2006 Rifle season:

[jltimm]

I just wanted to hear how everyone did this year for your deer season.I had the worst season EVER! I've never seen so few deer and put in so much time. I hunt zone 1 area 157 and what a waste of time! From bowhunting till now it has been one big dissapoinment! Oh well, I like hunting so much I won't quit now!There's always ice fishing.

[WB make the CUT]

A little slow in 156

I hunted 7 day about 8hrs per day saw 4 deer all in one sit.

Our group of 4 tagged 2 bucks and 2 does

[icecold]

I hunted the multi buck zone along the minnesota river, spent almost 40 hrs in stand over 5 days I hunt in a prime location,thats what I used to think, saw 3 lousy deer 2 bucks but were way out of range, worst year I have every had,this is my 30th year of deer hunting,never seen so few deer in area, also heard same thing from other people in surrounding area.

[Gordie]

Ibought the all-season licence and nothing bow hunting and rifle hunted in zone 1 170 and five guys seven deer seen deer every morning none in the evening spent 8 days hunting And I had one of my best years in a long time I shot five of the seven taken. and I still am looking forward to muzzle loader season I'll problly hunt in the same area.

[Borch]

We hunted 156 and ended up with 7 deer for 6 hunters with 4 bucks and 3 does. I personally passed on 22 deer over 6 days of sitting. Not a ton, but still enough to keep a guy interested. No big bucks sighted during legal shooting hours. The guys that are bow hunting and muzzle loading should have good seasons. Seems like the rutting activity has really increased of the pass few days.

[bdiddy]

Area 225: Party of 5. Total of 10 deer-only two bucks this year. Saw some nice ones this year and have been anticipiting their return with bow in hand.

[luckey]

I hunt in Zone two. Nine hunter saw over 100 deer, we shot 10, two bucks, 4 does, and 4 fawns. We saw 6 or 7 very good shooter bucks, but for one reason or another, didn't get them.

[almostthere!]

Had the worst season imaginable. There were some yahoos shooting squirrels, grouse, rabbits, etc. during prime times throughout the whole Zone 1 season.

One of the yahoos snuck in between two of our guys and shot at two grouse which flew from one of the guys. What made it worse was that this particular yahoo was a member of our group until this year when he brought his own group to hunt "our" stands: I know it is public land, but to break off of a group so one can bring one's own group requires one to look for new stands instead of jumping on the original group's stands. Doesn't it?

[ChuckN]

Worst hunt for me too, Zone 1. Saw 2 does on opening morning. Total: Sat 4 full days in my stand. Hiked/sneak hunt for another day, jumped 2 deer. No scrapes, no rubs...never have I seen that. Deer were simply not active. There were plenty of old deer scat and tracks, but no rut activity.

I just chatted with my buddy who's hunting SE MN and deer are running everywhere! The deer are darn near running into people. Bucks chasing does like nothing he's ever seen.

[almostthere!]

That is what I heard about SE MN, too. Should have gone there, but would have hated to drag the deer out of the "mountains".

[ddp]

Hunted Zone 1, 122. 1 doe shot between 6 guys. ouch. I guess just one of those years. I didn't see much of any sign... not many scrapes, rubs, etc. Snow had fallen last Sunday and still not much for deer sign. Don't know if the rut has started or missed the peak the 2nd weekend.

Kind of discouraging but still had a great time with family and friends.

[lawdog]

I wonder what harvest numbers look like. Registration info should be available by now...

[BigWadeS]

I saw in the paper yesterday they are estimating this to be in the top 5 of deer harvests'...myself had a good year, well I filled my tag, saw quite a few does but most still had fawns with...could be worse, could've been stuck at work

[ddp]

Speaking of does with fawns... From my previous post, the doe we did shoot was still producing milk and the teets were bruised up (still milking). Is that common this late?

[FL SNIPER]

I hunt area 183 near Sturgeon Lake. Opening morning was good...saw 7 different deer numerous times...passed on some fork bucks and a small 8 point...but I did take a nice doe. After opening morning it really slowed...passed on a 3 pointer and an average doe that I am kicking myself for now!!!! Oh well...hindsight is 20/20. Maybe I'll get extremely lucky and still take one with the bow yet this year.

[SSSTaxidermy]

I guess I might have been one of the lucky ones this year compared to other reports around the state, as I seen plenty of deer during the firearm 1st season. Hunted 2 1/2 days and I seen 4 bucks...Spike, Fork, 6pt & 10pt (I got the 10) and 15 does, which I was able to take one of these too with my management tag. All animals were in safe shooting range, except the fork buck. And I too shot a doe that was still producing milk. She must have gotten separated from her fawns somehow. But I thought it was very strange too. I hunted area 298. I did more homework and preparation during the off season than in the past, and I believe it paid off for me. One thing I tried this year, and not sure if it helped or not, but in my deer stand I stuffed a gunny sack with some old shirts (so it resembles a human head shape), tied one end of it shut with a rope, drilled through my middle ceiling beam, fastened the roped gunny sack to it, so it hangs freely on the rope. If the wind blows it creates movement within my stand. I put it in there one weekend when I was looking for sheds...Who knows if it helped or not

[BigWadeS]

My uncle's doe was wet as well, I have only seen this maybe three years before, I think the rut is starting or has just started and everything is a couple weeks behind, IMO

[Stratosman]

That doe was probably bred during the second rut last year, therefore had later fawns.

[BigWadeS]

Good point Stratos, didn't even think of that

[SUNNYD]

Zone 2...5 deer for 3 guys...3 bucks including the monster we have been chasing for the last couple years. All in all it was a very good hunt...now we just need to hopefully harvest a couple more does during the muzzleloader season. Best news was that we already have two nice replacement bucks on the property we hunt including a nice 10 and a very nice 8.

Here is a picture of my brothers buck...

[walleyefisher0990]

Zone 199. We got 2 bucks and 2 does. There was 11 guys in the party and we all saw a couple deer. There was a lot of sign in the woods this year, but not alot of big bucks seen. turned out to be a pretty good year for our group. Nothing better than a weekend in the woods!

[No_Net]

We hunted by Ivanhoe First weekend. I seen about 40 deer all weekend. We ended up with 8 deer for 5 guys. 5 does and 3 small bucks. The seconed weekend my dad went north they got 1 doe. My uncle went back to where we hunted the 1st weekend and they got a buck and a doe. Pretty good year.

Two of the bucks I shot .

[midwesthunter]

Me and a buddy hunted in 178 opening weekend. I saw 7 deer, two were forkhorns and one was a 6 pointer. My buddy saw a spike and a forkhorn and 3 does. I shot a big doe at about 10 AM on opening morning and my buddy shot a small doe opening morning right before 8 AM. In our area we dont usually see a lot of deer so this year I would say was a very good year for us.

[bigbucks]

We shot 8 deer for 14 hunters (13 each day) first weekend in 213 (5 small bucks & 3 does).

My brother shot a nice 8 pointer in 244 during the week & I got a nice 8 pointer in 214 during the week.

Second weekend there were 12 of us Saturday & I think 8 part of Sunday again in 213. We got 4 more (3 does & a fawn). My brother shot one of the does & she was wet.

Overall we saw a lot of deer, at least for the areas we hunt. I myself saw probably 30 deer in the 6 days I gun hunted, including several bucks, two of which I shot. I let at least two go because they were too small, one of those did get shot the next day by one of our guys, but that's okay.

I think all, but two or maybe three of our guys between the two weekends shot at deer. Most shot at multiple deer. Of those total of 14 firearm deer, 10 of them were shot by 4 of us. I know my buddy got 5 does with his rifle this year, one while we were with him, but I didn't count his deer in our totals.