County Rankings for Deer Hunting

[uptracker]

How good are Carlton, St. Louis, Lake, and Cook counties for trophy animals?

How's the hunter density? Is the area considered "pressured"? Is it tough getting permission to hunt private land?

[monstermoose78]

It not easy to get on private land unless its yours or someone in your families, but there is enough public land but you will see people. For Trophies go to a ranch in Texas or something if thats all you want, so far i have shot 2 bucks up there the first was my first deer a small 8 point and my second is going on the wall. Pressured it is because the deer tend to be in bunchs and where the deer are so are the hunters. If you want to get away from people go into the BWCA paddle in 2 days or so and you might not see any one else hunting and i have seen some big bucks in there.

[uptracker]

Thanks for the info!

But why is St. Louis Co. ranked #2 in the U.S. for B&C bucks then? Just confused and trying to get info, that's all.

[monstermoose78]

Did you ssee the pictures from the duluth hunt?

[maros91]

I can't tell you the main reason why it is ranked #2 but St. Louis county is a huge county filled with nasty swamps and a lot of backcountry. You can't just park on the road and walk in the woods 100 yds and expect to shoot a B&C buck. Do some scouting and research. Walk in there 2-3 hours. It is hard work but it will pay off in the end. My first year hunting was the Halloween blizzard of '91. We were hunting Mille Lacs refuge and my dad had his stand dang near right in the middle of the refuge. We got to the parking lot at 4:15 a.m. and started walking. The snow was so deep I wanted to stop and hunt and he would always say "almost there". We got to his stand at 7:30 a.m. He shot a 14 pt. at 11:15 a.m. He came and got me and we started dragging and did not get out of the woods until 7:30 p.m. The drag sucked but it was worth it in the end. We call the buck the "Halloween Blizzard Buck". Go the extra mile and it will pay off.

[uptracker]

Quote:

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Did you ssee the pictures from the duluth hunt?

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No, I didn't. You wanna give me some info?

[Powerstroke]

CIty of Duluth has a bowhunt within city limits to control the deer population. Many large bucks taken. They are protected by shooting ordinances the rest of the year. Only threat they have is the car traffic which is why they ahve the hunts.

Don't plan to shoot a trophy on public land. Its usually "brown its down" mentality. Not that they are not there, but its harder and harder every year.

Also, don't get caught up in which counties have the most B&C or P&Y deer registered cause its exactly that. If you don't register it doesn't go on the books. My buddy shot his first "big buck" last year around 150" with the bow so its Pope and Young. It won't be in the book cause there is not much point to registering it in the record book except to read your own name.

[uptracker]

I hear ya on that. Thanks. So basically, it's starting to get to the point the U.P. of Michigan is at. Most hunters have the same mentality here nowadays and with 300,000 bowhunters and 500,000-700,000 gun hunters, it's hard to keep people happy.

How about up closer to the ON border?

[monstermoose78]

Well its BWCA along the border or a national park. Any areas that are easy to get to get hunted hard. When I went to college in Ely every spot i wanted to deer hunt was full. I did hunt just not the areas i had been seening the deer in. Bow hunting was much better for me, but grouse hunters can make the tuff as well. The BWCA has deer in it just not in super high numbers because no logging is allowed. That means not as much food for deer. I have seen some dandys while fishing in the BWCA but come november it would not be alot of fun. But give it try and let us know how it goes.

[uptracker]

Moose: The reason I was asking is I may be looking to relocate and I wanna stay in the north, BUT I also want good job prospects and superb deer hunting mixed with some trout and salmon fishing. I'm a deer nut and I'm always looking for the perfect place to set up shop. Guess I may keep looking a bit. Thanks for the help!

[surewood]

St.Louis county has had the most B and C bucks taken, then Itasca and third is Aitkin. This trend is changing though now the bigger bucks seem to be taken from south eastern MN. To bag big deer in any of these northern counties is going to be harder than the broken farmland. To find trophy deer more consistently try Illinois, Kansas, and in my opinion the state that will eventually take the trophy books over, Iowa.