Minnesota deer facts

[Lee Borgersen]

                              Minnesota deer facts!

10/20/14

Deer: The Animal
 
Adult female white-tailed deer weigh about 145 lbs., males 170 lbs.
The biggest white-tailed deer ever recorded in Minnesota was a 500-pound buck.
A whitetail's home range is about one square mile.

Deer: Hunting

Last year, 30 percent of Minnesota firearm hunters successfully harvested a deer. About 53 percent were antlered bucks.
70 percent of Minnesota's firearms deer harvest typically occurs during the first three or four days of the season.
The average hunter spends five days afield during Minnesota's firearms deer season.
Last year's total deer harvest was about 170,000.
Because of a conservative 2014 season designed to boost the statewide population, total deer harvest in 2014 is anticipated to be considerably lower and could reach levels not experienced in decades.
Hunters can register their deer via Internet, phone or at walk-in big-game registration stations.
The largest typical whitetail buck ever taken in Minnesota had a Boone & Crockett score of 202; shot by John Breen in 1918 near Funkley.
Minnesota's No. 1 non-typical whitetail buck had 43 points; shot by 17-year-old Mitch Vakoch in 1974.

Deer: Licenses

In total, about 812,000 deer hunting licenses and permits (all types) were sold in 2013.
95 percent of deer licenses are sold to Minnesota residents.
The DNR Information Center remained open two hours later on the day before last year's deer opener to answer more than 2,000 telephone inquiries, most of them related to the firearms opener.

Deer: Economics

Nearly 500,000 deer hunters in Minnesota.
Direct retail sales - $234 million.
Salaries, wages, business owner income - $127 million.
State and local tax revenue - $28 million.
Number of directly supported jobs - 3,760.
Economic impact is greatest in Greater Minnesota.
Top 10 big game hunting violations
1) Hunt over bait
2) Transport uncased/loaded firearm
3) Fail to validate
4) Fail to register
5) License not in possession
6) Untagged
7) No valid license
8) Lending, borrowing, transferring or altering a license
9) Unmarked/unregistered bear bait station
10) Shooting from the road at big game


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