SE MN deer meeetings

[smsmith]

From the sounds of the turnout last night in Lake City all the hunters down that way must be satisfied with their hunting. Heard maybe 80 hunters showed up and 25 or so spoke. Everyone who spoke except two stated the numbers were down and that they'd support more deer on the landscape. Seems the vast majority of hunters want more deer, but not a lot of guys willing to stand up and say it.

If hunters down that way are less than satisfied...I'd strongly encourage you to show up at the next meeting:

Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014, 6:30 – 8:30 pm – St. Charles Elementary School Auditorium, 925 Church Ave., St. Charles

The reason to show up and speak rather than emailing or snail mailing your comments is that many of the public stakeholders who will sit on the advisory teams are in the audience at these meetings (heard 14 of 21 stakeholders were there last night). If these folks DON'T hear from hunters en masse....they will likely be swayed more by the other interests (Farm Bureau, Auto Insurance, homeowners, etc.) who do show up in force.

Just my $.02

[Getanet]

From the DNR site, here is information on the Advisory Team for SE MN, including who is on it:

Advisory team members

Advisory team members selected to help the DNR Wildlife Section identify deer population goals for southeastern Minnesota have been finalized. Team members will attend public meetings on Feb.19 and Feb. 25 to hear public perspectives about current and desired deer populations.

Team members were selected from an open call for nominations to represent both the diversity of interests in deer management and for their collective familiarity with individual deer permit areas to be discussed. More than 90 individuals applied to participate on the teams. Specific emphasis was placed on identifying individuals with a personal connection to deer management in the southeast.

Team members include Mark Bauman, Rochester; Cynthie Christensen, Rushford; Ken Fetterly, Spring Valley; Larry Gates, Kellogg; Collin Johnson, St. Charles; Chris Kolbert, St. Charles; Kyle Kolbet, Rochester; Vong Lee, Roseville; Quintin Lohse, Chatfield; Melinda Miller, Stewartville; Anne Morse, Dakota; Mark Popovich, Welch; Ron Rosenthal, Red Wing; Tom Ryan, Byron; Jim Siewert, Lake City; Michael Simons, Cottage Grove; Terry Spaeth, Rochester; Len Strapp, Rushford; Marty Stubstad, Rochester; Mark Timm, Altura; and Jim Vogen, Chatfield.

The team includes archery, firearm and muzzleloader hunters as well as non-hunters; residents and landowners; farmers; orchard owners and operators; land managers; local government staff and volunteers; local business owners; and members of hunting, conservation and agricultural organizations. Brief team member biographies soon will be available.