MN Gun Opener Reports

[Jameson]

Sounds like a pretty dang good hunt!

Any idea on the number of deer taken? Any bruiser bucks?

About 80 deer taken total. About 40:40 buck:doe, too. 72 on Saturday, and 7 for Sunday when I checked out at the end. A few more likely got brought in. A lot of nice bucks, heard rumors of a 17 pointer, but forgot to ask what the heaviest/nicest buck was. I think the most remarkable hog for the hunt was a 160 lbs doe!!

BigLakea$$, the only time I saw Brian he was awfully busy, so I didn't get to say hello for you.

 

[biglakeba$$]

10-4
Good reminder to reach out to him, been a long time since we swapped stories over a beer or 12. :)

 

[foggy]

Mills Fleet Farm "Big Buck Challenge" report. 30% reduction in harvest....and more information from the Brainerd area. A good pic.

http://www.brainerddispatch.com/content/big-buck-challenge

"With total rifle season license sales down about 10 percent and the statewide harvest down an estimated 30 percent, I was extremely happy with the Big Buck results this season," Hanson said. "There were more Big Buck tickets sold, more interest, more deer weighed, more people wishing they would have entered, more people understanding the concept that any deer could win, and more spectators at weigh stations than ever before. Next year promises to be even bigger and better."

 

[sandbur]

foggy-I like his emphasis on the youth.

 

[biglakeba$$]

Whew. And here i thought the low harvest this year was due to the number of deer on the landscape. Glad we have Wonder Woman Leslie back at the home office to keep us all in check.

 

[biglakeba$$]

And if it goes to 140k,,, the DNR will spin that up.... Didnt they predict 120k?

They will be praising that the harvest was higher than expected..... And people will eat it up that the harvest was BETTER than anticipated... Just watch... UGHHHH

 

[biglakeba$$]

The models said 120k harvest is my guess, so my spin is their frickin models are proven to be even more useless..... UGHHH

 

[biglakeba$$]

http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/mn-deer-harvest-boxes-of-beer.1793/

 

[foggy]

Hmmmmm. Seems I may have the right number at 120,000. :D How many beers was that?? ;)

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Stu- i cant find the predicted kill numbers table you put together for the beer bet. Where is it again?
I can see this coming...."Due to the bad weather during the firearms season and most of the corn being harvested, hunters enjoyed seeing and harvesting a large number of deer this 2014 muzzle loading season." stated the big game manager Miss Not'Aclue.

Now that's funny right there....don't care who you are!

 

[SD51555]

Is it me, or was that press release identical to the one from the first release just with new numbers?

 

[wiscwhip]

Just got the skinny on the early season hunt from one of my coworkers who hunts in Houston Co, MN. He said it pretty much sucked, he spent the whole season chasing trespassers off his place and his uncles place. It seems the outfitters in the area are either overbooking the lands they have or are just sending these guys into areas adjacent to their leases when they aren't seeing any shooters on the lands they are leasing. He is bordered by outfitter leased properties on 2 sides and had to kick off trespassers 4 different times on the opening weekend. One guy even told him the outfitter said they could park in this entrance road but they would have to walk in from there and couldn't drive back in.:eek: He was super pi$$ed and I don't blame him, he said he may give up gun hunting altogether and just concentrate on bowhunting from now on. All told, him and his uncle chased off 11 different trespassers during the early gun season. Some were actually caught on their properties and others were just about to enter them. He did say he saw a good number of bucks, but none he considered "shooters", except the 4 different "cull" bucks with gnarly racks that he couldn't shoot due to the APR rules in affect in SE MN.

 

[wiscwhip]

His uncle has some connections with the township leaders, so he is going to see if there is any way they can help curb the trespassing, via ordinances or otherwise. I asked him why they didn't get the law involved, and he just said it was too hard to identify the hunters, as they would be long gone before the law ever got there. The only one they would have had a sure ID on was the plates of the car parked in their entrance road, and those hunters weren't out of the car yet when they caught them, so the CO's most likely wouldn't have done much anyway.

 

[foggy]

^ Wow. I'm glad we don't have better hunting around here. (NOT) ;)

 

[bat man]

His uncle has some connections with the township leaders, so he is going to see if there is any way they can help curb the trespassing, .

My money says until word gets out he will prosecute, the same guys will be back. Every year.

 

[McLovin]

Best story I've heard yet is a farmer surrounding a trespasser's truck with farm equipment and holding his truck hostage for months. You could keep that tied up in court for years I bet with a good lawyer.

 

[SD51555]

"No trespassing. Instant relay cameras on premises." On a nice sign with the wifi logo on it.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Brought the kids deer head to the Taxi today. He has the exact same amount of mn deer to mount as last year this time. Both years are half of 3 years ago.

 

[bat man]

When the entire state drops below 50% for satisfaction deer seen on stand...,

Hunters are leaving the sport in MN. Nobody seems to care.

 

[SD51555]

I haven't had a chance to read this week's ODN yet. I set my fishfinder on it on the ride home today, and the snow melted all over it. It's drying out now. Drilled 100 holes fishing today. Caught one fish worth keeping. Threw it back.

Is there any new info in there? I would lay money that the hunter loss is far greater than the 10% drop is license sales. I bet there are a lot of wives and girlfriends that bought tags this year.