Lowering our Low Expectations

[MUSKY18]

Purple.......ex wife's family has a cabin on the Chip. Was so pumped to start fishing it, was greatly disappointed. Dorks in big Rangers with an "I own this lake attitude".....millions of stories!

I think the entire state should go under one massive APR for a 10 year trial period. But on the same token, open the season up for one doe per person. Then the meat hunters can shoot does and still fill their freezers. The buck hunters will have more chances to shoot mature bucks that should have the age structure to grow larger racks. Then we all go home fat and sassy! Done deal.....someone call Dayton and get this written down.

[Wanderer]

It sounds like the best solution might be to compromise and

1- move the season out of the rut. Make it the first weekend in October before Pheasant opener so my season isn't interrupted and there is lots of corn for the big deer to hide in.

2- Shorten the season ( for everyone) to a 4 day season whether it is Rifle, Shotgun, Crossbow, ML or bow. Have it at the same time

3-get rid of illuminated sights, scopes, rifled barrels on shotguns, sabots,ban trail cams,no elevated, heated blinds etc and just plain even the playing field so that there are as few advantages as possible.

4-no drives. only ground blinds or stalking in the open.

5-no cross tagging except youth can take one for their dad or grandfather.

5- open it to you can take anything of any size in those 4 days. No doe lottery, no APR.

Huh, sounds exactly like my out of state public land archery hunts where I see more and bigger deer than I ever have, any year in a MN rifle zone.

And I'm serious.

[PurpleFloyd]

Purple.......ex wife's family has a cabin on the Chip. Was so pumped to start fishing it, was greatly disappointed. Dorks in big Rangers with an "I own this lake attitude".....millions of stories!

I think the entire state should go under one massive APR for a 10 year trial period. But on the same token, open the season up for one doe per person. Then the meat hunters can shoot does and still fill their freezers. The buck hunters will have more chances to shoot mature bucks that should have the age structure to grow larger racks. Then we all go home fat and sassy! Done deal.....someone call Dayton and get this written down.

I would be on board as long as they took the archery and ML season down to the same length period and took them all out of the rut and moved the whole season to pre crop harvest.

My guess is your idea of letting everyone take a doe and not taking the smaller bucks would lead to a crash in the deer population and you would see lots of ticked off hunters. Taking a doe as an alternative is all well and good when you have a population problem where you are trying to reduce the herd size but do you really feel we have too many deer? When you take out a Buck you only lose 1 deer from the population but when you take out a doe you remove her and you also take away the two or 3 deer she would add to the population if you let her walk and raise the next generation. It only takes one buck to service a fair number of does but every doe you take out means there are 2-4 fewer deer the next spring.

And the does contribute just as much to the genetics of the herd as the bucks do. Also, unless you pass legislation that you can only take a full grown doe ,which could get pretty tricky, then you are just going to get a bunch of button bucks taken out of the population before they even get their first rack.

[sportfish]

It sounds like u rifle only hunters really don't like the bow and muzzleloader hunters ! That hurts ! I hunt all season all weapons . But hate rifle the most ! Mainly cus you have 5 or 6 guys hunting a 80 acre property and they just shoot every thing and than bich about the poor quality of bucks ! You can't expect to shoot 3 big bucks every year if you only own a 100 acres or so . Our cabin has about 400 acres and we might only get 1 good deer a year !

[Todd Caswell]

I saw a few deer bowhunting in October and last weekend saw zippo and my three nephews also saw zero deer. Leaving for Sodak tomorrow afternoon and very fired up, as always. $335 license, happy to pay it. I wonder how they can charge that much???

I tell you what if you aren't seeing deer during Bow season or Rifle season.............. Your doing something wrong.. We have ton of deer in MN and there are quality deer that live in every suburban neirborhood and public land. Bow hunters have NO excuess there are tracks of land open to hunting in every town that people walk there dogs by 20 times a day that house untouched trophy bucks.. And rifle hunters put the 4 wheeler away put on your best boots and walk, Northern MN has more public land than you could ever hunt in a life time, if you get in 2 miles you may never see a single person..

I grew up hunting a piece of land around Northhome for 12 years and I never saw a single other person other our group, it was a 3 mile walk every morning and night, we saw big deer every year, shot some really nice ones but also filled the freezer. It wasn't about the bone but about having state land to yourself because we were willing to walk farther than the other person...

Most people complaining on here aren't willing to walk past the back door on there SUV let alone 3 miles in the dark both ways....

Great opportunities still exist in MN..

[delcecchi]

....

I read a post earlier in another topic that said a hunting party went 9 for 5. So basically, everyone in that party shot 2 deer. There's a good dent in the herd in that area. I am totally anti party hunting and think that each person should only be allowed to take the amount of deer that THEIR license allows. Just my feelings.

I am the guy that posted that. Those deer were most likely shot in the area to the east of Rochester. I don't know where you hunt, but my impression is that the area around Rochester and to the south and east has a lot of deer. If you know folks in that area and so are able to get access to the land and farms you probably also have access to a lot of deer.

I will confess that I am sort of bewildered by this "trophy buck" thing.

[B-man715]

You can polish a turd all you want.......but it is still a turd

There is no magic solution to make Minnesota much more than it is.

Apr's, draw tags, lottery's, no rifles, blah blah blah will not make it something it is not.

Look at the neighbor to the east. Every hunter can shoot TWO bucks (bow/rifle), more hunters, higher harvests, more deer, bigger deer, blah blah blah

Many portions of the state are open to UNLIMITED tags at the insane price of $2. Yet year after year they blow Minnesota out of the water in every category.

They kill twice as many deer in a much smaller state.

Google "Pope and Young Map" for a real eye opener LOL

[PurpleFloyd]

It sounds like u rifle only hunters really don't like the bow and muzzleloader hunters ! That hurts ! I hunt all season all weapons . But hate rifle the most ! Mainly cus you have 5 or 6 guys hunting a 80 acre property and they just shoot every thing and than bich about the poor quality of bucks ! You can't expect to shoot 3 big bucks every year if you only own a 100 acres or so . Our cabin has about 400 acres and we might only get 1 good deer a year !

U r not readin it rite cuz I shoot a smoothbore shotgun.

I just hear that this isn't fair or that isn't fair or this guy shot the deer this year that I wanted to shoot last year or there are no big bucks cuz the teeny ones got shot but there are a million deer in the state but I didn't see none so I don't want someone else to shoot a deer that looks like they want it to so I can shoot a deer that looks like I want it to.

[slimngrizzly]

Its not magic, its MANAGEMENT!

All hunters may have to give a little to start with. We may not see results overnight. It would blow peoples minds, if we tapped into the potential here.

Its not as simple as doing what another state is doing necessarily, a plan has to be honed to different parts of the state and its habitat. Wed go through a year or two of letting things unfold and then wed start to see results... after that hunters attitudes would change and these new management plans would become the norm.

I pray the day comes where I have to bich about too many mature deer and it being too easy to get a big one!

[leechlake]

after 30 years of hunting the same ground and learning from my dad who hunted the previous years 30 years I've come to the realization I have no clue what I'm doing. I know every square inch of the approx 400 acres we hunt, part ours but mostly tax forfeit, the tamarac swamps, cranberry bog, the newly logged areas. I spend 20 days a Fall out there and I've seen all of the changes in terrain that have occurred by logging and other natural things. We always walk in and are lucky it's less than a 1.5 miles from our cabin and we don't take atv's out there. I guess I feel I need to explain my hunting resume because T Caswell has pegged me as a less than adequate hun yuck. Please come and help us Todd. Our neighbors who see few deer, my buddy's, our family members need your help. It's not the lack of deer it's the lack of skill, Ive seen the light

I will take my lack of skill to South Dakota this weekend and come home with two deer including passing on multiple bucks and hopefully killing a 150 plus whitetail. I will post photos of the Lottery Winner type horseshoe luck I will have.

[bowhunternw]

[DRAGFOOT]

What do you guys want? To be able to take a trophy every year?! Thats what makes a trophy buck so great, is that they are RARE!! If you started shooting them every year you would B*%$@h about something else.

[Getanet]

I pray the day comes where I have to bich about too many mature deer and it being too easy to get a big one!

No doubt that would happen. If there's one thing outdoorsmen like more than a cold beer and the Superbowl it's complaining about the DNR. Everyone talks about how great the hunting in Wisconsin is. All my relatives who live and hunt in WI complain about their DNR. All my relatives who live and hunt in MN complain about the DNR. I can't imagine it's much different in SD, ND, IA, KS or anywhere else.

No way the DNR is going to be able to please 500K hunters here, especially since everyone thinks their way is the right and only way to do things.

[snapcrackpop]

We need more public habitat and less tile-drained fields. Well at least in southern MN.

[leech~~]

If we all made a list of how our hunting has dropped off or how we see it here would be mine.

Deer-Ok still seeing and getting some.

Grouse- Down,not seeing or getting as many.

Ducks-Down-quit hunting them.

Pheasants-Down-quit hunting them.

Turkeys-OK getting better-getting some.

Rabbits-Down, I only hunt Snowshow-hardly see any!

Bear-OK but stopped hunting then, got enough.

[PurpleFloyd]

I would add this last year was the worst I remember for shooting striped gophers in my area. It was easily the worst season total I have had as long as I have hunted them going back to the 70's.

I wonder if Apr would fix that.

[JIvers]

I can't imagine it's much different in SD, ND, IA, KS or anywhere else.

It's no different in Iowa--I've lived in the southeast part of the state for over decade now, but still return to Zone 3 in Minnesota to hunt.

The Iowa DNR gets blasted by a lot of hunters here, mostly for allowing too many does to be killed over the last few years. To hear those people tell it, Iowa deer are in danger of being wiped out in some areas of the state. (And no, I don't believe Iowa deer are in any danger of extinction.)

No way the DNR is going to be able to please 500K hunters here...

Much less please every other group in the state with an interest in the deer population.

I know a few grain farmers in both SE Iowa and SE Minnesota who will tell you in all seriousness the deer herd should literally be wiped out due to the damage they cause to corn crops.

The Iowa DNR is Public Enemy # 1 for some hunters here, but the Farm Bureau comes in right behind them, along with auto insurance firms.

[SmellEsox]

Three of us just got back from Iowa last Friday. We saw over 30 bucks between the three of us and each of us saw some real bombers. It was amazing hunting.........on public land. MN hunting is awful in comparison.

[laker1]

Much of Minnesota is 400 miles north and much harsher winters and less fertile soil also.

[SmellEsox]

IA has other sources of mortality that MN doesn't have. EHD took out huge numbers of deer in IA the last couple years. I also think winterkill is rare in the ag regions of MN. We just flat out shoot too many antlerless deer and small bucks. Period.

[TruthWalleyes]

Whoever said horns don't taste good never traded them for a bag full of pheasants My 11ptr rack traded for pheasant will be delicious. Someone else can stare at them...I'll enjoy some 'italian pheasant'!

[96trigger]

Why do some of you consistently have to keep throwing little pot shots at anyone that is for seeing bigger racks? Every post by a couple of you has some snide remark in it about antlers, APR, or trophy hunting. I just don't get it. Keep driving that wedge boys, all you are doing is adding fuel to the fire.

[B. Amish]

because everyone else pot shots the dnr or their neighbors.

[Wanderer]

Agreed Trigger.

All the APR guys are scorned as trophy only hunters which is not true. Most APR guys are the people who see lots of deer and and have a better idea of what's truly out on the hoof not only in our home state but other areas as well. All APR guys have been talking about is mature deer, not just giants.

Deer hunting in this state is like fishing a small panfish hot spot 3 years after the word got out.

[B. Amish]

All the APR guys are scorned as trophy only hunters which is not true. Most APR guys are the people who see lots of deer and and have a better idea of what's truly out on the hoof not only in our home state but other areas as well.

they go to church more too. donate to charity more. swear less.