Opener is coming!

[Glenn_S]

Who is going to have a hard time concentrating at work this week?

I head out for Deer Camp on Thursday afternoon. Daughter coming up Friday morning and Son on Friday at about dark. This is our first Deer Camp on the new property and I'm looking forward to it.

This week will drag on...

[glenn57]

Who is going to have a hard time concentrating at work this week?

I head out for Deer Camp on Thursday afternoon. Daughter coming up Friday morning and Son on Friday at about dark. This is our first Deer Camp on the new property and I'm looking forward to it.

This week will drag on...

this Glenn is retired!!!!!!!!

[Jerkbiat]

There will be lots of deer talk at work this week. I head to camp Thursday night.

[Steve-o]

Y'er telling me!  This was from my Saturday morning bow hunt in 172.   

Why are there no candy bars in this picture?   

I was standing on the top step of my setup with my lineman's belt with my stand and bow on the ground below me when he came in.   

He walked off and wasn't spooked.  When he was out of sight I put a strap around the tree to hang my stand.  No sooner had I done this when he came back.  Again he didn't catch wind of me and walked slowly off.  I left my stand there and will go back after him this Friday.

Since I can't post video, here are links:

Video: Deer comes in...

Video: Deer comes back...

[mike89]

good luck!!   a very nice buck!! 

[glenn57]

  yea its amazing how dumb they can be.......and yet be so smart at the most inopportune time!!!!

[Steve-o]

No doubt the reason he came in - straight in to my tree, and then back again straight into my tree - was because he heard me rustling around in the leaves when I was getting ready to put my stand up. 

It wasn't like the woods were crawling with deer that walked past other trees besides mine.  I didn't see any other deer.  He was looking for a doe, which is why he was sniffing the ground.

I hope he isn't locked up on one next week - because if he is, he won't be so inquisitive.  In fact, I'm hoping he's downright desperate by Friday. 

[Leech~~]

Y'er telling me!  This was from my Saturday morning bow hunt in 172.   

Good luck on opener up there.  I have bow hunted 172 for about 20 years and rifle hunted about the last 8 or so.  The area we hunt used to be very good, but I have not seen a Deer in there for the last 3 seasons and we only got one doe out of 5 guys last year.  Wolve tracks all over, how ever.   

[Steve-o]

That and the CWD zones are expanding up there:  684 to the NW, 679 to the NE and 604 to the south.  I wonder if wolves can get CWD from eating infected deer. 

When I first started hunting 172, those were lean years.  If you even saw a deer, you were lucky.  Then the hunting got better for a few years.  And now it is sparse again.  The woods used to be full of hunters, but not so much any more.  Folks finally figure out to hunt elsewhere when there ain't any deer.  That was the first buck I saw there in more years than I can count.  Saw absolutely nothing the 3 years prior.

Wake up DNR!!!  But I know their hands are tied.    The only thing I haven't figure out is if the deer management officials actually enjoy being tied up.   

[glenn57]

  679 ??? Think that's the zone in grand rapids and goes east to hwy 6 and talmoon .

My brother checked that area out for the better part of the day last year the day before opener.  He found more stands with corn nearby than he could believe and got the he'll out of there.

Just because it's an either sex zone, doent mean more deer!

[Leech~~]

That and the CWD zones are expanding up there:  684 to the NW, 679 to the NE and 604 to the south.  I wonder if wolves can get CWD from eating infected deer. 

When I first started hunting 172, those were lean years.  If you even saw a deer, you were lucky.  Then the hunting got better for a few years.  And now it is sparse again.  The woods used to be full of hunters, but not so much any more.  Folks finally figure out to hunt elsewhere when there ain't any deer.  That was the first buck I saw there in more years than I can count.  Saw absolutely nothing the 3 years prior.

Wake up DNR!!!  But I know their hands are tied.    The only thing I haven't figure out is if the deer management officials actually enjoy being tied up.   

I'm out in the woods a lot of the year in many areas of the state either hunting, dualsport trail riding, or snowmobiling.  It's amazing how many dead forests we have in this state now.  I rode 80 miles a day in the arrow head snowmobiling without seeing a deer or moose.  Last weekend my son and I spent a few days and walked about 8 miles on 4-5 logging roads through the Solana state forest grouse hunting. We did see 9 grouse but got no shots. Nothing, not a deer single track, droppings, trail, rub or scrap, not one sign of deer anywhere we found on any of the roads, but we did find Wolve scat all up and down them.    We met two guys on 4 wheelers scouting, and they said they have not gotten a deer in the last 5 years up there, but they have a cabin up there.  It's so sad to be in such beautiful woods with nothing in them.   

[Steve-o]

679 ??? Think that's the zone in grand rapids and goes east to hwy 6 and talmoon .

Yep.  Grand Rapids sits right in the middle of 679.  It has been a CWD zone since 2022.

In 2020, 2223 deer were harvested, in Zone 179 when it was an antlerless lottery zone with 3000 permits, one deer limit.
In 2021, 2387 deer were harvested when it was an antlerless lottery zone with 2500 permits, one deer limit.
In 2022, 3157 deer were taken - the first year as a CWD management zone 679, when there was a 2 deer limit.
In 2023, 2046 deer were taken - still a CWD management zone, but with a 1 deer limit, either sex.

Compare that to zone 172 where the count has not been skewed by CWD management harvesting.

In 2020, 2489 deer were harvested in Zone 172 when it was hunter's choice, one deer limit.
In 2021, 2018 deer were harvested, when it was an antlerless lottery zone with 2500 permits, one deer limit.
In 2022, 1772 deer were harvested when it was an antlerless lottery zone with 2000 permits, one deer limit.
In 2023, 1257 deer were harvested when it was an antlerless lottery zone with 500 permits, one deer limit.
And in 2024, zone 172 only has 250 antlerless permits.  Zone 679 has a 2 deer limit this year.
 

[deadeye]

I've been out with the bow quite a few times this year. Things had been very slow with little movement until just after sunset. Only a few small bucks were out. That was until Sunday morning when all hell broke out. In the morning sit, I saw 7 bucks, one doe and an unknown. Several of the bucks were trotting around with nose to the ground. One made a 50-yard circle around me, not sure what he was looking for. A doe led a pretty receptible buck right to me (He is easily identified by a second main beam on his right side). I have some trail pictures of him. She got down wind and bolted he followed. Then amid all the activity, Mr big showed up. He's a big 10 point with a very symmetrical rack. He was standing 70 yards away. Due to all the bucks running around, I had my bow in hand but managed to get a few grunts in. He started towards me but stopped at 60 yards. I wouldn't have a problem shooting a deer at this range, but it would have been a standing offhand shot, so I waited to see if he would come looking for the bucks that grunted. Instead, he stepped into some brush and never gave me another shot opportunity. It was a magnificent sight for sure.
One picture is of the buck with a second main beam on the right side. This buck was 20 feet from me as he followed a doe past me.
The other is a picture of the big 10 point that stood at 60 yards last Sunday morning but I didn't feel good about the shot so he's still out and about.

[Pulleye16]

Sooo excited. Absolutely my favorite time of year. Was bow hunting all week in WI and next rifle MN in 171.

I’ll always get super jacked, then reality sets in when I see more wolf sign than deer sign. I’ve actually shrunk the amount of days I hunt in MN because of it. Over COVID in 2020 I had the entire A season off, hunted every single day (16 days?), and saw 4 does…and I’m pretty sure it was the same set of two.