Deer Quanity question?

[Dahitman44]

Opening gun season we hunt in Perham MN. The DNR rate Perham as the BEST spot in MN to hunt because of the amount of deer out there.

I don't believe it is like that North of Perham in the Butler area. We have some neighbors there that have a LARGE hunting party. They take out between 40-75 deer a year from a 5-8 mile radius.

We have talked about what that will do to the "herd" in our area.

They have really hurt it. They shoot everything. "If it is brown it is down."

We are seeing fewer and fewer deer each eyar -- any thoughts as to what we can do?

FORGET talking to them -- won't work.

It is ruining it for everyone.

I small lake near there had great crappies and they fished it out taking a limit or four each day. Same thing with Eyes.

They just don't get it.

What can a Guy do??????????????

[Stratosman]

Nothing if they are within thier rights, if not call TIP. How large of a party? That's alot of deer!

[Powerstroke]

I hunt in the Wadena area and it was rated as the number 2 harvest zone in the state.

I've preached this all fall about how those numbers are arrived at and how very few people own a square mile (640 acres). Even with my group having 160acres of private land it is not ideal deer land and we paid the price. We saw only 4 deer in 3 days and had no shots since the deer were always running across the property. The neighbors did quite well on both sides of us and its disappointing, but thats what happens when the ideal habitat is not on your property. The only thing you can do is perk up your own property to make it more desirable to the deer.

As far as the neighbors, as long as they are legal there isn't anything you can do.

[Scoot]

What kind of land are they hunting on? Is it all private land? Is the land you hunt on private? Or... are you both hunting on a bunch of public land?

[Dahitman44]

Strato --

They have between 40-75 people out and they can take up to 5 deer per person.

It just seems wrong that one group of people can kill off an area just because it is within their rights.

Hard to believe.

BTW -- they have been know to take a little over their limit on fish in the past. I don't know about deer.

[Dahitman44]

Scoot --

We are talking 85 percent private land for them. -They do push some state land as well. We hunt private land as well.

The question is -- how many deer can they kill every year and destroy everyone else's hunting?

Just a thought ...

[Scoot]

I totally agree with you on an ethical/common sense level. However, if they're within the law, you've got no recourse at all. I'd say the best thing you can do is to follow the advice of Powerstroke- make your land more attractive/better and apply less pressure to it. That'll keep lots of deer away from where they can get at. After that, I think you're kind of screwed.

BTW, are you sure this is North of Perham? It sounds EXACTLY like what I deal with near Fisher!

[tealitup]

Quote:

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Strato --

They have between 40-75 people out and they can take up to 5 deer per person.

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Wow, I have been in many a bars with less people. It must sound like a war zone. However, they are enjoying the hunt with friends and family. How long have they been doing this?

[bigbucks]

Holy dump! I don't think I've ever heard of a party larger than 20-22. I would assume they can't ever all be hunting on the same property at the same time. Man that's a lot of guns. We had 16 this year & I thought that was a lot.

[96trigger]

40-75 people is a ton, however, if they are shooting 40-80 deer, thats still roughly only 1-2 deer per person. The deer should soon get wise to that many hunters.

[Hammer Handle]

Especially if the deer are overpopulated in the area and they own the "ideal deer land", they have every right to take deer they do not waster. Totally legal and ethical for them to do so.

That is one huge hunting group! But, they only seem to be taking 1 deer per person. I guess I see nothing wrong with that.