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

[SmellEsox]

A lot of people shooting the only deer that they see. Is it just me or does that scare the dump out of any of you? It's to the point that I don't even want to go out and hunt late season. I'd feel bad shooting anything, especially a doe. Now the muzzy guys can go out and shoot whats left. The future ain't looking very bright in Minny.

[TruthWalleyes]

A lot of people shooting the only deer that they see. Is it just me or does that scare the dump out of any of you? It's to the point that I don't even want to go out and hunt late season. I'd feel bad shooting anything, especially a doe. Now the muzzy guys can go out and shoot whats left. The future ain't looking very bright in Minny.

Oh cripes, the number of deer taken by muzzleloader is miniscule. I'll be in 347 this weekend looking for some does. Property i hunted first weekend of A held a good qty of deer. Doesn't seem any different than the previous years for me anyway. Got some new chunks of land to check out too. One of which i know is a wintering land..BINGO!

Hey, there's no fish in mille lacs either, but i've already got two weekends booked in Jan and looking to add a 3rd.

[SmellEsox]

Man you're easy to please. What would it take for you to want it better?

[TRZ II]

A lot of people shooting the only deer that they see. Is it just me or does that scare the dump out of any of you? It's to the point that I don't even want to go out and hunt late season. I'd feel bad shooting anything, especially a doe. Now the muzzy guys can go out and shoot whats left. The future ain't looking very bright in Minny.

Exactly, I saw 4 deer while on stand and I hunted hard for 8 days total. 2 guys in my group saw 1 each. I also disagree with the muzzle loaders out getting more does in an area that shouldn't even be lottery yet it is intensive. I do also agree that very few get shot by the Muzzy bunch but any is too many where I'm at. 1 guy in my party muzzleloads and he never sees another hunter for miles, during rifle there are dozens in the same area.

[96trigger]

The problem isn't the Muzzleloader season, its the number of permits issued. Shooting a doe in November with my shotgun is no different then shooting one with my muzzleloader. A dead deer is a dead deer no matter when or with what I shoot it with. This is a permit issue.

I passed on a few really nice does during 3A, even though I had my management tag in my pocket. Why? because I didn't want to disturb the area, I liked watching them in their natural environment, and I want to be able to hunt the ML season because I really like it. Now, what happens if I don't get one during ML season? Did the fact that I can go ML season, just help increase the population because I did not shoot the doe during firearm?

Maybe a way to help the population in lottery areas would be to have hunters pick a season. Aside from that, there is no reason why someone can't enjoy deer hunting all 3 seasons if they follow the bag limits placed in the area.

342 in my surrounding seems to have a pretty healthy deer herd population. However, there are some local areas that are void of deer because of pressure and too much corn still in the fields.

[B420]

Probably one of the worst years I have seen in 184. I hunt with a group of 7 and we were 2 for 7 with the 2 deer taken the only ones seen by the group.

[TruthWalleyes]

Man you're easy to please. What would it take for you to want it better?

I'm enjoying what it is. And it is what you make it.

Seen quite a few deer this year and will see more in the following weeks.

Don't know what problem you have with my satisfaction?

If smell esox is unhappy must we all be?

[SmellEsox]

No. But you make it sound like we should all be happy. I would still like to hear what would make you complain. Obviously you have some excellent places to hunt. Those places aren't everywhere and you need to search harder and harder to find such spots.

And I disagree with, "it is what you make it." We're stuck with what we got and that is low expectations that are getting lower. So what you are saying is that we gotta keep lowering our expectations and just be happy with the way it is every year.

[TruthWalleyes]

Depends if what you makes you happy is horns or hunting.

I understand populations are low in areas. Obviously i'm not hunting those areas, and if you are, i would start scouting new land in different parts of the state. It is what it is man. DNR seriously needs to do some population surveys.

[SmellEsox]

That's my beef TW. I don't have the time or money to search the state for good deer hunting. Why should I have to when I live in some of the best deer habitat in North America? At least we agree that the DNR needs to do something different.

[TruthWalleyes]

That's my beef TW. I don't have the time or money to search the state for good deer hunting. Why should I have to when I live in some of the best deer habitat in North America? At least we agree that the DNR needs to do something different.

Because it's obviously not making you happy.

[Eric Wettschreck]

I'll play devils advocate here.

I live in some of the states WORST deer habitat. Yet, I spent the time (I don't have a lot of time either, I made time) to scout scout scout look look look and figure things out.

Go figure, my hunting group did well and some nice big bucks to boot. We wern't willing to sit in a stand all day, we got out hunted them. Wasn't easy, plenty of tough work with nice rewards at the end of the day. It reminds me of what my father told me at an early age, "If it were easy wimmin and kids would do it."

I'm not a biologist and I know very little about deer herd management. However, I've talked to a lot of fellas that hunt around me who complained a lot aboot not seeing any deer and the ones they saw were small. Quite the opposite for us. So, is it the herd or the hunter?

[SmellEsox]

Because it's obviously not making you happy.

Nah. I still enjoyed my hunting. Had opportunities that I passed on. Saw a bruiser. Killed another good buck in IA. Saw a real bruiser in IA after that. Still will complain that it could be soooooo much better here in MN. Why do we have to settle for mediocrity? Look at the polls on Outdoor News. 53% think hunting was poor. 85% say the population is too low.

[TruthWalleyes]

"Nah. I still enjoyed my hunting. "

Good to hear.

[mntatonka]

Nah. I still enjoyed my hunting. Had opportunities that I passed on. Saw a bruiser. Killed another good buck in IA. Saw a real bruiser in IA after that. Still will complain that it could be soooooo much better here in MN. Why do we have to settle for mediocrity? Look at the polls on Outdoor News. 53% think hunting was poor. 85% say the population is too low.

out of 100 responses on a HSOforum. not exactly accurate or reliable.

[Musky Buck]

Something smells about your posts smellesox, don't have the time or money whatever fella, you had the time to purchase a non-resident Iowa buck tag and sounds like it wasn't year 1 of Iowa hunting so cmon man, where and what else do you fish for or hunt outside of MN. There's only 2.2 million more people in Minnesota than Iowa as of 2013. I agree esox if we can get 1/2 the hunters to quit in MN we'd be in business again and if we wouldn't sell more tags than there are deer in the state that would help also. Send Iowa a couple thousand of our timberwolves, sounds like they need some. Time or Money lets see this whopper you smoked in Iowa, sounds like you made a mistake in not being patient, did you forget where you were ? Of course deer numbers are down gee I wonder if we could've predicted that outdoor news poll.

[creepworm]

Hunt 240 and my report is good. Best year for deer sightings for probably 5 years. Deer population is about perfect in the area I hunt in my opinion.

[Wanderer]

So you still get road hunters up there yet? It used to be standard practice in this area but with the privatization of land and the trespass laws the way they are that has all but dried up the road hunting around here. Correct me if I am wrong but you can't shoot off the road or the ditch or you are breaking the law and if you walk past the right of way into property you don't have permission to hunt in you are trespassing.

Oops. Edit.I suppose if you are in a public area like a forest etc then you are good once you get past the right of way?

Oh yeah, they still road hunt even though most properties are posted. I think there was an up tick in the numbers due to the temps and lack of deer. Too restless; gotta move around ya know. It's definitely illegal to shoot from the road but they might argue a couple were minimum maintenance and not an official road? No matter, the property on either side is posted private. In fact the largest/longest volley of shots I heard were apparently from one of the vehicles according to a stander that was near the shooting. I thought it was a successful drive on the neighboring farm but he said, no, it was the guys jumping out and blazing away at a runner.

I thought about calling the CO but figured he was out on the roads somewhere anyway and am sure this isn't isolated to our small area. My idea for next year is to post a sign on the roads stating: Your vehicle and license plate number has been documented. Please obey the Game Laws. I'd like to see the effect.

By the way guys, if you weren't aware, the ML hunters needed to apply for antlerless tags same as the regular firearms hunters to take an antlerless deer in a lottery area. That was changed due to more does being registered by ML hunters in lottery areas than the total number of permits allowed.

Those of you who had a good or better season than the past - Great!!! I hope it continues!! To those who've been disappointed this year - Keep on keepin on! Make what adjustments you can and hopefully it'll work out. Meanwhile, keep your voices heard when the DNR asks for input. They haven't changed their population goals for about 10 years in most areas of the state and they know they're due for a refresher. My first impression of McInley (sp?) is that she actually interested in analyzing best practices moving forward. I'm optimistic.

[laker1]

In much of the state ML hunters are down,especially in areas allowed to tag 1 deer per season,no matter what season you choose.

[SmellEsox]

Something smells about your posts smellesox, don't have the time or money whatever fella, you had the time to purchase a non-resident Iowa buck tag and sounds like it wasn't year 1 of Iowa hunting so cmon man, where and what else do you fish for or hunt outside of MN. There's only 2.2 million more people in Minnesota than Iowa as of 2013. I agree esox if we can get 1/2 the hunters to quit in MN we'd be in business again and if we wouldn't sell more tags than there are deer in the state that would help also. Send Iowa a couple thousand of our timberwolves, sounds like they need some. Time or Money lets see this whopper you smoked in Iowa, sounds like you made a mistake in not being patient, did you forget where you were ? Of course deer numbers are down gee I wonder if we could've predicted that outdoor news poll.

Not sure where I said I smoked a whopper in IA. I didn't. It was probably a 115" 10 pointer that was 2.5 or no more than 3.5. If I'd shot it in MN I'd be pretty excited. I scratch together about 1200 bucks every 3 years to go to IA. It's worth it and a far better value on my dollar than trying to drive all over MN to find a fraction of the quality of hunting that exists there. Would I ever save 1200 bucks to go on a hunt somewhere away from my home within MN? At this point, no. There is no hunting in MN worth that much. Perhaps someday in the SE.

But you guys have convinced me now. I'll quit my whining and come to grips with the fact that MN hunting is fantastic and in no way could it get better. There is no reason to complain. It is that good.

[Bear55]

MN hunting isn't fantastic but there are bucks to be had if you actually put in some effort. I use to complain about the hunting years back but when I stopped complaining and started hunting harder and smarter I saw much better results. One person can only do so much to change the age structure in an area. You either have to wait for that to happen or look for areas with better age structure or spend big $$$ to hunt or buy land in other states. Bucks in MN are pressured a lot more than what you see in Iowa, if you are using the same tactics you aren't likely to tag a lot of older deer. Same goes for anything you see or tv and most things you read in magazines. Those guys are hunting prime land.

Some good advice I got a while back was hunt bucks where they ARE, not where you want them to be. Gotta find those core areas and hunt those bucks down. They aren't likely to grace your food plot or killer funnel like the tv deer do.

[Eric Wettschreck]

I use to complain about the hunting years back but when I stopped complaining and started hunting harder and smarter I saw much better results.

Perfect example of the question I posted up earlier.......Is it the herd or the hunter.

[SmellEsox]

Don't assume I don't put in a significant amount of effort. I feel like I put in a lot of effort. Can you give me an example of what it takes effort-wise and show me/tell me the results of said effort. And don't assume I have no success. This thread is about lowering our already low expectations. I happen to agree with the OP that to enjoy hunting in MN, you have to have fairly low expectations...and as the herd continues to decline, it would stand to reason that expectations aren't going to get any better. Success isn't going to get any easier.

[Musky Buck]

The deal for me truly is when deer numbers are high, where on the map are the 5 doe tags handed out ? Generally through central MN from central Ottertail County to Kanabec in that portion of Ottertail,Wadena, Some Becker, Todd, Morrison, Mille Lacs to Kanabec. Now like it is today those same areas are holding a lot more deer than many other counties so instead of 5 deer those areas are in the 2-3 deer range today so those same counties being down some, are still better than most and that held true looking at old maps in the 80's. Where the forest meets the ag. I primarily hunt area 240 and like creepworm, myself and dozens of relatives in 240 had the best season we've had in quite some time for what we saw and got, compared to what our scouting and trailcams showed us before season, biggest difference this year to last was the wolves were MIA when the season opened.

[Wobbler]

I have read all of these posts. It goes back to a post I made 5 years earlier. Just because the DNR says you can shoot x number of deer that you should shoot X number of deer. I remember when camps around my area of 122 were laughing when our camp went 3 for 4 when there camps went 16 for 10 because of the extra deer they shot. We could have filled tags but we talked about managing and taking only what we needed. Now when we go 4 for 5 this year and saw 30 deer we let go and most camps around never saw a tail they want to blame the DNR. They have some responsibility in that they issued lots of permits but it falls on the hunter on what you think your area can take. I hear wolves and they do hurt the herd but over harvesting by hunters 5 years ago combined with some really bad winters have cut the herd down. Perfect example last Saturday. I took my 10 year old son with me. We have a buck tag left. A decent 6 pointer walks up and stands broadside for 20 minutes 10 yards away. Granted I never actually had the conversation with him he tells me "Next year that is a shooter for you and when I hunt in 2 years that is the perfect buck for me to take". He got it. My 12 year old daughter who shot her first deer this season understands what our hunting party's management plan is. She gets to shoot whatever she wants the rest of us shoot what fits our management plan. This year for me was a nice doe. We can talk APR, Wolves, DNR etc. but it is what we the hunter choose to do. We own 80 acres but shot 3 deer on public land. I guess I use the analogy of shooting 5 deer to this: when I was a kid my mom said I could have 5 cookies, of course I ate all 5. Looking back on it my waistline I wish just because I could have 5 I would have had 1 instead!