I feel like my minority only special season is closer and closer to coming to fruition. Especially in whacked out places like Minnesota
They all ready exist in certain areas. Take a look at deer seasons for tribal members in off reservation areas, but within treaty areas.
1000000000% agree! I have a kid and I hate youth season. 9 out of 10 around me are usually dad or uncle or brother shooting a deer while their kid tags along.
They do occasionally actually. Lake Maria state park near me opens to hunting some years.
Opening them up for deer a couple days a year is a good start, but I think it would take opening up small game too and for more days, to see the change in diversity that they are looking for.
One beef I have with the small game seasons in MN is that squirrel opener is always the same day as whitetail archery. It would be amazing to get even a single week in September where there aren't a bunch of people banging in the woods. The vast majority of squirrel hunting only happens opening weekend anyways, so why not push it back a week and give the deer a little bit less pressure?
If they are open to hunting for more days, will the parks be closed to other uses like hiking or camping?
They did this in the Whitewater Valley of S.E. MN. Now they are actually putting gps collars on squirrels because they have almost been hunted into extinction in that area. And not by the demographic that they are trying to pull in.
I can use a WMA for recreational purposes during hunting season. I see no reason for state parks to be any different, aside from setbacks for camping areas.
wow, gps collars for squirrels? there must be some hungry mfr's in your area to decimate the squirrel population!
I did a very quick search and couldn't find where the researchers concluded that overhunting was causing a decline in squirrel numbers in Whitewater Valley, but the articles were from 2016. Do you have something more recent where they reached that conclusion? Who's shooting all the squirrels?
Wouldn't know about anything being published. This has taken place in the last 4-5 years though. I live less than a mile from the Whitewater Valley so I hear quite a bit from locals and non locals for that matter.
I'm relying on my memory, but I believe there was an article in Outdoor news that summarized the squirrel study. I believe it showed that the squirrel numbers were fine in the general area, but on public ground the squirrel harvest was so high that the public land held few squirrels. They spent a fair amount of taxpayer dollars to learn that you can't shoot all the squirrels and expect to have good squirrel hunting.
