Now that firearms season is over...........

[certified jumbo]

Now that firearms season is over. What changes to the permit area you hunt in would you like to see based on what you saw (ex. lottery, hunters choice, intensive, etc.) With most people believing deer numbers to be low, I'm just curious how conservative people would be willing to go to improve numbers. I'll go first...I hunt two permit areas in MN.

183 - Lottery this fall(2013). Next year if I called the shots I'd like to see Bucks only.

227 - Intensive this fall (2013). Next year If I called the shots I'd like to see Hunters choice.

[Wanderer]

172 - currently lottery and should stay that way in 2014.

348 - currently managed. Never thought I'd say it, but should go to HC in 2014. If I based my thoughts strictly on our little portion of it - lottery. But I know the area is better than that.

227 - IH in 2013. Not ready to go managed yet but getting close. Wouldn't hurt my feelings to see it go to managed in 2014 though. HC seems drastic but come to think of it, I haven't seen nearly the number of deer on the roads during my commute that used to even two years ago. Sometimes I wonder why they don't just set a limit, like 3, instead of 1, 2, or 5?

[laker1]

Agree on area 172 staying as lottery and maybe even more restrictive,like 1000 doe permits,instead of 2000 or a jump start to get numbers back,one year of bucks only maybe.

[DaMoose]

248 (Camp Ripley) I think should have been hc two years ago. Next year I am thinking it should be lottery.

[sticknstring]

219/229/172 would hope to see lottery next year. This will be 2nd year in a row I chose not to use my bonus tag.

[BuckSutherland]

172-

No more doe permits until it can be hunters choice. I don't know if that many died last April or what happened, but this year was sad!

[maros91]

152- HC this year. Lottery for next year. Did some island hopping the third weekend about a mile and a half in and just no sign there like previous years.

227- I think there's plenty of deer but intensive is too much. Managed would be ok.

126- Managed this year. My dad hunted here as I couldn't make it the days he did. He and other hunters he talked to didn't see a deer but could here wolves at night howling. I understand up there it's tough country to hunt but should be lottery.

[creepworm]

240- managed this year and in my opinion, should stay that way.

[jerkbait]

101 lottery this year and should stay that way next year. Definately need to rebuild the population there.

105 lottery this year and probably wouldn't hurt to stay t hat way next year too.

[mntatonka]

I'll tell you when it's actually over, I've still got 5 days left

[mrklean]

242 Managed-Wouldnt change it, if we have a bad winter maybe knock it down to hunters choice but its stayed pretty steady up there the past 3-4 years after coming down from intensive

[ts_hunter]

348 - currently managed. Never thought I'd say it, but should go to HC in 2014. If I based my thoughts strictly on our little portion of it - lottery. But I know the area is better than that.

I would agree about 348. Fewest deer sightings and shots I have ever had. I shot a respectable (but not huge) 8 pointer on opening day 3A, and before I pulled the trigger I mulled over in my head whether I should shoot or not. I'm glad I did, it was the only deer I saw all season. That includes my son who hunted 3B.

[TRZ II]

The problem with many of these zones is that they are too large and diverse. the problem with 183 & 156 is that the southern edges have high population and managed is fine for there. But the northern areas are very thick woods with tons of wolves and very few ag. fields. 183 & 156 should both be buck only in my opinion, but in the southern edges of the zones deer are thick. I generally have to go to land in the southern end of the zones to get a doe, the fields are full of them! The woods in the north are almost absent of them....

[Huskie]

169 Has been lottery the past two years, I would think it should remain as such. I would need to see the harvest numbers for this year to make a decision on the number of permits given out. Is that data available yet?

[mntatonka]

169 Has been lottery the past two years, I would think it should remain as such. I would need to see the harvest numbers for this year to make a decision on the number of permits given out. Is that data available yet?

that final data isn't usually available until February, sometimes later depending on how long it takes the DNR to compile and adjust it all

[surewood]

171 is lottery and should be next year. 179 is HC, I'd like to see lottery.

[Bear55]

108 - Been lottery for 5-6 years and no reason to change it. Seeing a few more does around but numbers are still low. Basically we need 2-3 mild winters in a row or it will be tough hunting for a long long time.

[laker1]

Now deer registration system is all computer and phone registration and 48 hours after kill.

Their could be preliminary results today- Wednesday or early next week close to final results where season has been closed. Individual zones you probably could e-mail the area Manager in the zone you hunt and get results.

Yes the tabulated report and writeup will be about February.

[mntatonka]

Now deer registration system is all computer and phone registration and 48 hours after kill.

Their could be preliminary results today- Wednesday or early next week close to final results where season has been closed. Individual zones you probably could e-mail the area Manager in the zone you hunt and get results.

Yes the tabulated report and writeup will be about February.

There could be, and those results shouldn't change. Yet somehow the preliminary results are always different than the harvest report they put out.

[laker1]

Some,but for years they had to hand count and recount hand registrations,plus the total harvest you still have bow and Muzzleloader going.

It is pretty close for the zones I have seen the last few years. I sure their is adjustment or early errors etc.

[Jameson]

159 was HC and I would like to see it remain HC. The private lands could probably handle the Managed designation, but the public land just takes too much of a hit.

[Jeff13]

246 was HC, but I would like to see lottery for a year or two. Where I hunt anyways there was a decline in deer numbers and sign in general compared to years past from what I have noticed. During the firearms season it was really quiet with shots compared to years past.

[leechlake]

I'm being serious here. If you have a deer tag you can kill a wolf or a deer but not both. Make it a one year only test to see what happens.

[nofishfisherman]

I'm in 259 which is a HC zone. I think its borderline whether it should be HC or Lottery. I hunt the larger woods of the northern part of 259 but I know there are other areas that have more ag land so I'm guessing I'm in an area with lower density compared to the rest of the zone so its hard to say based only on what I am seeing in my one little chuck of woods.

[Spike76]

leechlake, anyone who has a deer license, and kills a wolf, should be able to shoot two deer. The deer herd will be larger with less wolves. Deer camp is more then shooting deer, I baked 32 loaves of frozen bread dough at camp this year. Nine of us ate well, and shot four deer, over the first week. Hopefully we'll all be back next year. We hunted zone 1 north of Deer River.