Opening weekend reports

[Nathansdad]

Great weekend in 155. No doe tags but we were filled out 3 for 3 by 7am Sunday morning. Did a little scouting today, deer were really moving with the new fallen snow. Saw many on their feet mid day.

[PurpleFloyd]

Saw lots of deer and ended the weekend at 6-12 in our party. A few big corn fields in the near area and excessive winds changed the hunt.One of our youth got his first buck-a 6 pointer- at first light opening morning.I clean missed a buck Sunday but my son and daughter filled their tags with 2 nice does.Saw lots of does running about but the bucks were bedded down and we pretty much had to step on them to get them moving but it was good experience as the young ones learned how they will hang tight and then jump up and take the back road out of Dodge.

[Ebiz]

We went 2 for 3 west of Cambridge in 225. I shot a 6pt at 2:00 on Saturday after kicking him up earlier in the day he decided to come back that afternoon. My buddy shot a 1" spike early Saturday morning that he thought was a doe. Saw 1 other doe all weekend but too dark to shoot through the brush, tons of sign in the woods though and trying to break away this week to see what everything looks like with the snow up there.

[BuckSutherland]

Hunted 172.

Tried a new area and pretty much left our 40 alone. Hunted west of Grand Rapids. Holy wolves. They were thick in the area that we were, unknown to us when we set up camp Friday afternoon. A decent amount of sign where we were, but I think most movement was happening at night. 3 guys 4 hard days. One guy saw 1 4pt, me and the other saw 2 fawns each. All in the evening. Fair amount of shooting Sat evening, but DEAD the rest of the time. Sure wish we would have been bucks only. Trail cams 10 miles away mostly night movement. Lacking doe bigtime.

2011-14 deer 5 days

2012-32 deer 7 days

2013- 5 deer 6 days

2014- 2 fawn 4 days, also got to see a propane truck almost smoke a wolf.

[MattL]

I see the DNR issued a press release today outlining the total harvest to date. Looks like we are 30,000 below last year's harvest at this time.

[uptracker]

Down 51%...."by design".

[laker1]

Down but down by 36%. From around 84,000 to 54,000.

[laker1]

Were up in 172 and deer numbers are down,but what was surprising more small deer tracks than I seen in recent years. Hope maybe with a mild winter.

[smsmith]

If the opening weekend numbers stay consistent through the rest of the season, we're gonna end up right around 60% down from 2003. In just over a decade our herd has been cut by more than half.

I'm sure the public stakeholder teams thought that would be the outcome of the last round of meetings

[hockeybc69]

With the snow and incoming temps,,, I dont think there will be the full force of people hitting the woods for the latter part of the season. Harvest will suffer from that alone.

Dont confuse the lower harvest with lower deer populations though. Wind, snow, and corn. Nothing to do with low deer numbers in areas.

[laker1]

I agree but the highs were inflated by too generous issuing of permits.

[smsmith]

With the snow and incoming temps,,, I dont think there will be the full force of people hitting the woods for the latter part of the season. Harvest will suffer from that alone.

Yup, hunting has been a bit "unpleasant" the last two afternoons....and the cold stuff hasn't even hit yet

[laker1]

I remember in 1991 from the halloween blizzard. I seen something than I never seen in my life before or after.

The snow was so deep during deer season around much of Aitkin county that mid week of deer season deer were out in the open in plain sight due to change of there habits because of deep snow was their main priority.

You could shoot them so easy.

Wondering if in the corn belt and deep snow they will be more vulnerable the rest of deer season.

[smsmith]

Wondering if in the corn belt and deep snow they will be more vulnerable the rest of deer season.

I'm not in the corn belt...but I can tell you the deer aren't "easy pickings" right now around here

[Bureaucrat]

Our group logged over 100 hours on stand in zone 172 this season. We saw a total of 5 deer. The wolves were close enough, we could hear them through the fish house walls. Ironically coming from the same direction as the cows we heard mooing in the middle of the night.

This summer, we found a big trail of wolf scat on the highway near our place. Had to be at least 8 wolves to dump that much on the road at once.

[ANYFISH2]

I agree but the highs were inflated by too generous issuing of permits.

I couldn't agree more.

We probably have to wait to see buck harvest numbers before any solid conclusions can be made. Clearly populations are down, but low harvest this year the goal. We should be pleased, if we want more deer, right?

[smsmith]

We should be pleased, if we want more deer, right?

Yes...we should be...on a "this year" scale anyway. We did need a very low antlerless harvest in order to grow the herd.

My "displeasure" is based on the fact we never should have had to get to this point. We can't go back in time and change the number of does that have been shot the last 10 years, but we CAN demand it doesn't happen again....right?

[CaptainMusky]

My "displeasure" is based on the fact we never should have had to get to this point. We can't go back in time and change the number of does that have been shot the last 10 years, but we CAN demand it doesn't happen again....right?

I agree, but the one thing I noticed is that at least in my area they have steadily reduced the amount of anterless tags allow (ie allowable harvest) for the last 5 years. Its started as intensive harvest, then managed, then hunter choice to now lottery. To me this shows that the DNR was taking steps to reduce the harvest because of a dropping population. There is no way they can predict what the winter will do, so they are in reaction mode the following year.

Im not saying the DNR did a bang up job on managing everything, but as sportsmen it falls on ourselves too, just because you can shoot 5 anterless deer doesnt mean you should. The DNR allowed it to happen, but it was hunters that followed through and killed those animals and now they are the ones complaining about no deer. Go figure. (note, this wasnt directed toward you at all smsmith).

[Farmsfulltime]

The steps to lessen harvest is working, If you count up the ( complainers ) about deer populations currently those vocal outspoken complainers might number less than 25 active individuals in this state same pitch and cry for change . Most reasonable sportsmen understand that with weather , wolves , that populations are going to fluctuate . The harvest is, was lowered everything is working as it should a little fine tuning and in a year or so numbers of deer and tags will be right back up

[BuckSutherland]

The steps to lessen harvest is working, If you count up the ( complainers ) about deer populations currently those vocal outspoken complainers might number less than 25 active individuals in this state same pitch and cry for change . Most reasonable sportsmen understand that with weather , wolves , that populations are going to fluctuate . The harvest is, was lowered everything is working as it should a little fine tuning and in a year or so numbers of deer and tags will be right back up

Wish I could live in the land of gumdrops and lolipops with you. Of all the things you mentioned weather is the ONLY one that cant be controlled. Just so happens that the wolf population and deer population are controlled by a bloated gov't agency called the DNR. And you are darn right there are not that many guys working hard for change. Most are PO'd and just sit and grumble but do nothing about it. I can tell you the area that I hunt (Cass county) and everything north and east of there has a lot of PO'd hunters and it is progressively getting worse.

[Getanet]

We can't go back in time and change the number of does that have been shot the last 10 years, but we CAN demand it doesn't happen again....right?

If that's the case Ssmith, you've got your work cut out for you to change the minds of the APR camps. I noticed the MWA still wants to push for an expansion "when the time is right." Since APR is designed to more pressure on does, seems to me it's time for APRs to be put out to pasture.

[Farmsfulltime]

The wolf pop. certainly isn't the DNRs as they haven't had management for much more than a hand full of years yet , prior was all feds, give it a little time . Increased harvest of wolves will require some pr as certain groups wont want that. DNR is a pretty easy target from a keyboard or bar most hunters can look in the mirror and see where the deer went, Ive hunted deer for over 40 years and have seen highs and lows several times thru the cycles , but the last few years the complainers have gotten louder if we tripled the populations tomorrow the same complainers would not be happy then either , then it would be not enough horn , ect or what ever the next craze is

[DonBo]

How about we get back to "Opening Weekend Hunting Reports", and leave this other dump for Sillytown?

[96trigger]

Amen Donbo

[smsmith]

If that's the case Ssmith, you've got your work cut out for you to change the minds of the APR camps. I noticed the MWA still wants to push for an expansion "when the time is right." Since APR is designed to more pressure on does, seems to me it's time for APRs to be put out to pasture.

Yup, the next move from them will be to work with the legislature on removing the need for legislative approval on APR expansion. I don't anticipate much of anything happening on that front though. Seems to me MWA does quite a bit of talking on FB and not much else