Did you hear the usual number of shots on Opening day?

[fishermatt]

I can't believe how few shots I heard around my area on Opening day. The first one I heard was after 7:00am , and through 9am there were less than 10 shots fired that I could hear. Granted the wind blowing at 25-40 made it harder to hear, but there is pretty heavy hunter density in my area. We are 1 for 5 at this point in the season, with only fawn and yearling deer seen. That said, there's as many or more scrapes in our woods this year. The few adults that are left must be very nocturnal? How much shooting did you hear compared to past years?

[Jim Almquist]

We hunt north and west of Milaca and we all agreed that the shooting was way down and when we registered our deer the lady said registration was way down. So far we have got one buck and 2 does and would like a couple more but with the weekend forcast it might be a little tough.

[riverrat56]

I also heard very few shots on opening morning, maybe the crappy weather combined with the longer season had some people staying home?

[vermilionwally]

I didnt hear any shots saturday up by the shack i hunt at up near cook, although i was only out for a couple hours due to the cold. Sunday i only heard 2-3 shots and none that were very close to me. This week ive been hunting a stand on my land near cloquet every evening and heard a couple shots on monday but none since then. Those deer are just too smart for us nowadays

[bassislife]

I didn't hear near the shooting I have in past years. With the [PoorWordUsage] weather we had I don't think they were moving too much.

[brassman]

There were only about 50-75 shots opening morning up north where I hunt. Normally there are about 200 somthing!very very slow.

[Coach1310]

I didn't hear near as many, but with that wind howling, it was hard to hear anything!

[deerminator]

I was sitting inside eating venison breakfast sausage. Dang lottery area. That said, cruddy weather plus lots of standing corn = very few shots heard compared to normal outside of Willmar.

[Jeff S]

The number of shots was way down. I hunt north of Garrison and I did not hear more than 15 shots saturday or sunday. A normal year you would hear that the first hour. Tutt's in Garrison said they registered 550 deer last year opening weekend. This year 150 were registered. The only shot I heard on monday was my own and we always hear some shoothing on monday. Monday was a perfect weather day and the deer were moving so I do not understand why no shots. Our party did o.k. going 3 for 5 including a very nice 9 point that I took. We could have easily filled out if we wanted to shoot small bucks but we let the small ones go to give them a chance at to get big.

[Quackaddict9]

not very many shooting or deer seen at all West of Bemidji, Normally there will be more shooting...Not sure what it is, maybe it was the weather that the deer were not moving at all??

[jltimm]

Definately a bad year so far.I heard 1/4 of the shots I normally do.I've hunted mornings and evenings for 5 days now and saw 2 deer. Me and 1 other person hunt 140 acres, and have yet to get a deer. I could of shot a doe and/or fawn, but would like to wait for something bigger.Looks like I'll be waiting to hunt somewhere else bacause there is no deer out here to be had!

[sparkydm]

Same Story near tenstrike. Not much shooting and very few deer seen.

[fishorgolf]

I think the weather was a big factor in the harvest for opening weekend. I hunt in SE MN and sat. and Sun the deer movement was min. but monday was a new story! If I could give one thought of advise it would be hunt the weather not your days off. I know this is not possible for everyone but it really will make the diff.

[jltimm]

It don't make a difference if there are no deer to be seen no matter what the weather. The weather and the crops being in are just excuses that I will no longer believe.The number of deer is on the decline IMO. I think the intensive harvest should be alot less intense.It would be nice to start seeing some deer again, instead of seeing absolutely nothing day after day.

[icecold]

I hunt southern minnesota river bottoms and over the 35 years that i have been hunting, I can tell u that there is deer around but alot less than when i first started hunting, I used to see groups of 3-6 deer while on stand and now if u see 2 together at a time its like wow look at all them deer, I think the numbers are down, but then what do i know Im not the DNR, and I dont have a way to count deer, so who knows how many are out there..

[CNCMike]

Way fewer shots heard so far for us as well. Not just opener, but all week. There are just not many shots happening and even fewer deer around. IMO

[CMKURT]

Very few shots heard where we hunt. To much standing corn. We figured the deer could travel roughly 12 miles through corn and thick cover crossing 4 roads and only being in the open for brief points of time.

[iland99]

Way less shooting than normal north of Aitkin as well. 2 deer seen in 3 days of hunting. Reports have been very poor in the area, at least the reports I've heard have all been pretty poor.

[Musky Buck]

Wolves, bow hunting,car kills,poaching,standing corn, bad weather, less deer around. There you go for less shots fired this year, I don't always put it on shots fired because the best shot is the first shot. The wind knocked down some distant shots for us to hear as well. I think the masses spooked there fair share of deer that weren't up and moving like a normal opener and after 2 days in my area they are 95%nocturnal. With the increase in bow hunting they were almost entirely nocturnal before the season started in my area. It's amazing but 4 guys bow hunt my swamp, leaving barely a deer in there because they get winded so often that they leave it. Found where they go, farmer has a 10 acre willow,cattail,grass slough in the middle of his soybean field, told dad to walk it, we kicked out somewhere between 20-30 deer, couldn't count fast enough and didn't see a mature buck to try to take. In that swamp to barely cut a track in 9 days is absurd, sure enough they retreated to a place where no one ever goes and nocturnal enough to wait until darkness to wander around. Good luck zone 1 people !

[Ferny]

Interesting thread!

My girl started counting shots Saturday morning. I told her it would be fruitless but she did it anyway.

75-80 shots fired north of Fergus Falls Saturday.

Sunday she heard 40 shots.

Monday morning I counted 14 shots

Thursday afternoon/evening I counted 30 shots but 15 were well spaced singles that could have came from Erhard range?

Friday all day 10 shots.

Saturday morning I heard 10 shots between 7:30 to 8am

In Elizabeth they registered 50 Sat, 40 Sun, 14 Mon,10 Tue,10 Wed. From what I remember they usually registered 200 deer in the old 2 day season so the shots fired seemed to match reg'd numbers.

Lots of wind, corn still up, full moon, tons of excuses I saw no deer after initial Saturday. Thank God my buddy shot a 17" 10 pointer and his nephew shot a nice doe so were eating venison.

I also saw one...yes only one rub on a thumb sized sapling and a handful of scrapes. It was a very unusual year indeed! 200 acres of private swamp, CRP, tilled and wooded land. Interesting that the 1 acre food plot was untouched!

Ferny.