Mn gun opener

[bueller]

I wonder how much the bumper acorn crop this year was a factor into the harvest numbers? By almost all acounts the acorns were off the charts and the deer didn't have to move from their normal secure locations seeking food as often as normal.

The buck I harvested in WI ran a complete opposite pattern on his usage of my property than he did last year, and I chalk that up to his summer location (not on my property) likely was loaded with acorns. Very few summer pics of him and his "shift" occurred nearly a month later than last year (presumably when the acorns dried up at his summer haunt).

Not sure where to point the finger, but we did not see the normal influx of new bucks showing up on camera during the rut this year. We are still walking on marbles here with all the acorns on the ground.

 

[Kooch]

I'm seeing a lot less deer at my place on far Eastern SD this year than last. I had a parade of bucks on camera (at night) last year, new bucks almost nightly. This year, it's been sparse and I don't have a doe family living in either of my groves. Last year we had a doe and two fawns in each of our two groves. I may not even try and shoot anything this muzzle loader season.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I'm seeing a lot less deer at my place on far Eastern SD this year than last. I had a parade of bucks on camera (at night) last year, new bucks almost nightly. This year, it's been sparse and I don't have a doe family living in either of my groves. Last year we had a doe and two fawns in each of our two groves. I may not even try and shoot anything this muzzle loader season.

What changed at your place this year?

 

[Kooch]

Gnarly Winter.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Gnarly Winter.

Is there any reasonable way to add a big multi-acre shelterbelt with a corn plot on the downwind side? It will take years for that to make a difference, but it could really help the deer in the immediate area eventually. Those large windbreaks and wooded patches with food plots and/or wetlands nearby seem to be a huge draw out there.

They seem to be fairly common on some of the large pheasant hunting properties, but the deer would certainly benefit as well.

 

[Kooch]

I'm working on exactly that. But, since I don't have an unlimited budget, it'll take some time. The first couple rows of White Spruce and Willow should go in next Spring.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I'm working on exactly that. But, since I don't have an unlimited budget, it'll take some time. The first couple rows of White Spruce and Willow should go in next Spring.

I think that will make a big difference in the long run. One type of shrub that might do well in your area is ninebark. They are a great shrub for wildlife, and I've seen them growing in a weathered rock outcropping by Grand Marais, so they can definitely survive cold temps with limited rain.

I've had good luck getting low cost trees and shrubs from the DNR nurseries.

 

[Kooch]

I think that will make a big difference in the long run. One type of shrub that might do well in your area is ninebark. They are a great shrub for wildlife, and I've seen them growing in a weathered rock outcropping by Grand Marais, so they can definitely survive cold temps with limited rain.

I've had good luck getting low cost trees and shrubs from the DNR nurseries.

We had ninebark at our place in the cities and they grew quickly there. Of course, they didn't have deer browse to contend with.

 

[Foggy47]

 

[Foggy47]

The Dakotas had big drops, but it was a conservation move. Both SD and ND have cut their tags way back. They do not sell unlimited amounts of tags in every corner of the state like MN does. I wish they'd just close my area for next year. What the hell would be the difference at this point? We can all still go up north and drink whiskey, eat beans, and sit in a tree and not shoot anything.

What MN hunters need to do is drink whiskey, eat beans, sit in a tree.....and shoot timber wolves, coyotes, and bears. That would be a big step in the right direction.

OH.....and then....reward the guys that take these deer killers with the tag money we saved by getting rid of the excess predators. The DNR can go fish.

 

[Telemark]

now we are just a place everyone drives around after they bypassed the town with the highway that leads right to the casino. Would be great to see some of the casino and reservation money get payed back to the community in taxes. jmho

Don't even get me started on the Indian casino bullshit. Racist laws that create racial ghettos run by a legal mafia. Same with cannabis in Ontario now. As if there wasn't enough criminal activity on the reservations.

 

[BuckSutherland]

 

[Brian662]

F the MDHA, they are sellouts. I don't believe or trust a single thing they say.

 

[BuckSutherland]

and F the wolves, the DNR, the federal govt, Barb Keller, the area managers, the COs, and everyone at the voyageurs project too. They can all go to hell. F******g assholes wanna sit and blame "climate" and snow. Go F yourselves!!! We would be swimming in deer if the snow was twice as deep and the wolves were gone.



If we could get anything that resembles an accurate population assessment out of these brown shirt assholes we just might have a chance getting these bastards off the endangered list. I believe the true population in the northeastern corner of the state easily exceeds 15,000 wolves. I wanna say these asshats say we have about 2,200 wolves total in in MN. F*******g abomination and a complete failure of big game management. We got a million+ deer apparently, but nobody in the NE portion of the state sees them, but they are good enough to continually see the 2,000 wolves.



Hope zone 2 and 3 have more room cause zone 1 hunters are sick and tired of this shit sandwich. A bunch of fudds from zone 1 will continue to migrate to other areas. This IS statewide issue.

 

[Brian662]

At some point the wolves have to run out of things to eat once they have the deer eradicated, don't they? Do they nomadically move to new frontiers or selectively thin out once that happens?

 

[BuckSutherland]

Talk about a festivus miracle. Only a little over 2,000 wolves in MN according to the DNR, but somehow they managed to trap 8 of them on 1 acre of land........ I hope some of these star gazers get to watch their dogs being tore apart by a pack of wolves. We will see how much they love them then.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

and F the wolves, the DNR, the federal govt, Barb Keller, the area managers, the COs, and everyone at the voyageurs project too. They can all go to hell. F******g assholes wanna sit and blame "climate" and snow. Go F yourselves!!! We would be swimming in deer if the snow was twice as deep and the wolves were gone.



If we could get anything that resembles an accurate population assessment out of these brown shirt assholes we just might have a chance getting these bastards off the endangered list. I believe the true population in the northeastern corner of the state easily exceeds 15,000 wolves. I wanna say these asshats say we have about 2,200 wolves total in in MN. F*******g abomination and a complete failure of big game management. We got a million+ deer apparently, but nobody in the NE portion of the state sees them, but they are good enough to continually see the 2,000 wolves.



Hope zone 2 and 3 have more room cause zone 1 hunters are sick and tired of this shit sandwich. A bunch of fudds from zone 1 will continue to migrate to other areas. This IS statewide issue.

High wolf populations do in fact lead to higher success rates (at first).

Areas with higher wolf populations do tend to have better daylight deer movement due to the nighttime hunting habits of wolves and thus higher deer harvest.

Problem is if left un checked (by hunters/trappers) wolf populations will steadily increase at the same rate deer will decrease until it hits a ktipping point that there isn’t enough food to support the wolf population. At that time the wolves move out and the deer will rebuild their numbers until the wolves move back in and it starts all over again.

The hippies and tree huggers think that is best and the natural balance of things.

The problem is at what cost? The deer hunting in Minnesota alone is a multi billion dollar industry.

The libbs don’t see it that way though. The fed can always just print more money right.

I don’t envy you guys up there for a second.


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[Wind Gypsy]

At some point the wolves have to run out of things to eat once they have the deer eradicated, don't they? Do they nomadically move to new frontiers or selectively thin out once that happens?

They eat things other than deer too. But yes, once all the deer, rabbits, beaver, etc are gone the wolf numbers will go down. There is a recent study on an island in SE AK where the wolves completely eradicated the blacktail deer population and are now surviving off of sea otters.. They adapt and eat what is available.

I'm sure the wolf #'s are already down from where they would be if there were more deer up there. I don't believe the wolf densities are any higher in northeast MN now than they were in the early 2000's, but there was a hell of a lot more deer up there back then. We see/hear them now but we saw them a bunch back then too. Their range has notably expanded as well. I'm getting them on cam in SW kanabec county.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

High wolf populations do in fact lead to higher success rates (at first).

Areas with higher wolf populations do tend to have better daylight deer movement due to the nighttime hunting habits of wolves and thus higher deer harvest.

Problem is if left un checked (by hunters/trappers) wolf populations will steadily increase at the same rate deer will decrease until it hits a ktipping point that there isn’t enough food to support the wolf population. At that time the wolves move out and the deer will rebuild their numbers until the wolves move back in and it starts all over again.

The hippies and tree huggers think that is best and the natural balance of things.

The problem is at what cost? The deer hunting in Minnesota alone is a multi billion dollar industry.

The libbs don’t see it that way though. The fed can always just print more money right.

I don’t envy you guys up there for a second.

This "natural balance of things" idea is nonsense. The natural balance of things was to have caribou and moose in NE MN. Human disturbance expanded whitetails that direction in the first place. The "Natural balance" was gone long ago and it will never come back. It is ignorant to pretend that wolves killing everything until they are starving and killing each other is "balance".

 

[Wind Gypsy]

F the MDHA, they are sellouts. I don't believe or trust a single thing they say.

Was there a MDHA statement in that video? i skipped some portions but caught most of it and didn't see one.