Different views out of MN

[Greta&Gus]

I was at our property for the first time in over a month last weekend. The latest reports I heard from the area were that there was a lot of does and fawns around. One neighbor even said he hasn't seen this many does in years and has no idea where any of them were last year during deer season. The other report however, is that there isn't a buck in sight. Right now the word from our area is that guys are planning on laying off bucks and only shooting does this year. I on the other hand might be one of the only hunters going for 'buck only'. I also don't believe the bucks are all gone and anticipate an uptick in sightings this year due to the low harvest last year.

Quite a bit different from the rhetoric others in this site have been saying.

 

[Greta&Gus]

159, Cloverdale area which is east of Hinckley.

 

[bwoods11]

it can vary by section. I have a 51 acre farm that is full of deer....15 miles away is a 148 acre farm that I own it has great cover and it had 3-4 deer on it last year, nothing was shot.

So far this year I am seeing quite a few does and fawns in our area, but the bucks all seem to be last years fawns. Very few nice bucks make it in our area, too much pressure.

 

[Greta&Gus]

You are in one of the better areas. Not real Heavy Wolf pressure yet I don't think and a lot of deer from the Park to rebuild your herd when needed. Biggest deer I ever shot was in a park hunt in 1973. I bet not many have seed a doe that dressed out in the 190lb range. It was huge!

The wolves were actually A LOT worse a few years back. If you ever saw my TC pics from the 'other' site you know we are no strangers to wolves. The Federal trappers took 13 wolves off of our neighbor's farm in 2010 and I know another farm east of us also has had the Federal trappers there several times. Not sure on total numbers though. Haven't seen a wolf on camera since 2012 I believe though so for now we don't have any problems.

The park does help, a lot. But, it has been 5 deer limits there the last few years. There was more shooting 2nd weekend than 1st weekend in our area last year.

I differ from most of the guys in our area on how I plan to hunt this year though. I am anticipating a big uptick in buck sightings as compared to last year.

 

[Bucks&Ducks]

I hunt one of the areas with a higher deer density (Wadena County). However I am still not a fan of how the DNR has handled things over the past decade or so. I am not sure how many times I can hear the same BS year after year (around 1 million deer, too many crops left in, too windy, etc)

I am fortunate that the area I hunt has somewhat reasonable hunters and had higher management goals than other areas of the state. Our deer numbers are down the last few years but they look pretty good this summer. I hope the DNR takes notice because it only takes a bad winter and wolves taking up permanent residence to put a huge dent in local numbers.

 

[bat man]

I hunt one of the areas with a higher deer density (Wadena County). However I am still not a fan of how the DNR has handled things over the past decade or so. I am not sure how many times I can hear the same BS year after year (around 1 million deer, too many crops left in, too windy, etc)

I am fortunate that the area I hunt has somewhat reasonable hunters and had higher management goals than other areas of the state. Our deer numbers are down the last few years but they look pretty good this summer. I hope the DNR takes notice because it only takes a bad winter and wolves taking up permanent residence to put a huge dent in local numbers.

You best watch how things went down in SE MN. Prime areas are now targeted for 14 deer per square pre fawn.

When the stakeholder group voted for 16 in one area, the DNR said nope, that is too many for the habitat. 14 is your new number.

16 or 17 is the highest goal for any unit in SE MN. Pay attention because if they adjust your goals this low, much of your area will have unhuntable populations. Your will likely stay good if you manage and lay off the trigger, but the whole area will suffer if the trend continues.

Let them come to town and slash goals and you will feel the ripple.

 

[Bucks&Ducks]

Yes I have followed everything closely although not commented very much. I am well aware of what is quite possibly around the corner. There is someone in my permit area that must have some clout because we had 27 prefawn dpsm (per dnr) in 2011 and were managed in 2011 and hunters choice in 2012. However this area was 41+ pre fawn dpsm in 2007. Now I am just taking these numbers from the DNR model which as you have discussed is likely off.

 

[sandbur]

I spend part of my season in a corner of zone 1 that has decent numbers of deer. Sd is in the same area, but a different corner and I suspect he has far less deer.

I feel we need to sty involved and keep pressure on the DNR.

I see more does and fawns in the lottery areas or one deer areas than in the Intensive Harvest areas where there are 5 doe permits. It just does not make sense, but that is the way it is.

 

[Jim Timber]

My neighbors (lake people, not land owners) have been claiming there's more deer here than they've ever seen too, but the trail cams and my own eyes tell a tale of woe for the deer we're seeing. They're sickly thin and likely herded up for protection. They're very "spooky" on the footage I have from the end of April.

I'm near certain the 9-10 deer being reported as a large sighting is also causing someone else not far away to ask "where'd the deer go?"

 

[bat man]

Estimating deer numbers is a difficult exercise. It's a good reason to try and implement some more herd monitoring techniques. I think we would all agree that the MN DNR model either is non functional, or at the very least it is not being used properly. Whether by design or malfeasance, the model has cut our herd in half in less than 10 years. The new harvest designations and extreme tag reductions in the zone I hunt suggest either the DNR model is of no real value, or there was pressure from someone somewhere to back off the doe tags.

Our own DNR does not even trust the gold standard aerial surveys they employ to double check the model. If they dont think the flyovers are accurate, we sorely need some more techniques to gauge the herd.

Nobody knows how many deer there are.

 

[Greta&Gus]

My neighbors (lake people, not land owners) have been claiming there's more deer here than they've ever seen too, but the trail cams and my own eyes tell a tale of woe for the deer we're seeing. They're sickly thin and likely herded up for protection. They're very "spooky" on the footage I have from the end of April.

I'm near certain the 9-10 deer being reported as a large sighting is also causing someone else not far away to ask "where'd the deer go?"

This is why there will never be full buy in from hunters. Too many variables and deer do shift quite a long ways from the different seasons.

 

[sandbur]

This is why there will never be full buy in from hunters. Too many variables and deer do shift quite a long ways from the different seasons.

I suspect that as wolves become more of a feature of our landscape, we will see more grouping of deer.

Dead spots, dead days, and then a sudden switch. Twenty years ago, I spent lots of time hunting wolf country that was 60 miles south of International Falls and it was more boon or bust, day by day, as compared to parts of zone 1 that did not have wolves at that time.

Could wolves be moving deer into habitat where the wolf population is down, due to more houses by lakes or due to government trappers taking wolves out in certain areas?

 

[SD51555]

I spend part of my season in a corner of zone 1 that has decent numbers of deer. Sd is in the same area, but a different corner and I suspect he has far less deer.

I feel we need to sty involved and keep pressure on the DNR.

I see more does and fawns in the lottery areas or one deer areas than in the Intensive Harvest areas where there are 5 doe permits. It just does not make sense, but that is the way it is.

We pulled our camera cards over the weekend and it was terrible. Just a few does, no fawns, one spike buck. Nobody is cutting hay in the area, so an evening field survey is pretty useless too. I even checked browsing along the common deer trails and there is very little, and what there is, is very light. I found basswood sprouts where only a few of the buds were eaten. Three years ago that would have been eaten back to the prior year's tip.

The one upside is that my hunch on going bonkers with RO Dogwood this year was a good bet. Of the ones I could find in the jungle, not many were browsed, and the ones that were, were browsed lightly.

When you take flatbead trailers piled with does out of there year after year as a management area, that's what ya get.

 

[Jim Timber]

I managed to catch the herd congregated tonight. One fawn in a dozen deer. :(

Trail cameras are back out and I'll be back up in a few days to see what shows up.

Here's some pics mostly from about 350 yards with a 300mm lens (wish I had a 600 for these) so they're not the best image quality, but there's a couple old boys in there.

16 pics from tonight: http://s6.photobucket.com/user/FishyJim/library/deer pics

 

[Jim Timber]

Oh, and this one's pretty funny:

Two deer side by side looking opposite directions when the shutter fired. Notice the three hind legs. :D I couldn't have made this up if I tried! I was parked on the shoulder of the road standing on my door sill bracing my body on the door frame of my truck just so I could see over the corn.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

The fawn crop in SE MN looks pretty good this year. We have a large coyote pack in our area, but it looks like a lot of the does have managed to raise fawns this spring anyway. I don't have any big buck pictures yet this summer, but I think the crop rotation in my specific area is the cause of that. The bachelor groups seem to like the larger soybean and alfalfa fields as usual and the corn on my land doesn't seem to appeal to them much at this point. I'm hoping that my acre of beans that I planted 2 weeks ago will draw them in a little more by the time bow season opens.

I can definitely say I had more summer buck usage on my land last year when I had 10 acres of various food plot crops as opposed to my current crop rotation that is primarily corn.

 

[Jameson]

Special bow hunt at G&G's neighboring park this year. Check out the DNR news for more info.

 

[bat man]

As I pay more attention my 2 places are a ghost town for tracks right now. They will be a lot fuller as season rolls close, but it makes me wonder how few deer there are. They must be good and spread out now and that will change when season gets closer?

 

[sandbur]

As I pay more attention my 2 places are a ghost town for tracks right now. They will be a lot fuller as season rolls close, but it makes me wonder how few deer there are. They must be good and spread out now and that will change when season gets closer?

Only 25 miles away and I have completely different habitat, but the deer tracks are being found in areas where corn fields border bean fields. My woods are nearly completely abandoned of deer sign. I do feel some deer are bedding in the two year old corn field, but may have moved to the standing corn across the road.

There are NOT the beaten down trails crossing the roads that would demand 5 or 7 or 8 doe permits.

The local warden had been working on wolf complaints. Any wolf sign over there, Brooks?

 

[bat man]

I often find wolf sign - my lab is a great indicator. She locks up and pees and the ground where wolves mark the spot.

No wolf tracks lately, but it seems to rain every third day in Onamia.