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

[Musky Buck]

No doubt Wobbler, most live in the moment and there is no plan for future seasons. We're way into preparing for 2014 already after I guide some unsuccessful rifle hunters muzzleloader hunting, we'll get after what needs to be done. We will not lower our standards with the muzzleloader, 3.5 year old buck or older or you'll never hunt with me and my ground ever again period. Doe certainly if you want to. All of us doing this except for the young hunters and it makes our area better than most areas or at least you know you may get a chance. That chance keeps us at it.

[Bear55]

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.

Lots of ways to measure effort, no right or wrong answers here. First you have to be in the woods, I don't get a ton of time in the woods because I have 3 young kids at home. So maybe 80-120 hours a year on stand, use to be double that. What I learned is you need to make the most of your time and only hunt the best stuff. Most of my effort comes in during the spring, I'm out there scouting as much land as possible. At least 100 hours scouting every spring. I generally scout 3-5000 new acres every year and still check out some of my old spots to make sure they are holding good bucks. You do that 4-5 years in a row and you can build up a list of great hunting spots. I see a lot of guys in the woods in the fall, I have never ran into a single person during the spring. I also hike in a mile or more to several spots to get away from others or take a canoe out to head down a river or cross a lake when I need to. Most are not willing to do that.

I'm not killing monsters or anything but these are all public land deer that your average joe would be happy to shoot. Bow 2010, rifle 2011, bow 2013. Never saw a shooter in 2012 but passed a lot of 2 year olds so it was still a fun year.

[Wanderer]

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

To me, it's both. People don't change their hunting style if they don't have to. When that time comes (less deer in your area), some will and some won't.

I did what I could in 348 this year to scout ( been in the hills since Early September), put out what I have for t cams, drive the roads after dark, talk to other hunters and land owners in the area, gain access to additional acres (500 + that fluctuates by season), and change stand sites often tryin to keep up with the freshest sign.

The point has already been made: you have to hunt where they ARE. Sometimes you can't get to where they are. And there's always the excuses to explain why sightings are down. Too hot, too windy, late rut, the lull, etc. So you keep going after it waiting for the conditions to prove the excuses aren't valid. At some point the conclusion is obvious.

[zepman]

What part of 348 were you hunting wanderer?

[Musky Buck]

No doubt Bear, I live near miles and miles of public land in kinda East Central MN and during the week I drove through their often and there basically was no 1 hunting, weekends were pretty busy, but Monday-Friday it was vacant nearly. Most don't go far in either because they can't drag something out of there if they do get it. I hunt there some and bring my gps or hunt after a fresh snow, works, you can always backtrack yourself out, be a perfect set up for a muzzy hunter if we can get snow. Found a large group of deer that crossed the road and parked, loaded the 30.06 and in 15 minutes caught up to the deer, soft snow easy quiet tracking and there were roughly 10 deer and 1 small buck so after glassing heads with my scope I let them continue and went to find the next good sign to pursue, and like you Bear 2014 has already begun, it's a year round thing for us which can just put a few more % points in your favor, every little detail helps that % whether deer numbers are strong or lean.

[mntatonka]

To me, it's both. People don't change their hunting style if they don't have to. When that time comes (less deer in your area), some will and some won't.

I did what I could in 348 this year to scout ( been in the hills since Early September), put out what I have for t cams, drive the roads after dark, talk to other hunters and land owners in the area, gain access to additional acres (500 + that fluctuates by season), and change stand sites often tryin to keep up with the freshest sign.

The point has already been made: you have to hunt where they ARE. Sometimes you can't get to where they are. And there's always the excuses to explain why sightings are down. Too hot, too windy, late rut, the lull, etc. So you keep going after it waiting for the conditions to prove the excuses aren't valid. At some point the conclusion is obvious.

sounds like you left a heck of a calling card telling the deer that someone is there.

We put up all these trail cams, check them every couple of days, move tree stands around all the time, walk all over in the woods, and then wonder why we don't see any deer. Ever think maybe, just maybe, the deer know something is up when there's so much human scent in the area?

[phorn]

I wish everybody good luck this weekend. I'll be back down in 348 zone. Hopefully some of the corn was picked this week and the deer sightings pick up . My son and my buddies son are home from college. Most of all I hope they get some action. I know theres deer there from my trail camera and the bow season.

[Wanderer]

Haha, right on!

I wasn't successful because I didn't try hard enough; I stuck it out too long in one spot; I moved too much; I don't know how to move in deer country; I haven't been 3.5 hours from home enough weekends since last season to deserve to know the land I've hunted for 20 years.

I guess I just don't know how to hunt and shouldn't have ANY expectations.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[laker1]

Preliminary totals show that the Minnesota deer harvest was down 17 percent in Series 100 units, which includes all of Northeastern Minnesota, Department of Natural Resources officials said Wednesday.

The harvest in Series 100 units was 48,679, which compares to 58,466 in 2012, said Jeff Lightfoot, DNR regional wildlife manager at Grand Rapids. The buck harvest was down 12 percent, and the antlerless deer harvest was down 23 percent, Lightfoot said

The antlerless harveset was expected to be down significantly. The DNR had issued fewer antlerless permits this fall in hopes of increasing the deer population in coming years.

Statewide, hunters harvested 140,366 deer, down 6 percent from last year, Lightfoot said.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged hunting, outdoors by Sam Cook. Bookmark the

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[PurpleFloyd]

Some land holds good deer year after year and some land doesn't. that is just the way it goes. One of my relatives a few miles West of town has some acreage that has a creek running through it that feeds the Watonwan River. His lad is right at the end of the tree line and after that it transitions into a drainage ditch. There are deer that come and go through there including some wall hangers but generally they only go through his spot sporadically.

Now, if you walk across the blacktop and head across the field 1/2-3/4 of a mile to the west there is a guy who has a honey hole behind his house. It just happens to be an an outstanding geographic location and the deer just funnel in through there and they like to congregate in that area as it is a junction of a few creeks and ditches and it is away from the road. He pretty much gets a wall hanger every year and there are some left over as well.

I hunted my relatives spot for a few years but the deer like to bed in there at night but there i no way to get in it in the morning without pushing the deer out. It is a great archery location if you want to sit at the end of the day while the corn is in the fields but not that great for slug season. I think we have taken precisely 1 buck out of there in the past 20 years. So some times it isn't that the deer are all shot and it isn't that land is too pressured or anything, it is just the simple fact that there are some spots that deer really like to hang out in and others that they may pass by but not at a time when you may be able to hunt it. 20 years ago when I was younger I started to fret about why we couldn't take a big deer out of there when his neighbor did annually. After a few years of hunting it and looking at the geography and patterns of the deer I just understood that it just wasn't a good fit for the way we hunted and the odds of having a big deer walk through was going to be pretty rare since there were hunters pretty much covering everything between there and the river. Instead of getting mad at the other hunters for shooting the deer I wanted to shoot or getting frustrated because of the situation I just started to hunt their land to the east of town where the pressure was lower. There are fewer big deer in that area but less pressure and we do well in filling the freezer. And we just enjoy hunting and not worrying about whether the deer are genetically superior to some place else and it is the most fun I hve ever had hunting.

[Bear55]

and like you Bear 2014 has already begun, it's a year round thing for us which can just put a few more % points in your favor, every little detail helps that % whether deer numbers are strong or lean.

Yep, already put in 5 hours tearing apart a new chunk of ground. Lots of promising sign there, one area looks really good, I suspect I will at least have a chance at a nice buck there one of these years.

[nonteepical]

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!

Alright someone else gets it, that makes 2 so far, musky buck and wobbler.

[laker1]

Agree Wobbler,I know one big party shot 18 deer one year in not to big of area,next year got hardly anything. It was their own private land they over hunted.

[Bear55]

Agree Wobbler,I know one big party shot 18 deer one year in not to big of area,next year got hardly anything. It was their own private land they over hunted.

Under ideal conditions yes this would be great but for the majority of hunters you just can't control what those around you shoot and a lot of the time they have more influence on the area population. I know some groups who hunt public but have been able to do a little managing in their area because they have the only access. Sometimes it works great but when a bad winter hits or wolves take over there is no amount of managing you can do to fix that, same if the neighbors shoot everything they see.

[laker1]

So many factors influence wildlife populations,I am amazed sometimes we have anything at all. Often we humans like habitat degradation,etc. add one more factor that pushes populations down more. Yes hunting pressure is one of many factors.

I do think last winter was harder on deer than people think. Especially around leech lake and north. There was very deep snow the 3rd week of April when deer metabolism picks up and makes it more difficult yet.

[certified jumbo]

So many factors influence wildlife populations,I am amazed sometimes we have anything at all. Often we humans like habitat degradation,etc. add one more factor that pushes populations down more. Yes hunting pressure is one of many factors.

I do think last winter was harder on deer than people think. Especially around leech lake and north. There was very deep snow the 3rd week of April when deer metabolism picks up and makes it more difficult yet. [/quo

There is no question we lost deer in April and May last year. Espescially northern mn. Does in some cases of mn were dropping fawns on snow or frozen ground. Not ideal conditions for fawn survival .

[rockman]

So many factors influence wildlife populations,I am amazed sometimes we have anything at all. Often we humans like habitat degradation,etc. add one more factor that pushes populations down more. Yes hunting pressure is one of many factors.

I do think last winter was harder on deer than people think. Especially around leech lake and north. There was very deep snow the 3rd week of April when deer metabolism picks up and makes it more difficult yet.

Another factor that could be influencing numbers, and/or affecting deer migration patterns is the loss of CRP in the farming areas, and the farming areas bordering the forest areas. Loss of the CRP is the loss of habitat. Habitat degradation contributes to influencing deer numbers, along with the other factors.

[laker1]

Hearing any result totals from individual zone areas?

[mntatonka]

We needed up with 12 from 3B. Plus 4 from early antlerless, and 3 from bow kills. The guy that harvested our corn said we lost 20% to deer this year, so we've got too many deer in our area.

The problem we had in finding them was that there must have been coyotes chasing them all over. I've never seen so many coyote tracks in the woods, chasing them off our hunting lands. I still saw 25-30 deer over the course of the week, but very few presented decent shots to me.