Camp Ripley deer hunt results-stories from 1st season?

[SmellEsox]

Actually mornings were excellent deer hunting weather this past weekend. Deer should have been moving pretty good. I think we had upper 30's low 40's in the morning. Afternoon was warm, but most of the harvest occurs first half of the day in Ripley I would bet. I don't think you can put too much blame on the weather this year.

[smsmith]

Anybody seen the official numbers for the weekend? I'm seeing 40 on Saturday and 25 on Sunday.

[hockeybc69]

I agree weather is always a factor....

But at what point does it become an excuse the DNR is using too many times? Nearly every year for years now after the hunt, the DNR blames the lower harvest on weather and crops... At some point shouldnt we be absolutely overrun with deer if we shoot, fewer and fewer and fewer for several years??

We shot almost 300,000 deer hardly 10 years ago... We are staring at shooting less than 150,000 this year.... If the simple reason our harvests are always lower is due only to weather and corn....

Maybe just maybe.... there are fewer deer every year???? Crazy thought isnt it? The DNR wont admit it.

[hockeybc69]

70 deer total for second season apparently... We need Beau to let us all know and give us the spin on why so low.

[smsmith]

hockey....I'm not going to be at all surprised if we come in a lot closer to 100K than 150K

[hockeybc69]

Whatever the number is, there is no explaining why weather and crops can cause harvest reductions nearly 10 years in a row without our population absolutely bursting at the seams at some point.

[smsmith]

Whatever the number is, there is no explaining why weather and crops can cause harvest reductions nearly 10 years in a row without our population absolutely bursting at the seams at some point.

Agree completely

[Jameson]

...I think most reasonable deer hunters recognize that the last two winters and spring of '13 took a toll on the deer herd in the northern 1/3-1/2 of the state.....

And I think most have forgotten how the rifle hunt of '12 had perfect weather and corn harvest conditions and is also a factor in our depleted deer herd. Probably not as much as our winters/springs, but the superb hunting conditions of 2012 should be factored in somehow, too. If subpar hunting conditions of wind and standing corn have some value, then super hunting conditions and harvested crops have some value, too.

[smsmith]

And I think most have forgotten how the rifle hunt of '12 had perfect weather and corn harvest conditions and is also a factor in our depleted deer herd. Probably not as much as our winters/springs, but the superb hunting conditions of 2012 should be factored in somehow, too. If subpar hunting conditions of wind and standing corn have some value, then super hunting conditions and harvested crops have some value, too.

That very well could be true. In order to find these things out though, we'd have to study them, do hunter surveys, actually count the deer (where appropriate) more than once a decade, actually use some science to manage our deer herd....that kinda stuff...

[Black Bear]

"Whatever the number is, there is no explaining why weather and crops can cause harvest reductions nearly 10 years in a row without our population absolutely bursting at the seams at some point."

Absolutely SPOT ON! Great point hockeybc69

I hunted Ripley the first hunt......the 207 pounder actually walked by me first....I let him go as I hunt the metro extensively. The Ripley deer population is WAAAAAY down. Just a fact and the word is out now. Getting drawn for Ripley next year will not be difficult. I hope the population comes back.

[smsmith]

Final tally for Ripley was 145. Totals for the last decade have been 400-500. How can the harvest drop 70%(ish) in a year?

[hockeybc69]

Wind, rain, corn and lazy hunters. Pretty simple.

[Wanderer]

Less deer/less hunters.

I've mentioned the ATK property in Nowthen as being low on numbers also. Yes, it's been intensive harvest around it for years but the population continued to support the harvest. Same story with the U of M's Cedar Creek area near Isanti. Less deer than in the past. We've had BAD winters in the area. We didn't just start shooting a ton more deer in the past two years.

In the past weeks that I've been in western MN I've been told and notice the population is doing fine. Yes, 1 deer limit, antlerless by lottery. Could it be simply because of the limits the deer are holding their own?

Coincidentally the landowners out there mentioned they didn't have nearly the amount of snow we had in east central MN and much of greater MN for that matter.

[monstermoose78]

+1 Wanderer

[Farmsfulltime]

The last several winters have had a large effect on the deer numbers, Don't know how the DNR could be responsible for that also . Audit mother nature

[smsmith]

The last several winters have had a large effect on the deer numbers, Don't know how the DNR could be responsible for that also . Audit mother nature

A 70% reduction in the herd? Okay...that's plausible

If the last two winters were that severe, and it is common knowledge the herd was knocked back significantly....why would the area manager for Ripley and units around Ripley want to keep tag allocations the same...or in the case of 221 want to add early antlerless?

[Farmsfulltime]

Let the stakeholder process work it will be alright , This season was set to let that process be reviewed and then next season and following seasons we can go with whats brought forth in the process sounds like everything is working as it should . you cant snap your fingers and produce more deer instantly. In fact I would bet there are a lot of nice bucks showing up daily right now that no one seen all year all over the state even in so called low population areas

[smsmith]

Let the stakeholder process work it will be alright , This season was set to let that process be reviewed and then next season and following seasons we can go with whats brought forth in the process sounds like everything is working as it should . you cant snap your fingers and produce more deer instantly. In fact I would bet there are a lot of nice bucks showing up daily right now that no one seen all year all over the state even in so called low population areas

Gotta love a guy with faith in government....

I lost that many years ago

[NWKR]

The last several winters have had a large effect on the deer numbers, Don't know how the DNR could be responsible for that also . Audit mother nature

The DNR says there would be almost no winter mortality for areas south of a line from Hinckley running NW. I am sure that many people that live in some of those areas would dispute what the DNR says about that. But you have said that you trust the DNR so as long as the WSI is below 140 winter isn't an issue correct?

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/recreation/hunting/deer/wsi_cty_map14.pdf

But I must ask for people that are blaming the winter why are we seeing yearling bucks and does and also does with fawns this year when our farm had a WSI of 195+ for 2013-2014? I saw 11 individual deer on a sit last Saturday night in about 2.5 hrs, some neighbors are seeing very few. The difference? We have shot very few does for the last 4-5 years on 700+ acres. The farm has hay and small grains (used to be dairy) and we have never had high enough dpsm to have noticeable crop damage 10 years ago when the populations were much higher. We also have had wolves around for 20+ years and also bears, bobcats, and sasquatch. The last few years I have been convinced it is the # of does shot that has a much bigger affect on the deer #s on a property.

[SmellEsox]

The DNR says there would be almost no winter mortality for areas south of a line from Hinckley running NW. I am sure that many people that live in some of those areas would dispute what the DNR says about that. But you have said that you trust the DNR so as long as the WSI is below 140 winter isn't an issue correct?

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/recreation/hunting/deer/wsi_cty_map14.pdf

But I must ask for people that are blaming the winter why are we seeing yearling bucks and does and also does with fawns this year when our farm had a WSI of 195+ for 2013-2014? I saw 11 individual deer on a sit last Saturday night in about 2.5 hrs, some neighbors are seeing very few. The difference? We have shot very few does for the last 4-5 years on 700+ acres. The farm has hay and small grains (used to be dairy) and we have never had high enough dpsm to have noticeable crop damage 10 years ago when the populations were much higher. We also have had wolves around for 20+ years and also bears, bobcats, and sasquatch. The last few years I have been convinced it is the # of does shot that has a much bigger affect on the deer #s on a property.

Totally agree. When you harvest a lot of does, you are killing the deer most likely to survive tough winters.

[laker1]

2012-2013 there was quite a few fawns dies north of Cross lake mn and as far south as Brainerd area. 2014 had fawn mortality too.