2014 MN Doe-Tag-Party?

[SD51555]

While the new regs were an improvement in places over last year, I am still not content with harvesting any does in my area. There just are not many at all. So, I plan to apply for one, and if selected, I am going to tear it up and burn it. Am I a jerk for doing it? Some may say so. But this is where I believe I can do my part to preserve and begin to rebuild.

Who's with me?

Here's the heat map for Northern MN. (Sorry I couldn't do them all. Zone 2 is all over the place)

Green - bucks only
Yellow - lottery
Purple - hunters choice
Red - management

 

[leexrayshady]

If my zone was lottery I would be doing the same,

 

[biglakeba$$]

I agree with leexray.....

However, if antlerless tags were available for kids just starting up, I would have to give the green light for them.
Some may disagree, but to each their own. A few kids taking some does isn't the end of the herd.

 

[foggy]

We got a fair number of deer in 246 and on my property. My land is likely feeding 20-30 deer on a regular basis. Not great, but pretty good. If we get doe tags, I'm going to let family members (grandsons) shoot a doe if they want to.....party hunting....or not. I think most of our group is looking for Mr Big....but we will talk about it and we will be selective - which we have been doing.

 

[Jameson]

Sorry, got to use the same application to apply for a special hunt. I haven't applied for a doe tag in a long time.

If you are in a non-lottery hunting area then when you buy your license and they ask what area you hunt the most tell them a lottery area. They should ask you if you want to apply for the doe lottery toward the end of the process. Ask if they don't. Our buck tags are good statewide so what you tell them for an area has no effect on your buck tag, but if you get drawn for a doe tag it will only be good in the one area only.

 

[sandbur]

I will be applying for a doe tag in 172. My corner of 172 has better deer numbers than 221 where I live. Sd's part of 172 is probably much different. We are in opposite corners.

 

[bat man]

I think I will take that advice and apply for a doe tag in another zone. From what I could gather WI has a statewide 'goal' of 794,000 deer over winter. But the hunters wont kill them so the end up with 1.4 million.

I wish the hunters of MN would perform some similar trigger restraint. Only happens w/regularity in 346 and 349 from what I guess.

 

[SD51555]

Maybe I shouldn't get a tag at all? Just grouse hunt with the air rifle instead?

 

[sandbur]

Maybe I shouldn't get a tag at all? Just grouse hunt with the air rifle instead?

I was considering ntotbow hunting for this fall and going grouse hunting. what have you seen for grouse in your area of northern Mn?

 

[SD51555]

We've heard a little more drumming this year. Haven't kicked any up during the growing season yet though. When we were putting up our last stands on Labor Day last year we kicked up 7 in one spot. During season I saw a couple while on stand over 4 days.

 

[foggy]

I was seeing quite a few grouse until the veg got so thick. Don't ever see many in the summer tho.

 

[fuldraw]

I'm not from Mn
but don't really care for group tags ideal kinda seems like cheating I wonder how many deer are killed and not reported because so and so shot one earlier and the rest did not know and killed one too

 

[Jameson]

I'm not from Mn
but don't really care for group tags ideal kinda seems like cheating I wonder how many deer are killed and not reported because so and so shot one earlier and the rest did not know and killed one too

As someone from MN, who has participated in 'group tags', your reason is very poor. Sure there are fools that shoot too many deer, but it is VERY easy to limit the group so that not too many deer are shot. If the party shoots too many deer it is from them getting greedy, not because of poor regulations.

Typically how we party hunt is that one person will be all out of tags and another person will have 2 tags. We will hit the woods with each targeting exactly one deer. That way the group isn't going over limit, and everybody gets to keep hunting. It is really pretty simple.

This year with everyone only having one tag, we wouldn't be doing any party hunting unless we are hunting within visual sight of each other to know if the other hunter already filled the tag. Worried about both hunters shoot a deer at the same time after opening day? Not in MN.

 

[fuldraw]

As someone from MN, who has participated in 'group tags', your reason is very poor. Sure there are fools that shoot too many deer, but it is VERY easy to limit the group so that not too many deer are shot. If the party shoots too many deer it is from them getting greedy, not because of poor regulations.

Typically how we party hunt is that one person will be all out of tags and another person will have 2 tags. We will hit the woods with each targeting exactly one deer. That way the group isn't going over limit, and everybody gets to keep hunting. It is really pretty simple.

This year with everyone only having one tag, we wouldn't be doing any party hunting unless we are hunting within visual sight of each other to know if the other hunter already filled the tag. Worried about both hunters shoot a deer at the same time after opening day? Not in MN.

It's just that I have never been exposed to group hunting it just like the southern states that use dogs I don't understand it either doesn't make it wrong.
I have one brother that would just keep shooting if he could get more tags he has used his "any deer " on a buck and still has a doe tag left then when he see an other buck he calls everybody trying to get there tags so he could shoot that one to . We all tell him NO!! He is one of the greedy ones.
Group tags would probably help out if you have a lot of land and low numbers of hunters accessing that ground so you could manage the ground easier for select kills /ratios

 

[Jim Timber]

Our area is hunters choice this year, but I'm imposing a "bone or bust" restriction anyway.

 

[bwoods11]

Each farm is different. I have two farms with good deer numbers (does and small bucks mostly) with an occasional mature buck. On those two farms, we will shoot a few does and pass the small bucks. On the others that have lower numbers we will pass the does as we did last year.

 

[bwoods11]

No I believe it is lottery. We have 6 hunters in our family (mainly archery). So with that, we will probably shoot one doe on each of the better farms with bow. I have a boy that is in his first year of hunting with a bow as well.

Last year we shot two bucks and two does in MN. That is on 600 total acres though.

Archery regs are still one deer (either sex) correct?

 

[SD51555]

No I believe it is lottery. We have 6 hunters in our family (mainly archery). So with that, we will probably shoot one doe on each of the better farms with bow. I have a boy that is in his first year of hunting with a bow as well.

Last year we shot two bucks and two does in MN. That is on 600 total acres though.

Archery regs are still one deer (either sex) correct?

Except the bucks-only zone.

 

[SD51555]

Hey, there's one vote for us all being lunatics! :D

 

[Reagan]

As someone from MN, who has participated in 'group tags', your reason is very poor. Sure there are fools that shoot too many deer, but it is VERY easy to limit the group so that not too many deer are shot. If the party shoots too many deer it is from them getting greedy, not because of poor regulations.

Typically how we party hunt is that one person will be all out of tags and another person will have 2 tags. We will hit the woods with each targeting exactly one deer. That way the group isn't going over limit, and everybody gets to keep hunting. It is really pretty simple.

This year with everyone only having one tag, we wouldn't be doing any party hunting unless we are hunting within visual sight of each other to know if the other hunter already filled the tag. Worried about both hunters shoot a deer at the same time after opening day? Not in MN.

I have never hunted a party tag state so take my opinion for at it is worth. But it seems to me that party tags are a way to maximize the kill which is something your state does not need.

In Ohio, you can have 1,2,3 or more tags depending on where you are. Let's say three hunters go out with two tags each. One hunter fills both tags and he is finished. Hunter #2 and 3 kill one deer each and keep hunting. Out of the two hunters that have tags left, only two people are in the field trying to fill them. They may or may not be successful.

In a party tag state, all three hunters can continue on and try to fill the remaining two tags. It seems to me that more hunters trying to fill the remaining two tags will be more likely to succeed than just two hunters. It is a simplified scenario but it leads me to believe that more hunters that can continue to hunt even when their own tags are filled leads to more dead deer.

Another simplified scenario is 10 hunters who have one tag each. Three of these hunters kill their deer every year. Three other hunters almost never kill a deer. The remaining four hunters kill a deer some years and don't some years. So in any average year, the group may kill 4-7 deer out of ten hunters. Party tags increase the likelihood that 10 deer are killed by the group every year because some guys can now kill more than one.


I don't see how this is good for a state that has problems with extremely low deer numbers. The only reason that I can see to keep this system is tradition. But a lot of traditions will not survive if there is not a huntable population of deer. From what I have read on here and the dark side, your herd is a complicated problem that will take many solutions to fix. Eliminating party tags won't fix it, but it seems to me that it would result in less dead deer in any given year. It is a step in the right direction.

Am I wrong?