Tons of deer in 172 (MN)?

[SD51555]

(sigh)

Each night, we drive a seven mile loop where it's primarily woods with pockets of 10-20 acre hay fields. In each hay field, we count the number of deer we see and use it as a barometer of our population and condition of our animals.

Last night we counted 65. Tonight we counted over 102. They all looked good for the most part (the ones we could see near the road).

So...

Does that mean we suddenly have tons of deer again, or is every single deer out of the woods and eating in those hay fields? Could a person fathom that every deer within a half mile of the road is congregated in those fields, giving a DPSM of 13-14?

We couldn't buy a sighting after 10/1 last year, in person or on camera. What's the deal?

 

[Riggsgwp->]

Has that been a lottery zone? I've seen good deer numbers in other lottery zones especially south west Mn

 

[SD51555]

We were lottery last year. It was a silent few weeks during rifle season. Heard ten shots a day during the first five days of the season.

 

[sandbur]

I feel most of the deer are on the fields. Tom and I were up in 172 on Tuesday and the deer were hitting the fields. Very little was green in the woods.

I feel there are also large wooded areas of 172 with very low deer populations.

 

[SD51555]

There are large parts of the federal land that have zero growth on the floor. It's all tree trunks. It's not hard to fathom at all that there are large areas with no deer.

 

[sandbur]

I have not been in the area south of Longville (Old Grade) for about 18 months, but have heard the deer numbers are not great in that area. I believe that is more county and state land with somewhat better management than the federal lands.