Muzzleloader season length

[Pickelfarmer]

I had a guy ask me today if I had heard any thing about the DNR possibly extending Muzzy season by 1 week this year. I have not.I was just wondering if any of you guys have heard anything? He said he thought the reason for the extention would be because of the lower Rifle harvest????????

[hhguide]

I wouldnt expect any changes this year because the rules are pretty set in stone mayb next year. who knows

[lcornice]

I had a guy ask me today if I had heard any thing about the DNR possibly extending Muzzy season by 1 week this year. I have not.I was just wondering if any of you guys have heard anything? He said he thought the reason for the extention would be because of the lower Rifle harvest????????

I hadn't heard that one. Usually people wait until the season starts before asking if it's going to be extended. I'm sorry to report, there is no talk of extending any seasons.

[BLACKJACK]

I sure hope they don't extend the muzzleloader season!!! I hunt in a lottery zone (277) and I'd rather see those deer survive and reproduce so we could move to a Managed zone and be able to shoot two deer next year.

[Gissert]

That rumour seems to pop up every year. Thanks for clearing that up, Lou.

[lcornice]

That rumour seems to pop up every year. Thanks for clearing that up, Lou.

I need to start keeping a list and mapping the establishments where rumors start. Typically, you start hearing from 4A hunters the Monday after the season closes saying they need more time. With the consolidation to one 9-day season, they waited until this Monday. Our poor information center got a one week break this year!

[lawdog]

Lou when we had a two day season here, we did need more time! That was no kind of deer season and I'm so glad you guys got rid of it. This year we just caught a bad time with the full moon, rotten weather that first weekend and OCEANS of still standing corn. That isn't the fault of the season's length, just a tough year to hunt. People still found deer too. I think it will be interesting to compare the old 4a plus 4b harvest to the corresopnding harvest this year in the same areas in the new 9 day season. Hope you can seperate it out that way with the zone 2 new ares counted seperately...

I'm looking forward to the muzzy season. Think it could be better than usual where I hunt anyway. We had so much corn around the deer just didn't get pushed around like they often do during the slug season. Plus nobody shot any in that 4-5 mile area either so I think there should be a few extras around!

[Pickelfarmer]

Oh no, Im not trying to start a rumor. I didn't think it was even possible for the season to be extended once the reg books are printed. I just wanted to see if anybody knew about such a thing.I know it kind of goes a little off topic but, Has a MN hunting season ever been extended for any reason? I mean on a short notice kind of thing like it would have to be this year in order to extend Muzzy season.

[lcornice]

Lou when we had a two day season here, we did need more time! That was no kind of deer season and I'm so glad you guys got rid of it. This year we just caught a bad time with the full moon, rotten weather that first weekend and OCEANS of still standing corn. That isn't the fault of the season's length, just a tough year to hunt. People still found deer too. I think it will be interesting to compare the old 4a plus 4b harvest to the corresopnding harvest this year in the same areas in the new 9 day season. Hope you can seperate it out that way with the zone 2 new ares counted seperately...

I'm looking forward to the muzzy season. Think it could be better than usual where I hunt anyway. We had so much corn around the deer just didn't get pushed around like they often do during the slug season. Plus nobody shot any in that 4-5 mile area either so I think there should be a few extras around!

Oh, I don't disagree with you, I was just trying to be funny. Two days is definitely not enough time. Can you imagine what it would have been like to have our opener with a 4A season structure? The sheer number of calls and upgrades to multi-zone buck and all-season deer licenses would have created complete chaos! At least now people could still look to the 2nd weekend.

I'll be doing that data comparison once everything is done. The SW still has a lot of paper registration and the stubs need to be entered into the computer system. I did a quick comparison last Tuesday and it looks like the Zone 4 -> Zone 2 areas had a 6% increase in buck harvest and a 9% decrease in antlerless harvest with the same hunter numbers (just shy of 69,000). It's likely attributed to the decrease in either-sex permits across many of the permit areas. The percentages will change a little bit once everything is entered over the next couple of weeks.

I'm with you on muzz. season. I think if the sloughs freeze over and we get a little snow they'll be deer to be found. Just remember the lottery area laws for firearms AND muzzleloader license holders.

[lcornice]

Oh no, Im not trying to start a rumor. I didn't think it was even possible for the season to be extended once the reg books are printed. I just wanted to see if anybody knew about such a thing.I know it kind of goes a little off topic but, Has a MN hunting season ever been extended for any reason? I mean on a short notice kind of thing like it would have to be this year in order to extend Muzzy season.

It pre-dates me but I think it was extended somewhere in Zone 4 in the early-90's? Someone on this board will surely know but I've heard it described around the office as a disaster in terms of licenses, access, hunters/landowners knowing/not knowing, and a variety of other issues. Hoewever, I wasn't here so feel free to correct me.

[96trigger]

I hunted one year where the 3B was extended two extra days. There was a major snowstorm on opening weekend and harvest numbers were way down. It was when the 3B season was only 7 days and ended on a Friday, they gave us the next weekend also. I can't exactly remember the year, I want to say it was almost 10 years ago, maybe in 1996 or 1997. I was in college.

[bigbucks]

I remember it. Some of the West Central Areas in Zone 4 had an additional weekend as well that same year I'm assuming as it was due to a snowstorm. I would say it was in the 91-93 range because I'm pretty sure it was before I was married, which was in 94. I know some of my buddies took other buddies that had unfilled Zone 4 tags out to where they hunted near Clinton that year. It seems like I could have probably hunted too, as I had an open tag, but I'd shot deer that someone else had tagged. I probably went ice fishing that weekend or just bowhunted around home.