunters saw 0 deer. We had a number of nice deer on cameras late summer. Perhaps the wind and heavy snow had something to do with it. Don't want to believe it was the hunters!!! Less shooting in our area as well. 2 of us headed over to 177 by Orr for the next two days, saw one buck, scored on one buck. Not a lot of shooting there either but by then it was mid week.

[walleye18]

forgot to add that wolfies are in my area too...not blaming the wolfs but they do make the habits of the deer change and make them move accordingly.

That and the fact that the DNR had a 5 deer limit in the not too distant past puts a double wammy on the lower deer numbers where I hunt.

[BryanL]

After 26 hours in my stand in zone 339 I was lucky enough to get a nice 10point this morning. First deer I saw in legal shooting light. Buddy hunting same property has put in similar hours and until today has seen nothing. Saw a few fawns this afternoon and had a doe blow by him. Much fewer sightings this year than in the past.

[laker1]

Well zone 2 is history until 2014. Be interesting about Wednesday tallies should be out for the season.

[winterwalleye]

Southern zone 184 poor with very few sightings of deer for 6 hunters.Tried Itasca park and was worse than last year also.Hope they keep it lottery until herd rebuilds.

[highlife4me]

I hunted area 222 this weekend. 4 guys hunting all day for 3 days and only three deer were seen. I managed to bag a decent 6 pointer that was chasing a doe in the rain on Saturday. I only heard maybe a dozen shots all weekend. Very little daytime movement but with the clear sky and bright moon Friday night we had 4 different bucks show up on the cameras. Very discouraging to say the least.

[MJ1657]

Great year for us seeing deer. This morning we watched two bucks chase three doe's and had the exact same thing happen tonight but in a different location. Filled the freezer on opener so we waited for a big boy the rest of the season. Never happened but it was an awesome year for seeing deer.

[fr0sty]

Here's a picture I snapped one day this past week. Pretty much sums up my season.

[phorn]

Any reports for zone 3?

[JIvers]

I gave a report for what I found in Zone 3 a few days/pages ago.

I do not believe there is any shortage of deer in the southeast corner of Minnesota. I see no reason the DNR should change regulations for the Bluff Country in any major way.

Hunting was a little more difficult in Zone 3 this year, IMO, because there was more standing corn in the fields, and there was a nasty wind opening weekend.

[certified jumbo]

183. Finished 12 for 13.

[phorn]

Thanks eyehunter

[TruthWalleyes]

Well last year i hunted abour 19 days. I saw over 100 deer last year and tagged 1 doe.

This year i have hunted 2.5 days of actual hunting but 4 calendar total days and seen over 40 deer. Shot 11 pt buck so far. Hunted for 45 minutes last friday and saw 16 does and the buck i shot. No complaints here and i'd say equal to last year.

247 and 238.

[g_anoka]

213, I hunt with a fairly large group of friends and family, and I would say we saw quite a few deer. While some neighbors that were close by saw very few.Opening morning I personally only saw one deer, and that was not until 10:00 am. Saturday evening I saw more then I cared to count right at dusk. The wind, the corn still in the fields did effect that amount of deer that we were able to spot. Overall, I would say the deer numbers where we hunted are very good. However, there has been a increase in the coyote population in the area, hopefully I will get a chance this winter to do something about that

[NoWiser]

Had a great year in NE Minnesota. I hunted 7 full days and saw 14 deer. That's more than the last 4 years combined. Pulled the trigger on an 8 pointer the last day after passing on 4 other bucks. Every deer I saw was between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Most were between 11:00 and noon.

[PurpleFloyd]

We ended up 11-14

[laker1]

We ended up 11-14

Very good,what zone?

[Pinusbanksiana]

Anyone hunting 197?